Multicarrier radar signals with low peak-to-mean envelope power ratio

A multicarrier phase-coded (MCPC) pulse consists of N sequences of M bits each. The N sequences modulate N carriers that are transmitted simultaneously. The carriers are equally spaced. The carrier separation Δf equals the inverse of the bit duration t_b forming orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM). A family of MCPC signals is described, based on modulating all carriers with the same sequence while also phase-modulating the carriers to lower the peak-to-mean envelope power ratio (PMEPR). The new MCPC signals have a mainlobe width of ∼t_b/N and near sidelobes extending only as far as t_b, followed by a zero sidelobe gap. The frequency spectrum of the new MCPC signals is compared with other low PMEPR MCPC signals and with single-carrier (fix envelope) phase-coded waveforms exhibiting the same compression ratio.