Multipath effect on false peaks in covariance based MIMO radar beampattern design

In a Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) radar unlike conventional phased array radar, we can choose freely between the probing signals transmitted via its antennas to maximize the transmitted power around specific target locations or to approximate a desire beam-pattern in different manners that many papers have taken into consideration so far. In an operational radar or communication environment, one of the usual phenomenon that happens is multipath. In this paper we´d like to take this effect into consideration and show that how this effect can influence our beam-pattern in a covariance based MIMO radar beam-forming. We will show that multipath can change beam-pattern peak direction, increase side-lobe level and either produce false peaks in our desire beam-pattern. MATLAB software is being employed for simulations.