Antenna Coupling Effects for Space-Time Radar Waveforms: Analysis and Calibration

In this paper, we investigate the impact of mutual coupling between the antenna array elements on the performance of a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar with colored waveform transmission (collocated coherent MIMO system). Simulation results confirm the decrease in system performance when antenna mutual coupling is taken into account. A dedicated scan-dependent calibration technique is proposed for elimination of the coupling effect. The experiments with a real X-band antenna array validate the coupling analysis and the calibration procedure presented in this paper.