UWB Noise-OFDM Netted Radar: Physical Layer Design and Analysis

It is well known that ultra-wideband (UWB) noise radar achieves high-resolution imaging of targets and terrain. The wide bandwidth yields fine range resolution, while the noise waveform provides immunity from detection, interference, and interception. Having multiple noise radars networked with each other provides significant benefits in target detection and recognition. We propose a scheme to modify the UWB noise radar to supplement it with secure multi-user network communication capabilities, thus architecting the UWB noise-orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) netted radar. The salient features of this multi-functional radar system include surveillance with embedded security-enabled OFDM-based communications, multi-user capability, and physical layer security. The system´s physical layer design is analyzed for the composite UWB noise-OFDM waveform´s dual performance, communications reliability, confidentiality, and message integrity protection. We also present critical issues that underscore the need for a unique medium access control (MAC) algorithm as a duplex multiplexing technique for this ad hoc multi-radar communications network.