Antenna selection strategy for transmit beamforming-based joint radar-communication system

Antenna array-based joint radar-communication (JRC) system employs the beamforming strategy to steer the transmit signals in different directions such that different beamforming weight vectors are exploited which perform the corresponding radar-communication objectives. Such functionality has been provisioned in the spectrally congested environments where both systems are destined to coexist. The transmit antenna selection has become an increasingly interesting topic as the antennas become significantly cheaper and smaller relative to the up-conversion chains. In this paper, we address the problem of antenna selection for the JRC system by employing a re-weighted -norm minimization naturally yielding the low-complexity solution compared to the exhaustive lo-norm-based optimization. We present the mathematical framework for the proposed approach in the context of the individual as well as grouped beamforming weight vectors and analyze the practical applicability of the proposed approach for both cases. We argue that the grouped approach for optimizing the JRC antenna selection is hardware-efficient compared to the antenna selection for individual beamforming weight vectors. Simulation results illustrate that the proposed technique significantly reduces the number of required antennas while simultaneously satisfying the radar and communication system objectives. (C) 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.