Performance of time delay estimation in a cognitive radar

Abstract: A cognitive radar adapts the transmit waveform in response to changes in the radar and target environment. In this work, we analyze the recently proposed sub-Nyquist cognitive radar wherein the total transmit power in a multi-band cognitive waveform remains the same as its full-band conventional counterpart. For such a system, we derive lower bounds on the mean-squared-error (MSE) of a single-target time delay estimate. We formulate a procedure to select the optimal bands, and recommend distribution of the total power in different bands to enhance the accuracy of delay estimation. In particular, using Cram\'er-Rao bounds, we show that equi-width subbands in cognitive radar always have better delay estimation than the conventional radar. Further analysis using Ziv-Zakai bound reveals that cognitive radar performs well in low signal-to-noise (SNR) regions.