The present invention is directed to a
radar system that includes an
antenna array having a plurality of antenna elements and a plurality of transmit antenna phase centers. A
transmitter portion is coupled to the
antenna array. The
transmitter portion is configured to transmit a plurality of transmit beams characterized by a transmit
beam pattern. The transmit
beam pattern has a predetermined transmit
beamwidth that is a function of the number of orthogonal transmit waveforms. The predetermined transmit
beamwidth substantially fills a predetermined angular volume. Each of the plurality of transmit beams includes a corresponding one of the plurality of orthogonal transmit waveforms. Each of the plurality of transmit beams is transmitted by a corresponding one of the plurality of transmit antenna phase centers. The number of orthogonal transmit waveforms is less than the plurality of antenna elements. A
receiver portion is also coupled to the
antenna array. The
receiver portion is configured to extract a plurality of orthogonal receive
signal components from a received
signal provided by the antenna array. The plurality of orthogonal receive
signal components corresponds to the plurality of orthogonal transmit waveforms. A plurality of extracted orthogonal receive signal components are digitally beam formed to implement a
virtual antenna array and generate a receive signal having a receive
beamwidth. The
virtual antenna array includes a plurality of virtual antenna elements greater than the plurality of antenna elements. The receive beamwidth is a function of the plurality of virtual antenna elements.