Intellectual Merit: Due to the continued development and use of new wireless broadband devices and the resultant congestion of the spectrum, future radar systems will be required to perform their ever-critical societal and military functions in a frequency-flexible, cognitive manner. To facilitate this new paradigm, this research involves investigation of an adaptive radar transmitter with jointly optimizable circuit and waveform to operate within a dynamically varying spectral mask based on locations of nearby communication nodes. The specific intellectual and scientific aims of this research are to (1) create a useful circuit optimization approach for linearity and efficiency, (2) innovate an approach to optimize the radar waveform for spectral compliance and desired detection/ambiguity properties, (3) simultaneously optimize the waveform and matching networks in the reconfigurable radar transmitter, (4) investigate sources of additional information to speed the search, and (5) recommend an approach for dynamic radar spectral mask construction based on the relative locations of the radar transmitter and communication nodes. The proposed work will provide enabling technology for cognitive radar systems to exist in a dynamic spectrum access environment with changes in radar operating frequency, and will also allow optimization of radar detection capabilities and power efficiency based on the surrounding environment and potential victims of interference. This work is interdisciplinary, fusing work in areas of RF/microwave circuitry and robust intelligence/optimization to accomplish a transformative paradigm shift in radar/communications coexistence. Broader Impacts: For the purpose of garnering expert input from policy and economic perspectives, the principal investigator, along with a multidisciplinary steering committee, will add a Spectrum Forum to their already successful Texas Symposium on Wireless and Microwave Circuits and Systems. The research team has constructed collaborations to channel outcomes of this research into relevant regulatory efforts and already underway involvement in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Research Task Group on Spectrum Engineering. The principal investigator also will continue successful efforts in educating high school students about spectrum issues and science, technology, engineering, and math careers by partnering with schools in the Central Texas region. The research group of the PI has a history of significant female and minority representation in his research group, and the placement of this research at a university with significant female involvement in engineering will allow this grant to continue to involve underrepresented groups in research
