Ambiguity Function Analysis and Side Peaks Suppression of WiFi Signal for Passive Radar

WiFi (Wireless Fidelity) is widely deployed all the world. When it is utilized as external illuminaor in Passive Radar, its broadband singal make the high resolution of detection be obtained in both the range and Doppler domains. In this paper, the typical WiFi signal format and its characters are analyzed, then the theoretical signal model is setup. Based on the theory of bistatic passive radar, the relationship between typical IEEE 802.11 signals format and the characters of its Ambiguity Function (AF) is analyzed. Moreover, the position and amplitude of side peaks in time and frequency domain is analyzed and its causes from the signal structure is also discussed. In this paper, a method for suppressing the side peaks based on the correction of direct-path reference signal is proposed, therefore to avoid the false alarm brought in target detection caused by side peak interference. Experimental results valid the proposed signal processing method.