Pilot tones injection in Golay sequences for PAPR reduction in OFDM-based JRC systems

This paper investigates the integration of pilot carriers into Golay complementary sequences for peak-toaverage power ratio (PAPR) reduction in joint radar and communications (JRC) systems employing Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) waveforms. While using Golay sequences as OFDM codewords allows to achieve PAPR values of 3 dB, the insertion of pilot tones can disrupt their optimal properties. This study focuses on the importance of careful consideration of pilot carrier integration in Golaybased PAPR reduction techniques for efficient JRC system design. Two approaches are proposed to address this challenge: restricting the transmitted codeword set to Golay sequences sharing desired pilot tone configurations or forcing predetermined pilot sequences onto Golay sequences to create Quasi-Golay sequences. Analysis reveals a trade-off between PAPR reduction and communication throughput: the Golaybased approach offers optimal PAPR but reduced data rates, whereas the Quasi-Golay-based approach provides higher data rates at the expense of slightly higher PAPR values. Evaluation through simulations demonstrates the performance of these approaches and their implications for JRC systems.