Software defined automotive radar

• US 10,261,179 B2
• Filed: 04/25/2017
• Issued: 04/16/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/07/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Uhnder, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Uhnder, Inc.
• Inventors: Davis, Curtis, Maher, Monier, Bordes, Jean P., Hegde, Manju, Schmid, Otto A., Rao, Raghunath K., Goldenberg, Marius, Eshraghi, Aria, Giannini, Vito, Trager, David S., Bhagat, Nikhilesh, Gollapudi, Srikanth, Govindarajan, Sundar, Borho, Steve, Preussner, Jonathan, Dent, Paul W., Bassett, Paul, Alland, Stephen W., Harris, Fred, Stark, Wayne E., Ali, Murtaza
• Primary Examiner(s): Bythrow, Peter M
• Application Number:
  US15/496,038
• Publication Number:
  US 20180252809A1
• Time in Patent Office: 721 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/32 using transmission of continuous waves, whether amplitude-, frequency-, or phase-modulated, or unmodulated
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/87 Combinations of radar systems, e.g. primary radar and secondary radar
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/931 of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9316 combined with communication equipment with other vehicles or with base stations
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9322 using additional data, e.g. driver condition, road state or weather data
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9323 Alternative operation using light waves
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9324 Alternative operation using ultrasonic waves
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/003 Transmission of data between radar, sonar or lidar systems and remote stations
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/023 Interference mitigation, e.g. reducing or avoiding non-intentional interference with other HF-transmitters, base station transmitters for mobile communication or other radar systems, e.g. using electro-magnetic interference [EMI] reduction techniques auxiliary means for detecting or identifying radar signals or the like G01S7/021; means for anti-jamming G01S7/36
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/0233 Avoidance by phase multiplex
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/0234 Avoidance by code multiplex

Abstract

A radar system has different modes of operation. In one mode, the radar operates as a single-input, multiple output (SIMO) radar system utilizing one transmitted signal from one antenna at a time. Codes with known excellent autocorrelation properties are utilized in this mode. At each receiver the response after correlating with various possible transmitted signals is measured in order to estimate the interference that each transmitter will represent at each receiver. The estimated effect of the interference from one transmitter to a receiver that correlates with a different code is used to mitigate the interference. In another mode, the radar operates as a multi-input, multiple-output (MIMO) radar system utilizing all the antennas at a time. Interference cancellation of the nonideal cross-correlation sidelobes when transmitting in the MIMO mode are employed to remove ghost targets due to unwanted sidelobes.

Claims

1. A radar sensing system for a vehicle, the radar sensing system comprising:

a plurality of transmitters configured for installation and use on a vehicle, wherein the transmitters are configured to transmit phase-modulated continuous-wave radio signals;

a plurality of receivers configured for installation and use on the vehicle, wherein the receivers are configured to receive radio signals, wherein the received radio signals are transmitted radio signals reflected from an object in the environment;

wherein each transmitter of the plurality of transmitters comprises a digital processing unit, a digital-to-analog converter, an analog processing unit, and transmitting antennas;

wherein each receiver of the plurality of receivers comprises a receiving antenna, an analog processing unit, an analog-to-digital converter, and a digital processing unit; and

a control unit configured to individually modify one or more operational parameters of one or more transmitters of the plurality of transmitters and one or more receivers of the plurality of receivers, wherein the control unit is configured to dynamically modify one or more operational parameters of transmitters and receivers, based upon changing environmental and situational conditions.

2. The radar sensing system of claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to select an operating mode from a single-input, multiple-output (SIMO) mode and a multi-input, multiple-output (MIMO) mode.

3. The radar sensing system of claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to modify characteristics of the transmitted radio signals.

4. The radar sensing system of claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to modify a frequency of the transmitted radio signals.

5. The radar sensing system of claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to modify a bandwidth of the transmitted radio signals.

6. The radar sensing system of claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to modify the baseband signal generated in a digital processor of a selected one or more transmitters of the plurality of transmitters.

7. The radar sensing system of claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to modify the digital-to-analog converter in a selected one or more transmitters of the plurality of transmitters.

8. The radar sensing system of claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to modify the analog processing unit in a selected one or more transmitters of the plurality of transmitters.

9. The radar sensing system of claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to modify the analog processing of one or more transmitters of the plurality of transmitters.

10. The radar sensing system of claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to modify the analog processing of one or more receivers of the plurality of receivers.

11. The radar sensing system of claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to modify the analog-to-digital converter of one or more of the receivers of the plurality of receivers.

12. The radar sensing system of claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured (i) to modify at least one transmitter of the plurality of transmitters based on information received external to the radar system, and (ii) to modify at least one receiver of the plurality of receivers based on information received external to the radar system.

13. The radar sensing system of claim 12, wherein the external information is a traffic report.

14. The radar sensing system of claim 12, wherein the external information is from other vehicles.

15. The radar sensing system of claim 12, wherein the external information is from one of a camera, LIDAR, and ultrasound.

16. The radar sensing system of claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to modify one or more transmitters of the plurality of transmitters and one or more receivers of the plurality of receivers using estimates of one or more of range, Doppler, and angle of an object in the environment.

17. The radar sensing system of claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to modify one or more transmitters of the plurality of transmitters and one or more receivers of the plurality of receivers using information from a geolocation receiver.

18. A radar sensing system for a vehicle, the radar sensing system comprising:

a transmitter configured for installation and use on a vehicle, wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit a phase-modulated continuous-wave radio signal;

a receiver configured for installation and use on the vehicle, wherein the receiver is configured to receive a radio signal, and wherein the received radio signal is a transmitted radio signal reflected from an object in the environment;

wherein the transmitter comprises a digital processing unit, a digital-to-analog converter, an analog processing unit, a modulator, and a transmitting antenna;

wherein the receiver comprises a receiving antenna, an analog processing unit, an analog-to-digital converter, and a digital processing unit; and

a control unit configured to individually modify one or more operational parameters of the transmitter and the receiver.

19. The radar sensing system of claim 18, wherein the control unit is further configured to modify the characteristics of the transmitted radio signal.

20. The radar sensing system of claim 18, wherein the control unit is further configured to modify one or more processing steps of the receiver.

21. The radar sensing system of claim 18, wherein the control unit is further configured to modify the transmitter based on information received external to the radar system, and to modify the receiver based on information received external to the radar system.

22. The radar sensing system of claim 21, wherein the external information is one of a traffic report, and information received from other vehicles, and wherein the external information is from one of a camera, a LIDAR, and ultrasound sensor.

23. The radar sensing system of claim 18 further comprising a plurality of transmitters and a plurality of receivers, wherein the control unit is configured to use estimates of one or more of range, Doppler, and angle of an object in the environment, to individually modify one or more transmitters of the plurality of transmitters and one or more receivers of the plurality of receivers.

24. The radar sensing system of claim 23, wherein the control unit is configured to use information from a geolocation receiver to individually modify one or more transmitters of the plurality of transmitters and one or more receivers of the plurality of receivers.

25. A radar sensing system for a vehicle, the radar sensing system comprising:

a plurality of transmitters configured for installation and use on a vehicle, wherein the transmitters are configured to transmit phase-modulated continuous-wave radio signals;

a plurality of receivers configured for installation and use on the vehicle, wherein the receivers are configured to receive radio signals, wherein the received radio signals include transmitted radio signals transmitted by the transmitters and reflected from an object in the environment; and

a control unit configured to selectively modify an operational parameter of at least one of the plurality of transmitters and the plurality of receivers, wherein the control unit is configured to dynamically modify operational parameters of the transmitters and receivers to meet changing operational requirements of the radar sensing system.

26. The radar sensing system of claim 25, wherein the changing operational requirements are defined at least in part by changing environmental and situational conditions.

27. The radar sensing system of claim 25, wherein the control unit is configured to modify the characteristics of the transmitted radio signals and to modify one or more processing steps of at least one of the receivers, and wherein the control unit is further configured to modify at least one of the transmitters based on information received external to the radar sensing system, and to modify at least one of the receivers based on information received external to the radar sensing system.