APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING SIGNALS OF RADAR AND METHOD FOR PROCESSING SIGNALS THEREOF

• US 20160363651A1
• Filed: 06/08/2016
• Published: 12/15/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/09/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HL Mando Corporation (Halla Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Mando Corporation
• Inventors: LIM, HaeSueng
• Granted Patent: US 10,613,196 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/06 Systems determining position data of a target
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/426 Scanning radar, e.g. 3D radar G01S13/66 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/931 of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/0245 Radar with phased array antenna
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/93271 in the front of the vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/2925 by using shape of radiation pattern
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/2926 by integration
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/34 Gain of receiver varied automatically during pulse-recurrence period, e.g. anti-clutter gain control
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/414 Discriminating targets with respect to background clutter

Abstract

The present embodiments relate to a radar signal processing apparatus and a signal processing method thereof in which an additional beamforming is performed by reflecting an angle of a target that is positioned in front of the vehicle or by reflecting a surrounding clutter situation thereof in order to thereby improve the performance of detecting the target in front of the vehicle. According to an embodiment, a radar signal processing apparatus may include: a transmitting unit configured to transmit radar signals forward from the vehicle; a receiving unit configured to receive reflected signals among the radar signals transmitted by the transmitting unit; and a signal processing unit configured to extract a target in front of the vehicle based on the signals received by the receiving unit, wherein the receiving unit receives the radar signals by using an antenna array including a plurality of receiving antennas, the signal processing unit integrates the signals received by the plurality of receiving antennas to perform the beamforming for obtaining a desired gain, and, if there is no target in the formed beams, determines the angle of the target in front of the vehicle in order to thereby perform the additional beamforming to match the determined target angle.

Claims

1. A radar signal processing apparatus comprising:

a transmitting unit configured to transmit radar signals forward from the vehicle;

a receiving unit configured to receive signals that are reflected back among the radar signals transmitted by the transmitting unit; and

a signal processing unit configured to extract a target in front of the vehicle based on the signals received by the receiving unit,

wherein the receiving unit receives the received signals that are reflected back among the radar signals by using an antenna array including a plurality of receiving antennas,

the signal processing unit integrates the signals received by the plurality of receiving antennas and performs two or more beamformings, which have different beam spread angles, for obtaining a desired gain, and the beamforming is performed such that one or more beam spread angles are determined based on target angle information between the travelling direction of the vehicle and the target.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the signal processing unit determines the target angle information based on track information of the preceding target.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein one or more beam spread angles are determined such that the gain of the received signal is maximized in the target angle.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, if there is a clutter structure that generates a clutter signal, the signal processing unit determines one or more beam spread angles by further using clutter angle information between the travelling direction of the vehicle and the clutter structure.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the signal processing unit determines one or more beam spread angles such that the difference between the target gain by the target and the clutter gain by the clutter structure is maximized.

6. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the signal processing unit determines one or more beam spread angles such that the ratio of the target gain by the target to the clutter gain by the clutter structure is minimized.

7. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the signal processing unit determines one or more beam spread angles such that the ratio of the clutter gain by the clutter structure to the target gain by the target is maximized.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the signal processing unit determines one or more beam spread angles and performs the beamforming when the vehicle travels on a curved road.

9. A signal processing method of a radar signal processing apparatus including:

a transmitting unit configured to transmit radar signals forward from the vehicle;

a receiving unit configured to receive signals that are reflected back among the radar signals transmitted by the transmitting unit; and

a signal processing unit configured to extract a target in front of the vehicle based on the signals received by the receiving unit, the method comprising;

letting the signal processing unit determine one or more beam spread angles based on target angle information between the travelling direction of the vehicle and the target; and

letting the signal processing unit integrate the signals received by the plurality of receiving antennas contained in the receiving unit based on one or more beam spread angles and a predetermined beam spread angle, respectively, in order to thereby perform two or more beamformings in order to secure a desired gain.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein one or more beam spread angles are determined such that the gain of the received signal is maximized in the target angle.

11. The method according to claim 9, wherein, if there is a clutter structure that generates a clutter signal, one or more beam spread angles are determined by further using clutter angle information between the travelling direction of the vehicle and the clutter structure.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein one or more beam spread angles are determined such that the difference between the target gain by the target and the clutter gain by the clutter structure is maximized.