RADAR APPARATUS, OBSERVING METHOD AND NON-TRANSITORY COMPUTER READABLE MEDIUM

• US 20170269206A1
• Filed: 12/29/2016
• Published: 09/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2016
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: AOKI, Tomomi, KAWABATA, Kazuaki, GOMI, Koichiro, HIURA, Shigeru
• Application Number:
  US15/394,071
• Publication Number:
  US 20170269206A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/42 Simultaneous measurement of distance and other co-ordinates indirect measurement G01S13/46
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/582 adapted for simultaneous range and velocity measurements
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/95 for meteorological use
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/292 Extracting wanted echo-signals
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 90/10 Information and communication technologies [ICT] supporting adaptation to climate change, e.g. for weather forecasting or climate simulation

Abstract

A radar apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes an oversampler, a weight vector calculator, a meteorological parameter calculator, an error influence degree calculator, and an error reducer. The oversampler performs oversampling on a received signal to acquire a sampling signal. The weight vector calculator calculates a weight vector based on the sampling signal and a waveform information matrix. The meteorological parameter calculator calculates an estimated value of a meteorological parameter on an observation target based on the vector and the matrix. The error influence degree calculator selects a first observation target considering an estimated error included in the estimated value, or an error influence degree based on the estimated error. The error reducer subtracts an estimated error that the first observation target gives to an estimated value of a meteorological parameter on a second observation target, from the estimated value on the second observation target.

Claims

1. A radar apparatus comprising:

an oversampler configured to acquire a sampling signal by performing oversampling on a received signal;

a weight vector calculator configured to calculate a weight vector based on the sampling signal and a waveform information matrix;

a meteorological parameter calculator configured to calculate an estimated value of a meteorological parameter on an observation target based on the weight vector and the waveform information matrix;

an error influence degree calculator configured to select a first observation target considering an estimated error included in the estimated value of the meteorological parameter, or an error influence degree based on the estimated error; and

an error reducer configured to subtract an estimated error that the first observation target gives to an estimated value of a meteorological parameter on a second observation target, from the estimated value of the meteorological parameter on the second observation target.

2. The radar apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the oversampler performs temporal oversampling in which sampling is performed with a sampling time shorter than a pulse width of a transmission signal that is an origin of the received signal.

3. The radar apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the oversampler determines the sampling time based on the pulse width of the transmission signal, and an oversampling coefficient or a specified width in a range direction.

4. The radar apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

an antenna array device including a plurality of antenna elements; and

a digital beam former configured to perform digital beamforming on signals received by the plurality of antenna elements of the antenna array device, wherein

the oversampler forms a beam that overlaps the beams formed by the digital beam former so as to perform spatial oversampling.

5. The radar apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the oversampler determines a position of the beam to be formed based on a distance up to the observation target in a range direction, a beam width of the beams formed by the digital beam former, and an oversampling coefficient or a specified width in a cell direction.

6. The radar apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first observation target is an observation target that is smallest in the estimated error or lowest in the error influence degree.

7. The radar apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the weight vector calculator calculates the weight vector based on a Capon method, a Fourier method, or a minimum mean square error (MMSE) method.

8. The radar apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the meteorological parameter represents signal power or Doppler velocity.

9. An observing method for causing performed by a computer, the method comprising:

acquiring a sampling signal by performing oversampling on a received signal;

calculating a weight vector based on the sampling signal and a waveform information matrix;

calculating an estimated value of a meteorological parameter on an observation target based on the weight vector and the waveform information matrix;

selecting a first observation target considering an estimated error included in the estimated value of the meteorological parameter, or an error influence degree based on the estimated error; and

an error reducing step of subtracting an estimated error that the first observation target gives to an estimated value of a meteorological parameter on a second observation target, from the estimated value of the meteorological parameter on the second observation target.

10. A non-transitory computer readable medium having a program stored therein which causes a computer when executed by the computer, to perform processes comprising:

acquiring a sampling signal by performing oversampling on a received signal;

calculating a weight vector based on the sampling signal and a waveform information matrix;

calculating an estimated value of a meteorological parameter on an observation target based on the weight vector and the waveform information matrix;

selecting a first observation target considering an estimated error included in the estimated value of the meteorological parameter, or an error influence degree based on the estimated error; and

an error reducing step of subtracting an estimated error that the first observation target gives to an estimated value of a meteorological parameter on a second observation target, from the estimated value of the meteorological parameter on the second observation target.