MULTIMODAL RADAR SYSTEM
First Claim
1. A radar system for inferring direction-of-arrival (DOA) of reflected signals covering 360°
- azimuth within a predefined range of elevations below and above the horizon to detect, identify and track a target by incorporating multimodal and interferometer direction-finding (DF) techniques, the radar system comprising;
an antenna system for transmitting and receiving radio frequency (RF) signals, the antenna system comprising;
a plurality of antenna elements configured so as to transmit and receive radio frequency (RF) signals;
a plurality of receiving and/or transmitting (Rx/Tx) modules connected to respective ones of the plurality of antenna elements to transmit and receive the RF signals to and from the plurality of antenna elements;
a digital signal processing unit (DSPC) operably connected to the plurality of Rx/Tx modules and configured and operable to process received RF signals to infer the direction-of-arrival (DOA) of reflected signals covering 360°
azimuth within the predefined range of elevations below and above the horizon to detect, identify and track the target; and
an exciter module operably connected to the DSPC and configured and operable to generate and distribute timing signals to the DSPC, the Rx/Tx modules and the plurality of antenna elements.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A radar system and method for determining location of targets, wherein the energy reflected from an object is received by the omnidirectional antenna elements and the received RF signal is downconverted to an intermediate frequency (IF) signal. The IF signals are digitized. The digitized IF signals received at the first omnidirectional antenna are digitally processed so as to form modal beams with opposite phase slope as output signals. The digitized IF signal received at the second omnidirectional antenna is digitally processed as to form a reference signal of phase reference. Phase differences between the signals and the reference signals are determined, such that each phase difference includes a first component proportional to the azimuth of the arriving signal and a second component corresponding to the elevation of the arriving signal, from which the azimuth and the elevation of the arriving signal can be extracted.
15 Citations
27 Claims
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1. A radar system for inferring direction-of-arrival (DOA) of reflected signals covering 360°
- azimuth within a predefined range of elevations below and above the horizon to detect, identify and track a target by incorporating multimodal and interferometer direction-finding (DF) techniques, the radar system comprising;
an antenna system for transmitting and receiving radio frequency (RF) signals, the antenna system comprising; a plurality of antenna elements configured so as to transmit and receive radio frequency (RF) signals; a plurality of receiving and/or transmitting (Rx/Tx) modules connected to respective ones of the plurality of antenna elements to transmit and receive the RF signals to and from the plurality of antenna elements; a digital signal processing unit (DSPC) operably connected to the plurality of Rx/Tx modules and configured and operable to process received RF signals to infer the direction-of-arrival (DOA) of reflected signals covering 360°
azimuth within the predefined range of elevations below and above the horizon to detect, identify and track the target; andan exciter module operably connected to the DSPC and configured and operable to generate and distribute timing signals to the DSPC, the Rx/Tx modules and the plurality of antenna elements. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
- azimuth within a predefined range of elevations below and above the horizon to detect, identify and track a target by incorporating multimodal and interferometer direction-finding (DF) techniques, the radar system comprising;
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26. A method for detection, identification and tracking of one or more objects or targets comprising:
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transmitting a radio frequency (RF) signal through a feed of a first omnidirectional antenna or a second omnidirectional antenna; receiving, at a first omnidirectional antenna arriving RF signal reflected off an object; converting the received signal into a digital intermediate frequency (IF) signal; multiplying, in a digital signal processing card (DSPC), the digitized IF signal from the first omnidirectional antenna with complex weights and sum together to generate a first signal and a second signal with opposite phase slope wherein the phases of the first and second signals are proportional to an azimuth angle of the arriving signal; receiving the arriving signal at the second omnidirectional antenna; converting the arriving signal into a digital reference signal of a reference phase, the reference phase having a zero phase-slope and being independent of the azimuth angle of the arriving signal; shifting the phases of first and second signals from the reference phase by a phase shift that depends upon an elevation direction of the arriving signal, corresponding to the distance between the first and second omnidirectional antennas; calculating at least two phase differences comprising a first phase difference Δ
1 between the phase of the first signal and the reference phase, and a second phase difference Δ
2 between the phase of the second signal and the reference phase, wherein each one of the phase difference includes a first phase component proportional to the azimuth angle of the arriving signal and a second phase component corresponding to the elevation angle of the arriving signal, andcalculating the azimuth and the elevation angles of the arriving signal from the phase differences. - View Dependent Claims (27)
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Specification