Integrated and configurable radar system

• US 8,836,574 B2
• Filed: 06/28/2013
• Issued: 09/16/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Grau Besoli, Alfred, Alexopoulos, Nicolaos G., Castaneda, Jesus Alfonso
• Primary Examiner(s): Brainard, Timothy A
• Application Number:
  US13/930,327
• Publication Number:
  US 20130285848A1
• Time in Patent Office: 445 Days
• Field of Search: 342/147, 342/127, 342/134, 342/146
• US Class Current: 342/133
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/428 within the pulse scanning systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/72 for two-dimensional tracking, e.g. combination of angle and range tracking, track-while-scan radar
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/87 Combinations of radar systems, e.g. primary radar and secondary radar
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/03 Details of HF subsystems specially adapted therefor, e.g. common to transmitter and receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/525 between emitting and receiving antennas
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 3/24 varying the orientation by switching energy from one active radiating element to another, e.g. for beam switching
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 3/30 varying the relative phase between the radiating elements of an array H01Q3/2605, H01Q3/2658, H01Q3/2682, H01Q3/44 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 3/40 with phasing matrix

Abstract

An integrated radar system includes a processing module and a radar device. The radar device includes an antenna module, a configurable shaping module, and a configurable transceiver module. The processing module generates an outbound signal and a control signal to configure the integrated radar system. The configured transceiver module converts the outbound signal into an outbound wireless signal. The configured shaping module shapes the outbound wireless signal into a shaped signal. The antenna module transmits the shaped signal and then receives an inbound radar signal. The configured shaping module shapes the inbound radar signal into an inbound wireless signal. The configured transceiver module converts the inbound wireless signal into an inbound symbol stream. The processing module determines location information regarding an object based on the inbound symbol stream.

Claims

1. An integrated radar system comprising:

a plurality of radar devices configured to operate as a system to scan an area covered by the plurality of radar devices, in which a respective radar device of the plurality of radar devices includes;

an antenna module configured to have a plurality of antennas to generate a shaped pattern for transmitting an outgoing radar signal and for receiving a reflected signal of the outgoing radar signal from an object located in the area;

a shaping module configured to operate with the antenna module to shape outgoing transmission signals for transmission from the plurality of antennas, wherein the shaping module shapes the outgoing transmission signals as shaped transmission signals to generate the shaped pattern of the outgoing radar signal from the plurality of antennas and the shaping module to also adjust shaping of the reflected signal received via the shaped pattern for the plurality of antennas; and

a transceiver configured to generate the outgoing transmission signals to the shaping module and to receive the reflected signal that is shape adjusted from the shaping module; and

a processing module coupled to the plurality of radar devices to generate individual control signals to corresponding transceivers of the radar devices to generate corresponding outgoing transmission signals and to receive corresponding reflected signals that are shape adjusted from the corresponding transceivers of the radar devices, and in which the processing module is configured to process the corresponding reflected signals from transceivers of the plurality of radar devices to determine a location of the object in the area being scanned by the plurality of radar devices.

2. The integrated radar system of claim 1, wherein the outgoing transmission signal from a particular one of the radar devices includes a time stamp information and wherein the time stamp information present in the reflected signal is utilized with an angle of reception of the reflected signal at the plurality of antennas of the particular one of the radar devices to determine the location of the object.

3. The integrated radar system of claim 1, wherein the location of the object is determined by determining a first angle of reception of the reflected signal at the plurality of antennas of a first of the radar devices, a second angle of reception of the reflected signal at the plurality of antennas of a second of the radar devices, and utilizing a difference in the first and second angles of reception, along with a distance separation of the respective plurality of antennas of a first and second radar devices to identify the location of the object.

4. The integrated radar system of claim 1, wherein respective radar devices of the plurality of radar devices scan entirely over the area.

5. The integrated radar system of claim 1, wherein respective radar devices of the plurality of radar devices scan over portions of the area, wherein one or more portions overlap.

6. The integrated radar system of claim 1, wherein respective radar devices of the plurality of radar devices scan over unique portions of the area, wherein none of the portions overlap.

7. The integrated radar system of claim 1, wherein the radar devices transmit corresponding radar signals in the approximate range of 30 MHz to 300 GHz.

8. The integrated radar system of claim 1, wherein the radar devices transmit corresponding radar signals in a 60 GHz band.

9. The integrated radar system of claim 1, wherein the radar devices are configured to locate a gaming object.

10. The integrated radar system of claim 1, wherein the radar devices are configured to locate a vehicle.

11. The integrated radar system of claim 1, wherein the shaping module provides signal shaping by adjusting phase and amplitude of the outgoing transmission signals and the received reflected signals.

12. The integrated radar system of claim 11, wherein the shaping module is configured to utilize a Butler matrix to manipulate phase and amplitude of the received reflected signals.

13. The integrated radar system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of antennas for respective radar devices are configured as phase array antennas.

14. The integrated radar system of claim 1, wherein the shaped pattern of the outgoing radar signal is directed in a beam in a particular direction.

15. An integrated radar system comprising:

a plurality of radar devices configured to operate as a system to scan an area covered by the plurality of radar devices, in which a respective radar device of the plurality of radar devices includes;

an antenna module configured to have one or more antennas to transmit an omni-directional outgoing radar signal and a plurality of antennas to establish a shaped pattern for receiving a reflected signal of the outgoing radar signal from an object located in the area;

a shaping module configured to operate with the antenna module to adjust shaping of the reflected signal received via the shaped pattern of the plurality of antennas; and

a transceiver configured to generate an outgoing transmission signal to the antenna module to generate the outgoing radar signal and to receive the reflected signal that is shape adjusted from the shaping module; and

a processing module coupled to the plurality of radar devices to generate individual control signals to corresponding transceivers of the radar devices to generate corresponding outgoing transmission signals and to receive corresponding reflected signals that are shape adjusted from the corresponding transceivers of the radar devices, and in which the processing module is configured to process the corresponding reflected signals from transceivers of the plurality of radar devices to determine a location of the object in the area being scanned by the plurality of radar devices.

16. The integrated radar system of claim 15, wherein the outgoing transmission signal from a particular one of the radar devices includes a time stamp information and wherein the time stamp information present in the reflected signal is utilized with an angle of reception of the reflected signal at the plurality of antennas of the particular one of the radar devices is used to determine the location of the object.

17. The integrated radar system of claim 15, wherein the location of the object is determined by determining a first angle of reception of the reflected signal at the plurality of antennas of a first of the radar devices, a second angle of reception of the reflected signal at the plurality of antennas of a second of the radar devices, and utilizing a difference in the first and second angles of reception, along with a distance separation of the respective plurality of antennas of the first and second radar devices to identify the location of the object.

18. A method of locating an object by use of an integrated radar system comprising:

transmitting corresponding outgoing radar signals from a plurality of radar devices configured to operate as a system to scan an area covered by the plurality of radar devices, in which a respective radar device of the plurality of radar devices is configured to scan separately from other radar devices;

for a respective radar device of the plurality of radar devices;

receiving a control signal to generate an outgoing transmission signals from a transceiver;

shaping the outgoing transmission signals into shaped signals;

coupling the shaped signals to a plurality of antennas to generate a shaped pattern for transmitting an outgoing radar signal from the plurality of antennas;

receiving a reflected signal of the outgoing radar signal from an object located in the area by the plurality of antennas;

adjusting shape of the reflected signal received via the shaped pattern for the plurality of antennas; and

receiving the reflected signal that is shape adjusted at the transceiver; and

processing corresponding reflected signals that are shape adjusted from the corresponding transceivers of the radar devices to determine a location of the object in the area being scanned by the plurality of radar devices.

19. The method of claim 18, further including providing a time stamp information for the outgoing transmission signal from a particular one of the radar devices and utilizing the time stamp information present in the reflected signal with an angle of reception of the reflected signal at the plurality of antennas of the particular one of the radar devices to determine the location of the object.

20. The method of claim 18, further including determining a first angle of reception of the reflected signal at the plurality of antennas of a first of the radar devices, determining a second angle of reception of the reflected signal at the plurality of antennas of a second of the radar devices, and utilizing a difference in the first and second angles of reception, along with a distance separation of the respective plurality of antennas of the first and second radar devices to identify the location of the object.