Radar data compression system and method

• US 9,541,637 B2
• Filed: 07/29/2014
• Issued: 01/10/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Aptiv Technologies AG (Aptiv PLC)
• Original Assignee: Delphi Technologies, Inc. (Aptiv PLC)
• Inventors: Searcy, James F, Alland, Stephen W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Brainard, Timothy A
• Application Number:
  US14/445,569
• Publication Number:
  US 20160033631A1
• Time in Patent Office: 896 Days
• Field of Search: 342/132
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/18 wherein range gates are used
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/28 with time compression of received pulses
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/343 using sawtooth modulation
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/584 adapted for simultaneous range and velocity measurements
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/931 of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/93276 in the windshield area
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/2806 Employing storage or delay devices which preserve the pulse form of the echo signal, e.g. for comparing and combining echoes received during different periods
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/354 Extracting wanted echo-signals Doppler systems G01S13/50
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/356 involving particularities of FFT processing
• CPC Class Codes: H03M 7/30 Compression speech analysis-synthesis for redundancy reduction G10L19/00; for image communication H04N; Expansion; Suppression of unnecessary data, e.g. redundancy reduction

Abstract

A radar system includes a controller equipped with memory for storing data. The controller is configured to receive a time-domain signal representative of a reflected signal detected by an antenna, and transform the time-domain signal into a plurality of range datasets. Each range dataset corresponds to one of the plurality of chirps, each range dataset is represented by a series of values assigned to a plurality of range bins, and each of the values includes a sign bit. The controller is also configured to compress the plurality of range datasets by storing in the memory a portion of each of the values assigned to at least one of the plurality of range bins, wherein the portion is defined to exclude a first number of redundant sign bits of each value. The controller may further compress the portion by retaining a second number of bits of the data by excluding some of the least significant bits of each value.

Claims

1. A radar system comprising:

an antenna configured to detect a reflected signal characterized as a reflection of an emitted signal reflected by an object present in a field-of-view of the antenna, wherein the emitted signal includes of a plurality of chirps; and

a controller equipped with memory for storing data, said controller configured to

receive a time-domain signal representative of the reflected signal detected by the antenna,

transform the time-domain signal into a plurality of range datasets, wherein each range dataset corresponds to one of the plurality of chirps, each range dataset is represented by a series of values assigned to a plurality of range bins, and each of the values includes a sign bit, and

compress the plurality of range datasets by storing in the memory a portion of each of the values assigned to at least one of the plurality of range bins, wherein the portion is defined to exclude a first number of redundant sign bits of each value.

2. The system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the first number of redundant sign bits excluded is varied in accordance with a maximum magnitude of the values assigned to a particular range bin across the plurality of range datasets.

3. The system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the plurality of range datasets is further compressed when the portion is further defined to retain a second number of bits of the data by excluding least significant bits of each value.

4. The system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the portion is defined such that a predetermined number of bits are stored in each range bin.