Vehicular radar sensing system utilizing high rate true random number generator

• US 9,720,073 B1
• Filed: 02/09/2017
• Issued: 08/01/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Uhnder, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Uhnder, Inc.
• Inventors: Davis, Curtis, Hegde, Manju, Stark, Wayne E., Lovberg, John
• Primary Examiner(s): WINDRICH, MARCUS E
• Application Number:
  US15/428,447
• Time in Patent Office: 173 Days
• Field of Search: 342 16, 342 70- 72
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/325 using transmission of coded signals, e.g. P.S.K. signals
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/87 Combinations of radar systems, e.g. primary radar and secondary radar
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/931 of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9321 Velocity regulation, e.g. cruise control
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/93271 in the front of the vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/93272 in the back of the vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/93274 on the side of the vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/35 Details of non-pulse systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/352 Receivers
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/358 using I/Q processing
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/36 Means for anti-jamming , e.g. ECCM, i.e. electronic counter-counter measures

Abstract

A radar sensing system for a vehicle includes transmit and receive pipelines. The transmit pipeline includes transmitters able to transmit radio signals. The receive pipeline includes receivers able to receive signals. The received signals are transmitted signals that are reflected from an object. The transmit pipeline phase modulates the signals before transmission, as defined by a first binary sequence. The receive pipeline comprises an analog to digital converter (ADC) for sampling the received signals. The transmit pipeline includes a pseudorandom binary sequence (PRBS) generator for outputting a second binary sequence of bits with an equal probability of 1 and 0. The first binary sequence is defined by least significant bit (LSB) outputs from the ADC and the second binary sequence of bits. The first binary sequence comprises a truly random unbiased sequence of bits with an equal probability of 1 and 0.

Claims

1. A radar sensing system for a vehicle, the radar sensing system comprising:

a transmit pipeline comprising a transmitter configured for installation and use on a vehicle and operable to transmit radio signals;

a receive pipeline comprising a receiver configured for installation and use on the vehicle and further configured to receive a radio signal, wherein the received radio signal includes a reflected radio signal that is the transmitted radio signal reflected from an object;

wherein the transmit pipeline is further configured to phase modulate the radio signals before transmission, and wherein the phase modulation is defined by a first binary sequence; and

wherein the transmit pipeline is further configured to define the first binary sequence at least in part by a truly random, unbiased sequence of bits with an equal statistical probability of 1 and 0.

2. The radar sensing system of claim 1 further comprising an analog to digital converter (ADC) configured to generate bits based on an input signal, and wherein the truly random, unbiased sequence of bits is defined by a sequence of least significant bit (LSB) outputs derived from the bits generated by the ADC.

3. The radar sensing system of claim 2 further comprising a pseudorandom binary sequence (PRBS) generator operable to output a second binary sequence of bits, wherein the transmit pipeline is further operable to further define the first binary sequence at least in part by the second binary sequence of bits output from the PRBS generator.

4. The radar sensing system of claim 3, wherein the transmit pipeline comprises a phase modulator operable to phase modulate a continuous wave radio signal.

5. The radar sensing system of claim 4, wherein the phase modulator receives LSB outputs from the ADC.

6. The radar sensing system of claim 4, wherein the phase modulator receives the second binary sequence of bits output from the PRBS generator.

7. The radar sensing system of claim 4, wherein the LSB outputs from the ADC and the second binary sequence of bits output from the PRBS generator are XORed and an output of the XORing is provided to the phase modulator.

8. The radar sensing system of claim 3, wherein the PRBS generator comprises one of a Fibonacci-style m-sequence generator and a Galois-style m-sequence generator, and wherein a plurality of seeds for the PRBS generator is defined by the LSB outputs from the ADC, and wherein a quantity of feedback taps and corresponding locations for the feedback taps are defined by the LSB outputs from the ADC.

9. The radar sensing system of claim 4, wherein the LSB output values from the ADC and the second binary sequence bit output values from the PRBS generator are compared and random bit values, as defined by the sequence of LSB output values and the sequence of second binary sequence bit values, are output to the phase modulator.

10. The radar sensing system of claim 2, wherein the receive pipeline further comprises an in-phase (I) channel with a first ADC, and a quadrature (Q) channel with a second ADC.

11. The radar sensing system of claim 10, wherein LSB outputs from the first ADC and the second ADC are compared and resulting binary comparison values are used to further define the first binary sequence.

12. A radar sensing system for a vehicle, the radar sensing system comprising:

a transmit pipeline comprising a transmitter configured for installation and use on a vehicle and further configured to transmit radio signals;

a receive pipeline comprising a receiver configured for installation and use on the vehicle and further configured to receive a radio signal, wherein the received radio signal includes a reflected radio signal that is the transmitted radio signal reflected from an object;

wherein the transmit pipeline is further configured to phase modulate the radio signals before transmission, and wherein the phase modulation is defined by a first binary sequence;

wherein the receive pipeline comprises an analog to digital converter (ADC) operable to sample the received radio signal and generate bits based on the sampled radio signal;

wherein the transmit pipeline further comprises a pseudorandom binary sequence (PRBS) generator configured to output the first binary sequence, and wherein the output of the PRBS generator is defined at least in part by a second binary sequence;

wherein the transmit pipeline is further configured to define the second binary sequence at least in part by a sequence of least significant bit (LSB) outputs derived from the bits generated by the ADC; and

wherein the first binary sequence comprises a random sequence of bits with an equal statistical probability of 1 and 0.

13. The radar sensing system of claim 12, wherein at least one of a plurality of seeds to the PRBS generator and a plurality of feedback tap locations of the PRBS generator are defined at least in part by the second binary sequence, and wherein a quantity of feedback taps is also defined by the second binary sequence.

14. The radar sensing system of claim 13, wherein the output of the first binary sequence is unpredictable and statistically independent from one output to the next output.

15. The radar sensing system of claim 12, wherein the receive pipeline further comprises an in-phase (I) channel with a first ADC, and a quadrature (Q) channel with a second ADC.

16. The radar sensing system of claim 15, wherein LSB outputs from the first ADC and the second ADC are compared and resulting binary comparison values used to further define the second binary sequence.

17. A method for generating random binary values for a vehicle radar sensing system, said method comprising:

providing a radar sensing system comprising a transmit pipeline comprising a transmitter configured for installation and use on a vehicle, and operable to transmit a radio signal, and a receive pipeline comprising a receiver configured for installation and use on the vehicle, and operable to receive a radio signal, wherein the received radio signal includes a reflected radio signal that is the transmitted radio signal reflected from an object;

phase modulating the radio signal before transmission, as defined by a first binary sequence;

performing sampling of a signal in the receive pipeline, wherein the sampling is performed by an analog to digital converter (ADC), and wherein the sampling produces least significant bit (LSB) outputs from the ADC;

outputting a second binary sequence of bits, wherein the second binary sequence of bits comprises a pseudorandom binary sequence (PRBS); and

defining the first binary sequence at least in part by at least one of (a) the least significant bit (LSB) outputs from the ADC and (b) the second binary sequence of bits, wherein the first binary sequence comprises a truly random unbiased sequence of bits with an equal statistical probability of 1 and 0.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the PRBS is provided by a PRBS generator, and wherein the method further comprises defining seed inputs to the PRBS generator with the LSB outputs from the ADC.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the output of the first binary sequence is unpredictable and statistically independent from one output to the next output.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the receive pipeline further comprises an in-phase (I) channel with a first ADC, and a quadrature (Q) channel with a second ADC.

21. The method of claim 20 further comprising comparing LSB outputs from the first ADC and the second ADC, and further defining the second binary sequence with resulting binary comparison values.

22. A radar sensing system for a vehicle, the radar sensing system comprising:

a transmitter configured for installation and use on a vehicle and further configured to transmit radio signals;

a receiver configured for installation and use on the vehicle and further configured to receive a radio signal, wherein the received radio signal includes a reflected radio signal that is the transmitted radio signal reflected from an object;

wherein the transmitter is further configured to phase modulate the radio signal before transmission, and wherein the phase modulation is defined by a first binary sequence;

wherein the transmit pipeline further comprises a pseudorandom binary sequence (PRBS) generator configured to output the first binary sequence, and wherein the output of the PRBS generator is defined at least in part by a second binary sequence;

wherein the transmitter is further configured to define the second binary sequence at least in part by a truly random, unbiased sequence of bits with an equal statistical probability of 1 and 0; and

wherein the first binary sequence comprises a random sequence of bits with an equal statistical probability of 1 and 0.

23. The radar sensing system of claim 22 further comprising an analog to digital converter (ADC) configured to generate bits based on an input signal, and wherein the truly random, unbiased sequence of bits is defined by a sequence of least significant bit (LSB) outputs derived from the bits generated by the ADC.

24. The radar sensing system of claim 22, wherein the ADC is part of a processing circuit of the receiver.

25. The radar sensing system of claim 22, wherein at least one of a plurality of seeds to the PRBS generator and a plurality of feedback tap locations of the PRBS generator are defined at least in part by the second binary sequence, and wherein a quantity of feedback taps is also defined by the second binary sequence.

26. The radar sensing system of claim 25, wherein the processing circuit of the receiver further comprises an in-phase (I) channel with a first ADC, and a quadrature (Q) channel with a second ADC, and wherein the processing circuit is configured to compare LSB outputs from the first ADC and the second ADC and the resulting binary comparison values used to further define the second binary sequence.