Texas Instruments Corporation

Other

Sachin Bharadwaj, Jr

Sandeep Rao

Brian Paul Ginsburg

Karthik Subburaj

Karthik Ramasubramanian

Jawaharlal Tangudu

Sriram Murali

Apu Sivadas

Piyali Goswami

Sai Gunaranjan Pelluri

Sumeer Bhatara

The disclosure provides a radar apparatus for estimating a range of an obstacle. The radar apparatus includes a local oscillator that generates a first ramp segment and a second ramp segment. The first ramp segment and the second ramp segment each includes a start frequency, a first frequency and a second frequency. The first frequency of the second ramp segment is equal to or greater than the second frequency of the first ramp segment when a slope of the first ramp segment and a slope of the second ramp segment are equal and positive. The first frequency of the second ramp segment is equal to or less than the second frequency of the first ramp segment when the slope of the first ramp segment and the slope of the second ramp segment are equal and negative.

Range resolution in FMCW radars

A method of operating a frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar system includes receiving, by at least one processor, digital intermediate frequency (IF) signals from a mixer coupled to a receive antenna. The method also includes computing, by the at least one processor, a motion metric based on the digital IF signals; operating, by the at least one processor, the FMCW radar system in a classification mode, in response to determining that the motion metric is above a threshold; and operating, by the at least one processor, the FMCW radar system in a detection mode, in response to determining that the motion metric is below the threshold for at least a first amount of time. An amount of power consumed by the FMCW radar system in the detection mode is less than an amount of power consumed by the FMCW radar system in the classification mode.

FMCW radar reduced power mode

A multi-mode radar system, radar signal processing methods and configuration methods, including using predetermined, range/mode-specific pushing windows to perform windowing on range and velocity object data before performing an FFT on the windowed object data matrix to generate a three-dimensional object matrix including range, velocity and angle data. The individual windows have an angular spectral response that corresponds to a combined angular coverage field of view of the transmit and receive antennas for the corresponding mode to minimize the total weighted energy outside the main lobe and to provide increasing spectral leakage outside the combined angular coverage field of view with angular offset from the main lobe to push out much of the spectral leakage into regions where leakage tolerance is high due to the corresponding combined angular coverage field of view of the transmit and receive antennas.

Multi-mode radar systems, signal processing methods and configuration methods using pushing windows

A radar data processing device includes at least one analog-to-digital converter (ADC) configured to digitize a plurality of input signals, wherein each input signal includes radar chirp and radar chirp reflection information received at one of a plurality of receiver antennas. The radar data processing device also includes Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) logic configured to generate FFT output samples based on each digitized input signal, wherein at least some of the generated FFT output samples are across antenna FFT output samples associated with at least two of the plurality of receiver antennas. The radar data processing device also includes a processor configured to determine a plurality of object parameters based on at least some of the generated FFT output samples, wherein the processor uses a neural network classifier trained to provide a confidence metric for at least one of the plurality of object parameters.

Radar data processing using neural network classifier and confidence metrics

According to an aspect, method of enhancing a resolution in a radar system having an antenna aperture comprises measuring a first radiation pattern corresponding to a first set of receiving antennas by feeding a known radio frequency (RF) signal over the first set of receiving antennas, wherein the first set of radiation due to an impairment, coherently combining an interpolated radiation pattern with a received radar signal received by the set of receiving antenna when employed for an object detection, to generate a high signal to noise ratio (SNR) received signal, and iteratively combining the high SNR received signal with the interpolated signal to reduce the error due to the impairment.

Growing community of inventors

Bengaluru, India

Sachin Bharadwaj, Jr