Operating a police radar detector to suppress nuisance radar alerts due to received signals that are not police radar signals includes receiving electromagnetic signals; mixing received electromagnetic signals with a local oscillator signal that is swept at a constant sweep rate; and accumulating a virtual image of the signal environment represented by received electromagnetic signals. Analysis of the virtual image is performed for signals suspected of being nuisance signals that could result in nuisance radar alert so that any nuisance signals within the virtual image can be identified and ignored by the alarm portion of the police radar detector.

Detecting continuous wave police radar includes receiving an input signal from a first antenna, the input signal comprising a continuous wave emission within at least one radar band; sweeping a composite local oscillator signal through a range of frequencies from a first frequency to a second frequency in a predetermined time period so that the composite local oscillator signal has a first chirp rate with a first chirp rate magnitude of between 0.15 MHz/s and 3.5 MHz/s or even higher; and mixing the input signal from the first antenna with the sweeping composite local oscillator signal to produce an output signal having an intermediate frequency. A next step can include determining that the input signal from the first antenna includes a police radar signal based on the output signal.

The invention relates to a device for warning of radar traps or speed radar signals, comprising a radar detection antenna, a central processing unit, which is connected to the radar detection antenna, an alert device or unit, which is connected to the central processing unit and which is designed for delivering an alarm, wherein the central processing unit is designed for determining at least one characteristic of the signal received by the radar detection antenna and for causing the alert device to deliver an alarm or suppress the delivery of an alarm in dependence on least one determined characteristic.

Detecting continuous wave police radar includes receiving an input signal from a first antenna, the input signal comprising a continuous wave emission within at least one radar band; sweeping a composite local oscillator signal through a range of frequencies from a first frequency to a second frequency in a predetermined time period so that the composite local oscillator signal has a first chirp rate with a first chirp rate magnitude of between 0.15 MHz/s and 3.5 MHz/s or even higher; and mixing the input signal from the first antenna with the sweeping composite local oscillator signal to produce an output signal having an intermediate frequency. A next step can include determining that the input signal from the first antenna includes a police radar signal based on the output signal.

A method and apparatus are provided for detecting a RADAR signal. RADAR channel data in a frequency range is received, where the frequency range is divided into a plurality of equally wide channels. The received RADAR channel data is digitally processed and analyzed to identify a signal in the RADAR channel data in the frequency range. The frequency range is advanced to a next channel of the plurality of channels, where the frequency range of the next channel of the plurality of channels is non-sequential with the frequency range of the first channel. The steps of receiving, processing, and analyzing are repeated for the next channel of the plurality of channels.

An enhanced radar detector in one example displays a source direction of one more detected signals simultaneously with a frequency band of the detected signal. In another embodiment, a method detects a location of a false alert source to suppress alerts emanating from the location. A geographic location of a first mid-ship point of a detected radar signal in a vehicle traveling in a first direction are identified/recorded. The geographic location of a second mid-ship point of a detected signal is also identified/recorded in a vehicle traveling in a second different direction. The recorded geographic locations/directions of travel are uploaded to a host server, or evaluated within the radar detector, to identify a false source and mark a false source at an intersection of the first and second midlines. The marked false source location can be used in a detector and/or downloaded to multiple detectors via a social network.

A radar detector (10) comprises a radar receiver (12) for receiving and characterizing the signal characteristics of a radar signal and providing one or more of radar frequency, radar intensity and radar direction to a control system (13) which comprises a neural network (42) structured in multiple layers, each layer processing signal characteristics delivered thereto to develop neural pathways associated with the distinguishing signatures of the signal characteristics provided to the neural network. The network thus distinguishes law enforcement-originated and non-law enforcement-originated radar signals in an adaptable manner that does not rely upon traditional logic programming of the detector system. Training, deployment and further learning and retraining of the neural network are described, as is the use of multiple and disparate vehicle environment and operation signals.

A method and apparatus are provided for detecting a RADAR signal. RADAR channel data in a frequency range is received, where the frequency range is divided into a plurality of equally wide channels. The received RADAR channel data is digitally processed and analyzed to identify a signal in the RADAR channel data in the frequency range. The frequency range is advanced to a next channel of the plurality of channels, where the frequency range of the next channel of the plurality of channels is nonsequential with the frequency range of the first channel. The steps of receiving, processing, and analyzing are repeated for the next channel of the plurality of channels.

A radar detector employs parameterized subchannel analysis for discrimination of radar signals. Specifically, the signal processing of the radar detector includes a subchannel processor for evaluating programmable sub-bands of a channel for enhanced pattern identification. The subchannel processor specifically incorporates multiple digital demultiplexing stages, producing N signal subchannels at selectable frequencies. The subchannels are decimated from the original sampling frequency to a selectable lower sample frequency, e.g. using a cascaded integrator-comb filter, and then filtered, e.g. using a finite impulse response filter. The resulting sub channels 0 to N1 are delivered for Neural Network assessment. Importantly, the subchannel frequencies, decimation rates and IIR filter profiles may be selectively adjusted by the control circuits to emphasize relevant patterns to be extracted by the neural network from a received radar signal.

Provided is a radar detector that aids in management of unimportant sources, dynamically improving handling of such sources based upon previously-stored geographically-referenced information on such sources. The detector determines location of the detector, and compares it to locations of known sources, to improve handling of such detections. The detector may ignore detections received in an area known to contain a stationary source, or may only ignore specific frequencies or handle frequencies differently based upon historic trends of spurious police radar signals at each frequency, or based on geofenced locations. GPS is used to establish current physical coordinates. The detector maintains a list of the coordinates of known stationary source offenders and geofence coordinates or boundaries in nonvolatile memory. When a microwave or laser source is detected, it may compare current coordinates to geofence boundaries and/or sources in this list. Notification varies depending on the stored information and current operating modes.