A radar includes transmitters, receivers, a memory, and a processor. The transmitters transmit radio signals, and the receivers receive reflected radio signals. The processor produces samples by correlating reflected radio signals with time-delayed replicas of transmitted radio signals. The processor stores this information as a first data structure, with information related to signals reflected from objects as a function of time (one dimension of the data structure) at various distances (a second dimension of the data structure) for various receivers (a third dimension of the data structure). The first data structure is processed to compute velocity and angle estimates, which are stored in second and third data structures, respectively. One or more memory optimizations are used to increase performance. Before storing the second and third data structures in a memory, the second and third data structures are sparsified to only include the outputs in specific regions of interest.

A radar system including a reference channel formed symmetrically in relation to a main channel, with a first oscillator, generating a first input signal, which is feedable to an antenna in the main channel, a reflected portion of the first input signal being feedable to a first mixer, the first input signal in the reference channel being feedable to a second mixer via a second directional coupler, with a second oscillator, generating a second input signal having a frequency differing from the first input signal in a defined way, which is feedable to the first and second mixers, the signal coming from the mixer of the main channel and the signal coming from the mixer of the reference channel being compared, and dimensioning a terminating impedance of the reference channel as a function of the comparison so that the output signals of the main and reference channels have identical properties.

In some implementations, a radar device comprises: a clock input configured to receive a clock signal, a local oscillator configured to generate a first RF local oscillator signal based on the clock signal, and also an RF input configured to receive a second RF local oscillator signal. The radar device further comprises a phase shifter configured to shift the phase of the first RF local oscillator signal or of the second RF local oscillator signal by a settable phase value. A monitor circuit is configured to combine the first RF local oscillator signal and the second RF local oscillator signal and to generate a sequence of signal values based on the combined signal. A computing unit is configured to determine the relative phase of the second RF local oscillator signal in relation to the first RF local oscillator signal based on the sequence of signal values.

A localization method for locating a target that is coupled with a locator transponder associated with a permanent identification code permanently assigned to the locator transponder is provided. The localization method includes: a) transmitting a spread spectrum paging signal carrying the permanent identification code and a shorter temporary identification code temporarily assigned to the locator transponder; b) receiving the spread spectrum paging signal and extracting the temporary identification code carried by the received spread spectrum paging signal; c) transmitting radar signals towards area(s) of earth's surface or sky and receiving echo signals therefrom; d) upon reception by the locator transponder of radar signal(s), generating and transmitting a sequence of watermarked radar echo signals in which a spread spectrum watermarking signal is embedded that includes the temporary identification code; e) carrying out localization operations; f) transmitting frequency-synchronization-aid signal(s); g) receiving the frequency-synchronization-aid signal(s) and estimating a frequency drift affecting a reference frequency provided by a local oscillator of the locator transponder; wherein the locator transponder transmits the sequence of watermarked radar echo signals by using a transmission carrier frequency obtained based on the reference frequency provided by the local oscillator and on the estimated frequency drift.

A circuit includes a radio frequency (RF) channel including an input node and an output node and being configured to receive an RF oscillator signal at the input node and to provide an RF output signal at the output node; a mixer configured to mix an RF reference signal and an RF test signal representative of the RF output signal to generate a mixer output signal; an analog-to-digital converter configured to sample the mixer output signal in order to provide a sequence of sampled values; and a control circuit configured to provide a sequence of phase offsets by phase-shifting at least one of the RF test signal and the RF reference signal using one or more phase shifters, calculate a spectral value from the sequence of sampled values; and calculate estimated phase information indicating a phase of the RF output signal based on the spectral value.

The disclosure relates to a radar system in which multiple radar transceivers are synchronised with a common clock signal. In example embodiments a radar system (200) comprises: a control module (205); a processing module (206); a plurality of radar transceivers (201.sub.1-n); and a communications bus (211) connecting the control module (205) to one or more of the plurality of radar transceivers (201.sub.1-n), wherein the control module (205) is configured to generate a first clock signal and transmit the first clock signal via the communications bus (211) to one or more of the plurality of transceivers (201.sub.1-n) and to receive radar data from the plurality of transceivers (201.sub.1-n) via the communications bus (211), wherein each of the plurality of transceivers (201.sub.1-n) is configured to generate a second clock signal extracted from the first clock signal and to transmit and receive frequency synchronized radar signals based on the second clock signal, and wherein the processing module (206) is configured to: calculate a phase difference between the frequency synchronized radar signals; compensate for the measured phase difference; and process received radar signals from the plurality of transceivers (201.sub.1-n).

A radio frequency (RF) system includes a radar monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MIMIC), which includes: a phase detector including a test input port, and a monitoring input port, wherein the phase detector is configured to generate an output signal that represents a phase difference between a test signal received at the test input port and a monitoring signal received at the monitoring input port; a test signal path including at least one active component, the test signal path configured to receive a local oscillator signal and provide the local oscillator signal as the test signal to the test input port during a first measurement interval; and a passive signal path configured to receive the local oscillator signal and provide the local oscillator signal to the monitoring input port as the monitoring signal during the first measurement interval.

Tools are provided to assisting in the driving of a given vehicle in motion. Various examples are provided related to systems and methods for managing operation of a vehicle. In one example, among others, a system includes one or more transducer arrays installed on a vehicle; a controller; at least one image pickup sensor; a diagnostic engine; and a display. The one or more transducer arrays can detect an object present within a detection area external to the vehicle. The controller can generate an object detection signal in response to detection of an object within a detection area. The diagnostic engine can monitor one or more attributes of a plurality of transducer elements of the one or more transducer arrays. The display can display object detection messages associated with the object detection signal, display images captured by the image pickup sensor, and/or receive user input via a user interface.

A radar device (100) is described that includes at least one transceiver (105) configured to support frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW); radar device (100) and a digital controller (262). A temperature sensor system includes a plurality of temperature sensors (222, 232, 242) coupled to one or more circuits (220, 230, 240) in the at least one transceiver (105). The digital controller (262, 306) comprises or is operably coupled to an over-temperature emulation circuit (308) configured to emulate an over-temperature shutdown state by injecting an over-temperature force signal (290) into the temperature sensor system (270).

A plurality of target reflection levels detected by a plurality of object detection apparatuses mounted to a vehicle are received, and a difference between target reflection levels of two or more targets detected as the same target or the same type of target is calculated. When this difference exceeds a range of values determined in advance, a control apparatus determines that any of the plurality of object detection apparatuses has an abnormality. Accordingly, occurrence of an abnormality in the object detection apparatus can be determined less erroneously than before, without causing statistical processing to be complicated.