There is provided a radar device. A transmission unit includes a transmission antenna for transmitting a signal of a first frequency and a signal of a second frequency. A reception unit includes a first receiving antenna and a second receiving antenna for receiving a first signal obtained by bouncing the signal of the first frequency off a target, and a second signal obtained by bouncing the signal of the second frequency off the target. A control unit determines folding of a first phase difference, based on the first phase difference between the first signal received by the first receiving antenna and the first signal received by the second receiving antenna, a second phase difference between the second signal received by the first receiving antenna and the second signal received by the second receiving antenna, and a difference between the first phase difference and the second phase difference.

According to the invention, a device and a method are provided for determining the position of an object, in particular a moving object, in the three-dimensional space. The device comprises at least two switchable transmitting antennas having a different vertical position of the phase center as well as a plurality of receiving antennas which are arranged in series. The transmitting antennas are arranged in the horizontal direction and at a distance that corresponds to the distance of the receiving antennas. The transmitting antennas are vertically offset with respect to each other by a value that is less than or equal to half the free-space wavelength of the transmitted signal. The transmitting antennas can otherwise be arranged at any position around the receiving antenna. Horizontal beam sweep across a wide angular range is carried out according to the method of “digital beamforming”. The measurement of the vertical object position is carried out by phase measurement between the antenna beams when the transmitting antennas are sequentially switched.

An antenna system, such as a radar antenna system, includes an array of antenna elements and a controller. The controller outputs an in-path indicator in response to an angle of arrival for a target being less than a threshold angle for a given range to the target. The angle of arrival is based on a differential phase angle derived from data defining first and second composite signal returns from the target associated with first and second apertures respectively, and a phase center offset between the apertures. The first and second apertures are formed from first and second subsets of the antenna elements respectively.

A radar system includes a plurality of antennas and a controller. The plurality of antennas is configured to detect a reflected radar signal reflected by an object in a field-of-view of the system. Each antenna of the plurality of antennas is configured to output a detected signal indicative of the reflected radar signal detected by the antenna. The controller is configured to receive detected signals from the plurality of antennas, and determine if a target is present in the field-of-view based on the detected signals. The controller is also configured to determine if the target includes more than one object based on an analysis of phases of the detected signals.

A vehicular sensing system includes at least one MIMO radar sensor disposed at the vehicle and sensing exterior and forward of the vehicle. The at least one MIMO radar sensor includes multiple transmitting antennas and multiple receiving antennas. The transmitting antennas transmit radar signals and the receiving antennas receive radar signals. Radar data captured by the at least one MIMO radar sensor is provided to an electronic control unit (ECU). The ECU includes a processor and, responsive at least in part to processing at the ECU of provided captured radar data and vehicle motion information, determines different types of surfaces sensed by the at least one MIMO radar sensor. Responsive at least in part to processing at the ECU of provided captured radar data, the vehicular sensing system provides an output for at least one driving assist system.

Systems and methods to perform object surface estimation using a radar system involve receiving reflected signals resulting from reflection of transmit signals by an object. The method includes processing the reflected signals to obtain an image. The image indicates an intensity associated with at least one set of angle values and a set of range values. The method also includes processing the image to provide the object surface estimation. The object surface estimation indicates a subset of the at least one set of angle values and associated ranges within the set of range values.

Apparatus and methods are presented for characterising the environment of a user platform. In certain embodiments RF signals are transmitted and received through an antenna array having a plurality of elements activated in a predetermined sequence, and received signals are manipulated with round-trip path corrections to enhance the gain of the array in one or more directions. Objects in those directions are detected from the receipt of returns of transmitted signals, and the manipulated received signals processed to estimate range to those objects. In other embodiments RF signals transmitted by one or more external transmitters are received and manipulated to enhance the gain of a local antenna array or antenna arrays associated with the one or more transmitters to enhance the gain of the arrays in one or more directions. Objects in those directions are detected from the receipt of reflected signals from the transmitters, and the manipulated received signals processed to estimate range to those objects.

A method for assisting in locating a target object, a method for locating a target object, and an apparatus. In an embodiment, the method for assisting in locating a target object is applied to a station (STA), and the method includes: receiving a wireless sensing sounding frame including radar measurement indication information from an access point (AP); sending an uplink data packet to the AP, recording a first sending moment, and performing radar measurement on a target object based on the radar measurement indication information to obtain a radar measurement result; receiving a downlink data packet from the AP, and recording a first receiving moment; and sending the first sending moment, the first receiving moment and the radar measurement result to the AP.

In an embodiment, a millimeter-wave system includes a first circuit having M channels, one or more antennas coupled to the first circuit, and a controller that includes a resource scheduler module. The controller is configured to operate the millimeter-wave system as a radar device and as a communication device based on an output of the resource scheduler module.

Example apparatus, systems and methods use a receiver of a first device to receive from a second device, radio frequency (RF) signals. Embodiments use a processor of the first device to determine, based on the RF signals, a set of angle-estimation values of an angle between a plurality of antenna elements of one of the first device and the second device and an antenna element of the other of the first device and the second device, and a set of confidence measurements. Each of the set of confidence measurements indicates a confidence of an angle-estimation value of the set of angle-estimation values.