The present disclosure provides a smart automatic frequency control (AFC) apparatus, including: a phase shift module, connected to a first signal input terminal and configured to: receive an incident wave from the first signal input terminal, perform a phase shift on the incident wave according to a phase shift parameter so as to generate a phase-shifted signal, and output the phase-shifted signal to a phase detection module; and the phase detection module, connected to the phase shift module and a second signal input terminal and configured to: receive a reflected wave from the second signal input terminal, perform a phase detection on the phase-shifted signal and the reflected wave so as to generate a phase difference signal, and output the phase difference signal via a control interface.

A method for operating a stepped frequency radar system is disclosed. The method involves performing stepped frequency scanning across a frequency range using frequency steps of a step size, the stepped frequency scanning performed using at least one transmit antenna and a two-dimensional array of receive antennas, changing at least one of the step size and the frequency range, and performing stepped frequency scanning using the at least one transmit antenna and the two-dimensional array of receive antennas and using the changed at least one of the step size and the frequency range.

A prevention section generates a prevention signal by performing an interference removal process of preventing an influence of radio wave interference with respect to a non-prevention signal acquired by an acquisition section from a radar sensor for each processing cycle. An analysis section performs a frequency analysis process by using the prevention signal when an operation mode is an interference mode and by using the non-prevention signal when the operation mode is a normal mode. A determination section determines, based on an analysis result obtained by the analysis section, whether radio wave interference is present. When the operation mode is the normal mode and the interference is determined to be present, a switching section switches the operation mode to the interference mode, maintains the interference mode during a certain number of processing cycles, and then switches the operation mode to the normal mode.

An in-vehicle radar device includes a transmission section, a reception section, an analysis section, an extraction section, a speed calculation section, a distance calculation section, and a folding detection section. The folding detection section detects occurrence of erroneous calculation of a distance, when reflection intensity at a frequency peak obtained by the extraction section is smaller than a preset intensity threshold for a distance calculated by the distance calculation section and a frequency width in a frequency spectrum calculated by the analysis section is smaller than a preset width threshold.

A phased array radar system includes a first input signal source configured to generate a first input signal (e.g., a clock signal), and a second input signal source configured to generate a second input signal (e.g., a local oscillator signal). A multiplexer is operatively connected to the first and second input signal sources, and is configured to selectively route the first and second input signals onto a single output channel. At least one signal dividing device is operatively connected to the single output channel, and is configured to generate a plurality of output signals from a signal received from the signal multiplexer. A plurality of signal demultiplexers are also provided, with each demultiplexer responsive to one of the plurality of output signals for routing the output signal to one of a plurality of output channels. A plurality of radar receivers and/or exciters are operatively connected to the plurality of output channels of the plurality of multiplexers.

A signal generator includes a first phase-locked loop (PLL) configured to receive a first reference signal having a first reference frequency and generate a ramping signal based on the first reference signal, where the ramping signal is between a minimum frequency and a maximum frequency of a radar frequency band; a system clock configured to generate a second reference signal having a common system reference frequency; and a second PLL configured to receive the second reference signal from the system clock, generate the first reference signal based on the second reference signal, and provide the first reference signal to the first PLL.

An electronic device comprises: a plurality of transmission antennas configured to transmit transmission waves; a plurality of reception antennas configured to receive reflected waves resulting from reflection of the transmission waves; and a controller configured to detect an object reflecting the transmission waves, based on a transmission signal transmitted as the transmission waves and a reception signal received as the reflected waves. The controller is configured to determine a band part used to transmit the transmission waves in a predetermined frequency band, depending on an incidence angle when the reception antennas receive the reflected waves.

A vehicle, radar system for a vehicle and a method of detecting a parameter of an object is disclosed. The radar system includes a base radar and a frequency converter. The base radar generates a first frequency source signal within a first frequency range and is receptive to a first frequency reflected signal within the first frequency range. The base radar is configured to determine a parameter of an object from the first frequency reflected signal. The frequency converter is configured to convert the first frequency source signal to a second frequency source signal within a second frequency range and to convert a second frequency reflected signal within the second frequency range to the first frequency reflected signal.

A method for use in a radar device is described herein. In accordance some implementations, the method includes generating an RF oscillator signal which includes frequency-modulated chirps, amplitude-modulating the RF oscillator signal by a modulation signal, and transmitting the amplitude-modulated RF oscillator signal via at least one antenna. In some implementations, the method may further include receiving an RF signal that includes frequency-modulated chirp echo signals from a target object, down-converting the received RF signal into a base band using the RF oscillator signal for providing a base band signal, and processing the base band signal to detect information included in the modulation signal.

A light detection and ranging (LIDAR) system includes optical sources to emit optical beams with synchronized chirp rates and chirp durations. The optical beams provide a comb of coherent optical beams with a fixed frequency separation between frequency adjacent optical beams. A first set of first optical components amplifies and combines the optical beams into a combined optical beam. A second set of optical components transmits the combined optical beam toward a target environment and receives a target return signal. A third set of optical components downconverts the target return signal to downconverted target return signals corresponding to the optical beams, and coherently combines the downconverted target return signals.