A radar system is provided that includes transmission signal generation circuitry, a transmit channel coupled to the transmission generation circuitry to receive a continuous wave test signal, the transmit channel configurable to output a test signal based on the continuous wave signal in which a phase angle of the test signal is changed in discrete steps within a phase angle range, a receive channel coupled to the transmit channel via a feedback loop to receive the test signal, the receive channel including an in-phase (I) channel and a quadrature (Q) channel, a statistics collection module configured to collect energy measurements of the test signal output by the I channel and the test signal output by the Q channel at each phase angle, and a processor configured to estimate phase and gain imbalance of the I channel and the Q channel based on the collected energy measurements.

A radar system is provided that includes transmission signal generation circuitry, a transmit channel coupled to the transmission generation circuitry to receive a continuous wave test signal, the transmit channel configurable to output a test signal based on the continuous wave signal in which a phase angle of the test signal is changed in discrete steps within a phase angle range, a receive channel coupled to the transmit channel via a feedback loop to receive the test signal, the receive channel including an in-phase (I) channel and a quadrature (Q) channel, a statistics collection module configured to collect energy measurements of the test signal output by the I channel and the test signal output by the Q channel at each phase angle, and a processor configured to estimate phase and gain imbalance of the I channel and the Q channel based on the collected energy measurements.

A method and electronic device for determining relevant signals in radar signal processing. The electronic device includes a radar transceiver, a memory, and a processor. The processor is configured to cause the electronic device to obtain, via the radar transceiver of the electronic device, radar measurements for one or more modes in a set of modes; process the radar measurements to obtain a set of radar images; identify relevant signals in the set of radar images based on signal determination criteria for an application; and perform the application using only the relevant signals.

A synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is operable in an interrogation mode and in an imaging mode, the imaging mode entered in response to determining a response to interrogation pulses have been received from a ground terminal and position information specifying a ground location has been received from the ground terminal. A ground terminal is operable to receive interrogation pulses transmitted by a SAR, transmit responses, and transmit position information to cause the SAR to enter a imaging mode. The ground terminal receives first and subsequent pulses from the SAR where subsequent pulses include backscatter and are encoded. The ground terminal generates a range line by range compression. If the SAR is a multi-band SAR the transmitted pulses can be in two or more frequency bands, and subsequent pulses in one frequency band can include encoded returns from pulses transmitted in a different frequency band.

A synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is operable in an interrogation mode and in an imaging mode, the imaging mode entered in response to determining a response to interrogation pulses have been received from a ground terminal and position information specifying a ground location has been received from the ground terminal. A ground terminal is operable to receive interrogation pulses transmitted by a SAR, transmit responses, and transmit position information to cause the SAR to enter a imaging mode. The ground terminal receives first and subsequent pulses from the SAR where subsequent pulses include backscatter and are encoded. The ground terminal generates a range line by range compression. If the SAR is a multi-band SAR the transmitted pulses can be in two or more frequency bands, and subsequent pulses in one frequency band can include encoded returns from pulses transmitted in a different frequency band.

A method and electronic device for determining relevant signals in radar signal processing. The electronic device includes a radar transceiver, a memory, and a processor. The processor is configured to cause the electronic device to obtain, via the radar transceiver of the electronic device, radar measurements for one or more modes in a set of modes; process the radar measurements to obtain a set of radar images; identify relevant signals in the set of radar images based on signal determination criteria for an application; and perform the application using only the relevant signals.

Aspects of the invention provide improvements to analyze data collected by a radar system. One of the systems includes a phased array module configured to transmit a sequence of pulses to an environment according to a pre-determined pattern. A data analysis system constructs an image based on returned signals from a single point received by the phased array module, and determines one or more characteristics of a target object in the environment based on the image constructed from the returned signals from the single point.

A method for creating a virtual reception channel in a radar system includes an antenna possessing two physical reception channels (1.sub.r, 2.sub.r) spaced apart by a distance d in a direction x, two emission channels (1.sub.e, 2.sub.e) spaced apart by the same distance d in the same direction x and processing means, the method comprising: dynamically selecting two different waveforms, the waveforms being orthogonal to each other; generating a radar pulse of given central wavelength in each emission channel, each of the emission channels emitting one of the two different waveforms; acquiring with the reception channels echoes due to pulses emitted by the emission channels and reflected by at least one target; compressing the pulses by matched filtering of the echoes acquired by each physical reception channel, this involving correlating them with each of the waveforms generated in the emission channel; and repeating steps a) to c) while randomly changing one of the values of each of the phase codes associated with the generated waveforms until the level of the sidelobes of all the compressed pulses has stabilized; and radar system for implementing such a method.

A method for creating a virtual reception channel in a radar system includes an antenna possessing two physical reception channels (1.sub.r, 2.sub.r) spaced apart by a distance d in a direction x, two emission channels (1.sub.e, 2.sub.e) spaced apart by the same distance d in the same direction x and processing means, the method comprising: dynamically selecting two different waveforms, the waveforms being orthogonal to each other; generating a radar pulse of given central wavelength in each emission channel, each of the emission channels emitting one of the two different waveforms; acquiring with the reception channels echoes due to pulses emitted by the emission channels and reflected by at least one target; compressing the pulses by matched filtering of the echoes acquired by each physical reception channel, this involving correlating them with each of the waveforms generated in the emission channel; and repeating steps a) to c) while randomly changing one of the values of each of the phase codes associated with the generated waveforms until the level of the sidelobes of all the compressed pulses has stabilized; and radar system for implementing such a method.

Method and device for radar transmission and reception by dynamic change of polarization notably for the implementation of interleaved radar modes are provided. A radar transmission-reception method and a device for implementing this method, the method alternatively implementing two modes of operation, a short range mode exploiting short pulses and a long range mode exploiting modulated long pulses, the method consisting, for each mode, in: producing two synchronous radiofrequency (RF) transmission signals having between them a phase-shift θ of controllable given value; radiating two radiofrequency waves, each corresponding to one of the transmission RF signals produced, by means of two colocated radiating sources each having a given polarization axis; handling the reception of the backscattered radiofrequency signals picked up by each of the radiating sources, and delivering two radiofrequency (RF) reception signals each corresponding to a radiofrequency signal picked up by one of the radiating sources, a phase-shift θ′ being applied between the two signals delivered, θ′ being able to be determined as being equal to θ.