A radar sensor system having a defined number of HF components, with each of the HF components having at least one antenna for transmitting and/or receiving of radar waves in each case, and at least one antenna control for operating the at least one antenna; and a synchronization network, which is connected to all HF components and via which an operating frequency of all HF components is able to be synchronized; with a synchronization master according to at least one defined criterion being able to be provided by all HF components.

The disclosure relates in some aspects to providing miniature power-efficient agile photonic generators of microwave waveforms. Illustrative examples use chip lasers integrated in close thermal proximity with one another to provide a miniature microwave arbitrary waveform generator (AWG). Due to the small size of the lasers and the close integration, common ambient fluctuations from the environment or other sources can be efficiently reduced, yielding improved spectral purity of generated radio-frequency (RF) signals. Tight physical integration also permits a small device footprint with minimal acceleration sensitivity. The lasers may be locked to cavities or other resonators to allow efficient decoupling of the frequency and amplitude modulation of the lasers to provide flexibility to the waveform generator. Exemplary devices described herein can produce frequency chirped signals for radar applications. The frequency chirp may be linear and/or nonlinear. Tuning methods are also described herein.

A radar apparatus includes an antenna device including a first transmitting antenna, a second transmitting antenna, and a receiving antenna, a transceiver configured to transmit a transmission signal through one of the first transmitting antenna and the second transmitting antenna and receive a reflection signal reflected on an object through the receiving antenna, and a controller configured to process the reflection signal received through the receiving antenna to obtain information on the object, wherein the controller controls the transceiver to receive the reflection signal through the second transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna when the transmission signal is transmitted through the first transmitting antenna.

A radar monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) includes a first transmission channel configured to output a first continuous-wave transmit signal based on a local oscillator signal having a first frequency; a first phase shifter provided on the first transmission channel and configured to apply a first phase setting to the first continuous-wave transmit signal to generate a first transmit signal having the first frequency; a first transmit monitoring signal path configured to couple out a portion of the first transmit signal from the first transmission channel as a first transmit monitoring signal; a frequency multiplier configured to receive a test signal and convert it into a multiplied test signal having a second frequency, where the first and the second frequencies are separated by a frequency offset; and a down-conversion mixer configured to mix the multiplied test signal and the first transmit monitoring signal to generate a first mixer output signal.

A radar apparatus for estimating position of a plurality of obstacles. The radar apparatus includes a receive antenna unit. The receive antenna unit includes a linear array of antennas and an additional antenna at a predefined offset from at least one antenna in the linear array of antennas. The radar apparatus also includes a signal processing unit. The signal processing unit estimates an azimuth frequency associated with each obstacle of the plurality of obstacles from a signal received from the plurality of obstacles at the linear array of antennas. In addition, the signal processing unit estimates an azimuth angle and an elevation angle associated with each obstacle from the estimated azimuth frequency associated with each obstacle.

A radar device for a vehicle is provided, comprising a housing with a first housing part and a second housing part (2). The housing parts are connected to each other and form the boundaries of a closed recording space. The radar device also includes a circuit carrier accommodated within the recording space. The circuit carrier features at least one transmission antenna device for the transmission of radar beams, at least one receiving antenna device for receiving radar beams, and features high-frequency electronic circuit devices and low-frequency electronic circuit devices. At least one of the first of the two housing parts is a two-component plastic injection-molded parts, and one of the first of the two components has at least a three times higher thermal conductivity than a second one of the two components.

Phased array radar systems for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are disclosed. A disclosed example radar apparatus for a small UAVs includes a transmitter to transmit a transmit signal in the X-band, a receive phased array including at least two receive antennas, wherein the receive phased array provides a field-of-view of at least 100 degrees in a first direction and at least 20 degrees in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, a first processor programmed to determine a location of an object based on an output from each of the at least two antennas, a second processor programmed to perform collision avoidance based on the location of the object, and a mount to mechanically couple the radar apparatus to the UAV.

A universal transmit-receive (UTR) module for phased array systems comprises an antenna element shared for both transmitting and receiving; a transmit path that includes a transmit-path phase shifter, a driver, a switch-mode power amplifier (SMPA) that is configured to be driven by the driver, and a dynamic power supply (DPS) that generates and supplies a DPS voltage to the power supply port of the SMPA; and a receive path that includes a TX/RX switch that determines whether the receive path is electrically connected to or electrically isolated from the antenna element, a bandpass filter (BPF) that aligns with the intended receive frequency and serves to suppress reflected transmit signals and reverse signals, an adjustable-gain low-noise amplifier (LNA), and a receive-path phase shifter. The UTR module is specially designed for operation in phased array systems. The versatility and wideband agility of the UTR module allows a single phased array system to be designed that can be used for multiple purposes, such as, for example, both radar and communications applications.

The present application relates to radio detection and ranging (radar) systems and, in particular, to a radar system having a photonics-based signal generator. Such a radar system comprises a stepped-frequency optical signal generator, an optical-to-electrical converter, and a transmitter. The stepped-frequency optical signal generator is configured for converting an optical signal into a stepped-frequency optical signal. The optical-to-electrical converter for converting the stepped-frequency optical signal into a stepped-frequency electrical signal. The transmitter for transmitting a microwave signal based on the stepped-frequency electrical signal.

A vehicular radar sensing system includes a radar sensor configured to be disposed at a vehicle. The radar sensor includes a plurality of antennas that include a plurality of transmitting antennas that transmit radio signals and a plurality of receiving antennas that receive radio signals. The radar sensor provides radar data to a processor that processes the provided radar data to detect an object present in the field of sensing of the radar sensor. At least some antennas of the plurality of antennas include waveguides having T-shaped slots, with each T-shaped slot having a longitudinal portion and a transverse portion that extends transverse from the longitudinal portion, and with a width of the transverse portion being less than a length of the longitudinal portion.