METHOD FOR OPERATING A RADAR SYSTEM FOR A VEHICLE

Abstract

A method for operating a radar system for a vehicle in order to detect at least one target object in the surroundings of the vehicle, wherein the following steps are carried out: providing a first, a second, and at least one third transmit signal, transmitting the provided transmit signals, wherein the transmit signals are transmitted successively via a transmit antenna of the radar system, in each case with partial signals transmitted at time intervals, and the intervals of the partial signals differ for different transmit signals.

Claims

1. A method for operating a radar system for a vehicle in order to detect at least one target object in the surroundings of the vehicle, the method comprising: providing a first, a second, and at least one third transmit signal; and transmitting the provided first, second and at least one third transmit signals successively via a transmit antenna of the radar system, in each case with partial signals transmitted at time intervals, wherein the first, second and at least one third transmit signals differ from one another with regard to the intervals of the partial signals.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the partial signals are each implemented as frequency-modulated ramps.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the intervals of the partial signals are the same for the same transmit signals and the intervals of the partial signals are different for different transmit signals.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein providing the transmit signals additionally comprises providing at least one fourth transmit signal.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the transmit signals are transmitted repeatedly and alternately, so that an immediate repetition of the same transmit signals with partial signals with the same intervals is avoided.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the intervals of the partial signals are in the range from 0.001 ms to 1 ms.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein a sequence of transmitting the transmit signals is predefined.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the partial signals are each frequency modulated.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the differences of the intervals of the partial signals are defined such that interference by external radar systems is reduced.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least four or at least five different transmit signals are transmitted with different intervals of the partial signals.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein after the transmission of the transmit signals, the following step is carried out: receiving receive signals specific to the transmit signals reflected on the target object and delayed by a propagation time in order to detect the at least one target object based on the receive signals.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein after receiving the receive signals, processing the receive signals occurs in each case to carry out the detection of the target object.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein at least one frequency analysis of the respective receive signal is carried out in order to determine a distance and/or a relative speed and/or a direction of the target object.

14. A radar system for a vehicle for detecting at least one target object in the surroundings of the vehicle, the radar system comprising: a processor to providing a first, a second, and at least one third transmit signal, and to transmit the provided transmit signals via a transmit antenna, wherein the processing device is further designed to transmit the transmit signals successively in each case with partial signals transmitted at time intervals so that the transmit signals differ from one another with regard to the intervals of the partial signals.

15. The radar system according to claim 14, wherein the processor is designed to carry out a method comprising: providing a first, a second, and at least one third transmit signal; and transmitting the provided first, second and at least one third transmit signals successively via a transmit antenna of the radar system, in each case with partial signals transmitted at time intervals, wherein the first, second and at least one third transmit signals differ from one another with regard to the intervals of the partial signals.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0027] The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinbelow and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus, are not limitive of the present invention, and wherein:

[0028] FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of a vehicle with a radar system of the invention in a side view;

[0029] FIG. 2 is a schematic visualization of a method of the invention;

[0030] FIG. 3 is a schematic visualization of the transmission of transmit signals in a method of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0031] FIG. 1 shows a radar system 2 of the invention for a vehicle 1 for detecting at least one target object 5 in the surroundings 6 of vehicle 1. It can be seen that a processing device 3 of radar system 2 is provided for providing 101 a first, a second, and at least a third transmit signal 210. This is taken to mean that processing device 3 predefines the manner in which transmit signals 210 are output. Processing device 3 can also serve to enable transmitting 102 the provided transmit signals 210 via a transmit antenna 20. For this purpose, processing device 3 can be electrically connected to transmit antenna 20 to electrically output transmit signals 210 there. Processing device 3 can further be configured to transmit signals 210 sequentially each with partial signals 211 transmitted at time intervals, such that the intervals d of partial signals 211 differ for different transmit signals 210. Thus, processing device 3 enables the implementation of a method of the invention.

[0032] FIG. 2 shows the method of the invention with further details. Providing 101 the first, the second, and the at least one third transmit signal 210 can occur first, and then transmitting 102 the provided transmit signals 210 via transmit antenna 20. Furthermore, after transmitting 102 transmit signals 210, a receiving 103 of receive signals 220 can occur, wherein receive signals 220 are specific to transmit signals 210 reflected on target object 5 and delayed by a propagation time. After receiving 103 receive signals 220, processing 104 of receive signals 220 can be carried out in each case to enable detection of target object 5. In this case, at least one frequency analysis 105 of respective receive signal 220 can be carried out to determine a distance and/or a relative speed and/or a direction of target object 5.

[0033] FIG. 3 shows by way of example a frequency response f of transmitted transmit signals 210 over time t. Specifically, in this case, a first transmit signal s1, a second transmit signal s2, a third transmit signal s3, and a fourth transmit signal s4 are transmitted sequentially when transmitting 102. This sequence can be repeated during the operation of radar system 2. Each of transmit signals 210 has partial signals 211 in the form of chirps. It can be seen that transmit signals 210 differed from one another in terms of the intervals d of partial signals 211. By way of example, partial signals 211 are each formed as frequency-modulated ramps, in particular chirps. As shown in FIG. 3, the intervals d of partial signals 211 can always be the same for the same transmit signals 210 and the intervals d of partial signals 211 can always be different for different transmit signals 210. Transmit signals 210 are transmitted repeatedly and alternately, so that an immediate repetition of the same transmit signals 210 with partial signals 211 of the same interval d is avoided. The transmission of s4 can thus again be followed by the transmission of s1 to s4.

[0034] The above explanation of the embodiments describes the present invention solely in the context of examples. Of course, individual features of the embodiments can be freely combined with one another, if technically feasible, without departing from the scope of the present invention.

[0035] The invention being thus described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are to be included within the scope of the following claims.