TDM FMCW RADAR APPARATUS AND SIGNAL PROCESSING METHOD OF APPARATUS

Abstract

A method and structure for solving a Doppler ambiguity problem in a time-division-multiplexed (TDM) frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar apparatus are proposed. In a frame of a waveform signal transmitted by one transmitting antenna in the TDM FMCW radar apparatus, at least three consecutive chirps having different periods are included for each chirp loop. A Doppler frequency may be determined from phase difference values between the three consecutive chirps measured from an FMCW radar signal received at a receiving antenna. The at least three consecutive chirps having different periods are configured to differ in at least one of an idle time between the chirps or a ramp time of the chirp.

Claims

1. A signal processing method of a time-division-multiplexed (TDM) frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar apparatus, the method comprising: a wireless transmission operation of transmitting an FMCW radar waveform signal configured such that at least three consecutive chirps included in a chirp loop of a radar signal have different periods; a wireless reception operation of demodulating a baseband FMCW radar signal from an FMCW radar waveform signal reflected by a target, sampling a difference signal between the baseband FMCW radar signal and the transmitted signal, transforming the difference signal into a digital signal, and outputting the digital signal; a spectrum analysis operation of determining and outputting a beat frequency and a Doppler frequency from the signal output in the wireless reception operation; and a Doppler frequency determination operation of measuring phase differences between the at least three consecutive chirps having different periods, which are received in the wireless reception operation, and determining and outputting a true Doppler frequency from the measured values and the Doppler frequency output in the spectrum analysis operation.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the FMCW radar waveform signal transmitted in the wireless transmission operation is configured such that the at least three consecutive chirps differ in at least one of an idle time between the chirps and a ramp time of the chirp.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least three consecutive chirps are configured such that a sum of an inter-chirp difference value of the idle time and an inter-chirp difference value of the ramp time is limited by a target maximum detection rate of the target.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the spectrum analysis operation includes: a range fast Fourier transform (FFT) processing operation of transforming the digital signal output in the wireless reception operation into a frequency-domain signal in units of chirps and outputting the frequency-domain signal; a Doppler FFT processing operation of transforming the same frequency components of the frequency-domain signal output in the range FFT processing operation into a frequency-domain signal again and outputting the frequency-domain signal; a range estimation operation of determining and outputting a beat frequency from the signal output in the range FFT processing operation; and a Doppler estimation operation of determining and outputting a Doppler frequency from the signal output in the Doppler FFT processing operation.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein in the Doppler frequency determination operation, from at least three consecutive chirp signals output in the wireless reception operation, the phase differences between the chirps are measured, and the Doppler frequency at which theoretically calculated phase difference values have values most similar to the measured phase difference values is determined and output as a true Doppler frequency.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the Doppler frequency determination operation includes: a phase difference measurement operation of measuring phase differences between at least three consecutive chirp signals which have different periods and are included in the chirp loop; a search range calculation operation of determining a search range of Doppler frequencies of an aliased spectrum by a ratio of a maximum Doppler frequency of the target to be detected and a maximum Doppler frequency obtained from a range-Doppler spectrum; and a Doppler frequency search operation of determining and outputting a Doppler frequency at which a theoretically calculated phase difference value is most similar to a measured phase difference value, among the Doppler frequencies of the aliased spectrum.

7. A time-division-multiplexed frequency (TDM) modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar apparatus, comprising: a wireless transmitter configured to transmit an FMCW radar waveform signal configured such that at least three consecutive chirps included in a chirp loop of a radar signal have different periods; a wireless receiver configured to demodulate a baseband FMCW radar signal from an FMCW radar waveform signal reflected by a target, sample a difference signal between the baseband FMCW radar signal and the transmitted signal, and transform the difference signal into a digital signal and output the digital signal; a spectrum analyzer configured to determine and output a beat frequency and a Doppler frequency from the signal output from the wireless receiver; and a Doppler frequency determiner configured to measure phase differences between the at least three consecutive chirps having different periods, which are received at the wireless receiver, and determine and output a true Doppler frequency from the measured values and the Doppler frequency output from the spectrum analyzer.

8. The TDM FMCW radar apparatus of claim 7, wherein the FMCW radar waveform signal transmitted from the wireless transmitter is configured such that the at least three consecutive chirps differ in at least one of an idle time between the chirps and a ramp time of the chirp.

9. The TDM FMCW radar apparatus of claim 8, wherein the at least three consecutive chirps are configured such that a sum of an inter-chirp difference value of the idle time and an inter-chirp difference value of the ramp time is limited by a target maximum detection rate of the target.

10. The TDM FMCW radar apparatus of claim 7, wherein the spectrum analyzer includes: a range fast Fourier transform (FFT) processor configured to transform the digital signal output from the wireless receiver into a frequency-domain signal in units of chirps and output the frequency-domain signal; a Doppler FFT processor configured to transform the same frequency components of the frequency-domain signal output from the range FFT processor into a frequency-domain signal again and output the frequency-domain signal; a range estimator configured to determine and output a beat frequency from the signal output from the range FFT processor; and a Doppler estimator configured to determine and output a Doppler frequency from the signal output from the Doppler FFT processor.

11. The TDM FMCW radar apparatus of claim 7, wherein the Doppler frequency determiner, from at least three consecutive chirp signals output from the wireless receiver, measures the phase differences between the chirps, and determines and outputs the Doppler frequency at which theoretically calculated phase difference values have values most similar to the measured phase difference values as a true Doppler frequency.

12. The TDM FMCW radar apparatus of claim 7, wherein the Doppler frequency determiner includes: a phase difference measurer configured to measure phase differences between at least three consecutive chirp signals which have different periods and are included in the chirp loop; a search range calculator configured to determine a search range of Doppler frequencies of an aliased spectrum by a ratio of a maximum Doppler frequency of the target to be detected and a maximum Doppler frequency obtained from a range-Doppler spectrum; and a Doppler frequency searcher configured to determine and output a Doppler frequency at which a theoretically calculated phase difference value is most similar to a measured phase difference value, among the Doppler frequencies of the aliased spectrum.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0034] FIG. 1 illustrates an antenna array, which is composed of TX transmitting antennas and RX receiving antennas, in an exemplary frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar apparatus.

[0035] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of range-Doppler processing for estimating a range and a radial velocity from a time-division-multiplexed (TDM) FMCW radar signal.

[0036] FIG. 3 illustrates velocity spectra that may be estimated from a Doppler fast Fourier transform (FFT) output spectrum.

[0037] FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a configuration of a signal processing method of a TDM FMCW radar apparatus according to an embodiment.

[0038] FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a configuration of a spectrum analysis operation according to an embodiment.

[0039] FIG. 6 illustrates a typical frame structure of a radar waveform in the TDM FMCW radar apparatus according to an embodiment.

[0040] FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a configuration of a Doppler frequency determination operation according to an embodiment.

[0041] FIG. 8 illustrates a process of obtaining a range-Doppler spectrum by performing range-Doppler processing in a typical TDM FMCW radar apparatus.

[0042] FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the TDM FMCW radar apparatus according to an embodiment.

[0043] FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a configuration of a spectrum analyzer according to an embodiment.

[0044] FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a Doppler frequency determiner according to an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0045] The foregoing and additional aspects of the present invention will be embodied through the following embodiments described with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that various combinations of components in each embodiment are possible unless otherwise specified or contradicted within the embodiment. It will be understood that words or terms used in the specification and claims should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the description and the technical idea of the proposed invention, based on the principle that an inventor is able to properly define the meaning of the words or terms to best explain the invention. Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0046] <Description of Claim 1 of Invention>

[0047] According to one aspect, in a time-division-multiplexed (TDM) frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar apparatus, a frame of a waveform signal transmitted from one transmitting antenna includes at least three consecutive chirps, which have different periods, for each chirp loop. A Doppler frequency may be determined from phase difference values between the three consecutive chirps measured from an FMCW radar signal received at a receiving antenna.

[0048] FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a configuration of a signal processing method of a TDM FMCW radar apparatus according to an embodiment. As illustrated in the drawing, the signal processing method of the TDM FMCW radar apparatus according to an embodiment includes a wireless transmission operation 410, a wireless reception operation 420, a spectrum analysis operation 430, and a Doppler frequency determination operation 440.

[0049] The proposed invention describes a case of the TDM FMCW radar apparatus composed of an array of N.sub.TX transmitting antennas and N.sub.RX receiving antennas. In this radar apparatus, the wireless transmission operation 410 is performed at each transmitting antenna, and the wireless reception operation 420 is performed at each receiving antenna, and the spectrum analysis operation 430 and the Doppler frequency determination operation 440 may be performed at all virtual antennas.

[0050] In the wireless transmission operation 410, the radar apparatus transmits an FMCW radar waveform signal through the transmitting antenna. According to an aspect, in the FMCW radar waveform signal transmitted by the radar apparatus, at least three consecutive chirps have different periods for each chirp loop. Here, the expression that three consecutive chirps have different periods includes cases in which two out of three have the same period and the remaining one has a different value, or all three have different values.

[0051] FIG. 6 illustrates a typical frame structure of a radar waveform in the TDM FMCW radar apparatus according to an embodiment. A frame is a unit of spectrum analysis, and the number of chirp loops included in one frame is expressed herein as N.sub.LOOP. FIG. 6 illustrates only two chirp loops as a part of one frame. In the drawing, T.sub.loop is a length of the chirp loop. The chirp loop is a period required for all transmitting antennas to transmit a signal once. Each frame is composed of one or more chirp loops, and each of the chirp loops is composed of one or more chirps. Here, the number of the chirps per chirp loop is expressed as N.sub.TX. The number of the chirps per chirp loop is generally equal to the number of transmitting antennas. When a position index of the chirp in the chirp loop is expressed as p, p has a value in a range of 0<=p<=N.sub.TX−1.

[0052] An upper right end of FIG. 6 illustrates a waveform signal of one chirp period of the radar waveform signal. Here,

[0053] α: frequency sweep rate

[0054] T.sub.idle,p: idle time of pth chirp

[0055] T.sub.ramp,p: length of frequency change section of pth chirp

[0056] T.sub.chirp,p: chirp period of the pth chirp(=T.sub.idle,p+T.sub.ramp,p)

[0057] T.sub.ADC: sampling delay that is a time difference between time at which transmission of a chirp starts and time at which sampling starts

[0058] f.sub.0: chirp start frequency.

[0059] In the proposed invention, the frequency sweep rate a, the chirp start frequency f.sub.0, and the sampling delay T.sub.ADC are assumed to be the same for all chirps. When a delay component between a transmitting antenna TX(p) used to transmit the pth chirp and a qth receiving antenna is expressed as τ.sub.TX(p),q, a value of τ.sub.TX(p),q is determined by azimuth and elevation of a target, and a relative position of a virtual antenna specified by TX(p) and q from an antenna reference point in space.

[0060] According to an aspect, unlike a general waveform signal illustrated in FIG. 6, each of chirp loops of an FMCW radar waveform signal transmitted by the radar apparatus to which the signal processing method according to an embodiment is applied includes at least N.sub.TX+2 chirps. The N.sub.TX chirps are valid chirps for estimating a beat frequency and a Doppler frequency, and information that determines the Doppler frequency may be acquired from at least three consecutive chirps from an N.sub.TXth chirp. However, the proposed invention is not limited thereto, and the three consecutive chirps in the chirp loop may be positioned at a beginning portion or an intermediate portion of the chirp loop. Furthermore, the position or contents of the three consecutive chirps may be different for each FMCW radar waveform signal transmitted by the transmitting antennas.

[0061] In the wireless reception operation 420, the radar apparatus receives an FMCW radar waveform signal reflected by the target using the receiving antenna, demodulates a baseband FMCW radar signal, samples a difference signal between the baseband FMCW radar signal and the transmitted signal, and transforms the sampled signal into a digital signal and outputs the same.

[0062] In the spectrum analysis operation 430, the radar apparatus determines and outputs a beat frequency and a Doppler frequency from the signal output in the wireless reception operation 420. In one chirp loop, the N.sub.TX transmitting antennas sequentially transmit the FMCW radar waveform signal, and each transmitted FMCW radar waveform signal is reflected by the target and received by the N.sub.RX receiving antennas. In the spectrum analysis operation 430, a signal processing circuit of the radar apparatus processes the radar waveform signal for each receiving antenna. In addition, the signal processing circuit of the radar apparatus processes the waveform signal in units of chirps in the same time slot in the loops received at one receiving antenna.

[0063] In the Doppler frequency determination operation 440, the signal processing circuit of the radar apparatus measures phase differences between at least three consecutive chirps having different periods received at the receiving antenna and determines and outputs a true Doppler frequency from measured values and the Doppler frequency output in the spectrum analysis operation. This will be described in detail below.

[0064] <Description of Claim 2 of Invention>

[0065] According to an additional aspect of the proposed invention, the at least three consecutive chirps are configured to differ in at least one of an idle time between the chirps or a ramp time of the chirp. Accordingly, phase components generated due to a Doppler frequency f.sub.d may be observed at different time intervals so that more information may be obtained. Referring to an exemplary waveform in a dotted-line circle of FIG. 6, the idle time between the chirps corresponds to T.sub.idle, and the ramp time of the chirp corresponds to T.sub.ramp. In the example illustrated in the drawing, a period of the chirp may be expressed as T.sub.chirp=T.sub.idle+T.sub.ramp.

[0066] According to the proposed invention, the three consecutive chirps in the chirp loop may be configured such that a first chirp differs in ramp time, a last chirp differs in idle time, and an intermediate chirp differs in both ramp time and idle time. In the case of employing three or more consecutive chirps, intermediate chirps may all be configured to differ in both ramp time and idle time.

[0067] Similar to that described above, in the illustrated embodiment, in the FMCW radar waveform signal, positions of the chirps, which differ in idle time or ramp time, may be the beginning, intermediate, or end of the loop, and the position or content may be different for each wireless transmitter. As will be described below, it is possible to obtain additional information enabling one true Doppler frequency to be determined from among a plurality of Doppler frequencies, which are generated by an aliasing phenomenon, by varying an idle time T.sub.idle between the chirps and a ramp time T.sub.ramp of the chirp.

[0068] <Description of Spectrum Analysis of Claim 4 and FIG. 5>

[0069] FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a configuration of the spectrum analysis operation according to an embodiment. As illustrated in the drawing, in an embodiment, the spectrum analysis operation may include a range FFT processing operation 431, a Doppler fast Fourier transform (FFT) processing operation 433, a range estimation operation 435, and a Doppler estimation operation 437.

[0070] In the range FFT processing operation 431, the signal processing circuit of the radar apparatus transforms the digital signal output in the wireless reception operation 420 into a frequency-domain signal in units of chirps and outputs the same. Although an FFT is selected as an example in the illustrated embodiment, it is understood that the proposed invention encompasses various known transforms for frequency-domain transformation.

[0071] In the Doppler FFT processing operation 433, the signal processing circuit of the radar apparatus transforms again the same frequency components of the frequency-domain signal output in the range FFT processing operation 431 into a frequency-domain signal and outputs the same. In the Doppler FFT processing operation 433, the signal processing circuit of the radar apparatus performs inter-chirp processing by performing FFT after collecting FFT coefficients by frequency, that is, by an FFT index. The transformed FFT coefficients are stored in a memory. The values stored in the memory are range-Doppler spectrum values obtained through a range FFT and a Doppler FFT.

[0072] In the range estimation operation 435, the signal processing circuit of the radar apparatus determines and outputs a beat frequency from the signal output in the range FFT processing operation 431. In the range estimation operation 435, the signal processing circuit of the radar apparatus may search for a position of a peak in the spectrum output in the range FFT processing operation 431, that is, an index storing a maximum value, to identify a beat frequency, and calculate a range to the target using the beat frequency.

[0073] In the Doppler search operation 435, the signal processing circuit of the radar apparatus determines and outputs a Doppler frequency from the signal output and stored in the Doppler FFT processing operation 433. In the Doppler search operation 435, the signal processing circuit of the radar apparatus may determine the Doppler frequency by identifying a position of an array that stores a peak value in the range-Doppler spectrum.

[0074] <Description of Claim 5 of Invention>

[0075] According to an additional aspect, a true value of the Doppler frequency may be determined from a phase difference between the chirps measured from at least three consecutive chirp signals having a period different from a measured value. Specifically, a Doppler frequency of the aliased spectrum, at which a theoretically calculated phase difference has the most similar value to the measured phase difference may be determined as a true Doppler frequency.

[0076] Due to the aliased spectrum, the true Doppler frequency is spaced apart from the measured Doppler frequency by an integer multiple of a width of the aliased spectrum. The phase difference of the at least three consecutive chirp signals having different periods is calculated from the Doppler frequency of the aliased spectrum that may be a candidate, and the Doppler frequency whose phase difference is most similar to the actually measured phase difference may be estimated as the true Doppler frequency.

[0077] <Description of FIG. 8>FIG. 8 illustrates a process of obtaining a range-Doppler spectrum by performing range-Doppler processing in a typical TDM FMCW radar apparatus. Even in the proposed invention, range-Doppler processing is performed in a manner similar to that shown in FIG. 2, and description is made with reference to the qth receiving antenna as an example. When a signal processing procedure as illustrated in FIG. 2 is performed at each receiving channel for all TX(p), a total of N.sub.TX range-Doppler spectra may be obtained as shown in FIG. 8. As indicated by gray in FIG. 8, there is a peak in an arrangement corresponding to a range and a radial speed of the target on the range-Doppler spectrum, and a phase value at a peak in the range-Doppler spectrum obtained by a TX(p).fwdarw.q link, that is, a virtual antenna in which a signal transmitted from a pth transmitting antenna is received by the qth receiving antenna is, ignoring noise, expressed as follows,

∅.sub.p,q=2π(f.sub.0+αT.sub.ADC)τ.sub.TX(p),q+2πf.sub.d(Σ.sub.i=0.sup.p-1T.sub.chirp,i+T.sub.idle,p).  [Equation 3]

[0078] Here, for three consecutive chirps p, p+1, and p+2,

[0079] when a relationship of τ.sub.TX(p),q=τ.sub.TX(p+1),q=τ.sub.TX(p+2),q is satisfied,

[0080] phase differences between consecutive chirps may be expressed as follows,

[00002]$\begin{array}{cc}{\mathrm{\Delta \varnothing }}_{1,0}={\varnothing }_{p+1,q}-{\varnothing }_{p,q}=2\pi f_d\left(T_{\mathrm{ramp},p}+T_{\mathrm{idle},p+1}\right)+\underset{\underset{\Delta T_{\mathrm{idle}}}{︸}}{T_{\mathrm{idle},p+2}-T_{\mathrm{idle},p+1}}& \left[\mathrm{Equation}4\right]\end{array}$${\mathrm{\Delta \varnothing }}_{2,1}={\varnothing }_{p+2,q}-{\varnothing }_{p+1,q}=2\pi f_d\left(T_{\mathrm{ramp},p+1}+T_{\mathrm{idle},p+2}\right)$${\mathrm{\Delta \varnothing }}_{2,1,0}={\mathrm{\Delta \varnothing }}_{2,1}-{\mathrm{\Delta \varnothing }}_{1,0}=2\pi f_d\left(\underset{\underset{\Delta T_{\mathrm{ramp}}}{︸}}{T_{\mathrm{ramp},p+1}+T_{\mathrm{ramp},p}}+\underset{\underset{\Delta T_{\mathrm{idle}}}{︸}}{T_{\mathrm{idle},p+2}+T_{\mathrm{idle},p+1}}\right).$

[0081] It can be seen from Equation 4 that the phase differences between the consecutive chirps are determined by an idle time T.sub.idle and a ramp Time T.sub.ramp. When all the chirps have the same idle time and ramp time as in the conventional TDM FMCW system, information obtainable from the phase differences between the chirps is limited to 2πf.sub.d(T.sub.ramp+T.sub.idle).

[0082] As illustrated in FIG. 8, in the Doppler processing at the receiving channel of each virtual antenna, signals received from the same transmitting antenna are input, and a time difference between the input samples is T.sub.loop. When a Doppler frequency due to a movement of the target is expressed as f.sub.d, the minimum phase difference that may be observed by performing the Doppler processing is 2πf.sub.dT.sub.loop.

[0083] At this point, the maximum Doppler frequency measurable by Equation 1 may be expressed as f.sub.d=1/(2T.sub.loop), and in a case of f.sub.d>|f.sub.d,max|, an error occurs in a radial speed estimation value due to an aliasing phenomenon as illustrated in FIG. 3.

[0084] When the Doppler frequency estimated on the range-Doppler spectrum is expressed as f.sub.d,measured, and an actual Doppler frequency is expressed as f.sub.d,true, f.sub.d,true and f.sub.d,measured have a relationship as follows,

f.sub.d,true=f.sub.d,measured+2kf.sub.d,max.  [Equation 5]

[0085] In Equation 5, k is an arbitrary integer and k is estimated to determine the actual Doppler frequency f.sub.d,true.

[0086] FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a configuration of the Doppler frequency determination operation according to an embodiment. As illustrated in the drawing, the Doppler frequency determination operation according to an embodiment may include a phase difference measurement operation 441, a search range calculation operation 443, and Doppler-frequencies-with-maximum-similarity search operations 445, 447, and 449.

[0087] In the phase difference measurement operation 441, the signal processing circuit of the radar apparatus measures phase differences between at least three consecutive chirp signals having different periods included in the chirp loop. These phase difference values may be measured by detecting a start point and an end point of each of the chirps and measuring a time difference between the end points of the consecutive chirps. A measurement vector as shown below may be generated from the measured phase differences by using the phase differences between the chirps obtained in Equation 4,

[00003]$\begin{array}{cc}X=\left[\begin{array}{c}\exp \left(j{\mathrm{\Delta \varnothing }}_{1,0}\right)\\ \exp \left(j{\mathrm{\Delta \varnothing }}_{2,1}\right)\\ \exp \left(j{\mathrm{\Delta \varnothing }}_{2,1,0}\right)\end{array}\right].& \left[\mathrm{Equation}6\right]\end{array}$

[0088] In the search range calculation operation 443, the signal processing circuit of the radar apparatus determines a search range of the Doppler frequency of the aliased spectrum by a ratio of a maximum Doppler frequency of the target to be detected and a maximum Doppler frequency obtained from the range-Doppler spectrum.

[0089] In Equation 5, a value of k may be referred to as an index of the Doppler frequencies present on the aliased spectrum. There are countless aliased spectra, and thus, appropriately limiting the range thereof is important in terms of the possibility that the proposed invention may be actually applied.

[0090] When a start frequency of the FMCW waveform is defined as f.sub.0 and the maximum moving velocity of the target is defined as v.sub.r,max,target, the maximum Doppler frequency of the target may be expressed as follows,

[00004]$\begin{array}{cc}{f}_{d,\max ,\mathrm{target}}=\frac{2v_{r,\max ,\mathrm{target}}}{c}{f}_0,& \left[\mathrm{Equation}7\right]\end{array}$

(where, c is a wave velocity).

[0091] It can be seen from Equation 4 that a minimum measurable time difference is ΔT.sub.ramp+ΔT.sub.idle. Thus, when ΔT.sub.ramp+ΔT.sub.idle instead of T.sub.loop is substituted in a conditional expression of Equation 1, and Equation 7 is substituted for f.sub.d of Equation 1, which are then rearranged, the following relational expression may be derived,

[00005]$\begin{array}{cc}\Delta T_{\mathrm{ramp}}+\Delta T_{\mathrm{idle}}<\frac{C}{4f_0{v}_{r,\max ,\mathrm{target}}}.& \left[\mathrm{Equation}8\right]\end{array}$

[0092] As shown in Equation 8, in the proposed invention, at least three consecutive chirps are configured such that the sum of ΔT.sub.ramp and ΔT.sub.idle, that is, an inter-chirp difference value of the idle time and an inter-chirp difference value of the ramp time is limited by a target maximum detection rate of the target. Thus, using the maximum detection rate determined by the system design requirements, one or both of ΔT.sub.ramp and ΔT.sub.idle are appropriately adjusted to satisfy the relationship of Equation 8.

[0093] As shown in FIG. 3 and Equation 5, a peak due to the aliasing phenomenon occurs at intervals of 2f.sub.d,max on the Doppler spectrum. Thus, an integer, which is greater than or equal to a ratio of Equations 7 and 2f.sub.d,max but is smallest, is determined as the maximum value of k.

[00006]$\begin{array}{cc}{k}_{\mathrm{MAX}}=.Math.\frac{f_{d,\max ,\mathrm{target}}}{2f_{d,\max }}.Math.& \left[\mathrm{Equation}9\right]\end{array}$

[0094] where, 2f.sub.d,max,target is the maximum Doppler frequency to be detected, and 2f.sub.d,max is the maximum Doppler frequency that may be measured through the Doppler processing, that is, a Doppler FFT. That is, k that maximizes Re{w(k).sup.Hx} is identified while changing k from −k.sub.MAX to k.sub.MAX within a range of 2f.sub.d,max,target from a Doppler frequency of 2f.sub.d,measured, which is primarily measured through the Doppler processing. (H: Hermitian)

[0095] In the Doppler-frequencies-with-maximum-similarity search operations 445, 447, and 449, the signal processing circuit of the radar apparatus determines and outputs the Doppler frequency, at which a theoretically calculated phase difference is most similar to the measured phase difference, among the Doppler frequencies of the aliased spectrum.

[0096] First, at a search target Doppler frequency, a phase difference between at least three consecutive chirp signals having different periods included in the chirp loop is theoretically calculated, and a similarity value between the theoretically calculated value and the measured value measured in the phase difference measurement operation 441 is calculated (operation 445). For all the Doppler frequencies, which are included in the aliased spectrum, within the search range, the Doppler frequency with the maximum value among the calculated similarity values is retrieved (447), and the retrieved Doppler frequency is output as the true Doppler frequency (449).

[0097] In order to compare the measured value with the theoretically calculated result, the theoretical value is defined as follows by using Equations 4 and 5,

[00007]$\begin{array}{cc}W\left(k\right)=\left[\begin{array}{c}\exp \left(j2\pi f_{d,\mathrm{measured}}+2k.Math.f_{d,\max }.Math.\right)\left(T_{\mathrm{ramp},p}+T_{\mathrm{idle},p+1}\right))\\ \exp \left(j2\pi f_{d,\mathrm{measured}}+2k.Math.f_{d,\max }.Math.\right)\left(T_{\mathrm{ramp},p+1}+T_{\mathrm{idle},p+2}\right))\\ \exp \left(j2\pi f_{d,\mathrm{measured}}+2k.Math.f_{d,\max }.Math.\right)\left(\Delta T_{\mathrm{ramp}}+\Delta T_{\mathrm{idle}}\right))\end{array}\right]& \left[\mathrm{Equation}10\right]\end{array}$

[0098] Since k, which has the highest degree of similarity between the theoretical value of Equation 10 and the measured value of Equation 6, is the solution, k that maximizes Re{w(k).sup.Hx} is identified by changing k within an appropriate range, and the actual Doppler frequency is calculated by substituting the estimation result into Equation 5. Here, H is a Hermitian operator. Thereafter, from the Doppler frequency, a radial speed of the target is calculated using a relationship of v.sub.r,true=Δf.sub.d,true/2.

[0099] <Description of Invention of Apparatus>

[0100] <Description of Claim 7 of Invention>

[0101] According to one aspect, in a TDM FMCW radar apparatus, a frame of a waveform signal transmitted from one transmitting antenna includes at least three consecutive chirps, which have different periods, for each chirp loop. A Doppler frequency may be determined from phase difference values between the three consecutive chirps measured from an FMCW radar signal received at a receiving antenna.

[0102] FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the TDM FMCW radar apparatus according to an embodiment. As illustrated in the drawing, the TDM FMCW radar apparatus according to an embodiment includes a wireless transmitter 610, a wireless receiver 630, a spectrum analyzer 650, and a Doppler frequency determiner 670. In the illustrated embodiment, N.sub.TX wireless transmitters, N.sub.RX wireless receivers, and N.sub.TX*N.sub.RX spectrum analyzers are included. That is, since the spectrum analyzer must be provided for each virtual antenna, the N.sub.TX spectrum analyzers are connected to each wireless receiver. However, for simplicity of illustration, only one wireless transmitter 610, one wireless receiver 630, two spectrum analyzers 650-1 and 650-2, and two Doppler frequency determiners 670-1 and 670-2 are specified in the drawings.

[0103] The wireless transmitter 610 transmits an FMCW radar waveform signal through a transmitting antenna. According to an aspect, in the FMCW radar waveform signal transmitted by the wireless transmitter 610, at least three consecutive chirps have different periods for each chirp loop. Here, the expression that three consecutive chirps have different periods includes cases in which two out of three have the same period and the remaining one has a different value, or all three have different values.

[0104] According to an aspect, unlike a general waveform signal illustrated in FIG. 6, the chirp loop of the FMCW radar waveform signal transmitted by the wireless transmitter 610 includes at least N.sub.TX+2 chirps. The N.sub.TX chirps are valid chirps for estimating a beat frequency and a Doppler frequency, and information that determines the Doppler frequency may be acquired from at least three consecutive chirps from an N.sub.TXth chirp. However, the proposed invention is not limited thereto, and the three consecutive chirps in the chirp loop may be positioned at a beginning portion or an intermediate portion of the chirp loop. Furthermore, the position or contents of the three consecutive chirps may be different for each FMCW radar waveform signal transmitted by the transmitting antennas.

[0105] The wireless receiver 630 receives an FMCW radar waveform signal reflected by the target using a receiving antenna, demodulates a baseband FMCW radar signal, samples a difference signal between the baseband FMCW radar signal and the transmitted signal, and transforms the sampled signal into a digital signal and outputs the same. The transmitting antennas and the receiving antennas are generally linearly arranged at equal intervals, but may also be non-linearly arranged at non-uniform intervals.

[0106] The spectrum analyzer 650 determines and outputs a beat frequency and a Doppler frequency from the signal output from the wireless receiver 630. In one chirp loop, the N.sub.TX transmitting antennas sequentially transmit the FMCW radar waveform signal, and each transmitted FMCW radar waveform signal is reflected by the target and received by the N.sub.RX wireless receivers. Each spectrum analyzer 650 processes the chirps of a period corresponding to the wireless transmitter 610 allocated thereto among the chirps output from the wireless receiver 630. For example, the spectrum analyzer 650-1 may be allocated to process first chirps of the N.sub.TX chirps that are repeated for each chirp loop, and the spectrum analyzer 650-2 may be allocated to process second chirps of the N.sub.TX chirps that are repeated for each chirp loop.

[0107] The Doppler frequency determiner 670 measures values of phase differences between at least three consecutive chirps having different periods received by the wireless receiver 630 and determines and outputs a true Doppler frequency from the measured values and the Doppler frequency output in the spectrum analysis operation. This will be described in detail below.

[0108] <Description of Claim 8 of Invention>

[0109] According to an additional aspect of the proposed invention, the at least three consecutive chirps are configured to differ in at least one of an idle time between the chirps or a ramp time of the chirp. Accordingly, phase components generated due to a Doppler frequency f.sub.d may be observed at different time intervals so that more information may be obtained. Referring to an exemplary waveform in a dotted-line circle of FIG. 6, the idle time between the chirps corresponds to T.sub.idle, and the ramp time of the chirp corresponds to T.sub.ramp. In the example illustrated in the drawing, a period of the chirp may be expressed as T.sub.chirp=T.sub.idle+T.sub.ramp.

[0110] According to the proposed invention, the three consecutive chirps having different periods may be configured such that a first chirp differs in ramp time, a last chirp differs in idle time, and an intermediate chirp differs in both ramp time and idle time. In the case of employing three or more consecutive chirps having different periods, intermediate chirps may all be configured to differ in both ramp time and idle time.

[0111] Similar to those described above, in the illustrated embodiment, in the FMCW radar waveform signal, positions of the chirps, which differ in idle time or ramp time, may be the beginning, intermediate, or end of the loop, and the position or content may be different for each wireless transmitter. As will be described below, it is possible to obtain additional information enabling a true Doppler frequency to be determined from among a plurality of Doppler frequencies, which are generated by an aliasing phenomenon, by varying an idle time T.sub.idle between the chirps and a ramp time T.sub.ramp of the chirp.

[0112] <Description of Claim 10 of Invention>

[0113] FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a configuration of the spectrum analyzer according to an embodiment. As illustrated in the drawing, in an embodiment, the spectrum analyzer 650 includes a range FFT processor 651, a range estimator 652, a Doppler FFT processor 655, and a Doppler estimator 654.

[0114] The range FFT processor 651 transforms the digital signal output from the wireless receiver 630 into a frequency-domain signal in units of chirps and outputs the same. Although an FFT is selected as an example in the illustrated embodiment, it is understood that the proposed invention encompasses various known transforms for frequency-domain transformation. The range FFT processor 651 performs FFT on a beat frequency signal of the chirp transmitted by the antenna allocated thereto among the chirps, which are present in a first chirp loop of the digital signal output by the wireless receiver 630 connected thereto, and stores the transformed signal in a range FFT buffer 653, and performs FFT on a beat frequency signal of the chirp, which is transmitted by the same antenna, in the next chirp loop and stores the transformed signal in the range FFT buffer 653. Thus, in the illustrated embodiment, the range FFT processor 651 processes the FFT by as many times as the number of chirp loops, that is, N.sub.LOOP times, and the range FFT buffer 653 has a size capable of storing at least N.sub.LOOP FFT coefficient sets.

[0115] Although an example in which N.sub.LOOP range FFT processors 210 are present is illustrated in FIG. 2, the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 10 adopts a structure in which one range FFT processor 651 is provided for each virtual antenna, and performs FFT on the beat frequency signal from the signal, which is received by the receiving antenna, for each chirp loop, and outputs a result, and the result is accumulated and stored in the range FFT buffer 653. Accordingly, the range FFT processor 651 should have a speed at which a single Fourier operation may be fully processed within a period of at least one chirp loop.

[0116] The range estimator 652 determines and outputs a beat frequency from the signal output from the range FFT processor 651. The range estimator 652 may search for a position of a peak, that is, an index storing the maximum value in the spectrum stored in the range FFT buffer 653, to identify the beat frequency, and calculate a range to the target from the beat frequency.

[0117] The Doppler FFT processor 655 transforms the same frequency components of the frequency-domain signal output from the range FFT processor 651 into a frequency-domain signal again and outputs the same. The Doppler FFT processor 655 performs inter-chirp processing by performing FFT after collecting FFT coefficients, which are stored in the range FFT buffer 653, by frequency, that is, by an FFT index. The transformed FFT coefficients are stored in a Doppler FFT buffer 657.

[0118] In one embodiment, the Doppler FFT processor 655 includes as many FFT transformers as the number of Fourier coefficients stored in the range FFT buffer 653. As another example, a structure of repeatedly executing one Fourier transformer may be employed.

[0119] The Doppler FFT processor 655 receives N.sub.LOOP output coefficients of the same frequency corresponding to the number N.sub.LOOP of the chirp loops, performs FFT on the output coefficients, and stores the transformed output coefficients in the Doppler FFT buffer 657. The values stored in the Doppler FFT buffer 657 are range-Doppler spectrum values obtained through a range FFT and a Doppler FFT.

[0120] The Doppler estimator 654 determines and outputs a Doppler frequency from the signal output from the Doppler FFT processor 655. The Doppler estimator 654 may determine the Doppler frequency by identifying a position of an array that stores a peak value from the range-Doppler spectrum stored in the Doppler FFT buffer 657

[0121] <Description of Claim 11 of Invention>

[0122] According to an additional aspect, a true value of the Doppler frequency may be determined from a phase difference between the chirps measured from at least three consecutive chirp signals having a period different from a measured value. Specifically, a Doppler frequency of the aliased spectrum, at which a theoretically calculated phase difference has the most similar value to the measured phase difference may be determined as a true Doppler frequency.

[0123] The Doppler frequency determiner 670 may measure a phase difference between the chirps from the three consecutive chirp signals output from the wireless receiver 630 in FIG. 6, receive the plurality of Doppler frequencies calculated by the Doppler estimator 654, and determine and output the Doppler frequency, at which a measured phase difference is closest to a theoretically calculated value, from among the plurality of Doppler frequencies, as a true value. Since these have been previously described with reference to FIG. 8, detailed descriptions thereof will be omitted.

[0124] FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the Doppler frequency determiner according to an embodiment. As illustrated in the drawing, the Doppler frequency determiner according to an embodiment includes a phase difference measurer 671, a search range calculator 673, and a Doppler frequency searcher 675.

[0125] The phase difference measurer 671 measures the phase difference expressed by Equation 4, that is, the phase difference between the three consecutive chirps. These phase difference values may be measured by detecting a start point and an end point of each of the chirps and measuring a time difference between the end points of the consecutive chirps.

[0126] The search range calculator 673 determines a search range of the Doppler frequency of the aliased spectrum by a ratio of the maximum Doppler frequency of the target to be detected and the maximum Doppler frequency obtained from the range-Doppler spectrum.

[0127] The Doppler frequency searcher 675 determines and outputs the Doppler frequency, at which a theoretically calculated phase difference value is most similar to a measured phase difference value, from among the Doppler frequencies of the aliased spectrum corresponding to the search range calculated by the search range calculator 673.

[0128] First, at a search target Doppler frequency, a phase difference between at least three consecutive chirp signals having different periods included in the chirp loop is theoretically calculated, and a similarity value between the theoretically calculated value and the measured value measured by the phase difference measurer 671 is calculated. For all the Doppler frequencies, which are included in the aliased spectrum, within the search range, the Doppler frequency with the maximum value among the calculated similarity values is retrieved and output as the true Doppler frequency.

[0129] The operation of the configuration of FIG. 11 has been described in the method invention described with reference to FIG. 7, and thus detailed description thereof will be omitted.

[0130] According to the proposed invention, it is possible to overcome the existing limit of a detectable radial speed of a target in a TDM FMCW radar apparatus. Furthermore, according to the proposed invention, it is possible to increase a position resolution by increasing the number of transmitting antennas in a TDM FMCW radar apparatus. Furthermore, it is possible to solve a Doppler ambiguity problem while minimizing constraints in an antenna design in a TDM FMCW radar apparatus. Alternatively, according to the proposed invention, it is possible to solve a Doppler ambiguity problem without increasing a frame length in a TDM FMCW radar apparatus.

[0131] The present invention has been described above with reference to the embodiments referring to the accompanying drawings, but is not limited thereto. Rather, the present invention should be construed as encompassing various modifications that may be apparent to those skilled in the art. The appended claims are intended to cover such modifications.