TRANSMITTING/RECEIVING DEVICE FOR A MOTOR VEHICLE AND MOTOR VEHICLE HAVING SUCH A TRANSMITTING/RECEIVING DEVICE

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a transmitting/receiving device with mobile radio functionality for a motor vehicle, wherein the transmitting/receiving device includes components of: an antenna structure, a high frequency front-end unit coupled to the antenna structure and a computation unit coupled to the high frequency front-end unit. According to the present disclosure, the transmitting/receiving device is configured to additionally process a radar signal using one or more components, wherein the radar signal has a frequency (f2) that differs by less than a factor of five from a mid-frequency (f1) of the electromagnetic waves forming the corresponding mobile radio signal.

Claims

1.-9. (canceled)

10. A transmitter-receiver with mobile radio functionality for a motor vehicle, the transmitter-receiver comprising: an antenna including an antenna array configured to generate a first electromagnetic wave forming a mobile radio signal to be transmitted and further configured to receive a second electromagnetic wave forming a mobile radio signal to be received; a high frequency front-end circuit coupled to the antenna, the high frequency front-end circuit configured to up-mix the mobile radio signal to be transmitted and further configured to down-mix the mobile radio signal that is received; and a computation circuit coupled to the high frequency front-end circuit, the computation circuit configured to convert between the mobile radio signal and communication data transmitted in the mobile radio signal, wherein the transmitter-receiver is configured to process a radar signal formed by a third electromagnetic wave with a frequency that differs by less than a factor of five from a mid-frequency of the first and second electromagnetic waves of the corresponding mobile radio signal, wherein the computation circuit is further configured to use beamforming to orient a relevant maximum directional sensitivity of the antenna array for the third electromagnetic wave of the radar signal in a different direction from the first and second electromagnetic waves of the corresponding mobile radio signal, wherein the computation circuit is further configured to implement a locating algorithm to carry out an obstacle location for a zero steering of the beamforming for transmitting and receiving the mobile radio signal and to carry out the object location using the radar signal, and wherein the zero steering of the beamforming from the mobile radio functionality is used to process the radar signal in order to make detected obstacles recognizable as objects in a region surrounding the motor vehicle such that an inverse processing for an obstacle, which is provided in the mobile radio functionality for a zero steering of the beamforming, provides an object location using the radar signal by the locating algorithm, so that the locating algorithm for zero steering of the beamforming from the mobile radio functionality is used to process the radar signal in order to make the detected obstacles recognizable as objects in the region surrounding the motor vehicle.

11. The transmitter-receiver according to claim 10, wherein the antenna is further configured to generate and receive the third electromagnetic wave of the radar signal and the first and second electromagnetic waves of the corresponding mobile radio signal with different polarities or frequencies.

12. The transmitter-receiver according to claim 10, wherein the high frequency front-end circuit is further configured to conduct the third electromagnetic wave of the radar signal and the first and second electromagnetic waves of the corresponding mobile radio signal via the antenna while keeping the radar signal and the corresponding mobile radio signal separate by at least one of time division multiplexing or frequency division multiplexing.

13. The transmitter-receiver according to claim 10, wherein the high frequency front-end circuit is further configured to transmit the radar signal and the mobile radio signal such that each signal has a different frequency and both signals are received at the same time by the antenna, and wherein the high frequency front-end circuit is further configured to use a bandpass filter to separate the radar signal from the mobile radio signal to be processed separately.

14. The transmitter-receiver according to claim 10, wherein the high frequency front-end circuit is further configured to amplify the radar signal and the corresponding mobile radio signal using at least one of an output amplifier, an input amplifier, or a mixer and at least one of time division multiplexing, frequency division multiplexing, or mixing the radar signal and the corresponding mobile radio signal.

15. The transmitter-receiver according to claim 10, wherein the computation circuit is further configured to pivot, using beamforming, a beam of the radar signal according to a predetermined scanning pattern for scanning the region surrounding the motor vehicle.

16. The transmitter-receiver according claim 10, wherein the computation circuit is further configured to apply echo suppression of the mobile radio functionality to the radar signal.

17. The transmitter-receiver according to claim 10, wherein the computation circuit is further configured to sign the radar signal with a vehicle-specific signature, the vehicle-specific signature being based on an orthogonal code of the mobile radio functionality.

18. A motor vehicle, comprising: a transmitter-receiver with mobile radio functionality, the transmitter-receiver comprising: an antenna including an antenna array configured to generate a first electromagnetic wave forming a mobile radio signal to be transmitted and further configured to receive a second electromagnetic wave forming a mobile radio signal to be received; a high frequency front-end circuit coupled to the antenna, the high frequency front-end circuit configured to up-mix the mobile radio signal to be transmitted and further configured to down-mix the mobile radio signal that is received; and a computation circuit coupled to the high frequency front-end circuit, the computation circuit configured to convert between the mobile radio signal and communication data transmitted in the mobile radio signal, wherein the transmitter-receiver is configured to process a radar signal formed by a third electromagnetic wave with a frequency that differs by less than a factor of five from a mid-frequency of the first and second electromagnetic waves of the corresponding mobile radio signal, wherein the computation circuit is further configured to use beamforming to orient a relevant maximum directional sensitivity of the antenna array for the third electromagnetic wave of the radar signal in a different direction from the first and second electromagnetic waves of the corresponding mobile radio signal, wherein the computation circuit is further configured to implement a locating algorithm to carry out an obstacle location for a zero steering of the beamforming for transmitting and receiving the mobile radio signal and to carry out the object location using the radar signal, and wherein the zero steering of the beamforming from the mobile radio functionality is used to process the radar signal in order to make detected obstacles recognizable as objects in a region surrounding the motor vehicle such that an inverse processing for an obstacle, which is provided in the mobile radio functionality for a zero steering of the beamforming, provides an object location using the radar signal by the locating algorithm, so that the locating algorithm for zero steering of the beamforming from the mobile radio functionality is used to process the radar signal in order to make the detected obstacles recognizable as objects in the region surrounding the motor vehicle.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS/FIGURES

[0038] FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of one aspect of the motor vehicle having a transmitting/receiving device.

[0039] FIG. 2 is a schematic representation of a design of an HF front-end unit for an aspect of the transmitting/receiving device shown in FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0040] The description below are preferred asepcts of the present disclosure. In the aspects described, the described components each represent individual features of the present disclosure which are to be considered to be independent of one another and which each further develop the present disclosure independently of one another. Therefore, the disclosure shall also comprise combinations of the features of the aspects other than the ones presented. Furthermore, the described aspects may also be supplemented by further features of the present disclosure as already described.

[0041] In the figures, the same reference signs refer to functionally identical elements.

[0042] FIG. 1 shows a motor vehicle 10, which may be an automobile, in particular a passenger car or truck or a passenger bus. The motor vehicle 10 can have a transmitting/receiving device 11 which can be configured to operate a mobile radio connection 12 between the motor vehicle 10 and a base station 13 of a mobile radio network 14. In this way, a mobile radio application 15 can be provided in the motor vehicle 10, for example mobile radio telephony and/or data transmission for an Internet connection, for example. As a result, communication data 16 for the mobile radio application 15 can be transmitted and/or received via the mobile radio connection 12 to the mobile radio network 14. The communication data 16 can be converted to a mobile radio signal 17 (transmission), or the communication data 16 can be extracted from the mobile radio signal 17 (reception), and, by means of the transmitting/receiving device 11, the mobile radio signal 17 can then be transmitted as an electromagnetic wave 18 and/or an electromagnetic wave 19 containing a mobile radio signal 17 can be received. For this purpose, the transmitting/receiving device 11 can have one or more antenna structures 20, 20′ that can be located at different points on the motor vehicle, one or more HF front-end units 21, 21′ and a computation unit 22.

[0043] The antenna structure 20 can be provided for receiving the electromagnetic wave 19 and/or for generating the electromagnetic wave 18. The antenna structure 20 can have an antenna array 23 with sub-antennas 24. A beamforming 25 can be provided by means of the antenna array 23, by means of which a beam or a main lobe B can be formed or provided for the mobile radio connection 12. The antenna structure 20 can be coupled to the computation unit 22 via the HF front-end unit 21. The HF front-end unit 21 can have an input amplifier 26 for received mobile radio signals 17 and an output amplifier 27 for mobile radio signals 17 to be transmitted. The HF front-end unit 21 can have a mixer 28 in order to convert between a transmission frequency range/reception frequency range on the one hand (high frequency) and a baseband. The baseband can be converted between the mobile radio signal 17 and the communication data 16 by the computation unit 22. For example, a mobile radio protocol, for example a protocol stack, can be implemented by the computation unit 22. The computation unit 22 can be based, for example, on at least one digital signal processor and/or at least one microprocessor.

[0044] At least one further HF front-end unit 21′ with an antenna structure 20′ coupled thereto can be connected to the computation unit 22.

[0045] In the case of the motor vehicle 10, a radar application or radar application 29 can furthermore be provided which can implement a location of at least one object 30 in a region surrounding 31 the motor vehicle 10. FIG. 1 shows how the location of the object 30 can be carried out, for example, in the region of a front 32 of the motor vehicle z10. The radar application 29 can, for example, be part of an autonomous driving function.

[0046] The transmitting/receiving device 11 can provide a radar functionality for the radar application 29, that is to say an electromagnetic wave 33 of a radar signal can be transmitted which can be reflected against the object 30. The echo 34 resulting from the reflection, that is to say the reflected electromagnetic wave, can then be received by the transmitting/receiving device 11, and a radar signal 35 can be generated therefrom, on the basis of which object data 36 for describing the at least one located object 30 can be provided to the radar application 29.

[0047] In the transmitting/receiving device 11, the antenna structure 20, the HF front-end unit 21 and the computation unit 22 each represent a component 37 of the transmitting/receiving device 11. At least one of the components 37, preferably two, in particular all of the components 37, are used in the motor vehicle 10 for processing both the mobile radio signal 17 and the radar signal 35.

[0048] Thus, by means of the antenna structure 20, the electromagnetic wave 33 can also be generated and the echo 34 received. For this purpose, it can be provided that a mid-frequency f1 for the mobile radio connection 12 and a frequency f2 for the electromagnetic waves of the radar signal (electromagnetic wave 33 and echo 34) differ in relation to the mid-frequency f1 for the mobile radio connection 12 by a factor of 5 at most. In particular, a difference of less than a factor of 3, in particular less than a factor of 2, is preferred.

[0049] The antenna structure 20 can thus also be used to generate the electromagnetic wave 33. In particular, a beam B′ can also be generated by means of the beamforming, that is to say a main lobe which can be oriented into the surrounding region 31 in order to locate an object 30. In particular, a pivoting 38 of the beam B′ can also be provided in order to achieve a spatial resolution of the location.

[0050] The HF front-end unit 21 can also be used to amplify and/or mix the radar signal 35. For both the mobile radio signal 17 and the radar signal 35, the computation unit 22 can provide digital signal processing, for example the beamforming 39, an echo suppression 40 and/or an obstacle location 41.

[0051] In the motor vehicle 10, the transmitting/receiving device 11 thus results in a shared use of at least one antenna array 23 for mobile radio and radar. In this way, mobile radio functionality and radar functionality can jointly use front/rear/side antennas of the motor vehicle 10. A differentiation between the signals for mobile radio/radar (mobile radio signal/radar signal 35) can be achieved, for example, by different polarization for mobile radio/radar (for example horizontal and vertical) and/or by different time slots for mobile radio and radar and/or by bandpass filters. It is also possible to use the HF front-end device jointly for mobile radio and radar; thus, the same output and input amplifiers 26, 27 can be used for mobile radio and radar, for example by means of a time slot method, or an additional amplifier can be provided for the radar signal in addition to a low/mid/high amplifier for the mobile radio signal. A connection of a plurality of HF front-end units for radar and mobile radio to a common computation unit 22 can also be provided. For example, a front/rear and side/HF transmission unit can be connected to a central computation unit 22, which can be based, for example, on at least one DSP.

[0052] In the computation unit, the mobile radio signal and the radar signal can be evaluated simultaneously or with a time delay by, for example, also using a DSP or an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) from the mobile radio sector for the radar signal 35. This is because technologies such as echo suppression 40, which can now also advantageously be provided for the radar signal 35, are used in the mobile radio functionality.

[0053] By using adaptive beamforming or pivoting 38, a higher resolution of the radar functionality can be achieved. For example, 8×8 beamforming can be implemented. The surrounding region 31 can be scanned line by line and the echoes 34 can be evaluated.

[0054] The use of technologies from the mobile radio sector for the radar signal 35 thus results in greater interference immunity in the radar functionality. In addition, the greater interference immunity can also be used by modulating the radar signal to imprint a signature 42. Thus, when the echo 34 is received, a distinction can be made as to whether it is an echo 34 relating to the radar signal 35 or the electromagnetic wave 33 or an echo from a different vehicle. This can be achieved, for example, by the electromagnetic wave 33 being generated as a unique output signal using an orthogonal code for the radar signal 35.

[0055] In particular, it is provided that the antenna structure acts as a single antenna, that is to say it does not have two antennas that can be operated independently of one another. In this case, however, the described division and sub-antennas can be provided, wherein all individual sub-antennas of the antenna structure 20 are able to be controlled separately, for example for 4×4 MiMo (multiple input multiple output) or beamforming.

[0056] The orthogonal codes can therefore also be provided for the mobile radio signal 17.

[0057] FIG. 2 shows a possible design of the HF front-end unit 21, which can have the following elements.

[0058] HF front-end 21 can have several input amplifiers 26 and output amplifiers 27, each with its own bandpass filter 43 for mobile radio bands or radar bands (a plurality of filter pairs I to N are shown, each of which provides a transmission channel via an output amplifier 27 and a reception channel via an input amplifier 26 for a frequency band. N is the total number of filter pairs. There are N different frequency bands);

[0059] HF front-end 21 can have a bandpass filter 44 for the radar echo 34;

[0060] HF front-end 21 can have a multiplexer 45 for switching the electrical signals from the antenna structure 20 to different mobile radio or radar bands and/or into the antenna structure 20;

[0061] HF front-end 21 can have an integrated circuit RF-IC (for example having at least one mixer and/or analog-to-digital converters ADCs and digital-to-analog converters DACs).

[0062] Thus, digital/sampled I/Q data (45), which can contain the mobile radio signal 17 and the radar signal 35, can already be available for the computation unit 22. However, an analog interface with the computation unit 22 can also be used.

[0063] One or more HF front-end units 21 can be connected to a computation unit 22. A plurality of antenna structures 20, 20′ can in turn be connected to an HF front-end unit.

[0064] Overall, the examples show how the present disclosure can be used to merge mobile radio and radar.