TDM FMCW RADAR APPARATUS AND SIGNAL PROCESSING METHOD OF APPARATUS

Abstract

Transmitting antennas and receiving antennas are arranged such that a plurality of virtual antennas have the same position in a time-division-multiplexed (TDM) frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar apparatus. At least three peculiar chirps, at least one of which is included in a chirp loop of each of waveform signals transmitted by the plurality of virtual antennas having the same position, are respectively positioned in consecutive time slots and have different periods. A Doppler frequency may be uniquely determined from phase difference values between the at least three peculiar chirps respectively positioned in consecutive time slots measured from FMCW radar signals received at the plurality of virtual antennas.

Claims

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

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the FMCW radar waveform signals transmitted in the wireless transmission operation are configured such that the at least three peculiar chirps respectively positioned in consecutive time slots differ in at least one of an idle time between the peculiar chirps or a ramp time of the peculiar chirps.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least three chirps respectively positioned in consecutive time slots are configured such that a sum of an inter-peculiar chirp difference value of the idle time and an inter-peculiar 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, a phase difference between the peculiar chirps is measured from at least three peculiar chirp signals, which are respectively positioned in consecutive time slots and output in the wireless reception operation, and the Doppler frequency, at which theoretically calculated phase difference values are most similar to measured phase difference values, is determined as the true Doppler frequency and output.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the Doppler frequency determination operation includes: a phase difference measurement operation of measuring phase differences between the at least three peculiar chirps respectively positioned in consecutive time slots and having different periods; 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, from among the Doppler frequencies of the aliased spectrum.

7. A time-division-multiplexed (TDM) frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar apparatus, comprising: an antenna array in which transmitting antennas and receiving antennas are arranged such that a plurality of virtual antennas have the same position; a wireless transmitter configured to transmit FMCW radar waveform signals that are configured such that at least three peculiar chirps, at least one thereof is included in a chirp loop of each of radar signals transmitted by the plurality of virtual antennas, are respectively positioned in consecutive time slots and have different periods; a wireless receiver configured to demodulate baseband FMCW radar signals from FMCW radar waveform signals reflected by a target, sample difference signals between the baseband FMCW radar signals and the transmitted signals, and transform the difference signals into digital signals and output the digital signals; a spectrum analyzer configured to determine and output beat frequencies and Doppler frequencies from the signal output from the wireless receiver; and a Doppler frequency determiner configured to measure phase differences between the at least three peculiar chirps, which are respectively positioned in consecutive time slots, have different periods, and are received from the plurality of virtual antennas by the wireless receiver, and determine and output a true Doppler frequency from the measured values and the Doppler frequencies output from the spectrum analyzer.

8. The TDM FMCW radar apparatus of claim 7, wherein the FMCW radar waveform signals transmitted by the wireless transmitter are configured such that the at least three chirps respectively positioned in consecutive time slots differ in at least one of an idle time between the peculiar chirps or a ramp time of the peculiar chirps.

9. The TDM FMCW radar apparatus of claim 8, wherein the at least three chirps, which are respectively positioned in consecutive time slots, 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 measures a phase difference between the peculiar chirps from at least three peculiar chirp signals, which are respectively positioned in consecutive time slots and output from the wireless receiver, and determines and outputs the Doppler frequency, at which theoretically calculated phase difference values are most similar to measured phase difference values, as the 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 the phase differences between the at least three peculiar chirps respectively positioned in consecutive time slots and having different periods; 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, from among the Doppler frequencies of the aliased spectrum.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0032] 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.

[0033] 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.

[0034] FIG. 3 illustrates velocity spectra that may be estimated from a Doppler fast Fourier transform (FFT) output spectrum.

[0035] FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a configuration of a signal processing method of a TDM FMCW radar apparatus according to an embodiment.

[0036] FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a configuration of a spectrum analysis operation according to an embodiment.

[0037] FIG. 6 illustrates a typical frame structure of a radar waveform in the TDM FMCW radar apparatus according to an embodiment.

[0038] FIG. 7 illustrates an example of an antenna array to which the proposed invention may be applied.

[0039] FIG. 8 illustrates an example of peculiar chirps, which are respectively positioned in consecutive time slots, of waveform signals transmitted by virtual antennas.

[0040] FIG. 9 illustrates another example of peculiar chirps, which are respectively positioned in consecutive time slots, of waveform signals transmitted by virtual antennas.

[0041] FIG. 10 illustrates a process of obtaining a range-Doppler spectrum by performing range-Doppler processing in a typical TDM FMCW radar apparatus.

[0042] FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a configuration of a Doppler frequency determination operation according to an embodiment.

[0043] FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the TDM FMCW radar apparatus according to an embodiment.

[0044] FIG. 13 is a block diagram of a configuration of a spectrum analyzer according to an embodiment.

[0045] FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a Doppler frequency determiner according to an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0046] 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.

Description of Claim 1 of Invention

[0047] According to one aspect, transmitting antennas and receiving antennas are arranged such that a plurality of virtual antennas have the same position in a time-division-multiplexed (TDM) frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar apparatus. At least three peculiar chirps, at least one of which is included in a chirp loop of each of waveform signals transmitted by the plurality of virtual antennas having the same position, are respectively positioned in consecutive time slots and have different periods. A Doppler frequency may be determined from phase difference values between the at least three peculiar chirps respectively positioned in consecutive time slots measured in FMCW radar signals received at the plurality of virtual antennas.

[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] According to one aspect, the transmitting antennas and the receiving antennas are arranged such that the plurality of virtual antennas have the same position. In the wireless transmission operation 410, the radar apparatus transmits an FMCW radar waveform signal through a transmitting antenna array. According to an aspect, at least three peculiar chirps, at least one of which is included in a chirp loop of each of FMCW radar waveform signals transmitted by the plurality of virtual antennas arranged to have the same position, are configured to be respectively positioned in consecutive time slots and have different periods. Here, the expression that three chirps respectively positioned in the consecutive time slots 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 length of the chirp loop is the 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 the 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 pth chirp (=T.sub.idle,p +T.sub.ramp,p) [0057] T.sub.ADC: sampling delay that is time difference between time at which transmission of chirp starts and time at which sampling starts [0058] f.sub.0: chirp start frequency.

[0059] In the proposed invention, the frequency sweep rate α, 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

[00003]${\text{T}}_{\text{TX}\left(0\right),\text{q,}}$

a value of

[00004]${\text{T}}_{\text{TX}\left(0\right),\text{q}}$

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] FIG. 7 illustrates an example of an antenna array to which the proposed invention may be applied. When three (TX) transmitting antennas and four (RX) receiving antennas are arranged as illustrated in the drawing, a virtual antenna array Virtual Ant. is illustrated as in the drawing. Each circle represents a position of the virtual antenna and the two digits indicate a transmitting antenna index and a receiving antenna index, respectively. Three virtual antennas generated by a transmitting antenna TX.sub.1 and a receiving antenna RX.sub.4, a transmitting antenna TX.sub.2 and a receiving antenna RX.sub.3, and a transmitting antenna TX.sub.3 and a receiving antenna RX.sub.1 are all generated in the same virtual antenna position P. The proposed invention may be applied to a TDM FMCW radar apparatus having transmitting antennas and receiving antennas arranged such that the plurality of virtual antennas have the same position. According to an aspect, at least three peculiar chirps, at least one of which is included in a chirp loop of each of waveform signals transmitted by the plurality of virtual antennas having the same position, are respectively positioned in consecutive time slots and have different periods. Here, the time slot refers to slots on a time axis distinguished by a chirp count that is sequentially increased in the chirp loop. In addition, the expression that the chirps are respectively positioned in the consecutive time slots means that chirp count values in the chirp loop to which the peculiar chirps belong are sequentially increasing values and does not mean that chirps are adjacent to the same chirp loop or the chirps are transmitted sequentially.

[0061] In the case of a MIMO radar apparatus, in general, transmitting antennas sequentially transmit signals and receiving antennas simultaneously receive signals, and thus, in an example of FIG. 7, even though FMCW radar waveform signals are received at virtual antennas with a time difference in the order of the transmitting antenna TX.sub.1 and the receiving antenna RX.sub.4, the transmitting antenna TX.sub.2 and the receiving antenna RX.sub.3, and the transmitting antenna TX.sub.3 and the receiving antenna RX.sub.1, the FMCW radar waveform signals are buffered in a memory, so that when the signals are processed according to the proposed invention, all of the peculiar chirps respectively positioned in consecutive time slots may become available.

[0062] According to an aspect, unlike a general waveform signal illustrated in FIG. 6, each of the chirp loops of the FMCW radar waveform signal transmitted by the radar apparatus to which the signal processing method according to an embodiment is applied may include at least N.sub.TX+1 chirps. As an example, the NTX 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 two consecutive chirps from an N.sub.TXth chirp. However, the proposed invention is not limited thereto, and the consecutive peculiar chirps in the chirp loop may be positioned at a beginning portion or an intermediate portion of the chirp loop.

[0063] FIG. 8 illustrates an example of peculiar chirps, which are respectively positioned in consecutive time slots, of waveform signals transmitted by virtual antennas. A peculiar chirp, whose chirp count is three, in a virtual antenna VA1, a peculiar chirp, whose chirp count is four, in a virtual antenna VA2, and a peculiar chirp, whose chirp count is five, in a virtual antenna VA3 are moved onto a virtual time slot VTS. These peculiar chirps have chirp counts in the chirp loop of each radar waveform signal, but have sequential incremental count values when these peculiar chirps gather on the same virtual time slot axis. In this sense, it is expressed herein that peculiar chirps are respectively positioned in “consecutive time slots.”

[0064] FIG. 9 illustrates another example of peculiar chirps, which are respectively positioned in consecutive time slots, of waveform signals transmitted by virtual antennas. A peculiar chirp, whose chirp count is three, in a virtual antenna VA1, and peculiar chirps, whose chirp counts are four and five, in a virtual antenna VA2 are moved onto a virtual time slot VTS. The peculiar chirp of “3” and the peculiar chirps of “4 and 5” have chirp counts in the chirp loop of each radar waveform signal, but have sequential incremental count values when these chirps gather on the same virtual time slot axis. In this sense, it is expressed herein that peculiar chirps are respectively positioned in “consecutive time slots.”

[0065] In the wireless reception operation 420, the radar apparatus receives a 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.

[0066] 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.

[0067] In the Doppler frequency determination operation 440, the signal processing circuit of the radar apparatus measures phase differences between at least three peculiar chirps, which are respectively positioned in consecutive time slots and have different periods, received at the plurality of virtual antennas 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.

Description of Claim 2 of Invention

[0068] According to an additional aspect of the proposed invention, at least three peculiar chirps, which are respectively positioned in consecutive time slots and have different periods, are configured to differ in at least one of an idle time between the peculiar chirps or a ramp time of the peculiar chirps. Accordingly, since a phase component generated due to a Doppler frequency f.sub.d in the signal received from the virtual antenna at the same position may be observed at different time intervals, 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.

[0069] According to the proposed invention, in the three peculiar chirps present in the virtual antennas, based on the receiving time, the first peculiar chirp may be configured to differ in ramp time, the last (third) peculiar chirp may be configured to differ in idle time, and the intermediate (second) peculiar chirp may be configured to differ in both ramp time and idle time. In the case of employing three or more consecutive peculiar chirps, intermediate chirps in time may all be configured to differ in both ramp time and idle time.

[0070] Similar to that described above, in the illustrated embodiment, in the FMCW radar waveform signal, positions of the peculiar chirps that differ in idle time or ramp time, that is, positions on a common time slot axis, may be the beginning, intermediate, or end of each chirp loop, and the position or content may be different for each wireless transmitter. In the example illustrated in FIGS. 8 or 9, the peculiar chirps are positioned in the middle on a common time slot axis VTS. 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 any one of an idle time T.sub.idle between the peculiar chirps and a ramp time T.sub.ramp of the peculiar chirp.

Description of Spectrum Analysis of Claim 4 and FIG. 5

[0071] FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a configuration of a 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.

[0072] 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 transform is selected as an example in the illustrated embodiment, it is understood that the proposed invention encompasses various known transforms for frequency-domain transformation.

[0073] In the Doppler FFT processing operation 433, the signal processing circuit of the radar apparatus transforms the same frequency components of the frequency-domain signal output in the range FFT processing operation 431 into a frequency-domain signal again 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.

[0074] 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.

[0075] In the Doppler estimation operation 437, 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 estimation operation 437, 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.

Description of Claim 5 of Invention

[0076] According to an additional aspect, a true value of the Doppler frequency may be determined from a phase difference between the peculiar chirps measured from at least three peculiar chirp signals respectively positioned in consecutive time slots and 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.

[0077] 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 peculiar chirp signals, which are respectively positioned in consecutive time slots and have 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.

Description of FIG. 10

[0078] FIG. 10 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 a 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. 10. As indicated by gray in FIG. 10, 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,

[00005]${\varphi }_{p,q}=2\pi \left(f_0+\alpha T_{ADC}\right){\tau }_{TX\left(p\right),q}+2\pi f_d\left({\displaystyle {.Math.}_{l=0}^{p-1}{T}_{chirp,t}+T_{idle,p}}\right)$

[0079] α: frequency sweep rate [0080] α: frequency sweep rate [0081] T.sub.idle,p: idle time of pth chirp [0082] T.sub.ramp,p: length of frequency change section of pth chirp [0083] T.sub.chirp,p: chirp period of pth chirp (=T.sub.idle,p+T.sub.ramp,p) [0084] T.sub.ADC: sampling delay that is time difference between time at which transmission of chirp starts and time at which sampling starts [0085] f.sub.0: chirp start frequency.

[0086] Here, when α, f.sub.0, and T.sub.ADC are identical for all virtual antennas, and, for signals p, p+1, and p+2 received in the three consecutive chirps, [0087] a relationship of is satisfied, [0088] (where, indicates a delay component between the transmitting antenna TX(p) and the qth receiving antenna used to transmit the pth chirp) [0089] phase differences between consecutive chirps may be expressed as follows,

[0090] The above case is a case in which all the chirps are received at one virtual antenna that has received the radar waveform signal transmitted from the same transmitting antenna. In another case, even when three chirps, which are included in chirp loops transmitted by the plurality of virtual antennas having the same position and respectively positioned in consecutive time slots, satisfy the following conditional expression, phase differences may be equally expressed by [Equation 4].

[00009]${\text{T}}_{\text{TX}\left(\text{p}\right),\text{q0}}={\text{T}}_{\text{TX}\left(\text{p+1}\right),\text{q1}}={\text{T}}_{\text{TX}\left(\text{p+2}\right),\text{q2}}$

Here, pth, (p+1)th, and (p+2)th chirps respectively transmitted from different transmitting antennas TX0, TX1, and TX2 are respectively received at different receiving antennas q0, q1 and q2. In this case, the virtual antenna generated by the transmitting antenna TX0 and the receiving antenna q0, the virtual antenna generated by the transmitting antenna TX1 and the receiving antenna q1, and the virtual antenna generated by the transmitting antenna TX2 and the receiving antenna q2 are present by overlapping in the same position.

[0091] As another example, even when the following conditional expression is satisfied, phase differences may be equally expressed by [Equation 4].

[00010]${\text{T}}_{\text{TX}\left(\text{p}\right),\text{q0}}={\text{T}}_{\text{TX}\left(\text{p+1}\right),\text{q1}}={\text{T}}_{\text{TX}\left(\text{p+2}\right),\text{q1}}$

Here, the pth chirp transmitted from the different transmitting antenna TX0 is received at the receiving antenna q0, and the (p+1)th chirp and the (p+2)th chirp transmitted from the transmitting antenna TX1 are received at another receiving antenna q1. In this case, the virtual antenna generated by the transmitting antenna TX0 and the receiving antenna q0, and the virtual antenna generated by the transmitting antenna TX1 and the receiving antenna q1 are present by overlapping in the same position.

[0092] To generalize this, it can be seen that, in an antenna array in which transmitting antennas and receiving antennas are arranged so that a plurality of virtual antennas have the same position, when at least three consecutive peculiar chirps, at least one thereof is included in a chirp loop of each of radar signals transmitted by the plurality of virtual antennas, are respectively positioned in consecutive time slots, phase differences between the at least three consecutive peculiar chirps may be expressed by [Equation 4].

[0093] It can be seen from Equation 4 that the phase differences between the chirps respectively positioned in the consecutive time slots 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).

[0094] As illustrated in FIG. 10, 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.

[0095] At this point, the maximum Doppler frequency measurable by Equation 1 may be expressed as f.sub.d,max=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. 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,

[00011]$f_{d,true}=f_{d,measured}+2k{f}_{d,{\max }_{.}}$

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

[0096] FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a configuration of a 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.

[0097] In the phase difference measurement operation 441, the signal processing circuit of the radar apparatus measures a phase difference between at least three chirp signals respectively positioned in consecutive time slots and having different periods. These chirp signals may be signals extracted from the chirp loops received from different virtual antennas, and some thereof may be signals extracted from the chirp loops received from the same virtual antenna. These phase difference values may be measured by detecting a start point and an end point of each chirp 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,

[00012]$X={\left[\begin{array}{c}\text{exp}\left(j\Delta {\varphi }_{1.0}\right)\\ \text{exp}\left(j\Delta {\varphi }_{2.1}\right)\\ \text{exp}\left(j\Delta {\varphi }_{\mathrm{2.1.0}}\right)\end{array}\right]}_{.}$

[0098] 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.

[0099] 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.

[0100] 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,

[00013]$f_{d,max,target}=\frac{2v_{r,max,target}}{c}{f}_0$

, (where, c is a wave velocity).

[0101] 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,

[00014]$\Delta T_{ramp}+\Delta T_{idle}<{\frac{C}{4f_0{v}_{r,max,target}}}_{.}$

[0102] As shown in Equation 8, in the proposed invention, at least three chirps respectively positioned in consecutive time slots 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 an aimed 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.

[0103] 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.

[00015]$k_{MAX}=.Math.\frac{f_{d,max,target}}{2f_{d,max}}.Math.$

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.

[0104] 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, from among the Doppler frequencies of the aliased spectrum.

[0105] First, at a search target Doppler frequency, a phase difference between at least three chirp signals, which are respectively positioned in consecutive time slots and have 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).

[0106] 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,

[00016]$W\left(k\right)=\left[\begin{array}{c}\exp \left(j2\pi f_{d,measured}+2k\left|f_{d,max}\right|\right)\left(\left(T_{ramp,p}+T_{idle,p+1}\right)\right)\\ \exp \left(j2\pi f_{d,measured}+2k\left|f_{d,max}\right|\right)\left(\left(T_{ramp,p+1}+T_{idle,p+2}\right)\right)\\ \exp \left(j2\pi f_{d,measured}+2k\left|f_{d,max}\right|\right)\left(\left(\Delta T_{ramp}+T_{idle}\right)\right)\end{array}\right]$

[0107] 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)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 = λf.sub.d,true/2.

Description of Invention of Apparatus

Description of Claim 7 of Invention

[0108] FIG. 12 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.

[0109] According to an aspect, the transmitting antennas and the receiving antennas are arranged such that the plurality of virtual antennas have the same position. The wireless transmitter 610 transmits an FMCW radar waveform signal through a transmitting antenna. According to an aspect, in the FMCW radar waveform signals transmitted by the wireless transmitter 610 using transmitting antennas constituting the plurality of virtual antennas having the same position, each chirp loop has at least one peculiar chirp, and there are at least three peculiar chirps. These peculiar chirps are respectively positioned in consecutive time slots when viewed on a common time slot axis, and the at least three peculiar chirps have different periods. Here, the expression that three peculiar chirps respectively positioned in the consecutive time slots 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.

[0110] The wireless receiver 630 receives FMCW radar waveform signals reflected by the target using the receiving antenna, demodulates baseband FMCW radar signals, 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.

[0111] The spectrum analyzer 650 determines and outputs beat frequencies and Doppler frequencies 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.

[0112] The Doppler frequency determiner 670 measures a phase difference between at least three chirps, which are respectively positioned in consecutive time slots and have different periods, received from the wireless receiver 630 and determines and outputs a true Doppler frequency value from the measured values and the Doppler frequency output in the spectrum analysis operation. This will be described in detail below.

Description of Claim 8 of Invention

[0113] In an additional aspect of the proposed invention, the at least three chirps respectively positioned in the consecutive time slots 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.idie+T.sub.ramp.

[0114] According to the proposed invention, in the at least three chirps respectively positioned in consecutive time slots and having different periods, a first chirp may be configured to differ in ramp time, a last chirp may be configured to differ in idle time, and an intermediate chirp may be configured to differ in both ramp time and idle time. In the case of employing three or more chirps respectively positioned in consecutive time slots and having different periods, intermediate chirps may be configured to differ in both ramp time and idle time.

[0115] 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, middle, 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.

Description of Claim 10 of Invention

[0116] FIG. 13 is a block diagram of a configuration of a 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.

[0117] 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 transform 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 transform 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 transformation 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 transformation as many times as the number of the 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.

[0118] 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 transform 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.

[0119] 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.

[0120] 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 transformation by 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.

[0121] 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 transform may be employed.

[0122] 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 and performs FFT transformation 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.

[0123] 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

Description of Claim 11 of Invention

[0124] 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 chirp signals respectively positioned in consecutive time slots and 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.

[0125] The Doppler frequency determiner 670 measures a phase difference between chirps from at least three chirp signals, which are respectively positioned in consecutive time slots, output from the wireless receiver 630 as shown in FIG. 6, receives the plurality of Doppler frequencies calculated by the Doppler estimator 654, and determines and outputs the Doppler frequency, at which the measured phase difference is closest to the theoretically calculated value, as a true value from among the plurality of Doppler frequencies. Since these operations have been previously described with reference to FIG. 11, detailed descriptions thereof will be omitted.

[0126] FIG. 14 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 includes a phase difference measurer 671, a search range calculator 673, and a Doppler frequency searcher 675.

[0127] The phase difference measurer 671 measures the phase difference expressed by Equation 4, that is, the phase difference between the at least three chirps respectively positioned in consecutive time slots. 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 respectively positioned in consecutive time slots.

[0128] 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.

[0129] 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.

[0130] First, at a search target Doppler frequency, a phase difference between at least three chirp signals, which are respectively positioned in consecutive time slots and have 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 is output as the true Doppler frequency.

[0131] The operation of the configuration of FIG. 14 has been described in the method invention described with reference to FIG. 11, and thus detailed description thereof will be omitted.

[0132] According to the proposed invention, it is possible to overcome the existing limit of a detectable radial velocity of a target in a TDM FMCW radar apparatus. Furthermore, according to the proposed invention, it is possible to increase 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 antenna design or minimizing an increase in frame length in a TDM FMCW radar apparatus. Alternatively, according to the proposed invention, it is possible to solve a Doppler ambiguity problem while minimizing constraints in antenna design and minimizing an increase in frame length in a TDM FMCW radar apparatus.

[0133] 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.