US 12,078,714 B2
Angular resolution refinement in a vehicle radar for object identification
Kenneth Ray Carroll, Huntington Beach, CA (US); and Kaice Theodore Reilly, San Diego, CA (US)
Assigned to BDCM A2 LLC, Dover, DE (US)
Filed by BDCM A2 LLC, Dover, DE (US)
Filed on Jan. 6, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/143,147.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/957,755, filed on Jan. 6, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2021/0208269 A1, Jul. 8, 2021
Int. Cl. G01S 13/44 (2006.01); G01S 7/41 (2006.01); G01S 13/931 (2020.01)
CPC G01S 13/4454 (2013.01) [G01S 7/417 (2013.01); G01S 13/4427 (2013.01); G01S 13/931 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A radar system for use in an autonomous vehicle, comprising:
a radiating structure having a plurality of radiating elements configured to radiate one or more transmission radio frequency (RF) beams to a surrounding environment of the autonomous vehicle and receive one or more return RF beams reflected from the surrounding environment, wherein the radiating structure comprises one or more transmit antennas and a plurality of receive antennas;
a transceiver coupled to the radiating structure;
a processing engine coupled to the radiating structure and configured to detect and identify a plurality of objects from the one or more return RF beams, wherein the processing engine comprises: a digital signal processor configured to generate monopulse signals and configured to determine a direction of arrival of each reflection of the plurality of objects and to determine an angular distance between the plurality of objects from the direction of arrival of each of the plurality of objects,
wherein the direction of arrival of each reflection is determined based on a phase difference of the reflection received at two or more receive antennas of the plurality of receive antennas, and
wherein the digital signal processor is further configured to initiate a guard channel detection and resolve with the monopulse signals; and
a microcontroller configured to provide scan parameters to the transceiver.