Angle estimating method and radar system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10267906-B2
Application number	US-201615249490-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 29, 2016
Priority date	Mar 30, 2016
Publication date	Apr 23, 2019
Grant date	Apr 23, 2019

Abstract

An angle estimating method applied in a radar system includes receiving a first signal and a second signal reflected from a target object via a first antenna and a second antenna; obtaining a first phase difference and at least one virtual phase difference, where the first phase difference is a phase difference between the first antenna and the second antenna; and obtaining a direction of arrival (DOA) of the target object according to the first phase difference and the at least one virtual phase difference.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An angle estimating method, applied in a radar system, the angle estimating method comprising:
receiving a first signal and a second signal reflected from a target object via a first antenna and a second antenna;
obtaining a first phase difference and at least one virtual phase difference according to the first signal and the second signal, wherein the first phase difference is a phase difference between the first antenna and the second antenna; and
obtaining a direction of arrival (DOA) of the target object according to the first phase difference and the at least one virtual phase difference;
wherein the step of obtaining the first phase difference and the at least one virtual phase difference according to the first signal and the second signal comprises:
obtaining a ratio of the first signal and the second signal;
obtaining the first phase difference according to the ratio; and
obtaining the at least one virtual phase difference according to the first phase difference.

2. The angle estimating method of claim 1 , wherein the step of obtaining the first phase difference and the at least one virtual phase difference according to the first signal and the second signal comprises:
obtaining the at least one virtual phase difference according to the ratio.

3. The angle estimating method of claim 2 , wherein the step of obtaining the at least one virtual phase difference according to the ratio comprises:

executing
⁢

⁢
b

=

tan

-
1

⁡

(

Im
⁢

{

R
q

}

Re
⁢

{

R
q

}

)

;

wherein b represents a virtual phase difference among the at least one virtual phase difference, q is a real number which is greater than 1, R represents the ratio of the first signal and the second signal, Im{ } represents an imaginary part operator, Re{ } represents a real part operator, and tan −1 represents an inverse function of a tangent function.

4. The angle estimating method of claim 1 , wherein the step of obtaining the at least one virtual phase difference according to the first phase difference comprises:
executing b=qa;
wherein b represents a virtual phase difference among the at least one virtual phase difference, q is a real number which is greater than 1, and a represents the first phase difference.

5. The angle estimating method of claim 1 , wherein the step of obtaining the DOA according to the first phase difference and the at least one virtual phase difference comprises:
obtaining a first angle corresponding to the first phase difference;
obtaining a plurality of virtual angles corresponding to the at least one virtual phase difference; and
obtaining the DOA according to the first angle and the plurality of virtual angles.

6. The angle estimating method of claim 5 , wherein the step of obtaining the DOA according to the first phase difference and the at least one virtual phase difference further comprises:
obtaining a plurality of first virtual angles corresponding to a first virtual phase difference among the at least one virtual phase difference;
selecting an optimum first virtual angle among the plurality of first virtual angles according to the first angle and the plurality of first virtual angles; and
obtaining the DOA according to the optimum first virtual angle.

7. The angle estimating method of claim 6 , wherein a difference between the optimum first virtual angle and the first angle is smaller than a threshold value, and the DOA is the optimum first virtual angle.

8. The angle estimating method of claim 6 , wherein the step of obtaining the DOA according to the optimum first virtual angle further comprises:
obtaining a plurality of second virtual angles corresponding to a second virtual phase difference among the at least one virtual phase difference;
selecting an optimum second virtual angle among the plurality of second virtual angles according to the optimum first virtual angle and the plurality of second virtual angles; and
obtaining the DOA according to the optimum second virtual angle.

9. The angle estimating method of claim 8 , wherein a difference between the optimum second virtual angle and the optimum first virtual is smaller than a threshold value, and the DOA is the optimum second virtual angle.

10. A radar system, comprising:
a first antenna, configured to receive a first signal reflected from a target object;
a second antenna, configured to receive a second signal reflected from the target object;
a processing unit, coupled to the first antenna and the second antenna; and
a storage unit, configured to store a program code, the program code instructing the processing unit to perform following steps:
obtaining a first phase difference and at least one virtual phase difference according to the first signal and the second signal, wherein the first phase difference is a phase difference between the first antenna and the second antenna, and the at least one virtual phase difference is phase difference between the first antenna and at least one virtual antenna; and
obtaining a direction of arrival (DOA) of the target object according to the first phase difference and the at least one virtual phase difference;
wherein the program code further instructs the processing unit to perform the following steps, for obtaining the first phase difference and the at least one virtual phase difference according to the first signal and the second signal comprises:
obtaining a ratio of the first signal and the second signal;
obtaining the first phase difference according to the ratio; and
obtaining the at least one virtual phase difference according to the first phase difference.

11. The radar system of claim 10 , wherein the program code further instructs the processing unit to perform the following steps, for obtaining the first phase difference and the at least one virtual phase difference according to the first signal and the second signal:
obtaining the at least one virtual phase difference according to the ratio.

12. The radar system of claim 11 , wherein the program code further instructs the processing unit to perform the following step, for obtaining the at least one virtual phase difference according to the ratio:

executing
⁢

⁢

Assignees

• Wistron Neweb Corp

Inventors

• Kuo Chi-Cheng
• Hsiao Hsin-Lung
• Li Jeng-Da

Classifications

• H01Q21/08

  the units being spaced along or adjacent to a rectilinear path {(waveguide fed H01Q21/0037)} · CPC title

• G01S13/003

  Bistatic radar systems; Multistatic radar systems · CPC title

• G01S13/06 Primary

  Systems determining position data of a target · CPC title

• G01S2013/0263

  Passive array antenna · CPC title

• G01S13/931 Primary

  of land vehicles · CPC title