Angular resolution of targets using separate radar receivers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11002819-B2
Application number	US-201815960958-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 24, 2018
Priority date	Apr 24, 2018
Publication date	May 11, 2021
Grant date	May 11, 2021

Abstract

A radar system includes a transmitter for transmitting a radio frequency (RF) signal or a radar signal and a plurality of receivers. Each receiver receives a plurality of reflected signals created by a plurality of targets reflecting the RF signal or radar signal. The reflected signals include background noise and each of the receivers are separated by a predetermined distance. The radar system also includes a multiple input de-noiser configured to de-noise input signals from the plurality of receivers and to determine a time difference of arrival of the reflected signals between the plurality of receivers. A detection and angular resolution module is configured to determine an angular resolution between the plurality of targets using the time difference of arrival of the reflected signals between the plurality of receivers.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A radar system, comprising:
a transmitter for transmitting a radio frequency (RF) signal or a radar signal;
a plurality of receivers, each receiver receiving a plurality of reflected signals created by a plurality of targets reflecting the RF signal or radar signal, the reflected signals comprising background noise, and wherein each of the receivers are separated by a predetermined distance;
a multiple input de-noiser configured to de-noise input signals from the plurality of receivers and to determine a time difference of arrival of the reflected signals between the plurality of receivers, wherein the multiple input de-noiser comprises a plurality of neural network reservoirs that interact with each other to enhance detection of the reflected signals and determine the time difference of arrival of the reflected signals between the plurality of receivers; and
a detection and angular resolution module configured to determine an angular resolution between the plurality of targets using the time difference of arrival of the reflected signals between the plurality of receivers.

2. The radar system of claim 1 , wherein neural network reservoir weights of a second neural network reservoir of the plurality of neural network reservoirs are adjusted by a first neural network reservoir of the plurality of neural network reservoirs to enhance the detection of the reflected signals and determine the time difference of arrival of the reflected signals between the plurality of receivers.

3. The radar system of claim 1 , wherein the multiple input de-noiser comprises a separate de-noiser associated with each receiver of the plurality of receivers, wherein the separate de-noisers each comprise a neural network reservoir that interact with each other to enhance detection of the reflected signals and determine the time difference of arrival of the reflected signals between the plurality of receivers.

4. The radar system of claim 1 , wherein the RF signal or the radar signal transmitted by the transmitter comprises a continuous wave signal.

5. The radar system of claim 1 , wherein the transmitter comprises a transmit antenna and the plurality of receivers each comprise a receive antenna, wherein a baseline between adjacent receive antennas is substantially larger than an aperture or size of the transmit antenna, wherein the baseline corresponds to the predetermined distance between the adjacent receive antennas.

6. The radar system of claim 5 , wherein each receive antenna is configured to provide a broader signal beam and a lower gain than the transmit antenna.

7. The radar system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of receivers are frequency, phase and time aligned with each other and the transmitter.

8. The radar system of claim 7 , wherein the transmitter and receivers are frequency, phase and time aligned by using one of two way time transfer between the transmitter and the receivers, or time reversal technology.

9. A radar system, comprising:
a first receive antenna for receiving a plurality of reflected signals created by a plurality of targets reflecting a radio frequency (RF) signal or radar signal, the reflected signals comprising background noise;
a first analog-to-digital converter (ADC) that digitizes or samples the reflected signals received by the first receive antenna to provide a first digitized or sampled noisy input signal;
a second receive antenna for receiving the plurality of reflected signals created by the plurality of targets reflecting the RF signal or radar signal, wherein the second receive antenna is spaced at a predetermined distance from the first receive antenna;
a second analog-to-digital converter (ADC) that digitizes or samples the reflected signals received by the second receive antenna to provide a second digitized or sampled noisy input signal; and
a multiple input de-noiser configured to de-noise the noisy input signal from each ADC and to determine a time difference of arrival of the reflected signals between the first receive antenna and the second receive antenna, wherein the multiple input de-noiser comprises a plurality of neural network reservoirs that interact with each other to enhance detection of the reflected signals and determine the time difference of arrival of the reflected signals between the plurality of receivers; and
a detection and angular resolution module configured to determine an angular resolution between the plurality of targets using the time difference of arrival of the reflected signals between the receive antennas.

10. The radar system of claim 9 , wherein neural network reservoir weights of a second neural network reservoir of the plurality of neural network reservoirs are adjusted by a first neural network reservoir of the plurality of neural network reservoirs to enhance detection of the reflected signals and determine the time difference of arrival of the reflected signals between the first receive antenna and the second receive antenna.

11. The radar system of claim 9 , further comprising a transmit antenna for transmitting the RF signal or a radar signal.

12. The radar system of claim 11 , wherein the RF signal or the radar signal transmitted by the transmit antenna comprises a continuous wave signal.

13. The radar system of claim 11 , wherein a baseline of the first receive antenna and the second receive antenna is substantially larger than an aperture or size of the transmit antenna, wherein the baseline corresponds to the predetermined distance between the first receive antenna and the second receive antenna.

14. The radar system of claim 13 , wherein the baseline of the first receive antenna and the second receive antenna is between about 100 and about 1000 times greater than the aperture or size of the transmit antenna.

15. The radar system of claim 11 , wherein the first receive antenna and the second receive antenna are each configured to provide a broader signal beam and a lower gain than the transmit antenna.

16. The radar system of claim 11 , wherein the first receive antenna and the second receive antenna are omnidirectional antennas.

17. The radar system of claim 11 , wherein the first receive antenna and the second receive antenna each comprise a smaller aperture or size than the transmit antenna.

18. A method for determining an angular resolution between a plurality of targets, comprising:
transmitting a radio frequency (RF) signal or radar signal;
receiving a plurality of reflected signals created by a plurality of targets reflecting the RF signal or radar signal, the reflected signals comprising background noise, wherein the reflected signals are received by a first receive antenna and by a second receive antenna that are spaced a predetermined distance apart;
de-noising a first input signal from the first receive antenna by a multiple input de-noiser wherein the multiple input de-noiser comprises a plurality of neural network reservoirs that interact with each other to enhance detection of the reflected signals and determine a time difference of arrival of the reflected signals between the plurality of receivers;
de-noising a second input signal from the second receive antenna by the multiple input de-noiser;
determining the time difference of arrival of the reflected signals between the first receive antenna and the second receive antenna from the de-noised first input signal and the de-noised second input signal by the multiple input de-noiser; and
determining an angular resolution between the plurality of targets using the time difference of arrival of the r

Assignees

• Boeing Co

Inventors

• Wittenberg Peter S
• Haxton Simon L
• Smith Jason R
• Petre Peter

Classifications

• G01S13/726 Primary

  Multiple target tracking · CPC title

• G01S7/417

  involving the use of neural networks · CPC title

• G01S5/06

  Position of source determined by co-ordinating a plurality of position lines defined by path-difference measurements (G01S5/12 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G01S13/003

  Bistatic radar systems; Multistatic radar systems · CPC title

• G01S13/878 Primary

  Combination of several spaced transmitters or receivers of known location for determining the position of a transponder or a reflector (G01S13/874 takes precedence) · CPC title