Phase-modulated continuous wave radar receiver with time division quadrature sampling

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11320516-B1
Application number	US-202117332101-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	May 27, 2021
Priority date	May 27, 2021
Publication date	May 3, 2022
Grant date	May 3, 2022

Abstract

Time-division quadrature sampling may be used in a pulse-modulated continuous wave (PMCW) radar receiver circuit, e.g., as may be employed in various types of radar sensors used in automotive and other applications, to enable a quadrature sampling circuit to sequence between digitally sampling different complex components of a received radar signal at different times.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A radar system for a vehicle, the radar system comprising:
a phase-modulated continuous wave (PMCW) radar receiver circuit configured to receive an input PMCW radar signal;
a phase modulator circuit configured to selectively shift a phase of a local oscillator (LO) signal to generate a selectively shifted LO signal;
a PMCW radar transmitter circuit configured to generate an output PMCW radar signal using the selectively shifted LO signal; and
a quadrature sampling circuit coupled to the PMCW radar receiver circuit and configured to determine in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) components of the input PMCW radar signal using time-division quadrature sampling, wherein the quadrature sampling circuit includes a mixer configured to mix the input PMCW radar signal with the selectively shifted LO signal.

2. The radar system of claim 1 , wherein the quadrature sampling circuit is configured to determine the I and Q components of the input PMCW radar signal using time-division quadrature sampling by alternating between sampling the I and Q components of the input PMCW radar signal over time.

3. The radar system of claim 2 , wherein the quadrature sampling circuit is configured to alternate between sampling the I and Q components of the input PMCW radar signal over time by repeating sampling of one of the I and Q components one or more times before sampling the other of the I and Q components.

4. The radar system of claim 2 , wherein the quadrature sampling circuit is configured to alternate between sampling the I and Q components of the input PMCW radar signal over time by sampling one of the I and Q components more frequently than the other of the I and Q components.

5. The radar system of claim 1 , wherein the quadrature sampling circuit is configured to determine the I and Q components of the input PMCW radar signal using time-division quadrature sampling by alternating between sampling the I and Q components of the input PMCW radar signal based upon a pseudorandom binary sequence.

6. The radar system of claim 2 , wherein the quadrature sampling circuit further includes an analog to digital converter (ADC) configured to generate the I and Q components of the input PMCW radar signal by digitally sampling an analog output signal of the mixer, and wherein the radar system further includes control logic configured to control the phase modulator circuit to vary the phase of the LO signal during at least one of first and second durations such that during the first duration the ADC outputs the I component of the input PMCW radar signal and during the second duration the ADC outputs the Q component of the input PMCW radar signal.

7. The radar system of claim 6 , wherein the control logic is configured to control the phase modulator circuit to vary the phase of the LO signal during at least one of the first and second durations by varying the phase of the LO signal during the second duration to be about 90 degrees offset from the phase of the LO signal during the first duration.

8. The radar system of claim 6 , wherein the control logic is configured to control the phase modulator circuit to alternate between first and second states, wherein the control logic controls the phase modulator circuit during the first duration to control the phase of the LO signal such that the ADC outputs the I component of the input PMCW radar signal and controls the phase modulator circuit during the second duration to control the phase of the LO signal such that the ADC outputs the Q component of the input PMCW radar signal.

9. The radar system of claim 1 , wherein the phase modulator circuit is disposed in the PMCW radar transmitter circuit.

10. The radar system of claim 1 , wherein the PMCW radar transmitter circuit is configured to generate the output PMCW radar signal by applying pseudorandom phase shifts to a continuous radio frequency (RF) carrier using the phase modulator circuit.

11. The radar system of claim 1 , wherein the quadrature sampling circuit further includes an analog to digital converter (ADC) configured to generate first and second complex components of the input PMCW radar signal by digitally sampling an analog output signal of the mixer, wherein the radar system further includes control logic configured to control the phase modulator circuit to vary the phase of the LO signal during at least one of first and second durations such that during the first duration the ADC outputs the first complex component of the input PMCW radar signal and during the second duration the ADC outputs the second component of the input PMCW radar signal, and wherein the quadrature sampling circuit is configured to determine the I and Q components of the input PMCW radar signal using time-division quadrature sampling by alternating between sampling the first and second complex components of the input PMCW radar signal over time and determining the I and Q components from the first and second complex components.

12. The radar system of claim 11 , wherein the first complex component is the I component and the second complex component is the Q component.

13. A radar system for a vehicle, the radar system comprising:
a phase-modulated continuous wave (PMCW) radar receiver circuit configured to receive an input PMCW radar signal; and
a quadrature sampling circuit coupled to the PMCW radar receiver circuit and configured to determine in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) components of the input PMCW radar signal using time-division quadrature sampling;
wherein the quadrature sampling circuit includes a mixer configured to mix the input PMCW radar signal with a local oscillator (LO) signal and an analog to digital converter (ADC) configured to generate first and second complex components of the input PMCW radar signal by digitally sampling an analog output signal of the mixer;
wherein the radar system further includes control logic configured to vary a phase of the LO signal during at least one of first and second durations such that during the first duration the ADC outputs the first complex component of the input PMCW radar signal and during the second duration the ADC outputs the second component of the input PMCW radar signal;
wherein the quadrature sampling circuit is configured to determine the I and Q components of the input PMCW radar signal using time-division quadrature sampling by alternating between sampling the first and second complex components of the input PMCW radar signal over time and determining the I and Q components from the first and second complex components; and
wherein at least one of the first and second complex components is a mixture of the I and Q components.

14. A method, comprising:
receiving an input PMCW radar signal with a radar circuit disposed on at least one integrated circuit (IC); and
determining in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) components of the input PMCW radar signal using time-division quadrature sampling, wherein determining the I and Q components of the input PMCW radar signal using time-division quadrature sampling includes alternating between sampling the I and Q components of the input PMCW radar signal over time, and wherein alternating between sampling the I and Q components of the input PMCW radar signal over time includes repeating sampling of one of the I and Q components one or more times before sampling the other of the I and Q components.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein alternating between sampling the I and Q components of the input PMCW radar signal over time includes alternating between sampling the I and Q components based upon a pseudorandom binary sequence.

16. Th

Assignees

• Aurora Innovation Inc
• Aurora Operations Inc

Inventors

• CROUCH Stephen
• Li Chunshu

Classifications

• G01S13/325 Primary

  using transmission of coded signals, e.g. P.S.K. signals · CPC title

• G01S13/42

  Simultaneous measurement of distance and other co-ordinates (indirect measurement G01S13/46) · CPC title

• G01S13/931

  of land vehicles · CPC title

• G01S7/358 Primary

  using I/Q processing · CPC title

• G01S13/36

  with phase comparison between the received signal and the contemporaneously transmitted signal · CPC title