Phase imbalance detection in a frequency modulated continuous wave radar system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12474444-B2
Application number	US-202218048704-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 21, 2022
Priority date	Oct 21, 2022
Publication date	Nov 18, 2025
Grant date	Nov 18, 2025

Abstract

A radar device may generate an integrated range-velocity map by combining data from a plurality of range-velocity maps. Each range-velocity map may be associated with a respective radar channel from a plurality of radar channels. The radar device may identify a first peak in the integrated range-velocity map. The first peak may indicate one or more radar targets in the integrated range-velocity map and being identified by a first bin having a first range-velocity bin index. The radar device may determine a first data set by extracting, from each range-velocity map, data that is included in a respective bin associated with the first range-velocity bin index. The radar device may process the first data set to determine a first set of phase imbalances associated with the plurality of radar channels.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A radar device, comprising:
a plurality of transmit channels; a plurality of receive channels;
wherein the plurality of transmit channels and the plurality of receive channels form a plurality of radar channels, wherein each radar channel of the plurality of radar channels corresponds to a different transmit channel-receive channel pair;
one or more memories; and one or more processors, communicatively coupled to the one or more memories, configured to:
generate a plurality of range-velocity maps, each range-velocity map of the plurality of range-velocity maps being associated with a respective radar channel from the plurality of radar channels;
generate an integrated range-velocity map by combining data from the plurality of range-velocity maps;
identify a first peak in the integrated range-velocity map, the first peak indicating one or more radar targets in the integrated range-velocity map and being identified by a first bin having a first range-velocity bin index;
determine a first data set from the plurality of range-velocity maps, the first data set being determined by extracting, from each range-velocity map of the plurality of range-velocity maps, data that is included in a respective bin associated with the first range-velocity bin index;
process the first data set to determine a first set of phase imbalances associated with the plurality of radar channels; and
determine that a component of the radar device has experienced an antenna feed issue based on a determination that a phase imbalance in the first set of the phase imbalances satisfies a threshold corresponding to an expected value of a connection break induced phase imbalance.

2 . The radar device of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors, when processing the first data set to determine the first set of phase imbalances, are configured to:
calculate, based on the first data set, a plurality of phase values associated with a target of the one or more targets, each phase value in the plurality of phase values being associated with a respective radar channel from the plurality of radar channels; subtract a reference phase from each phase value in the plurality of phase values to remove a contribution of the target from the plurality of phase values; and determine the first set of phase imbalances based on a result of subtracting the reference phase from each phase value in the plurality of phase values.

3 . The radar device of claim 2 , wherein the plurality of phase values is a first plurality of phase values, the target is a first target, the reference phase is a first reference phase, and the one or more processors are further configured to:
calculate, based on the first data set, a second plurality of phase values associated with a second target of the one or more targets, each phase value in the second plurality of phase values being associated with a respective radar channel from the plurality of radar channels; subtract a second reference phase from each phase value in the second plurality of phase values to remove a contribution of the second target from the second plurality of phase values; and determine the first set of phase imbalances further based on a result of subtracting the second reference phase from each phase value in the second plurality of phase values.

4 . The radar device of claim 3 , wherein the one or more processors, when determining the first set of phase imbalances, are configured to:
calculate a set of average phase imbalances based on the result of subtracting the first reference phase from each phase value in the first plurality of phase values and the result of subtracting the second reference phase from each phase value in the second plurality of phase values.

5 . The radar device of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors, when processing the first data set to determine the first set of phase imbalances, are configured to:
determine that the first data set is associated with a single target; calculate, based on the first data set, a plurality of phase values associated with the single target, each phase value in the plurality of phase values corresponding to a respective radar channel of the plurality of radar channels; and determine the first set of phase imbalances based on the plurality of phase values.

6 . The radar device of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
identify a second peak in the integrated range-velocity map, the second peak indicating at least one radar target in the integrated range-velocity map and being identified by a second bin having a second range-velocity bin index; determine a second data set from the plurality of range-velocity maps, the second data set being determined by extracting, from each range-velocity map of the plurality of range-velocity maps, data that is included in a respective bin associated with the second range-velocity bin index; process the second data set to determine a second set of phase imbalances associated with the plurality of radar channels; and compute a set of average phase imbalances based on the first set of phase imbalances and the second set of phase imbalances.

7 . The radar device of claim 1 , wherein the integrated range-velocity map is a first integrated range-velocity map, the plurality of range-velocity maps is a first plurality of range-velocity maps associated with a first radar cube, and the one or more processors are further configured to:
generate a second integrated range-velocity map by combining data from a second plurality of range-velocity maps, each range-velocity map in the second plurality of range-velocity maps being associated with a respective radar channel from the plurality of radar channels; identify a second peak in a second integrated range-velocity map, the second peak indicating at least one radar target in the second integrated range-velocity map and being identified by a second bin having a second range-velocity bin index; determine a second data set from the second plurality of range-velocity maps, the second data set being determined by extracting, from each range-velocity map of the second plurality of range-velocity maps, data that is included in a respective bin associated with the second range-velocity bin index; process the second data set to determine a second set of phase imbalances associated with the plurality of radar channels; and compute a set of average phase imbalances based on the first set of phase imbalances and the second set of phase imbalances.

8 . The radar device of claim 1 , wherein the radar device further comprises a set of receive antennas, and the first set of phase imbalances is associated with the set of receive antennas.

9 . The radar device of claim 1 , wherein the radar device further comprises a set of transmit antennas and the first set of phase imbalances is associated with the set of transmit antennas.

10 . A radar device, comprising:
a plurality of transmit channels; a plurality of receive channels;
wherein the plurality of transmit channels and the plurality of receive channels form a plurality of radar channels, wherein each radar channel of the plurality of radar channels corresponds to a different transmit channel-receive channel pair;
one or more memories; and one or more processors, communicatively coupled to the one or more memories, configured to:
generate a plurality of range-velocity maps, each range-velocity map of the plurality of range-velocity maps being associated with a respective radar channel from the plurality of radar channels;
generate an integrated range-velocity map by combining data from the plurality of range-velocity maps;
identi

Assignees

• Infineon Technologies Ag

Inventors

• Kavousi Ghafi Esmaeil
• Melzer Alexander
• Wagner Matthias
• Lang Oliver

Classifications

• G01S13/89

  for mapping or imaging · CPC title

• G01S13/584

  adapted for simultaneous range and velocity measurements · CPC title

• G01S7/356 Primary

  involving particularities of FFT processing · CPC title

• G01S13/931

  of land vehicles · CPC title

• G01S13/343

  using sawtooth modulation · CPC title