Radar transceiver

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9547071-B2
Application number	US-201414305843-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 16, 2014
Priority date	Jun 26, 2013
Publication date	Jan 17, 2017
Grant date	Jan 17, 2017

Abstract

A radar transceiver is disclosed. The radar transceiver includes a computing unit, a sweep control unit, a set of transmitters for transmitting radar chirps to targets, a set of receivers for receiving reflected chirps from the targets, and a timing engine processor coupled to the set of transmitters and to the set of receivers and configured to transmit a first set of control signals. The timing engine processor receives a second set of control signals generated by the computing unit. The sweep control unit receives a first control signal and a second control signal from the timing engine processor. The first control signal indicating a start time of a chirp and the second control signal indicating a reset time for resetting the chirp. A controlled phased lock loop (PLL) generates a local oscillator signal which is inputted to transmitters and receivers.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A radar transceiver comprising:
a set of transmitters for transmitting radar chirps to targets,
a set of receivers for receiving reflected chirps from the targets,
a timing engine processor coupled to the set of transmitters and to the set of receivers and configured to transmit a first set of control signals to the set of transmitters and to the set of receivers, the timing engine processor being further coupled to a computing unit, the timing engine processor configured to receive a second set of control signals generated by the computing unit and transmitted via a bus, and
a sweep control processor coupled to the timing engine processor and configured to receive a first control signal and a second control signal from the timing engine processor, the first control signal indicating a start time of a chirp and the second control signal indicating a reset time for resetting the chirp, the sweep control processor being further coupled to a controlled phase locked loop (PLL); wherein the PLL is configured to generate and output a local oscillator signal to of the set of transmitters and each of the set of receivers, wherein the local oscillator signal is generated based on a control signal, the control signal is generated by the sweep control processor based on the first control signal and the second control signal.

2. A radar transceiver as claimed in claim 1 , wherein each receiver included in the set of receivers comprises an analog to digital converter coupled to a serializer and configured to digitize the reflected chirps and to send digitized reflected chirps serially, each receiver being activated for period of time determined by a signal generated by the timing engine processor under the control of another signal generated by the timing engine processor.

3. A radar transceiver as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the timing engine processor comprises:
an interface configured to receive the second set of control signals transmitted by the computing unit; and
a control register configured to store the second set of control signals and to transmit the stored second set of control signals to a sequencer.

4. A radar transceiver as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the timing engine processor further comprises:
a first register, a second register and a third register coupled to a multiplexer circuit, each register comprising a register content, the register content comprising parameter settings for selected chirps that are generated by the set of transmitters,
the multiplexer circuit being controlled by a signal generated by the sequencer for selecting which of the first, second or third register content is transmitted.

5. A radar transceiver as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the timing engine processor further comprises a fourth register configured to load the register content outputted by the multiplexer circuit (MUX) for preventing accidental transmission of chirp parameters.

6. A radar transceiver as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the sequencer comprises a first counter, a second counter and a third counter, each counter being configured to be reset, or to increment their content under the control of the third counter.

7. A radar transceiver as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the sweep control processor comprises:
a plurality of registers configured to be loaded via a bus,
a frequency divider controlled by a first register from the plurality of registers;
a circuitry implementing a state—machine which is controlled by the control signals transmitted by the timing engine processor, the signals indicating a start time of a chirp and a reset time for resetting the sweep control processor;

the sweep control processor generating control signals that control the PLL.

8. A radar transceiver as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the sweep control processor is configured to generate a further control signal, the further control signal being configured to be inputted into the PLL for increasing a loop bandwidth during a reset operation.

9. A radar transceiver as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the PLL comprises:
a phase-frequency detector coupled to a charge pump, the charge pump being coupled to a loop filter, the loop filter being further coupled to a voltage-controlled oscillator, the voltage controlled oscillator configured to generate the local oscillator signal, the voltage control-oscillator being coupled to a divider which is controlled control signals generated by the sweep control processor, and
a control register configured to be updated via a serial peripheral interface (SPI) bus, the control register configured to control parameters of the charge pump, loop filter and voltage control oscillator.

10. A method for transmitting and receiving radar signals comprising:
transmitting chirps to a set of transmitters for transmitting them to targets,
receiving reflected chirps from the targets by a set of receivers;
transmitting a first set of control signals generated by a timing engine processor coupled to the set of transmitters and to the set of receivers, the timing engine processor receives a second set of control signals information via a bus;
receiving a third set of control signals from the timing engine processor by a sweep control processor, the control signals indicating a precise start time of a chirp and a precise reset time for resetting the chirp; and
generating a local oscillator signal by a controlled phase locked loop (PLL) coupled to the sweep control processor, wherein the local oscillator signal is generated based on a control signal, the control signal is generated by the sweep control processor based on the precise start time and the precise reset time.

11. A method for transmitting and receiving radar signals as claimed in claim 10 , further comprising:
analog to digital converting and serializing of the reflected chirps by any receiver in the set of receivers, and
activating each receiver in the set of receivers by a signal generated by the timing engine processor for a period of time determined by another signal generated by the timing engine processor.

12. A method for transmitting and receiving radar signals as claimed in claim 10 , further comprising:
receiving by the timing engine processor the second set of control signals transmitted by the computing unit and loading the second set of control signals in a dedicated register;
transferring the second set of control signals in a control register;
transmitting the second set of control signals from the control register to a sequencer; and
generating the third set of control signals by the sequencer for controlling the sweep control processor.

13. A method for transmitting and receiving radar signals as claimed in claim 12 , further comprising:
loading chirp parameters settings in a first register, in a second register and in a third register, the registers being coupled to a multiplexer circuit, and included in the timing engine processor, and
controlling the multiplexer circuit by a signal generated by the sequencer for selecting which of the chirp parameters settings are transmitted.

Assignees

• Nxp Bv

Inventors

• Vaucher Cicero Silveira
• Gehrels Cornelis

Classifications

• G01S7/02

  of systems according to group G01S13/00 · CPC title

• G01S13/931

  of land vehicles · CPC title

• G01S13/02

  Systems using reflection of radio waves, e.g. primary radar systems; Analogous systems · CPC title

• G01S7/35 Primary

  Details of non-pulse systems · CPC title

• G01S7/28 Primary

  Details of pulse systems · CPC title