Receiver, method of operating the receiver, and beamforming radar system including receiver

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9791561-B2
Application number	US-201414339669-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 24, 2014
Priority date	Dec 20, 2013
Publication date	Oct 17, 2017
Grant date	Oct 17, 2017

Abstract

A receiver, an operating method of the receiver, and a beamforming radar system including the receiver are provided. A beamforming receiver may include a demodulation circuit configured to receive a signal reflected from an object via an antenna, to demodulate the received signal, and to generate a demodulated signal, and a time delay circuit configured to generate a digital signal by processing the demodulated signal based on reference clock signals, wherein the digital signal including static delay information associated with a static motion of the object, and dynamic delay information associated with a dynamic motion of the object.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A beamforming receiver comprising:
a demodulation circuit configured to receive a signal reflected from an object via an antenna, to demodulate the received signal, and to generate a demodulated signal;
a phase detection circuit configured to detect a change in a phase of the demodulated signal based on a defection window defined by reference dock signals; and
a time delay circuit configured to tune the demodulated signal based on the change in a phase and to generate a digital signal by processing the demodulated signal based on the reference clock signals,
wherein the digital signal comprises static delay information associated with a static motion of the object and dynamic delay information associated with a dynamic motion of the object, and the static delay information and the dynamic delay information comprises information on a delay of a reflected signal caused by the object.

2. The receiver of claim 1 , wherein the static delay information comprises a direct current (DC) offset, and the dynamic delay information comprises an alternating current (AC) component.

3. The receiver of claim 1 , further comprising a filtering circuit configured to filter the static delay information in the digital signal.

4. The receiver of claim 3 , further comprising an adder configured to add a plurality of digital signals.

5. The receiver of claim 4 , wherein the adder is connected to a rear side of the filtering circuit.

6. The receiver of claim 4 , wherein the adder is disposed between the time delay circuit and the filtering circuit.

7. The receiver of claim 4 , wherein the adder is further configured:
to generate a sum signal based on adding the static delay information and the dynamic delay information of the plurality of digital signals; and
to provide the added sum signal to the filtering circuit.

8. The receiver of claim 3 , wherein the filtering circuit is implemented as at least one of a high-pass filter (HPF) or a band-pass filter (BPF).

9. The receiver of claim 1 , wherein the demodulation circuit comprises:
a low-noise amplifier (LNA) configured to amplify the reflected signal to generate an amplified signal; and
a demodulator configured to demodulate the amplified signal to generate the demodulated signal.

10. The receiver of claim 9 , wherein the LNA is further configured to remove noise from the reflected signal.

11. The receiver of claim 1 , wherein in response to the change being detected within the detection window, the time delay circuit is further configured to generate the digital signal by processing the demodulated signal based on the reference clock signals.

12. The receiver of claim 1 , wherein the time delay circuit comprises a 1-bit delta-sigma time delay circuit.

13. A method of operating a beamforming receiver, the method comprising:
receiving a signal reflected from an object via an antenna;
demodulating the received signal to generate a demodulated signal;
tuning the demodulated signal based on the change in a phase;
generating a digital signal by processing the demodulated signal based on the reference clock signals,
wherein the digital signal comprises static delay information associated with a static motion of the object and dynamic delay information associated with a dynamic motion of the object, and the static delay information and the dynamic delay information comprises information on a delay of a reflected signal caused by the object.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the digital signal is generated using a time-to-digital conversion (TDC) scheme.

15. The operating method of claim 13 , wherein the static delay information comprises a direct current (DC) offset, and the dynamic delay information comprises an alternating current (AC) component.

16. The operating method of claim 13 , further comprising adding a plurality of the digital signals.

17. The operating method of claim 13 , further comprising filtering the static delay information in the digital signal.

18. The operating method of claim 13 , wherein the demodulating comprises:
amplifying the reflected signal to generate an amplified signal; and
demodulating the amplified signal to generate the demodulated signal.

19. The operating method of claim 13 , wherein the generating comprises:
generating the digital signals by processing the demodulated signal based on the reference clock signals in response to the change being detected within the detection window.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
• Univ Tsinghua

Inventors

• Rhee Woogeun
• Chen Xican
• Kim Jong Jin
• Kim Dong Wook
• Wang Zhihua

Classifications

• G01S15/52

  Discriminating between fixed and moving objects or between objects moving at different speeds · CPC title

• G01S13/42

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

• G01S13/52 Primary

  Discriminating between fixed and moving objects or between objects moving at different speeds · CPC title

• G01S13/88

  Radar or analogous systems specially adapted for specific applications (electromagnetic prospecting or detecting of objects, e.g. near-field detection, G01V3/00) · CPC title

• H04R25/554

  using a wireless connection, e.g. between microphone and amplifier or using Tcoils · CPC title