Adaptive Antenna Selection for Radar DOA Estimation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Radar systems with multiple antenna elements face challenges in efficiently selecting the optimal antenna configuration for multiple detected objects due to the cost-prohibitive nature of full sets of transmit and receive channels, necessitating a method for adaptive antenna selection and multi-step planning to enhance direction of arrival (DOA) estimation accuracy.
Innovation Solution
An adaptive switch couples a subset of receive channels to selected antenna elements, processing reflected signals to estimate DOA using a decision tree-based multi-step assessment, incorporating the Metropolis-Hastings algorithm and Bobrovski-Zakai bound to generate and evaluate candidate configurations, and iteratively removing strongest reflections to optimize antenna configuration for subsequent iterations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a full set of transmit and receive channels is used with multiple antenna elements, then DOA estimation accuracy is improved, but system cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the receive channels into multiple groups, where each group is coupled to a different subset of antenna elements. This allows the system to use fewer total channels while still achieving accurate DOA estimation by processing signals from multiple segmented channel groups across different iterations.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary DOA estimation using an initial set of receive channels coupled to initial subsets of antenna elements. Based on this preliminary estimation, the system then selects optimized channel-subset pairings for subsequent iterations, improving overall accuracy without requiring a full set of channels from the beginning.
2Measurement precision
If antenna selection is performed based on multiple detected objects and multi-step planning, then DOA estimation accuracy is improved, but processing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic antenna selection where the receive channel to antenna element coupling changes across different iterations. The system adaptively reconfigures which receive channels are coupled to which antenna element subsets based on detected objects and performance metrics, allowing optimization without permanent complex hardware changes.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses feedback from preliminary DOA estimation results to guide subsequent antenna configuration selections. By evaluating the performance of different channel-subset pairings and using this feedback to inform future selections, the system achieves high accuracy while managing processing complexity through intelligent reuse of estimation results.
Data Source
AI summary
A radar system includes antenna elements and receive channels. An adaptive switch couples the receive channels to a subset of the antenna elements as selected antenna elements. The selected antenna elements receive reflected signals from reflection by objects and each of the receive channels outputs the digital signal based on the reflected signal from the coupled selected antenna element. A controller processes the digital signal from each receive channel to estimate a direction of arrival (DOA) to each object and generate candidate configurations of the switch. Assessing the candidate configurations includes performing a multi-step assessment using a decision tree with each candidate configuration as a root and examining accuracy of an output at a last step in the decision tree to select a selected candidate configuration based on the accuracy. The switch is configured according to the selected candidate configuration prior to receiving the reflected signals for a next iteration.