Wireless Chipset Radar Modulations for Gesture Recognition
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional radars are expensive and space-consuming, making them unsuitable for incorporation in smaller consumer devices due to size and cost constraints, limiting their performance and functionality in applications like gesture recognition and environmental mapping.
Innovation Solution
Repurposing wireless communication chipsets to perform radar sensing tasks, enabling them to transmit and receive radar signals while maintaining wireless communication capabilities, through techniques like full-duplex operation, digital beamforming, and radar modulations, thereby eliminating the need for dedicated radar hardware.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If conventional radar sensors are incorporated in consumer devices, then radar sensing performance is improved, but device size and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The wireless communication chipset is configured to perform both wireless communication and radar sensing functions. The same hardware components (transmitter, receiver, antenna) are used for both purposes by switching between communication protocols and radar signal processing modes, eliminating the need for separate dedicated radar hardware and thereby reducing device size and cost while maintaining radar sensing performance
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines radar sensing functionality with the existing wireless communication chipset infrastructure. The transmitter is used to generate both communication signals and radar signals, the receiver processes both types of signals, and the antenna radiates both types of electromagnetic waves. This merging of functions allows radar sensing to be implemented without adding separate hardware components, thus reducing overall device size
2Measurement precision
If conventional radar sensors are incorporated in consumer devices, then radar sensing performance is improved, but manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The wireless communication chipset is designed to serve dual purposes: wireless communication and radar sensing. By using the same hardware components for both functions, the patent eliminates the need to manufacture and assemble separate dedicated radar sensors, thereby reducing manufacturing complexity and cost while maintaining adequate radar sensing performance for consumer applications
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of creating entirely new dedicated radar hardware, the patent repurposes the existing wireless communication chipset architecture. The same transmitter, receiver, and antenna used for communication are copied and reconfigured for radar sensing applications, leveraging existing manufacturing processes and supply chains to reduce costs
3Adaptability or versatility
If wireless communication chipset performs both communication and radar sensing, then device complexity increases, but radar sensing capability is enabled
Solution Approach 1:
The wireless communication chipset is configured to perform both wireless communication and radar sensing functions using the same hardware components. The controller switches between communication modes and radar modes, utilizing the existing transmitter, receiver, and antenna for both purposes. This approach enables radar sensing capability without adding separate dedicated radar hardware, thereby managing device complexity while achieving versatility
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically switches the operational mode of the wireless communication chipset between communication and radar sensing. The controller can reconfigure the transmitter to generate different signal types (communication signals or radar signals), and the receiver can process different signal types accordingly. This dynamic reconfiguration allows a single hardware platform to adapt to different functional requirements without permanent structural changes
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables affordable and widespread implementation of radar sensing in consumer devices for applications such as gesture recognition, proximity detection, and environmental mapping without the need for additional hardware, enhancing user interfaces and enabling advanced features like touch-free control and collision avoidance.
Implementation Method 1
select the modulation type to enable detection of a target that reflects the signal
Data Source
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AI summary
Techniques and apparatuses are described that enable radar modulations for radar sensing using a wireless communication chipset. A controller initializes or controls modulations performed by the wireless communication chipset. In this way, the controller can enable the wireless communication chipset to perform modulations for wireless communication or radar sensing. In some cases, the controller can further select a wireless communication channel for setting a frequency and a bandwidth of a radar signal, thereby avoiding interference between multiple radar signals or between the radar signal and a communication signal. In other cases, the controller can cause the wireless communication chipset to modulate a signal containing communication data using a radar modulation. This enables another device that receives the signal to perform wireless communication or radar sensing. By utilizing these techniques, the wireless communication chipset can be used for wireless communication or radar sensing.