Multi-Chip MIMO Radar Data Fusion for Angular Resolution
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current radar systems face limitations in detection range and angular resolution, particularly in MIMO configurations, where improving performance requires increasing the number of transmitters and receivers, but existing systems lack efficient methods for data processing and integration across multiple radar chips.
Innovation Solution
A multi-chip MIMO radar system is developed, where multiple radar chips with their own transmitters and receivers are connected to a centralized processing unit, enabling improved angular resolution and detection range by forming virtual antenna locations and utilizing Time Domain Multiplexing, with the central processing unit combining data from each chip to produce final radar outputs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the number of transmitters and receivers is increased to improve angular resolution and detection range, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The radar system is divided into multiple independent radar chips, each capable of processing data from its own transmitters and receivers. Each chip generates a separate radar data cube that is then combined in a centralized processing unit, allowing the system to achieve high angular resolution through multiple virtual antennas while distributing computational complexity across separate processing units.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates virtual antenna locations by combining data from multiple physical transmitters and receivers across different chips. This virtualization in the spatial domain allows the system to achieve equivalent performance to having many more physical antennas without proportionally increasing hardware complexity.
2Measurement precision
If the number of transmitters and receivers is increased to improve detection range, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the radar functionality across multiple chips, where each chip handles a subset of transmitters and receivers. The centralized processing unit combines the radar data cubes from all chips to achieve extended detection range equivalent to a single system with many more components, without managing the complexity of a monolithic design.
3Measurement precision
If multiple radar chips are used to improve performance, then measurement precision is improved, but data processing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Each radar chip independently processes its received signals to generate a complete radar data cube containing range, Doppler, and virtual receiver information. This segmentation of processing tasks allows parallel computation across multiple chips, reducing the processing burden on any single unit while achieving high angular resolution through combination of all chips' data.
Solution Approach 2:
Each radar chip performs preliminary processing of its received signals to create a radar data cube before combining results in the centralized processing unit. This preliminary action at each chip level simplifies the final combination step, as each chip has already extracted and organized the essential range, Doppler, and virtual receiver information.
4Measurement precision
If virtual antenna locations are formed to improve angular resolution, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system forms virtual antenna locations by mathematically combining signals from multiple physical transmitters and receivers across different chips. This creates a virtual array in the spatial domain that provides high angular resolution without requiring physically placing that many antennas, thereby avoiding the complexity of managing a large physical antenna array.
Data Source
AI summary
A multi-chip MIMO radar system includes a plurality of transmitters and a plurality of receivers. Each of the pluralities of transmitters and receivers are arranged across a plurality of chips. The multi-chip MIMO radar system includes a central processor configured to receive data from the plurality of chips. The central processor is operable to combine the information from each radar chip to produce improved range detection and angular resolvability of targets.