Time-Frequency Radar Waveform Segmentation for Lower ADC Complexity
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Solution Overview
Problem
High-resolution radar systems face implementation challenges due to the complexity of digital processing, requiring wide bandwidth and high bit-rate analog-to-digital converters, leading to increased cost and power consumption, and the limitations of conventional analog waveforms in achieving desired resolution and interference immunity.
Innovation Solution
A time-frequency waveform design that decomposes wideband signals into sub-band signals, allowing for narrowband processing and aggregation, reducing the burden on ADC/DAC and baseband processing, while maintaining high resolution and immunity to interference.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If wideband digital processing is used to achieve high-resolution radar, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the wideband signal into multiple narrowband sub-band signals through frequency domain segmentation. Each sub-band signal is processed independently with lower complexity digital processing, then the results are aggregated to achieve the desired high-resolution radar measurement. This segmentation approach maintains measurement precision while reducing the complexity of individual processing stages.
2Measurement precision
If wide bandwidth ADC is used to achieve high-resolution radar, then measurement precision is improved, but use of energy increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the wideband signal processing into multiple narrowband sub-band processing tasks. Each sub-band requires a lower-bit-rate ADC, reducing the power consumption of individual ADCs. The overall measurement precision is maintained by coherently aggregating the results from all sub-band processing stages.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transforms the time-domain wideband processing problem into a frequency-domain multi-dimensional approach by dividing the bandwidth into sub-bands. This dimensional transformation allows parallel processing of multiple narrowband signals, each with reduced ADC requirements, thereby reducing total power consumption while maintaining resolution.
3Measurement precision
If high bit-rate ADC is used to achieve high-resolution radar, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the high-bit-rate ADC requirement into multiple lower-bit-rate ADCs that process narrowband sub-band signals. Each ADC operates at reduced bit-rate and complexity, while the combined output from multiple ADCs achieves the equivalent measurement precision of a single high-bit-rate ADC through coherent aggregation in the frequency domain.
4Ease of manufacture
If conventional analog waveform is used, then ease of manufacture is improved, but measurement precision deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces conventional analog waveform generation and processing with digital signal processing methods. By using digital techniques to generate and process the waveform, the system achieves superior measurement precision and interference immunity while maintaining practical manufacturability through software-defined approaches.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs digital signal processing parameters and algorithms to achieve high-resolution radar performance. By changing from analog to digital domain processing, the system gains improved measurement precision, flexibility, and interference rejection capabilities while remaining manufacturable through standard digital signal processing hardware.
Data Source
AI summary
The apparatus includes: a radar circuit including a set of antennas for transmission and reception, a transmitter, a receiver, and a medium access control (MAC) controller. The apparatus further includes a controller operably connected to the radar circuit, the controller configured to identify a discrete Fourier transform (DFT) of a long constant amplitude zero autocorrelation (CAZAC) sequence including multiple segments, identify, via the MAC controller, time-frequency resources for the multiple segments, identify a set of time-frequency sub-channels in the time-frequency resources, and sequentially map each of the multiple segments to each of the set of time-frequency sub-channels. The radar circuit is configured to transmit, via the transmitter, a first signal based on the set of time-frequency sub-channels.