EP4193186A1

EP4193186A1 - Radar modulation method with a high distance resolution and little signal processing outlay

Info

Publication number: EP4193186A1
Application number: EP21727360.6A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Markus Wintermantel
Original assignee: Continental Autonomous Mobility Germany GmbH
Current assignee: Continental Autonomous Mobility Germany GmbH
Priority date: 2020-08-10
Filing date: 2021-05-07
Publication date: 2023-06-14
Also published as: US20230296750A1; JP7480421B2; DE102020210079B3; WO2022033638A1; JP2023537900A; WO2022033639A1; JP7480422B2; CN116194801A; CN116075745A; JP2023537329A; US20230314556A1

Abstract

A method according to the invention for a radar system is presented, for detecting the surroundings using transmission means for emitting transmission signals which contain a sequence of at least approximately identical individual signals, the sequence of individual transmission signals being repeated cyclically, said method being characterized in that over the sequence of the individual signals the frequency position thereof – optionally apart from a varying and at least approximately mean value-free component – is changed at least approximately linearly and, in the process, the slope of the linear frequency position change over the individual transmission signals is at least sometimes varied from sequence to sequence, in particular in order to increase the radial distance and/or relative speed measurement accuracy and/or in order to be more robust in respect of interference with other radar systems.

Description

Radar modulation method with high range resolution and low signal processing effort

The invention relates to radar methods and a radar system for use in driver assistance systems in motor vehicles. According to the invention, the radar system has a high range resolution with a low signal processing load.

State of the art

Motor vehicles are increasingly being equipped with driver assistance systems which, with the aid of sensor systems, detect the surroundings and derive automatic reactions of the vehicle from the traffic situation detected in this way and/or instruct the driver, in particular warn them. A distinction is made between comfort and safety functions.

As a comfort function, FSRA (Full Speed Range Adaptive Cruise Control) plays an important role in the current development. The vehicle regulates its own speed to the desired speed specified by the driver, provided the traffic situation permits; otherwise, the vehicle's own speed is automatically adjusted to the traffic situation. In addition, the lane change assistant is gaining in importance with the expansion to an at least partially automated lane change function.

In addition to increasing comfort, the focus is increasingly on safety functions, with reducing the braking or stopping distance in emergency situations playing an important role. The spectrum of the corresponding driver assistance functions ranges from automatic pre-filling of the brakes to reduce braking latency (prefill) to autonomous emergency braking.

Radar sensors are predominantly used today for driver assistance systems of the type described above. These work reliably even in poor weather conditions and, in addition to the distance from objects, can also directly measure their radial relative speed using the Doppler effect. 24 and 77 GHz are used as transmission frequencies.

The functions mentioned above require a fairly high sensor range while at the same time having high distance measurement accuracy, resolution and separation capability. the high range resolution and selectivity is also important because it can at least partially offset the poor angular resolution and selectivity of automotive radar sensors (resulting from their small size). However, a simultaneous high range and distance resolution typically require a high level of digital signal processing, which is difficult to implement since corresponding signal processors for use in a motor vehicle are currently only available to a limited extent and are expensive.

Methods are proposed in DE 10 2013 200 404 A1 and WO 2018/086783 A1 which are intended to allow a long range and high distance resolution with moderate effort for the digital signal processing. However, these methods miss the goal of a high range resolution, especially at high radial relative speeds, and then also have a reduced sensitivity, i. H. Range.

Object, solution and advantages of the invention

The object of the invention is to be able to simultaneously achieve a long range and high distance resolution with a motor vehicle radar sensor, even for relatively moving objects, with moderate effort for the digital signal processing.

In principle, this object is achieved with the aid of a radar method or a radar system according to one of Claims 1-12. According to the invention, it is shown how the radar modulation and the signal evaluation are to be designed in order to be able to realize a high measurement accuracy and resolution both for the distance and for the relative speed of objects.

The advantages of the invention result from the fact that sensors with a simultaneously long range and high distance resolution can be implemented with comparatively inexpensive signal processors that are available today for motor vehicle applications, in order to be able to implement sophisticated next-generation driver assistance systems. In addition, simpler signal processors also have the advantage that they consume less electrical power. invention description

In the method according to the invention for a radar system for detecting the surroundings, this has transmission means for emitting transmission signals which contain a sequence of at least approximately identical individual signals. The sequence of individual transmission signals is repeated cyclically. Via the sequence of individual signals, the frequency position of which - possibly apart from a varying and at least approximately mean-free component - is changed at least approximately linearly and the slope of the linear change in frequency position across the individual transmission signals is varied at least sometimes or partially from sequence to sequence, in particular by increase radial range and/or relative velocity measurement accuracy and/or be more robust to interference with other radar systems.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the sequence of the individual signals can be used to change their frequency position (which is characterized in particular by their center frequency) and their time interval (if necessary apart from a varying and at least approximately mean-free component) at least approximately linearly. The amount of the relative change in the time interval is at least approximately twice as large as the relative change in the frequency position, with the signs of these changes being opposite.

A random or pseudo-random component can expediently be superimposed on the frequency position, the time interval and/or the phase position of the individual signals.

The frequency of the individual signals is preferably linearly modulated and the slope of the frequency modulation is at least approximately the same for all individual signals, with the individual transmission signals being frequency ramps.

According to an advantageous embodiment of the method, for K frequency ramps, numbered below with k=0, . . . ,K-1, I digital received values, numbered below with i=0, several receiving channels are acquired. A two-dimensional discrete Fourier transformation can then be carried out via the respective IK received values, possibly not completely and preferably with the aid of one-dimensional fast Fourier transformations. Here, from the received value index dimension i after Transformation resulting dimension as distance gates j = 0, ..., J-1 and the resulting from the frequency ramp dimension dimension as Doppler gates l = 0, ..., L-1.

Furthermore, the linear changes in the frequency position and the time interval between the individual frequency ramps can result in the received signals from transmission signals reflected by objects after the two-dimensional discrete Fourier transformation also leading to sharp power peaks when the objects are moving towards or away from the radar system , i.e. have a relative radial motion component.

The linear change in the frequency position of the frequency ramps can be taken into account in an advantageous manner by linearly measuring the position of its power peaks after the two-dimensional discrete Fourier transformation in the Doppler gate dimension I by one of the distance gate dimension j for the determination of the radial relative speed of an object dependent portion is corrected. The linearity factor results from the quotient of the change in the frequency position across the frequency ramps and the change in the frequency within the reception period during the individual frequency ramps. The position of the power peak is preferably determined by interpolation, which generally results in non-integer values for the range gate dimension j and/or the Doppler gate dimension I. This refinement of the invention can be expressly applied to all generic radar systems in which there is a change in the frequency position of the individual frequency ramps.

The linear change in the frequency position of the individual frequency ramps can expediently be taken into account in that, after a one-dimensional discrete Fourier transformation over the I received values per frequency ramp k=0,...,K-1, the phases of the values resulting in the distance gate dimension j are in each case a phase component proportional to the product 2ir jk/K can be corrected, with the proportionality factor essentially resulting from the quotient of the change in the frequency position across the frequency ramps and the change in the frequency within the reception period during the individual frequency ramps. The correction can then be implemented by multiplying with a complex pointer of length 1 and corresponding phase. These An embodiment of the invention can be expressly applied to all generic radar systems in which there is a change in the frequency position of the individual frequency ramps.

The sequence of K individual transmission signals can be repeated cyclically, with the slope of the linear change in frequency position across the individual transmission signals being varied from sequence to sequence at least sometimes (ie at least in one sequence or one of the sequences), in particular by the radial distance and / or to increase relative speed measurement accuracy and / or to be more robust with regard to interference with other radar systems.

The individual transmission signals preferably represent frequency ramps, with two cycles having an inverse slope, i. H. slope differing by a factor of -1, can be used for an accurate radial distance and/or relative velocity measurement of an object. In this case, from its positions of the power peak resulting in the two cycles after the two-dimensional discrete Fourier transformation, essentially only the sum and the difference in the Doppler gate dimension are used, but not the range gate dimension.

The sequence of K individual transmission signals can expediently be repeated cyclically, with the mean time interval from sequence to sequence being at least sometimes, i. H. at least in one sequence, is varied, in particular in order to resolve ambiguities in the determination of the radial relative speed and/or to be more robust with regard to interference with other radar systems.

A plurality of reception channels can preferably be realized by a plurality of transmitting and/or receiving antennas. In addition to the two-dimensional discrete Fourier transformation over I K received values in each case, digital beam shaping over receive channels or for generating receive channels can also be provided.

In addition, the present invention also claims a radar system for detecting the surroundings, comprising transmission means for emitting transmission signals which contain a sequence of at least approximately identical individual signals. The radar system is characterized in that the radar system uses a method according to the invention. Brief description of the drawings

1 shows the exemplary embodiment of a radar system.

2 shows the frequency of the transmission signals, which represent so-called frequency ramps, with a constant frequency according to the prior art.

Fig. 3 shows the absolute value spectrum after the two-dimensional discrete Fourier transformation for three objects and the frequency curve according to Fig. 2.

4 shows the frequency of the transmission signals with a linearly changing frequency position.

FIG. 5 shows the absolute value spectrum after the two-dimensional discrete Fourier transformation for the three objects and the frequency curve according to FIG. 4, the distance between the frequency ramps being constant.

6 shows the absolute value spectrum for the case in which the spacing of the frequency ramps is selected according to WO 2018/086783 A1.

Figure 7 shows the magnitude spectrum for the case where frequency ramp spacing is chosen in accordance with this invention.

example

The exemplary embodiment of a radar system, which is shown roughly in FIG. 1, is considered. The radar system has a transmitting antenna TX0 for emitting transmission signals and M=4 receiving antennas RX0-RX3 for receiving transmission signals reflected from objects; the antennas are designed as patch antennas on a flat circuit board 1.1 using planar technology, with this circuit board being oriented horizontally and vertically in the vehicle as shown in the figure. All antennas (transmitting and receiving antennas) have the same beam characteristics in elevation and azimuth. The 4 receiving antennas (and thus their phase, i.e. radiation centres) each have the same lateral, ie horizontal distance d = X/2 = 1.96mm from one another, where X = c/76.5GHz = 3.92mm the average wavelength of the emitted signals in the frequency band used 76- 77GHz and c=3*10 ⁸ m/s is the speed of light.

The transmission signals radiated on the transmission antenna are obtained from the high-frequency oscillator 1.2 in the 76-77 GHz range, which is controlled via a control Voltage vsteuer can be changed in frequency. The control voltage is generated in the control means 1.7, these control means z. B. contain a phase-locked loop or a digital-to-analog converter, which are controlled so that the frequency response of the oscillator corresponds to the desired frequency modulation.

The signals received from the four receiving antennas are mixed down in parallel in the real-value mixers 1.3, likewise with the signal from the oscillator 1.2, into the low-frequency range. The received signals then pass through the bandpass filter 1.4 with the transfer function shown, the amplifier 1.5 and the analog/digital converter 1.6. They are then further processed in the digital signal processing unit 1.8.

So that the distance from objects can be measured - as shown in Fig. 2 - the frequency hx of the high-frequency oscillator and thus of the transmission signals is changed linearly very quickly (in Tch=51.2ps by Bch=150MHz, with the center frequency fc=76.5 GHz is); this is referred to as a frequency ramp (often referred to as "chirp"). The frequency ramps are repeated periodically in a fixed grid Toc=70ps; in total there are K=256 frequency ramps, all of which have the same frequency response, i. H. the same frequency gradient and the same frequency position (i.e. in particular the same start and middle frequency). In recent years, this type of modulation has become increasingly widespread in radars for detecting the surroundings of motor vehicles.

During each frequency ramp k=0,...,K-1, the received signals from each of the M=4 A/D converters m=0,...,M-1 are processed l=256 times at intervals of 200ns ( i.e. at 5MHz), sampling always beginning at the same time relative to the start of the ramp (see Figure 2); the resulting digital samples with index i=0,...,1-1 are denoted by s(i,k,m). Signal scanning only makes sense in the time range where received signals from objects arrive in the distance range of interest - after the start of the ramp, at least the delay time corresponding to the maximum distance of interest must be waited for (at a maximum distance of interest of 99m this corresponds to 0.66ps); it should be noted that here and in the following, distance always means the radial distance. As is known from the prior art and can also be easily derived, in the case of a single point-like object at a distance r, the scanning signal s(i,k,m) represents a sinusoidal oscillation over the index i, which is a very good approximation can be described as follows: s(i,k,m) = A(m)-sin(2iT-i/lr/(meter)-Bch/150MHz + cp(k)+(po(m)) , (1 ) ie the frequency of the vibration is proportional to the object distance r, whereby in general a constant distance can be assumed with a very good approximation for the frequency of the sinusoidal vibration even in the case of a radial relative movement of the object to the sensor.However, the relative movement has an effect with the radial component v in the phase position <p(k) of the sinusoidal oscillation from: cp(k) = 2TT-k-2T _D cvfc/c , (2) ie, the phase position changes linearly over the frequency ramp k, with the rate of change being proportional to the phase to the radial relative velocity v of the object Due to the lineari If the receiver is operated, the scanning signal s(i,k,m) results in the case of several and/or extended objects as a linear superimposition of sinusoidal functions of the above form.

This signal form allows further processing with a two-dimensional Fourier transformation (DFT) including suitable signal windowing for each receiving channel m, this two-dimensional DFT preferably being implemented in two stages using two one-dimensional fast Fourier transformations (FFT=Fast Fourier Transform). After this two-dimensional DFT, power peaks appear in the resulting spectrum S(j,l,m), the respective position of which corresponds to the distance r and relative speed v of the associated object - see Fig. 3, which shows the magnitude spectrum |S(j, l,m)/A(m)| in dB for three objects with the same radar cross section, at least approximately the same azimuth angle and with the following distances and relative velocities: [n=29.5m, vi=1.09m/s], [r2=30m, V2=1.09m/s] and [ r3=45m,

V3=60.4m/s]; receiver noise is superimposed on the signals of the objects, which is clearly below the power peaks of the objects marked with the object numbers in the spectrum. The dimension j=0, referred to, since the position of the power peaks in dimension j essentially results from the object distance and in dimension I from the relative speed (which is shown via the Doppler effect) - it can be neglected here that the power peak position also has a very small dependence on the other of the two physical quantities distance and relative speed. It should be noted that the speed cannot be calculated unequivocally from the Doppler gate of the power peak, since the design presented here only has an unambiguous range of 28m/s via the K=L=256 Doppler gates - ambiguities can e.g. B. can be realized by varying the distance TDC of the frequency ramps from radar cycle to radar cycle (see also below). According to FIG. 3, the number of range gates is only J=100 and thus significantly smaller than the number l=256 of sampled values; The background is that on the one hand the samples are real-valued, so that their spectrum is symmetrical, ie no additional information is contained in the upper half of the DFT, and on the other hand the upper transition range of the analog bandpass filter 1.4 according to FIG. 1 has a frequency bandwidth of 1.09MHz (corresponds to the range of 56 frequency support points). With the modulation bandwidth Bch=150MHz used here, the range gate width Bch/150MHz-1m is even =1 m, so that the J=100 range gates allow a maximum range of 99m.

As can be seen from Fig. 3, the first two objects with [n=29.5m, vi=1.09m/s] and [r2=30m, V2=1.09m/s] could not be separated, but are in a power peak merged because they have the same relative speed and only slightly different distances - their distance difference is 0.5m and thus only half a distance gate. Typically, a difference of two distance gates is needed to separate two punctiform objects with the same relative speed. In order to be able to separate these two objects by distance, a significantly higher modulation bandwidth Bch would be required, at least a factor of 4 higher, i.e. Bch=600MHz, which leads to a distance gate width of Bch/150MHz-1m = 0.25m. With the same maximum sensor range of around 99m, 4 times more samples would be required per frequency ramp - on the one hand, this would require faster analog-to-digital converters and, on the other hand, what is even more serious, roughly 4 times more processing power and memory in the digital signal processing means. To avoid this, one can use an alternative form of modulation, e.g. B. known from DE 102013 200404 A1 and shown in Fig. 4 apply. The only change in this form of modulation compared to the previously considered according to Fig. 2 is that the frequency position, especially characterized by the start frequency and center frequency F _c (k), linearly over the K = 256 frequency ramps by the frequency Bs / K with Bs=600MHz increased; this effectively realizes a much higher modulation bandwidth and, as a result, a much better range separation capability. The distance between the frequency ramps is unchanged, i.e. still constant To(k)=70ps. With this form of modulation, the signal processing can be left unchanged in the form of the two-dimensional DFT. The absolute value spectrum |S(j, l,m)/A(m)| resulting for the 3 objects according to the example above is shown in FIG. Compared to the original absolute value spectrum according to FIG. 3, the positions of the power peaks in Doppler gate dimension I have now shifted, but not in distance gate dimension j. This is because the linearly increasing frequency position of the frequency ramp increases the number of wave trains in the beam path from the sensor to the respective object and back (the wavelength becomes smaller with increasing frequency), which is reflected in the phase position <p(k) of the received values s(i,k,m) according to relation (1) acts as a component that changes linearly over the frequency ramps k; this is superimposed on the component caused by a radial relative movement, which is also linear in k according to ref. (2), so that both components basically have the same effect, i.e. a shift in the power peak in the Doppler gate dimension. As will be shown later, the shift in Doppler gate dimension I caused by the change in frequency position results in approximately Bs/Bch times the distance gate dimension j of the respective object.

As can be seen in the spectrum according to Fig. 5, the first two objects with [n=29.5m, vi=1.09m/s] and [r2=30m, V2=1.09m/s] are now separated, i. H. form two separate power peaks, whereby the separation takes place in the Doppler gate dimensions, because the slightly different distance of 0.5m to different shifts caused by the change in frequency position by two Doppler gates (the difference in the Doppler gate dimensions is by the Bs/Bch-fold, i.e. the 4 times higher than in the range gate dimension where it is half a range gate).

The disadvantage of the spectrum according to Fig. 5, however, is that the third object with [r3=45m, V3=60.4m/s] now no longer has a sharp power peak, but in Doppler tor dimension is greatly expanded. This leads to several disadvantages: firstly, the possible detection range is reduced (because the level is lower), secondly, the relative speed measurement is less accurate (because the power peak is blurred) and thirdly, another target with the same relative speed and slightly different distance would no longer be able to be separated (because the blurry power peaks superimposed). The dissipation of the power peaks is all the stronger the larger the amount of the relative speed is; the effect is not yet visible for the first two objects because their relative speed is very small.

WO 2018/086783 A1 proposes no longer keeping the distance To(k) between the individual frequency ramps k=0,...,K-1 with center frequency F _c (k) constant, but instead varying it in such a way that the product from To(k)-F _c (k) is constant. The absolute value spectrum |S(j, l,m)/A(m)| then results for the example above according to Fig. 6. In contrast to the spectrum according to Fig. 5, the dissipation of the power peak from the third object [r3=45m, V3=60.4m/s] with high relative speed is now smaller (approximately halved), but it is still present and unacceptable big.

Therefore, the approach according to the invention is now derived, which prevents the power peak from blurring even at high relative speeds.

The following applies to the frequency fTx(t,k) of the high-frequency oscillator and thus of the transmission signals over the relative time te [-Tch/2, Tch/2] within the frequency ramp k: frx(t,k)=Fc(k)+ Bch/Tch-t (3) with the center frequency F _c (k) of the frequency ramp k=0, ... , K-1 :

Fc(k) = Fcc + Bs/K-(k-(K-1 )/2) , (4) where Fee is the average over all center frequencies F _c (k). The phase <pTx(t, k) of the oscillator and transmission signal results from integration

(p _T x(t,k) = 2iT-(Fc(k)-t + 1/2- Bch/Tch-t ² ) , (5) where the constant of integration has no influence here and is therefore omitted.

The phase cpiF(t,k) of the received signal at the output of a mixer results for a single punctiform object from the phase difference between the current oscillator signal and the signal reflected back from the object, which is delayed by the transit time At: cpiF(t,k) = (<pTx(t,k) - (pTx(t-At,k))-Sch , (6) where Sch denotes the sign of the chirp modulation bandwidth Bch, i.e. =+1 for increasing frequency ramp and =-1 for falling frequency ramp.The received signal after the mixer is also referred to as an intermediate frequency signal by forming I samples with index i=0, ... ,1-1 over time te [-Tch/2, Tch/2],

The running time At for an object with the radial relative speed v is calculated as follows:

At = 2(rc (k)+vt)/ _c ; (7) where _rc (k) is the distance to the object at the center of the frequency ramp k: _rc (k) = r + v-Tc(k) , (8) where r is the average range over all frequency ramps and _Tc (k) represents the absolute time at the center of the frequency ramp k (the absolute time at the center of all frequency ramps is defined as 0). It should be noted that a constant relative speed is assumed here, since the entire sequence of the K frequency ramps lasts only very briefly, typically <20 ms.

From the relationships (5)-(7), after conversion and omitting negligibly small terms, the phase of the intermediate frequency signal results in cpiF(t,k) = 2ir(Sch-Fc(k)-2rc(k)/c

+ | Bch|/Tch-2r _c (k)/ct + s _C hF _c (k)-2v/ct + |Bch|/Tch-2v/ct ² ) . (9)

The mean intermediate frequency signal phase (i.e. at t=0) results from the frequency ramps k as follows:

<pi _F (k) = 2iT-Sch-Fc(k)-2rc(k)/c (10)

The frequency of the intermediate frequency signal, i.e. the intermediate frequency itself, results from eq. (9) by derivation: fip(t, k) = |Bch|/Tch-2(r _c (k)+vt)/c + Sch-(F _c (k)+Bch/Tch-t)-2v/c (11 )

The mean intermediate frequency fip(k) of the frequency ramp k is (i.e. at t=0): fiF(k) = |Bch|/Tch-2r _c (k)/c + s _C hF _c (k)-2v/ c ; (12) the first part depicts the distance-dependent effect of the linear frequency modulation, the second part represents the Doppler effect, i.e. the frequency shift due to the relative movement, which is generally significantly smaller here than the distance-dependent part. Averaged over all frequency ramps, the intermediate frequency fiF with the mean distance r (see ref. (8)) and the mean center frequency Fcc (see ref. (4)) results in: fiF = |Bch|/Tch-2r/c + Sch-Fcc-2v/c (13)

If a one-dimensional discrete Fourier transformation is formed over the sampled signal s(i,k,m) of a frequency ramp k and a receiving channel m, the result is the power peak at the distance gate j(k) = fiF(k)*Tch, ie with ref. ( 12) to: j(k) = |Bch|-2r _c (k)/c + s _C hF _c (k)-Tch-2v/c , (14) and on average over all distance gates one obtains from (13) : j = |Bch|-2r/c + Sch-Fcc-Tch-2v/c , (15) which generally represent non-integer values for j(k) or j, ie the actual maximum of a power peak lies between two the DFT consider integer range gates - its non-integer position can be determined by interpolation. According to the two-dimensional DFT, the power peak is at the mean range gate j according to eq. (15). The change in the distance gate j(k) according to eq. (14) via the frequency ramps k is primarily caused by the slightly changing distance r _c (k) at relative speed, but is small because over the short time of the total of K frequency ramps ( typically in the range < 20ms) the distance changes little - according to the two-dimensional DFT this can only lead to a slight widening of the power peak in the distance gate dimension. The first part in the distance gate j according to equation (15) is caused by the distance r of the object, the second part by its relative speed v; the second fraction is usually much smaller than the first fraction, so the range gate is largely determined by range.

From the mean intermediate frequency signal phase cpiF(k) according to eq. (10) results with the mean distance r _c (k) according to eq. (8): cpiF(k)=2iT-(Sch-Fc(k)-2r/c + Sch-Tc(k)-F _c (k)-2v/c) . (16) The first component in cpiF(k) changes linearly over the frequency ramps k (since center frequency Fc(k) changes linearly). For the initially examined case of a constant distance between the frequency ramps, i.e. a linearly changing time T _c (k) of the middle of the frequency ramps, the second component for a relative speed v 0 is not linear, since the respective linear terms T _c (k) and F _c (k) appear in a product. Due to this non-linear behavior of cpiF(k), there is no sharp power peak in the resulting Doppler gate dimension I after the second one-dimensional DFT over the frequency ramp dimension k; the power peak blurs the more the higher the non-linear component originating from Tc(k)-F _c (k)-s _C h-2v/c and thus the higher the relative speed (as can also be seen in the example according to Fig. 5) .

In order to avoid this relative-velocity-dependent blurring, the second part cpiF(k) according to equation (16) must also be linear in k, i.e. H.:

Sch-Tc(k)-F _c (k)-2v/c = (k-(K-1 )/2) const

By solving this equation for T _c (k) and substituting the mean ramp frequency Fc(k) according to eq. (4), neglecting a very small term, one obtains:

Tc(k) = (k-(K-1 )/2) TDC/(1 + (k-(K-1 )/2)/K-Bs/Fcc) (17) with TDC = const-Sch/( 2v/c-Fcc) ; as can be seen from eq. (17), the variable TDC is the average interval of the frequency ramps (i.e. the average sampling time for obtaining the Doppler gate dimension through the second discrete one-dimensional Fourier transformation, which is intended to symbolize the "D" in the index of TDC) . Since the modulation bandwidth B _s over the sequence of frequency ramps is normally much smaller than the average transmission frequency Fcc, the denominator of the notation (17) is of the form (1 +x) with |x|«1 , so that the series expansion 1 /(1 +x) = 1 -x+x ² -+... e.g. B. up to the second-order term can be used as a very good approximation:

Tc(k) = (k-(K-1 )/2) TDC (1 - (k-(K-1 )/2)/K-Bs/Fcc) + (k-(K-1 )/2) /K- Bs/Fcc) ² ) (18)

The time interval To(k) = T _c (k)-T _c (k-1 ) between two adjacent frequency ramps is obtained using eq. (18) and omitting negligibly small terms: T _D (k) = TDC (1 - 2((kK/2)/KB _s /Fcc) + 3((kK/2)/K- Bs/Fcc) ² ) ; (19) since the third part contains the very small Bs/Fcc ratio in quadratic form and is therefore normally much smaller than the second part, which is linear in Bs/Fcc, it can then also be left out:

T _D (k) = TDC (1 - 2(kK/2)/K- BS/FCC) (20)

The time interval between the frequency ramps thus changes at least approximately in a linear manner over the frequency ramps k. The relative change in the frequency ramp spacing To(k) = T _c (k)-T _c (k-1 ) according to eq. (20) over the frequency ramps k=1 , K-1 :

(T _D (k)-TDc)/T _D c = -2(kK/2)/K- Bs/Fcc (21 )

According to eq. (4), the relative change in their center frequency F _c (k), which changes linearly over the frequency ramps k=0, . . . , K-1, results in:

(F _c (k)-Fcc)/Fcc = +(kK/2+1/2)/K- Bs/Fcc (22)

As can be seen from the two formulas above, the gradient of the linear relative change in the center frequency of the frequency ramps is =+B _s /Fcc and that of their time interval =-2B _s /Fcc, ie the relative change in the time interval is in magnitude twice as large as the relative change in the frequency position of the frequency ramps and the signs of these changes are opposite. It should be noted that with a precise determination of the time interval z. B. according to ref. (19) this connection of the relative changes is not exactly given, but only approximately. For the example considered above with the modulation bandwidth Bs=600MHz and the mean frequency _Fcc =76.5GHz, the relative change in the frequency position is about 0.78% over the entire sequence of K frequency ramps, the relative change in their time interval is -1.56%. It should also be mentioned that if the ramp spacing is designed according to WO 2018/086783 A1, the relative changes in the time spacing and frequency position of the frequency ramps would be inversely and equal in terms of amount, i.e. they would not differ by a factor of 2 in terms of amount.

With this choice of the time spacing of the frequency ramps (ie To(k) according to ref. (20)) the absolute value spectrum |S(j,l,m)/A(m)| shown in FIG. 7 results after two-dimensional DFT. In contrast to the spectrum according to Fig. 6, the power peak from the third object [r3=45m, V3=60.4m/s] with high relative velocity is now also ed sharply, ie the dissolving was prevented, which is also reflected in a level that is about 2 dB higher. The two objects [n=29.5m, vi=1.09m/s] and [r2=30m, V2=1.09m/s] with the same relative speed and only slightly different distances are separated unchanged.

Now the position of the power peak of an object in Doppler gate dimension has to be determined. For this purpose, the time T _c (k) of the frequency ramp centers determined above according to ref. (17) is inserted into the intermediate frequency signal phase cpiF(k) according to ref. (16); using the notation (4) for the center frequency F _c (k) and omitting an irrelevant constant phase component results in: cpiF(k)=2iT Sch ((k-(K-1)/2)/K Bs-2r /c + (k-(K-1 )/2)/K Fcc Ts-2v/c) (23) with the duration Ts of the entire frequency ramp sequence:

Ts = K TDC ; (24) It should be emphasized once again that this - as required and realized by an appropriate choice of T _c (k) - represents a phase curve that is linear over k.

If one now forms the second one-dimensional discrete Fourier transformation over the frequency ramp dimension k, then the power peak at the Doppler gate results I = (CPIF(K)-CPIF(0))/(2TT), i.e. H. with reference (23) to:

I = Sch-(Bs-2r/c + Fcc-Ts-2v/c) ; (25) the first part results from the distance r of the object, the second part from its relative speed v. In contrast to the distance gate j according to ref. (15), which is only dominated by one object size, namely its distance, relative speed and distance have a similar influence on the Doppler gate.

As can be seen by comparing eq. (25) and (15) for the resulting Doppler gate I and range gate j, the effect of the range in the Doppler gate dimension is Bs/|Bch| times more than in the range gate dimension, which is in a correspondingly improved distance separability results.

Now the notation (15) and (25) for distance and Doppler gates are rewritten a bit by relating distance and relative speed to their gate lengths: j = r/Rl_ch + Sch-V/ÜLch (26)

I = Sch l7Rl_s + Sch-V/ÜLs (27) with the range and Doppler gate lengths:

Rich = c/(2| Bch|) , RLS = c/(2Bs) , Dich = o/(2FccTch) , DLS = o/(2FccT _s ) . (28)

In a sensor application, the distance and relative speed of objects are not known, but the task is to determine them from the positions of the power peaks according to the two-dimensional DFT. Therefore the two terms (26) and (27) have to be solved for the distance r and the velocity v; this results in: r = R _L (j - I-Tch/Ts) (29) v ⁼ Di_-Sch(l - j-Bs/Bch) (30) with the modified gate lengths

RL ⁼ Rich/(1 - Bs/Bch-Tch/Ts) , DL ⁼ DLS/(1 - Bs/Bch-Tch/Ts) (31 )

The range gate j and the Doppler gate I of an object is generally non-integer and can be determined by interpolation from the shape of the power peak in the two-dimensional DFT, which only provides values at integer gates.

In addition, it must be taken into account that the Doppler gate I can typically lie in a value range that is larger than the unambiguity range L=K of the DFT; thus the Doppler gate can only be determined from the DFT up to an unknown integer multiple of K. One approach to solving the ambiguity is that, analogously to the approach proposed in DE 102009 016 480 A1, the average frequency ramp distance TDC is varied from radar cycle to radar cycle, i. H. in the sequence of K frequency ramps transmitted in the current radar cycle, a different value for TDC is used than in the previous sequence. The then modified DLS in eq. (27) results in a different value for the Doppler gate I in the current radar cycle than in the previous one at approximately the same relative speed, which allows the ambiguity to be resolved (the relative speed can change in the typically around 50 ms from the radar cycle to change radar cycle only slightly).

According to eq. (30) for determining the relative speed of an object, the effect of the linearly changing frequency position of the frequency ramps (identified by Bs^O) is taken into account by taking from the Doppler gate I of the resulting power peak the proportion proportional to its distance gate j-Bs/Bch subtracted; in addition, a Bs^O has a slight effect on the Doppler gate width DL according to ref. (31).

Alternatively, the effect of the linearly changing frequency position can also be taken into account by using the I received values per frequency ramp k=0, ... , K-1 after the one-dimensional discrete Fourier transformation to calculate the phases of the in the distance gate dimension j corrected the resulting values by subtracting 2iT-j-Bs/Bch-k/K for all j and k (i.e. regardless of whether there is an object there or not, which is not yet known at this point in time); the correction can be realized by multiplication with a complex pointer of length 1 and corresponding phase.

As mentioned above, to determine the range and Doppler gate of an object, the exact position of the power peak is obtained by interpolation; due in particular to the signal windowing used in the DFT, a power peak not only has a level at one port, but also at at least one neighboring port, so that the shape of the power peak z. B. by parabolic interpolation or using the known form of the power peaks (which results from the DFT of the window function itself) the actual, generally non-integer position can be determined. However, this interpolation is not arbitrarily precise; e.g. Interpolation errors can occur, e.g. due to superimposed noise (especially if the signal-to-noise ratio is poor) or due to extended, ie not punctiform, objects. This leads to inaccuracies in determining the distance and relative speed of objects according to eq. (29) and (30); for the relative speed according to eq. (30) it is particularly critical that the distance gate enters there with the factor B _s /Bch (in the example above with the factor 4). The reference (29) for determining the distance almost exclusively includes the distance gate (the Doppler gate has only a very low weight Tch/T _s ) and thus almost only an interpolation error (ie from the distance gate); However, this error occurs with the large gate width RLch=c/(2|Bch|), i.e. not with the generally much smaller gate width RLS=C/(2B _S ), ie the accuracy of the distance determination does not benefit from the large one modulation width Bs and thus not from the change in the frequency position via the frequency ramps (so far this has essentially only improved the distance separation capability for objects with the same relative speed). For both distance and also for relative speed the inaccuracies come mainly from errors of the range gate.

However, these inaccuracies in the determination of distance and relative speed of distance gate errors can be avoided by not always using the same sign for the modulation bandwidth B _s over the sequence of frequency ramps, but by varying it over radar cycles while keeping the amount constant; ie +B _s and -B _s are used alternately, for example, so that every second radar cycle the frequency position increases linearly over the frequency ramps and decreases linearly in the other radar cycles. As a result, the sign of the portion of the distance changes in the Doppler gate I according to eq. (27); If you now take the sum of the Doppler gates of an object from two radar cycles with different signs of Bs, then roughly speaking the portion of the distance is eliminated and one obtains the relative speed, and vice versa if one forms the difference of the Doppler gates. In fact, one must also consider that on the one hand the distance changes slightly from radar cycle to radar cycle at a relative speed v 0 and on the other hand the average distance of the frequency ramps TDC varies over the radar cycles. After a few intermediate calculation steps and simplifications, one obtains the distance r _m and relative speed v _m averaged over the two cycles to vm = Sch-Di_s+-(l+ + l-)/2 / (1 - D _Ls+ -t ₊ -/(2| RLS |)) (32) r _m = |R _L s|-(Sch-(l+ - l-)/2 - Vm/2-(1/DLs+ - 1/DLS-)) (33) where l+ is the Doppler gate im first radar cycle with positive modulation bandwidth +B _S and I- the Doppler gate in the next radar cycle after time t+- with negative modulation bandwidth -Bs; the "mean" Doppler gate width DLS+- results from the possibly different Doppler gate widths DLS+ and DLS- of the two radar cycles (with different mean frequency ramp spacing) to:

DLS ₊ - = 2/(1 /DLS ₊ + 1 /DLS-) (34)

In order to determine the distance and relative speed of an object, you only need its Doppler gates from the two radar cycles, but no longer the range gates that could lead to significant errors in the previous approach. The small gate width RLS is now also used to determine the distance relevant to the large modulation bandwidth B _s , ie interpolation errors are correspondingly lower.

Accurate distance measurement is particularly important at close range, e.g. B. for functions to avoid a collision with an obstacle on the side of the vehicle (e.g. crash barrier) or another vehicle. The distance is often smaller than the large gate width Ri_ch=c/(2|Bch|), ie it is in the first distance gate, where the interpolation generally works particularly poorly (due to superimposition of reflections from the bumper and/or negative frequency components). By determining the distance according to the above approach solely from Doppler gates of two cycles with opposite _Bs , even such close distances can still be precisely determined.

In the above embodiment, the sign of the modulation bandwidth Bs was changed over two radar cycles while the magnitude was kept constant. In principle, however, it is sufficient to change the value of Bs and/or the slope of the linear change in frequency position over two radar cycles in order to be able to eliminate the influence of the range gate. A weighting factor then occurs in the required sum and difference of the Doppler gates, i. H. the resulting Doppler gate values over the two cycles are not equally weighted.

So that the radar system is robust with regard to interference from other radar systems, parameters of the modulation are preferably varied, in particular analogously to the approaches mentioned in the documents WO 2008/040341 A1, DE 102009 016 480 A1 and EP 2 629 113 B1, e.g. e.g.:

- Medium distance of the frequency ramps from cycle to cycle (as explained above, also allows speed ambiguities to be resolved easily);

- modulation bandwidth Bs and/or Bch (magnitude and/or sign) from cycle to cycle;

- Time interval To(k) of the frequency ramps according to (19) and (20) by additional superimposition of a random or pseudo-random, mean-free component varying over k, typically in the range of up to a few microseconds; for relatively moving objects, the reception phase then has a component that varies slightly over the frequency ramps, but this is still very small is that the effects generated by this after the DFT (noise and level reduction of the peak power) are negligible;

- Frequency position F _c (k) of the frequency ramps (i.e. their center frequency) according to ref.

(4) by additional superimposition of a random or pseudo-random mean-free fraction varying over k; this variation in the frequency position can also be implemented by always using the same frequency ramps, but varying the point in time from which the samples of the received signal are obtained; the resulting phase variation of the received signals, which is proportional to the range gate, can be compensated for by appropriate general phase correction after the first one-dimensional DFT;

- Phase position of the individual transmission signals by an additional phase modulator in the transmission means, the phase position being varied randomly or pseudo-randomly via the frequency ramps, which is preferably to be compensated again on the receiving side in the digital signal processing means.

In the radar system under consideration according to FIG. 1, there are M=4 receiving antennas and associated receiving channels m=0,...,M-1. After the two-dimensional DFT, a digital beamforming z. B. also calculated again in the form of a DFT or FFT; a three-dimensional Fourier transformation is therefore carried out. Power peaks are then determined in the three-dimensional spectrum. The azimuth angle of an object results from the position of its power peak in the third dimension, which is derived from the dimension m of the receiving channels; According to the above relationships, distance and relative speed result from the other two dimensions. In order to have more channels available for the formation of angles, one preferably uses not only several receiving antennas but also several transmitting antennas and evaluates the signals of all combinations of transmitting and receiving antennas in order to realize many virtual receiving channels. If all or some of the transmitting and/or receiving antennas are not operated simultaneously, then a plurality of preferably identical sequences of frequency ramps of the type described above are nested in one another.

In summary, one can say that the method presented here as an example performs a distance measurement with high accuracy and separation capability Use of a high modulation bandwidth allows, on the one hand, without the measurement and detection quality being reduced in the case of relatively moving objects and, on the other hand, without requiring high computing power in the digital signal processing means (the latter is the case with conventional methods with a high modulation bandwidth). The fact that only moderate computing power is required is due to the fact that the discrete Fourier transformation can be used for the calculation in its fast implementation as an FFT, and that the dimension of the multidimensional FFT is smaller than in conventional methods with high distance resolution and measurement accuracy, since the distance measurement is partially shifted into the dimension in which the relative speed is also measured. This exploits the fact that in motor vehicle radar systems for detecting the surroundings, a high range separation capability is required mainly for targets with the same radial relative speed. Appropriate examples of radar systems for detecting the surroundings of one's own vehicle are the end of a traffic jam ahead, a stationary vehicle under a bridge or next to a crash barrier, the stationary surroundings of the road (crash barrier, trees, buildings, ...) and the length and width measurement of other vehicles (which usually each have numerous reflection points). A good range separation capability is also important because the angle separation capability of radar systems is comparatively poor due to the generally large beam width (due to the limited size), which e.g. B. can lead to the fact that reflections from the right and left guardrail cannot be separated and merge in such a way that the measured angle is on the own lane and a stationary obstacle (e.g. stationary vehicle) is therefore incorrectly assumed.

It should be mentioned that for scenarios involving many targets with slightly different relative speeds and distances, the method can only partially demonstrate its advantages, since the total number of detection gates, i.e. range-Doppler gates, is not increased by increasing the modulation width via the linear frequency position change of the frequency ramps. However, such scenarios are generally of little relevance for the driver assistance functions described above. Final remark

It should be noted that it is obvious to a person skilled in the art how the considerations and designs according to the invention presented on the basis of the above application example can be transferred to general measurements and parameter configurations, i. H. they can also be applied to other numerical values. For this reason, general parameters are also given in formulas and figures.

Even if the inventive interpretation of the time interval between two adjacent frequency ramps according to relationship (20) is not used, ie z. For example, instead of a constant distance, the other inventive configurations shown as examples can continue to be used.

Claims

Expectations

1. Method for a radar system for detecting the surroundings with transmission means for emitting transmission signals which contain a sequence of at least approximately identical individual signals, the sequence of individual transmission signals being repeated cyclically, characterized in that the frequency position of the sequence of the individual signals - possibly apart from a varying and at least approximately mean-free component - is changed at least approximately linearly, and the slope of the linear change in frequency position across the individual transmission signals is varied from sequence to sequence at least sometimes, in particular in order to increase the radial distance and/or relative speed measurement accuracy and/or with regard to Interference with other radar systems to be more robust.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the sequence of the individual signals changes their frequency position, in particular characterized by their center frequency, and their time interval, apart from an optional varying and at least approximately mean-free component, at least approximately linearly, with the Amount of the relative change in the time interval is at least approximately twice as large as the amount of the relative change in the frequency position and the signs of these changes are opposite.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 or 2, in which a random or pseudo-random component is superimposed on the frequency position, the time interval and/or the phase position of the individual signals.

4. The method according to any one of the above claims for a radar system in which the frequency of the individual signals is linearly modulated and the slope of the frequency modulation is at least approximately the same for all individual signals, the individual transmission signals being referred to below as frequency ramps.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4, in which during K frequency ramps, hereinafter numbered with k=0, ... ,K-1, I digital received values in each case, hereinafter

24 are numbered with i=0,...,l-1, possibly acquired for several receiving channels and a two-dimensional discrete Fourier transformation is carried out over the respective IK received values, possibly not completely and preferably with the help of one-dimensional fast Fourier transformations, with the following dimension resulting from the reception value index dimension i after transformation can be referred to as distance gates j=0,...,J-1 and the dimension resulting from the frequency ramp dimension can be referred to as Doppler gates l=0,...,L-1. Method for a radar system for detecting the surroundings with transmission means for emitting transmission signals which contain a sequence of at least approximately the same individual signals in the form of frequency ramps, with the sequence of frequency ramps making their frequency position - possibly apart from a varying and at least approximately mean-free component - at least approximately linear is changed, in particular according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the linear change in the frequency position of the frequency ramps is taken into account in that, for a determination of the radial relative speed of an object, the position of its power peaks after a two-dimensional discrete Fourier transformation in a Doppler gate dimension I by one of one Distance gate dimension j linearly dependent component is corrected, with a linearity factor resulting from the quotient of the change in the frequency position across the frequency ramps and change in the freq uence within the reception period during the individual frequency ramps and the position of the power peak is determined, preferably by interpolation, which generally results in non-integer values for the distance gate dimension j and/or the Doppler gate dimension I. Method for a radar system for detecting the surroundings with transmission means for emitting transmission signals which contain a sequence of at least approximately the same individual signals in the form of frequency ramps, with the sequence of frequency ramps making their frequency position - possibly apart from a varying and at least approximately mean-free component - at least approximately linear is changed, in particular after a nem of the preceding claims, wherein the linear change in the frequency position of the individual frequency ramps is taken into account in that, after a one-dimensional discrete Fourier transformation over the I received values per frequency ramp k=0,...,K-1, the phases of the distance gate dimension j resulting values are each corrected by a phase component proportional to the product 2irj-k/K, with the proportionality factor essentially resulting from the quotient of the change in the frequency position across the frequency ramps and the change in the frequency within the reception period during the individual frequency ramps and the Correction is preferably realized by multiplication with a complex pointer of length 1 and corresponding phase. Method according to one of the above claims, in which the individual transmission signals represent frequency ramps, the sequence of K individual transmission signals is repeated cyclically and the slope of the linear change in frequency position over the individual transmission signals is varied at least sometimes from sequence to sequence and two cycles with inverse, i.e slope differing by a factor of -1 for an accurate radial distance and/or relative velocity measurement of an object, with the positions of the power peak resulting in the two cycles after the two-dimensional discrete Fourier transformation only essentially being the sum and difference in Doppler gate dimensions can be used, but not the range gate dimension. Method according to one of the above claims, in which the sequence of K individual frequency ramps is repeated cyclically and the gradient of the frequency ramps themselves is varied at least sometimes from sequence to sequence, in particular in order to be more robust with regard to interference with other radar systems. Method according to one of the above claims, in which the sequence of K individual transmission signals is repeated cyclically and their average time interval is varied at least sometimes from sequence to sequence, in particular to resolve ambiguities in the determination of the radial relative speed and/or to be more robust with regard to interference with other radar systems to be. Method according to one of the above claims, in which several receiving channels are realized by several transmitting and/or receiving antennas and in addition to the two-dimensional discrete Fourier transformation via respective IK received values, there is digital beam shaping via receiving channels or for generating receiving channels. Radar system for detecting the surroundings with transmission means for emitting transmission signals which contain a sequence of at least approximately identical individual signals, characterized in that the radar system is operated using a method according to one of the above claims.

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