KR20230081591A - Method and apparatus for processing radar signal - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed is a radar signal processing technology. The present invention relates to an operation method of a radar signal processing device in a radar system. Provided is an operation method of a radar signal processing device in a radar system, which includes the steps of: generating pulse signals of a number of any one sampling rate having different phases; transmitting the pulse signals to a target; receiving reflected pulse signals reflected back from the target; generating a composite signal by sampling the reflected pulse signals and combining the sampled reflected pulse signals to match the phases; and extracting target information from the composite signal.

Description

Radar signal processing method and apparatus {METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING 　RADAR SIGNAL}

The present invention relates to a radar signal processing technology, and more particularly, to a radar signal processing technology capable of obtaining information on a target by receiving reflected signals of signals transmitted by sequentially adjusting the phase of frequency components. .

The radar signal processing device is a device that acquires target information such as the distance to the target and the moving speed of the target by receiving a signal reflected by an object in a corresponding area through a receiving antenna after radiating a radar signal through a transmitting antenna. can In this radar signal processing apparatus, a pulse type radar and a frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar may be representatively used to acquire distance information and speed information of a target, and a multiple array antenna and multiple-input and multiple-input and multiple-input (MIMO) radar may be representatively used. output) technology, not only distance information but also azimuth and altitude information can be obtained. Such a radar signal processing device not only emits various types of electromagnetic wave signals according to the purpose of use, but also can be operated in accordance with each purpose of use by grafting various technologies.

Such a radar signal processing apparatus may need to convert an analog electromagnetic wave signal into a digital signal for digital radar signal processing. To this end, the radar signal processing device may include an analog-to-digital converter (ADC). Regarding these ADCs, some radar processing units may require an ADC that covers the bandwidth of the radar. In addition, some radar systems, where securing distance resolution is important, may require more high-end ADCs, and some UWB (ultra-wideband) radars require several tens of times more than the bandwidth to achieve mm-level precision distance accuracy. You may need a high-speed ADC.

An object of the present invention to solve the above problems is to provide a radar signal processing method and apparatus capable of obtaining information on a target by receiving reflected signals of signals transmitted by sequentially adjusting the phase of frequency components. are doing

A radar signal processing method according to a first embodiment of the present invention for achieving the above object is a method of operating a transmitter in a radar system, comprising: generating pulse signals having different phases and a number of sampling rates; transmitting the pulse signals toward a target; receiving reflected pulse signals reflected from the target and returned; generating a synthesized signal by synthesizing the reflected pulse signals so that their phases coincide with each other after sampling; and extracting target information from the synthesized signal.

Here, the step of generating transmission pulse signals having one sampling rate number having different phases may include determining a theoretical maximum sampling frequency; selecting actual maximum sampling frequencies less than the theoretical maximum sampling frequency; calculating sampling rates that are ratios of the actual maximum sampling frequencies to the theoretical maximum sampling frequency; selecting one of the sampling rates having a positive integer among the sampling rates; and generating the transmission pulse signals of the selected number of sampling rates to have different phases.

일 수 있고, 여기서, 상기 SR은 상기 선택된 샘플링 비율일 수 있고, 상기

는 상기 선택된 샘플링 비율의 상기 실제적인 ADC 최대 샘플링 주파수의 샘플링 간격일 수 있다.Here, the different phases are

, wherein the SR may be the selected sampling rate, and the

may be the sampling interval of the actual ADC maximum sampling frequency of the selected sampling rate.

Here, the generating of the transmission pulse signals of the selected number of sampling rates to have different phases may include generating N fundamental frequency signals; and generating the transmission pulse signals by synthesizing while adjusting phases of the N fundamental frequency signals, where N may be a positive integer.

은

이며, 여기서, b는 1 내지 SR이고, n은 상기 각 기본 주파수 신호의 인덱스일 수 있고,

은 상기 각 기본 주파 신호의 주파수이며, b는 상기 각 송신 펄스 신호의 인덱스이고,

는 상기 각 기본 주파수 신호의 주파수 간격이고, 상기 SR은 상기 SR은 상기 선택된 샘플링 비율일 수 있다.Here, the phase of each fundamental frequency signal constituting each transmission pulse signal

silver

, where b is 1 to SR, n may be an index of each of the fundamental frequency signals,

Is the frequency of each fundamental frequency signal, b is the index of each transmission pulse signal,

Is a frequency interval of each fundamental frequency signal, and SR may be the selected sampling rate.

Here, the step of generating a synthesized signal by synthesizing the reflected pulse signals so that the phases coincide with each other after sampling the reflected pulse signals is: sampling the reflected pulse signals: changing the phase of each of the sampled reflected pulse signals to the immediately preceding sampled reflected pulse delaying the phase of the signal by a certain size; and synthesizing the phase-delayed sampled reflection pulse signals to generate a synthesized signal.

Here, the step of delaying the phase of each of the sampled reflection pulse signals by a predetermined size greater than the phase of the immediately preceding sampled reflection pulse signal comprises placing the sampled samples of the first reflection pulse signal into respective sampling interval grids. ); and arranging samples of each subsequent sampled reflected pulse signal on each sampling interval grid delayed by a time during which the phase is pulled when generating the corresponding pulse signal.

Meanwhile, a radar signal processing apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention for achieving the above object includes a processor; a memory that communicates electronically with the processor; and instructions stored in the memory, and when the instructions are executed by the processor, the instructions cause the radar signal processing apparatus to generate a pulse signal of any one sampling rate number having different phases. create them; transmit the pulse signals toward a target; receive reflected pulse signals reflected from the target and returned; generating a synthesized signal by synthesizing the reflected pulse signals so that their phases coincide with each other after sampling; and cause extraction of target information from the composite signal.

Here, in the case of generating transmission pulse signals of any one sampling rate number having different phases, the radar signal processing apparatus determines a theoretical maximum sampling frequency; select actual maximum sampling frequencies less than the theoretical maximum sampling frequency; calculate sampling rates that are ratios of the actual maximum sampling frequencies to the theoretical maximum sampling frequency; select one of the sampling rates having a positive integer from the sampling rates; And it may operate to cause generation of the transmission pulse signals of the number of the selected sampling rate to have the different phases.

Here, when the transmission pulse signals of the number of the selected sampling rate are generated to have different phases, the instructions include: generating N fundamental frequency signals; And it operates to cause the transmission pulse signals to be generated by synthesizing while adjusting the phases of the N fundamental frequency signals, where N may be a positive integer.

Here, when generating a synthesized signal by synthesizing the reflected pulse signals so that the phases coincide with each other after sampling, the commands are for the radar signal processing device to:

sampling the reflection pulse signals: delaying a phase of each of the sampled reflection pulse signals by a predetermined magnitude from a phase of a previous sampled reflection pulse signal; and cause the synthesizing of the phase delayed sampled reflected pulse signals to generate a composite signal.

Here, when the phase of each of the sampled reflection pulse signals is delayed by a certain size compared to the phase of the immediately preceding sampled reflection pulse signal, the radar signal processing device performs the commands to set the sampled samples of the first reflected pulse signal to each other. placed in the sampling interval grid of; and to cause placing samples of each subsequent sampled reflected pulse signal on each sampling interval grid delayed by the time the phase was pulled in generating the corresponding pulse signal.

According to the present application, the radar signal processing apparatus may sequentially adjust the phase of each frequency component of the pulse signals constituting the transmission signal and transmit the signal toward the target. In addition, according to the present application, the radar signal processing apparatus can configure and transmit pulse signals constituting the transmission signal as signals whose transmission timing is precisely adjusted through phase adjustment of each fundamental frequency component.

In addition, according to the present application, the radar signal processing apparatus receives pulse signals reflected from the target, samples them using a low-speed analog-to-digital converter (ADC), and adjusts and synthesizes the phases of the reflected pulse signals so that the phases match. Thus, a composite signal can be generated. As a result, according to the present application, the radar signal processing apparatus can obtain the same or similar performance as obtaining a received signal using a higher performance ADC by synthesizing pulse signals into one received signal.

1 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment of a radar signal processing device.
2 is a flowchart illustrating a first embodiment of a radar signal processing method.
3 is a flowchart illustrating a first embodiment of a process of generating a radar signal of FIG. 2 .
4 is a flowchart illustrating a first embodiment of a process of generating a plurality of pulse signals of FIG. 3 .
5 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a first embodiment of a process of generating a plurality of pulse signals of FIG. 3 .
FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a first embodiment of the synthesized signal generation process of FIG. 2 .
FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a first embodiment of the synthesized signal generation process of FIG. 2 .
8 is a block diagram showing a second embodiment of a radar signal processing device.

Since the present invention can make various changes and have various embodiments, specific embodiments are illustrated in the drawings and described in detail. However, this is not intended to limit the present invention to specific embodiments, and should be understood to include all modifications, equivalents, and substitutes included in the spirit and scope of the present invention.

Terms such as first and second may be used to describe various components, but the components should not be limited by the terms. These terms are only used for the purpose of distinguishing one component from another. For example, a first element may be termed a second element, and similarly, a second element may be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of the present invention. The terms and/or include any combination of a plurality of related recited items or any of a plurality of related recited items.

In embodiments of the present application, “at least one of A and B” may mean “at least one of A or B” or “at least one of combinations of one or more of A and B”. Also, in the embodiments of the present application, “one or more of A and B” may mean “one or more of A or B” or “one or more of combinations of one or more of A and B”.

It is understood that when an element is referred to as being "connected" or "connected" to another element, it may be directly connected or connected to the other element, but other elements may exist in the middle. It should be. On the other hand, when an element is referred to as “directly connected” or “directly connected” to another element, it should be understood that no other element exists in the middle.

Terms used in this application are only used to describe specific embodiments, and are not intended to limit the present invention. Singular expressions include plural expressions unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. In this application, the terms "include" or "have" are intended to designate that there is a feature, number, step, operation, component, part, or combination thereof described in the specification, but one or more other features It should be understood that the presence or addition of numbers, steps, operations, components, parts, or combinations thereof is not precluded.

Unless defined otherwise, all terms used herein, including technical or scientific terms, have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention belongs. Terms such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries should be interpreted as having a meaning consistent with the meaning in the context of the related art, and unless explicitly defined in this application, they should not be interpreted in an ideal or excessively formal meaning. don't

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in more detail. In order to facilitate overall understanding in the description of the present invention, the same reference numerals are used for the same components in the drawings, and redundant descriptions of the same components are omitted.

The radar signal processing apparatus may radiate electromagnetic waves through a transmitting antenna, receive an electromagnetic wave reflection signal scattered by a target through a receiving antenna, and process the radar signal to determine the target's distance to the target, the moving speed of the target, and the like. It may be a device for acquiring information. In this radar signal processing apparatus, a pulse type radar and a frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar may be representatively used to acquire distance information and speed information of a target, and multiple array antennas and multiple-input and multiple-input and multiple-input (MIMO) radars may be representatively used. output) technology, not only distance information but also azimuth and altitude information can be obtained. Such a radar signal processing device not only emits various types of electromagnetic wave signals according to the purpose of use, but also can be operated in accordance with each purpose of use by grafting various technologies.

Such a radar signal processing apparatus may need to convert an analog electromagnetic wave signal into a digital signal for digital radar signal processing. To this end, the radar signal processing device may include an analog-to-digital converter (ADC). Such an ADC may convert an analog electromagnetic wave reception signal into a digital signal. At this time, the maximum frequency that the converted digital signal can have may be limited by the ADC maximum sampling frequency. Although the FMCW radar may require a bandwidth of a radar signal proportional to the improvement in range resolution, it may be a method of extracting target range information by obtaining delay time information between a transmitted radar signal and a received radar signal. Such an FMCW radar may be a method of mixing a transmission radar signal and a reception radar signal, sampling an intermediate frequency (IF) frequency component with an ADC, and converting the IF frequency into distance information. Thus, the FMCW radar may not require an ADC covering the bandwidth of the radar signal. Therefore, the FMCW radar can completely acquire the range information of the target by using an ADC that covers the IF frequency band, which is the difference between the transmitted radar signal and the received radar signal.

However, OFDM (orthogonal frequency division multiplexing) radar, PMCW (phase modulated continuous wave) radar, or UWB (ultra-wideband) radar is a radar system using I (in-phase)/Q (quadrature-phase) signals. It may require an ADC that covers a bandwidth of 2. Such a radar system may require a high-end ADC because it is important to secure distance resolution. In order to achieve distance accuracy, it is possible to mount a high-speed ADC that exceeds the bandwidth by several tens of times. It is to provide a method and device for exhibiting the same or similar performance as the ADC of.

1 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment of a radar signal processing device.

Referring to FIG. 1 , the radar signal processing apparatus may include a radar signal generator 110, a transmitter 120, a receiver 130, a received signal processor 140, and a target information extractor 150. Here, the radar signal generating unit 110 may generate a radar signal composed of pulse signals having different phases and the number of pulse signals having one sampling rate. Here, the sampling rate may be a ratio of a theoretical ADC maximum sampling frequency and an actual ADC maximum sampling frequency. Also, the transmitter 120 may transmit the pulse signals generated by the radar signal generator 110 toward the target. The receiving unit 130 may receive reflected pulse signals returned after the pulse signals transmitted by the transmitting unit 120 are reflected from the target. At this time, each pulse signal transmitted from the transmitter 120 may be delayed by a distance away from the target from the transmitter 120 and received by the receiver 130 . Next, the received signal processing unit 140 may generate a synthesized signal by sampling the reflected pulse signals using an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and synthesizing them while adjusting phases so that the phases match. The target information extractor 150 may extract target information from the synthesized signal generated by the received signal processor 140 . In this case, the target information may be target distance or moving speed of the target.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a first embodiment of a radar signal processing method.

Referring to FIG. 2 , in the radar signal processing method, the radar signal generating unit may generate a radar signal composed of pulse signals having different phases and the number of pulse signals having a sampling rate (S210). And, the transmitter may transmit the pulse signals (ie, radar signals) generated by the radar signal generator toward the target (S220). The receiving unit may receive the reflected pulse signals returned after the pulse signals transmitted by the transmitting unit are reflected from the target (S230). Next, the received signal processing unit may generate a synthesized signal by sampling the reflected pulse signals using an ADC and synthesizing them while adjusting phases so that the phases match (S240). The target information extraction unit may extract target information from the synthesized signal generated by the received signal processing unit (S250). In this case, the target information may be target distance or moving speed of the target.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a first embodiment of a process of generating a radar signal of FIG. 2 .

을 결정할 수 있다(S301). 그리고, 레이더 신호 생성부는 실제로 사용할 ADC의 최대 샘플링 주파수인 실제적인 ADC 최대 샘플링 주파수

들을 결정할 수 있다(S302). 이론적인 ADC 최대 샘플링 주파수는 레이더 신호의 최대 주파수 성분의 2배 이상일 수 있다. 여기서, 실제적인 ADC 최대 샘플링 주파수는 수학식 1과 같이 이론적인 ADC 최대 샘플링 주파수보다 작을 수 있다. 그리고, 이론적인 ADC 최대 샘플링 주파수와 실제적인 ADC 최대 샘플링 주파수의 비율은 샘플링 비율 sr로 아래 수학식 2와 같이 정의할 수 있다. 이에 따라, 레이더 신호 생성부는 샘플링 비율들을 산출할 수 있다(S303). 여기서 sr은 실수일 수 있다.Referring to FIG. 3, in the process of generating a radar signal, the radar signal generator is a theoretical ADC maximum sampling frequency required to achieve target performance.

can be determined (S301). In addition, the radar signal generator is the actual ADC maximum sampling frequency, which is the maximum sampling frequency of the ADC to be actually used.

can be determined (S302). The theoretical ADC maximum sampling frequency may be more than twice the maximum frequency component of the radar signal. Here, the actual ADC maximum sampling frequency may be smaller than the theoretical ADC maximum sampling frequency as shown in Equation 1. And, the ratio of the theoretical ADC maximum sampling frequency and the actual ADC maximum sampling frequency can be defined as the sampling rate sr as shown in Equation 2 below. Accordingly, the radar signal generation unit may calculate sampling rates (S303). Here, sr may be a real number.

The laser signal generation unit may select one sampling rate SR having a positive integer among sampling rates (S304). That is, after selecting the actual ADC maximum sampling frequencies to have 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, etc. of the theoretical ADC maximum sampling frequency, the laser signal generator selects one of the actual ADC maximum sampling frequencies. Any one sampling rate SR having a positive integer can be selected.

만큼 앞서도록 할 수 있다. 여기서,

는 실제적인 ADC 최대 샘플링 주파수의 샘플링 간격일 수 있고, 다음 수학식 3으로 결정될 수 있다.Thereafter, the laser signal generation unit may generate a plurality of pulse signals of the selected sampling rate while changing phases (S305). At this time, the radar signal generator sets the phase of the pulse signal following the pulse signals higher than the phase of the previous pulse signal.

can advance as far as possible. here,

may be the sampling interval of the actual ADC maximum sampling frequency, and may be determined by Equation 3 below.

A general radar signal processing device can calculate necessary information about a target using one pulse signal. However, the radar signal processing apparatus of the present application can calculate necessary information about a target using a plurality of pulse signals.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a first embodiment of a process of generating a plurality of pulse signals of FIG. 3 .

일 수 있다. 이때, n은 N 이하일 수 있으며, N은 양의 정수일 수 있다. 이때, 레이저 신호 생성부는 기본 주파수 신호들의 위상을 조정하여 펄스 신호들을 생성할 수 있다(S402). 이때, 레이저 신호 생성부는 각 펄스 신호를 구성하는 각 기본 주파수 신호의 위상

을 아래 수학식 4와 같이 조정할 수 있다. 여기서, 기본 주파수의 파형은 사인파(sinusoidal wave) 또는 코사인파(cosine wave)일 수 있다.Referring to FIG. 4 , in the process of generating a plurality of pulse signals, the laser signal generator may generate a first basic frequency signal to an Nth basic frequency signal (S401). Here, the frequency of the nth fundamental frequency signal is

can be In this case, n may be less than or equal to N, and N may be a positive integer. At this time, the laser signal generator may generate pulse signals by adjusting the phases of the fundamental frequency signals (S402). At this time, the laser signal generation unit phase of each fundamental frequency signal constituting each pulse signal

can be adjusted as shown in Equation 4 below. Here, the waveform of the fundamental frequency may be a sinusoidal wave or a cosine wave.

은 각 기본 주파 신호의 주파수를 의미할 수 있다. b는 같은 블록내의 각 펄스 신호의 인덱스일 수 있으며, B는 같은 블록내의 펄스 신호의 전체 개수일 수 있다.

는 각 기본 주파수 신호의 주파수 간격을 의미할 수 있다. B는 SR일 수 있다.Here, n may be an index of each fundamental frequency signal,

may mean the frequency of each fundamental frequency signal. b may be an index of each pulse signal in the same block, and B may be the total number of pulse signals in the same block.

May mean a frequency interval of each fundamental frequency signal. B may be SR.

5 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a first embodiment of a process of generating a plurality of pulse signals of FIG. 3 .

Referring to FIG. 5 , pulse signals 510-1 to 510-B in the laser signal may be SR. The SR number of pulse signals 510-1 to 510-B may be defined as one block (for example, block #1) signal. The SR pulse signals 510-1 to 510-B may be represented by the first pulse signal 510-1 to the B pulse signal 510-B. The bth pulse signal 510-b may be expressed as P _b . In this case, b may be less than or equal to B, and B may be a positive integer. And, B may be equal to SR. Among these SR pulse signals, the first pulse signal may be a principal pulse signal, and the remaining B-1 pulse signals (ie, the second pulse signal to the B pulse signal) are following pulses can be signals. The radar signal generating unit may generate the main pulse signal and the subsequent pulse signals to have the same waveform.

만큼 앞서도록 할 수 있다. 여기서,

는 실제적인 ADC 최대 샘플링 주파수의 샘플링 간격일 수 있고, 앞서 언급된 수학식 3으로 결정될 수 있다.However, the radar signal generator sets the phase of the pulse signal following the pulse signals higher than the phase of the previous pulse signal.

can advance as far as possible. here,

may be the sampling interval of the actual ADC maximum sampling frequency, and may be determined by Equation 3 mentioned above.

으로 표현할 수 있다. 이때, n은 N 이하일 수 있으며, N은 양의 정수일 수 있다. 이때, 레이저 신호 생성부는 각 펄스 신호를 구성하는 각 기본 주파수 신호의 위상

을 앞서 언급한 수학식 4와 같이 조정할 수 있다. 레이저 신호 생성부는 레이저 신호 처리 장치의 사양을 고려하여 기본 주파수 신호의 개수 N을 결정할 수 있고, 각 기본 주파수 신호의 크기를 결정할 수 있으며, 각 기본 주파수간의 간격을 결정할 수 있다. 한편, 기본 주파수의 파형은 삼각 함수 파형으로 표현되어 있으나 이에 한정되는 것은 아닐 수 있다. 레이저 신호 생성부는 이와 같이 주파수 도메인에서 생성된 신호들을 시간 도메인 신호로 변환해 주어 무선 주파수의 송신 신호를 생성할 수 있다.Meanwhile, the laser signal generator may generate each pulse signal by synthesizing a first basic frequency signal to an Nth basic frequency signal. Here, the frequency of the nth fundamental frequency signal is

can be expressed as In this case, n may be less than or equal to N, and N may be a positive integer. At this time, the laser signal generation unit phase of each fundamental frequency signal constituting each pulse signal

can be adjusted as in Equation 4 mentioned above. The laser signal generation unit may determine the number N of fundamental frequency signals in consideration of the specifications of the laser signal processing device, determine the magnitude of each fundamental frequency signal, and determine the interval between each fundamental frequency. Meanwhile, the waveform of the fundamental frequency is expressed as a triangular function waveform, but may not be limited thereto. The laser signal generation unit may generate a radio frequency transmission signal by converting signals generated in the frequency domain into time domain signals.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a first embodiment of the synthesized signal generation process of FIG. 2 .

만큼 지연되도록 할 수 있다. 여기서,

는 실제적인 ADC 최대 샘플링 주파수의 샘플링 간격일 수 있고, 앞서 언급한 수학식 3으로 결정될 수 있다. 그리고, 수신 신호 처리부는 위상이 지연된 샘플링된 반사 펄스 신호들을 합성하여 합성 신호를 생성할 수 있다. 이처럼, 수신 신호 처리부는 샘플링된 반사 펄스 신호들의 위상이 일치하도록 위상을 조정하여 합성하여 합성 신호를 생성할 수 있다.Referring to FIG. 6 , in a synthesized signal generation process, the reception signal processing unit may sample reflected pulse signals using an ADC (S601). Also, the reception signal processing unit may arrange samples of the reflected pulse signal sampled of the main pulse signal (ie, the first reflected pulse signal) in respective sampling interval grids (S602). Subsequently, when the reception signal processor generates subsequent pulse signals corresponding to samples of each sampled reflected pulse signal (ie, each remaining reflected pulse signal) of each subsequent pulse signal, each sampling interval delayed by the time the phase is pulled. It can be placed on the grid (S603). As a result, the reception signal processor sets the phase of the sampled reflection pulse signal higher than the phase of the immediately preceding sampled reflection pulse signal.

can be delayed as much as here,

may be the sampling interval of the actual ADC maximum sampling frequency, and may be determined by Equation 3 mentioned above. The received signal processing unit may generate a composite signal by synthesizing the phase-delayed sampled reflection pulse signals. As such, the reception signal processing unit may generate a synthesized signal by adjusting and synthesizing the phases of the sampled reflection pulse signals so that the phases coincide with each other.

FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a first embodiment of the synthesized signal generation process of FIG. 2 .

만큼 지연되도록 할 수 있다. 여기서,

는 실제적인 ADC 최대 샘플링 주파수의 샘플링 간격일 수 있고, 앞서 언급한 수학식 3으로 결정될 수 있다. 그리고, 수신 신호 처리부는 위상이 지연된 샘플링된 반사 펄스 신호들을 합성하여 합성 신호(740)를 생성할 수 있다. 이처럼, 수신 신호 처리부는 샘플링된 반사 펄스 신호들의 위상이 일치하도록 위상을 조정하여 합성하여 합성 신호를 생성할 수 있다.Referring to FIG. 7 , in a synthesized signal generation process, the reception signal processing unit may sample reflected pulse signals 710-1 to 710-B using an ADC. In addition, the reception signal processing unit may arrange samples of the sampled reflection pulse signal of the main pulse signal (ie, the first reflection pulse signal) 710-1 on each sampling interval grid 720-1. there is. Continuing, when the reception signal processing unit generates subsequent pulse signals corresponding to samples of each sampled reflected pulse signal (ie, each remaining reflected pulse signal) 710-2 to 710-B of each subsequent pulse signal, the phase It may be arranged in each of the sampling interval grids 720-2 to 720-B delayed by the extended time. As a result, the reception signal processor sets the phase of the sampled reflection pulse signal higher than the phase of the immediately preceding sampled reflection pulse signal.

can be delayed as much as here,

may be the sampling interval of the actual ADC maximum sampling frequency, and may be determined by Equation 3 mentioned above. In addition, the received signal processing unit may generate the synthesized signal 740 by synthesizing the phase-delayed sampled reflection pulse signals. As such, the reception signal processing unit may generate a synthesized signal by adjusting and synthesizing the phases of the sampled reflection pulse signals so that the phases coincide with each other.

Meanwhile, subsequent pulse signals within one block may be signals whose time is more precisely pulled than the main pulse signal in the time domain through phase adjustment of the basic frequency signal. Therefore, when the reception signal processing unit arranges the subsequent pulse signals on each delayed sampling interval grid by the respective pulled time, the reception signal sampled at the ideal ADC maximum sampling frequency can be synthesized.

Meanwhile, some radar signal processing devices may require a high-performance ADC. For example, a UWB radar may be equipped with a high-performance ADC for precise target distance measurement. In addition, general OFDM radars or PMCW radars may require wide bandwidth use to achieve high resolution range resolution, and may require ADCs as large as the bandwidth due to the characteristics of these radars. When it is difficult to use a high-performance ADC covering a wide bandwidth in such a radar signal processing apparatus, a stepped-carrier OFDM method or the like may be used to cover a wide bandwidth with a low-speed ADC. Here, the step carrier OFDM type radar can transmit signals having the same bandwidth but modulated in different bands by using a low-speed ADC. In addition, the step carrier OFDM type radar may receive signals with a low-speed ADC through different local oscillator (LO) modulations in each time domain. Thereafter, the step carrier OFDM radar can be used for radar signal processing by synthesizing the signals received by the high-speed ADC through the signal processing process. When using this method, a somewhat more complex hardware structure may be required compared to the method proposed in the present application. However, the method proposed in the present invention can transmit pulse signals created in the digital domain, has the advantage of being able to synthesize received digital signals in a simple way, and can be applied to various types of waveforms such as pulse waveforms and OFDM waveforms. there is.

8 is a block diagram showing a second embodiment of a radar signal processing device.

Referring to FIG. 8 , a radar signal processing apparatus 800 may include at least one processor 810, a memory 820, and a transceiver 830. In addition, the radar signal processing device 800 may further include an input interface device 840, an output interface device 850, a storage device 860, and the like. Each component included in the radar signal processing apparatus 800 may be connected by a bus 870 to communicate with each other.

However, each component included in the radar signal processing apparatus 800 may be connected through an individual interface or an individual bus centered on the processor 810 instead of the common bus 870 . For example, the processor 810 may be connected to at least one of the memory 820, the transmission/reception device 830, the input interface device 840, the output interface device 850, and the storage device 860 through a dedicated interface. .

The processor 810 may execute a program command stored in at least one of the memory 820 and the storage device 860 . The processor 810 may mean a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), or a dedicated processor on which methods according to embodiments of the present invention are performed. Each of the memory 820 and the storage device 860 may include at least one of a volatile storage medium and a non-volatile storage medium. For example, the memory 820 may include at least one of read only memory (ROM) and random access memory (RAM). In this configuration, the processor 810 may cooperate with the transceiver 850 to understand the operations of FIGS. 2 to 7 .

The methods according to the present invention may be implemented in the form of program instructions that can be executed by various computer means and recorded on a computer readable medium. Computer readable media may include program instructions, data files, data structures, etc. alone or in combination. Program instructions recorded on a computer readable medium may be specially designed and configured for the present invention or may be known and usable to those skilled in computer software. Examples of computer readable media may include hardware devices specially configured to store and execute program instructions, such as ROM, RAM, flash memory, and the like. Examples of program instructions may include not only machine language codes generated by a compiler but also high-level language codes that can be executed by a computer using an interpreter and the like. The hardware device described above may be configured to operate with at least one software module to perform the operations of the present invention, and vice versa. In addition, the above-described method or device may be implemented by combining all or some of its components or functions, or may be implemented separately.

Although the above has been described with reference to preferred embodiments of the present invention, those skilled in the art will variously modify and change the present invention within the scope not departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention described in the claims below. You will understand that it can be done.

Claims (12)

As a method of operating a radar signal processing device in a radar system,
generating pulse signals of a number of sampling rates having different phases;
transmitting the pulse signals toward a target;
receiving reflected pulse signals reflected from the target and returned;
generating a synthesized signal by synthesizing the reflected pulse signals so that their phases coincide with each other after sampling; and
A method of operating a radar signal processing apparatus comprising extracting target information from the synthesized signal. The method of claim 1,
The step of generating the transmission pulse signals of any one sampling rate number having different phases,
determining a theoretical maximum sampling frequency;
selecting actual maximum sampling frequencies less than the theoretical maximum sampling frequency;
calculating sampling rates that are ratios of the actual maximum sampling frequencies to the theoretical maximum sampling frequency;
selecting one of the sampling rates having a positive integer among the sampling rates; and
And generating the transmission pulse signals of the number of the selected sampling rate to have different phases. The method of claim 2,
The different phases are

, wherein the SR may be the selected sampling rate, and the

Is the sampling interval of the actual ADC maximum sampling frequency of the selected sampling rate. The method of claim 2,
Generating the transmission pulse signals of the number of the selected sampling rates to have different phases,
generating N fundamental frequency signals; and
and generating the transmission pulse signals by synthesizing while adjusting the phases of the N fundamental frequency signals, wherein N is a positive integer. The method of claim 4,
Phase of each fundamental frequency signal constituting each transmit pulse signal

silver

, where b is 1 to SR, n is the index of each fundamental frequency signal,

Is the frequency of each fundamental frequency signal, b is the index of each transmission pulse signal,

Is a frequency interval of each of the fundamental frequency signals, and wherein SR is the selected sampling rate. The method of claim 1,
Generating a synthesized signal by synthesizing the reflected pulse signals so that the phases coincide with each other after sampling,
Sampling the reflected pulse signals:
delaying a phase of each of the sampled reflection pulse signals by a predetermined size compared to a phase of a previous sampled reflection pulse signal; and
and generating a composite signal by synthesizing the phase-delayed sampled reflection pulse signals. The method of claim 6,
The step of delaying the phase of each of the sampled reflection pulse signals by a certain size from the phase of the previous sampled reflection pulse signal,
arranging samples of the sampled first reflected pulse signal in respective sampling interval grids; and
A method of operating a radar signal processing apparatus, comprising arranging samples of each subsequent sampled reflected pulse signal in each sampling interval grid delayed by a time in which a phase is pulled when generating a corresponding pulse signal. As a radar signal processing device,
processor;
a memory that communicates electronically with the processor; and
Includes instructions stored in the memory;
When the instructions are executed by the processor, the instructions cause the radar signal processing device to:
generating pulse signals of a number of sampling rates having different phases;
transmit the pulse signals toward a target;
receive reflected pulse signals reflected from the target and returned;
generating a synthesized signal by synthesizing the reflected pulse signals so that their phases coincide with each other after sampling; and
A radar signal processing device operative to cause extraction of target information from said composite signal. The method of claim 8,
In the case of generating the transmission pulse signals of any one sampling rate number having different phases, the commands are the radar signal processing device,
determine a theoretical maximum sampling frequency;
select actual maximum sampling frequencies less than the theoretical maximum sampling frequency;
calculate sampling rates that are ratios of the actual maximum sampling frequencies to the theoretical maximum sampling frequency;
select one of the sampling rates having a positive integer from the sampling rates; and
Radar signal processing apparatus that operates to cause generation of the transmission pulse signals of the number of the selected sampling rate to have the different phases. The method of claim 9,
When generating the transmission pulse signals of the number of the selected sampling rate to have different phases, the commands are the radar signal processing device,
generate N fundamental frequency signals; and
The radar signal processing apparatus operates to cause generating the transmission pulse signals by synthesizing while adjusting the phases of the N fundamental frequency signals, wherein N is a positive integer. The method of claim 8,
When the reflected pulse signals are sampled and then synthesized to match the phases to generate a synthesized signal, the instructions are for the radar signal processing device to:
Sample the reflected pulse signals and:
delaying a phase of each of the sampled reflection pulse signals by a certain size from a phase of a previous sampled reflection pulse signal; and
operative to cause synthesizing the phase delayed sampled reflected pulse signals to generate a composite signal. The method of claim 11,
When the phase of each of the sampled reflection pulse signals is delayed by a certain size from the phase of the immediately preceding sampled reflection pulse signal, the radar signal processing apparatus,
placing samples of the sampled first reflected pulse signal in respective sampling interval grids; and
operative to cause placing samples of each subsequent sampled reflected pulse signal in each sampling interval grid delayed by the time by which the phase was pulled in generating the corresponding pulse signal.

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