Software defined automotive radar systems

A radar sensing system for a vehicle, the radar sensing system comprising:

• a transmitter configured for installation and use on a vehicle, and configured to transmit radio signals;
• a receiver configured for installation and use on the vehicle, and configured to receive radio signals, wherein the received radio signals include transmitted radio signals transmitted by the transmitter and reflected from objects in an environment;
• a memory;
• a control unit configured to control an operation of at least one of the transmitter and the receiver to provide at least one of a selected range resolution, a selected velocity resolution, and a selected angle of arrival resolution, wherein the control unit is further configured to dynamically and adaptively vary the operation of at least one of the transmitter and the receiver, as defined by a selected functional requirement and a current environmental condition, and wherein the functional requirement comprises at least one of a selected processing time and a memory requirement;
• wherein data produced by the receiver from the received radio signals is stored in the memory;
• and
• wherein the control unit controls the processing of the stored data based upon the controlled operation of the at least one of the transmitter and the receiver.

A radar sensing system for a vehicle, the radar sensing system comprising:

• a plurality of transmitters configured for installation and use on a vehicle, and configured to transmit radio signals;
• a plurality of receivers configured for installation and use on the vehicle, and configured to receive radio signals, wherein the received radio signals include transmitted radio signals transmitted by the plurality of transmitters and reflected from objects in an environment;
• a memory;
• a control unit configured to control an operation of at least one of the plurality of transmitters and the plurality of receivers based upon at least one of memory requirements and processing time requirements, wherein the control unit is configured to dynamically and adaptively vary the operation of at least one of the transmitter and the receiver, as defined by a selected functional requirement and a current environmental condition, and wherein the control unit is further configured to adjust a radar data compression rate of the radar sensing system based upon one of a selected processing time and a memory requirement:
• wherein data produced by the plurality of receivers from the received radio signals is stored in the memory;
• and
• wherein the control unit controls the processing of the stored data based upon the controlled operation of the at least one of the plurality of transmitters and the plurality of receivers.

A radar sensing system for a vehicle, the radar sensing system, comprising;

• a plurality of transmitters configured for installation and use on a vehicle, and configured to transmit radio signals;
• a plurality of receivers configured for installation and use on the vehicle, and configured to receive radio signals, wherein the received radio signals include transmitted radio signals transmitted by the plurality of transmitters and reflected from objects in an environment;
• a memory;
• a control unit configured to control operation of at least one of the plurality of transmitters and the plurality of receivers based upon at least one of memory requirements and processing requirement, wherein the control unit is further configured to dynamically and adaptively vary the operation of at least one of the transmitter and the receiver, as defined by a selected functional requirement and a current environmental condition, wherein controlling an operation of at least one of the plurality of receivers comprises compressing one or more range bins dynamically and adaptively to achieve a selected memory requirement;
• wherein data produced by the plurality of receivers from the received radio signals is stored in the memory;
• and
• wherein the control unit controls the processing of the stored data based upon the controlled operation of the at least one of the plurality of transmitters and the plurality of receivers.