Radar system and method that utilizes overlapping frequency ranges

A radar system comprising:

• a) an oscillator;
• b) a transmitter controller integrated circuit, configured to control the oscillator such that the oscillator provides a transmit-radar-signal, wherein the transmit-radar-signal comprises:
• a transmit-first-ramp-frequency-portion, during which the frequency of the transmit-radar-signal either increases or decreases over time;
• a transmit-first-returning-frequency-portion, during which the frequency of the transmit-radar-signal changes in the opposite way to the transmit-first-ramp-frequency-portion;
• and
• a transmit-second-ramp-frequency-portion, during which the frequency of the transmit-radar-signal changes in the same way as the transmit-first-ramp-frequency-portion;
• wherein the transmit-first-ramp-frequency-portion includes:
• a transmit-first-overlapping-portion, and
• a transmit-first-non-overlapping-portion;
• wherein the transmit-second-ramp-frequency-portion includes:
• a transmit-second-overlapping-portion that corresponds to the instantaneous frequency of the transmit-first-frequency-overlapping-portion;
• and
• a transmit-second-non-overlapping-portion;
• wherein the transmitter controller integrated circuit is configured to reconfigure the oscillator from a first-operating-mode to a second-operating-mode between the transmit-first-ramp-frequency-portion and the transmit-second-ramp-frequency-portion;
• and
• c) a receiver controller integrated circuit configured to:
• receive a received-radar-signal that represents a reflected version of the transmit-radar-signal, wherein the received-radar-signal includes:
• a received-first-ramp-frequency-portion, during which the frequency of the received-radar-signal changes in the same way as the transmit-first-ramp-frequency-portion;
• a received-first-returning-frequency-portion, during which the frequency of the received-radar-signal changes in the opposite way to the transmit-first-ramp-frequency-portion;
• a received-second-ramp-frequency-portion, during which the frequency of the received-radar-signal changes in the same way as the transmit-first-ramp-frequency-portion;
• and
• wherein the received-radar-signal includes:
• a received-first-overlapping-portion, received at the same time as the transmit-first-overlapping-portion, and
• a received-first-non-overlapping-portion, received at the same time as the transmit-first-non-overlapping-portion;
• a received-second-overlapping-portion, received at the same time as the transmit-second-overlapping-portion, and
• a received-second-non-overlapping-portion, received at the same time as the transmit-second-non-overlapping-portion;
• provide a combined-overlapping-portion based on a combination of the transmit-first-overlapping-portion, the transmit-second-overlapping-portion, the received-first-overlapping-portion, and the received-second-overlapping-portion;
• provide a combined-first-portion based on a combination of the transmit-first-non-overlapping-portion and the received-first-non-overlapping-portion;
• provide a combined-second-portion based on a combination of the transmit-second-non-overlapping-portion and the received-second-non-overlapping-portion;
• provide an output signal in accordance with:
• the combined-overlapping-portion;
• the combined-first-portion;
• and
• the combined-second-portion.