Radar system having a centrally configured analysis unit

#The present application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119 of German Patent Application No. DE 102018200391.2 filed on Jan. 11, 2018, which is expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

#The present invention relates to a radar system for a vehicle, having a central control unit for sending data and for processing received data, at least one radar sensor head that is situated at a distance from the central control unit and that has at least one transmit antenna for producing radar waves and at least one receive antenna for receiving radar waves, and having at least one data line between the central control unit and the at least one radar sensor head.

#Increasingly, radar sensors are being installed in vehicles that have a high level of driver assistance functions or automated driving functions. A higher number of radar sensors is intended to achieve a higher level of performance of functions in the automated or partly automated case, compared to individual radar sensors. Previous solutions in this area have consisted of radar sensors that carry out, internal to the sensor, extensive data processing of the received radar waves. In this way, the radar sensors can provide data at the object or location level for further evaluation by the vehicle. In this way, the quantity of data transmitted to the vehicle can be reduced, but each of the radar sensors has to have a higher degree of computing power and a larger memory.

#FIG. 1 shows a first example embodiment of the present invention.

#FIG. 1 shows a schematic representation of a radar system 1 according to a first specific embodiment of the present invention. Radar system 1 is made up of a radar sensor head 2 that is coupled to a central control unit 6 via a data line 4. For simplicity, one radar sensor head 2 and one data line 4 are shown. Radar system 1 can also have a plurality of radar sensor heads 2 and data lines 4.

#Radar sensor 2 has for example a transmit antenna 8 that can be operated via an antenna control unit 10. Antenna control unit 10 is coupled to a frequency synthesizer 12 in order to produce a constant or variable carrier frequency of the radar waves for supplying transmit antenna 8.

#In addition, radar sensor head 2 has, as an example, a receive antenna 14 having a corresponding evaluation unit 16 for receiving radar waves. Radar sensor head 2 here can have a plurality of transmit antennas 8 and/or receive antennas 14. The received radar waves can be converted into digital measurement data by an analog-digital converter 18. The digital measurement data can subsequently be transmitted to central control unit 6 via a broadband data line 4. A timestamp Z is assigned to the transmitted digital measurement data by a time and control device 20 situated in radar sensor head 2. Timestamp Z is also transmitted to central control unit 6 via data line 4.