Beamforming techniques implementing the iterative adaptive approach (IAA)

A non-transitory computer-readable media having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform beamforming by:

• applying matched filtering to each of a plurality of received signals to generate a partial virtual antenna array output for a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar system including a number of transmit antennas Ntx and a number of receive antennas Nrx;
• performing, using the partial virtual antenna array output, delay-and-sum (DAS) beamforming to generate a number of DAS beamforming outputs that represents an initial power spectrum estimation associated with the plurality of received signals, the number of DAS beamforming outputs having a size equal to the number of receive antennas Nr;
• and
• generating beamforming data based on an iterative adaptive approach (IAA) for a number of iterations using the initial power spectrum estimation as an initial power estimation, and evaluating the initial power estimation for each one of a plurality of different beam directions until a predetermined threshold number of iterations is reached,
• wherein each one of the number of receive antennas is coupled to a respective one of a number of matched filters equal to the number of transmit antennas Ntx, and
• wherein applying the matched filtering to each of the plurality of the received signals to generate the partial virtual antenna array comprises applying, for each one of the number of receive antennas, the matched filtering via the respective number of matched filters such that the partial virtual antenna array output has a size equal to a multiplication of the number of transmit antennas and the number of receive antennas (Ntx)(Nrx).

A method of performing beamforming, comprising:

• applying matched filtering to each of a plurality of received signals to generate a virtual antenna array output for a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar system;
• performing, using the virtual antenna array output, delay-and-sum (DAS) beamforming to generate an initial power spectrum estimation associated with the plurality of received signals;
• identifying one or more regions of interest (ROIs) in beam space using the initial power spectrum estimation, the one or more ROIs including one or more beam sectors associated with a detected target based upon a beam power exceeding a detection threshold value;
• and
• generating beamforming data based on an iterative adaptive approach (IAA) by using, for each identified ROI from among the one or more identified ROIs, the initial power spectrum estimation as an initial power estimation in beam space and, for each of a number of iterations for each ROI, iteratively updating the initial power estimation until a power estimation is performed for each active beam sector associated with each of the one or more identified ROIs.

A non-transitory computer-readable media having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform beamforming by:

• applying matched filtering to each of a plurality of received signals to generate a virtual antenna array output for a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar system;
• performing, using the virtual antenna array output, delay-and-sum (DAS) beamforming to generate an initial power spectrum estimation associated with the plurality of received signals;
• identifying one or more regions of interest (ROIs) in beam space using the initial power spectrum estimation, the one or more ROIs including one or more beam sectors associated with a detected target based upon a beam power exceeding a detection threshold value;
• and
• generating beamforming data based on an iterative adaptive approach (IAA) approach by using, for each identified ROI from among the one or more identified ROIs, the initial power spectrum estimation as an initial power estimation in beam space and, for each of a number of iterations for each ROI, iteratively updating the initial power estimation until a power estimation is performed for each of active beam sector associated with each of the one or more identified ROIs.