Radar detection and parameter estimation of accelerating objects

A system for estimating a parameter of an object, the system comprising:

• a receiver configured to detect a return signal including reflections of a radar signal, the radar signal including a series of transmitted pulses emitted over a selected time frame;
• and
• a processing device configured to perform:
• sampling the return signal over the time frame, to generate a series of signal samples;
• partitioning the time frame into a plurality of successive segments k so that an assumption of a linear phase change within each segment k is valid;
• for each segment k, applying a Doppler Fourier transform, and calculating a complex value yk as a function of a plurality of Doppler frequencies fD;
• selecting a set of hypotheses including an acceleration hypothesis and velocity hypothesis;
• and
• performing, for the set of hypotheses:
• calculating an index based on the acceleration hypothesis and the velocity hypothesis;
• for each segment, selecting one or more Doppler frequency bins based on the index, and extracting components of the complex value yk (fD) associated with each selected Doppler frequency bin;
• and
• combining the extracted components to calculate a velocity and acceleration spectrum for the time frame, and detecting the object and estimating an object parameter based on the velocity and acceleration spectrum.