Radar systems and methods

A radar system, comprising:

• a waveform generator configured to generate a modulated signal;
• a transmit antenna configured to be driven by the modulated signal to transmit a plurality of pulses;
• a receive antenna configured to receive reflected pulses from a target and at least some of the plurality of transmitted pulses;
• an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) configured to produce a plurality of samples indicative of the received pulses by sampling and demodulating the reflected pulses;
• at least one processor configured to
• generate, based on a set of the plurality of samples corresponding to a coherent processing interval (CPI), a first two-dimensional (2D) matrix having a slow-time index and a fast-time index;
• perform a slow-time FFT on the first 2D matrix to thereby convert the slow-time index of the first 2D matrix to a Doppler bin index and thereby produce a second 2D matrix having the Doppler bin index and the fast-time index;
• after the slow-time FFT is performed, perform a one-dimensional (1D) interpolation along the Doppler bin index to thereby convert the Doppler bin index to a Velocity bin index and thereby produce a third 2D matrix having a Velocity bin index and a fast-time index;
• after the 1D interpolation is performed, perform a fast-time FFT on the third 2D matrix to thereby convert the fast-time index to a Range bin index and thereby produce a fourth 2D matrix having the Velocity bin index and a Range bin index;
• and
• determine a distance to and a velocity of the target relative to the radar system based on the fourth 2D matrix having the Velocity bin index and the Range bin index.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer instructions that when executed by one or more processors of a radar system cause the one or more processors of the radar system to perform the steps of:

• processing, by the one or more processors of the radar system, reflected pulses received by the radar system to produce a set of samples of the reflected pulses;
• generating by the one or more processors of the radar system, based on the set of samples corresponding to a coherent processing interval (CPI), a first two-dimensional (2D) matrix having a slow-time index and a fast-time index;
• performing by the one or more processors of the radar system a slow-time FFT on the first 2D matrix to thereby convert the slow-time index of the first 2D matrix to a Doppler bin index and thereby produce a second 2D matrix having the Doppler bin index and the fast-time index;
• after performing the slow-time FFT, performing by the one or more processors of the radar system a one-dimensional (1D) interpolation along the Doppler bin index to thereby convert the Doppler bin index to a Velocity bin index and thereby produce a third 2D matrix having a Velocity bin index and a fast-time index;
• after performing the 1D interpolation, performing by the one or more processors of the radar system a fast-time FFT on the third 2D matrix to thereby convert the fast-time index to a Range bin index and thereby produce a fourth 2D matrix having the Velocity bin index and a Range bin index;
• and
• calculating by the one or more processors of the radar system the distance to and the velocity of the target relative to the radar system based on the fourth 2D matrix having the Velocity bin index and the Range bin index.

A radar system, comprising:

• means for generating a modulated signal;
• means for generating a plurality of pulses based on the modulated signal and transmitting the plurality of pulses;
• means for receiving reflected pulses from a target and at least some of the plurality of transmitted pulses;
• means for producing a plurality of samples indicative of the received pulses by sampling and demodulating the reflected pulses;
• means for generating, based on a set of the plurality of samples corresponding to a coherent processing interval (CPI), a first two-dimensional (2D) matrix having a slow-time index and a fast-time index;
• means for performing a slow-time FFT on the first 2D matrix to thereby convert the slow-time index of the first 2D matrix to a Doppler bin index and thereby produce a second 2D matrix having the Doppler bin index and the fast-time index;
• means for performing a one-dimensional (1D) interpolation along the Doppler bin index to thereby convert the Doppler bin index to a Velocity bin index and thereby produce a third 2D matrix having a Velocity bin index and a fast-time index, after the slow-time FFT is performed;
• means for performing a fast-time FFT on the third 2D matrix to thereby convert the fast-time index to a Range bin index and thereby produce a fourth 2D matrix having the Velocity bin index and a Range bin index, after the 1D interpolation is performed;
• and
• means for determining a distance to and a velocity of the target relative to the radar system based on the fourth 2D matrix having the Velocity bin index and the Range bin index.