Robust radar-centric perception system

A coordinated radar system comprising:

• multiple radar sensor units;
• a radar data fusion circuit including a first computing machine that includes a first processor;
• a communication network to communicate information between the first computing machine and the multiple respective radar sensor units;
• wherein each respective radar sensor unit includes,
• a respective radar receiver coupled to receive respective radar data representing a respective radar scene within a respective local radar aperture associated with the respective sensor unit, in response to an adaptive sequence of extended sampling waveform frames, wherein at least one of the extended sampling waveform frames includes a baseline search type sampling waveform subframe and an adaptive type sampling waveform subframe;
• a respective local computing machine including a respective local processor;
• and
• a respective local non-transitory computer readable medium operably coupled to the respective local computing machine, that stores instructions, which when executed using the respective local computing machine, cause the respective local computing machine to perform local operations comprising:
• producing respective local radar data parameter information of the respective received radar data;
• receiving respective radar-based feedback information, corresponding to the respective radar sensor unit, over the communication network, from the fusion circuit;
• generating a respective replacement adaptive type sampling waveform subframe to include in the at least one of the extended sampling waveform frames, based upon the respective received radar-based feedback information or based upon the respective local radar data parameter information, or based at least in part upon a combination of the respective received radar-based feedback information or the respective local radar data parameter information;
• selecting one or more respective subsets of the radar data based upon the respective received radar-based feedback information or based upon the respective local radar data parameter information, or based at least in part upon a combination of the respective received radar-based feedback information and the respective local radar data parameter information;
• and
• sending the respective one or more selected subsets of the radar data subsets over the communication network to the radar data fusion circuit;
• the radar system further including:
• a second non-transitory computer readable medium, operably coupled to the first computing machine, that stores instructions, which when executed using the first computing machine, cause the first computing machine to perform centralized operations comprising:
• receiving respective one or more selected subsets of the radar data over the communication network from the multiple respective sensor units;
• fusing the respective one or more selected subsets of the radar data received over the network from the multiple respective sensor units, to produce a fused radar aperture;
• producing respective radar-based feedback information, corresponding respective radar sensor units, based at least in part upon radar data within the fused radar aperture;
• and
• sending the respective radar-based feedback information over the communication network to the respective corresponding respective radar sensor units.

A method to acquire radar data comprising:

• receiving radar data at a radar receiver representing a radar scene, in response to an adaptive sequence of extended sampling waveform frames that includes two or more extended sampling waveform subframes that each includes a baseline search type sampling waveform subframe and an adaptive type sampling waveform subframe;
• and
• producing one or more radar data parameters of the received radar data;
• generating one or more replacement adaptive type sampling waveform subframes to include in at least one of the two or more extended sampling waveform frames of the sequence, based at least in part upon the one or more radar parameters of received radar data.