Radar device and method for detecting radar targets

A method for detecting radar targets, the method comprising:

• receiving, with a first radar-integrated circuit (IC), a plurality of first receive signals from first antennas of an antenna array;
• determining, in the first radar-IC, a first combined range-Doppler map based on range-Doppler maps of each of the first antennas of the antenna array;
• determining, in the first radar-IC, first selected range-Doppler cells of the first combined range-Doppler map based on a predetermined selection criterion;
• determining, in the first radar-IC, first confirmable range-Doppler cells of the first combined range-Doppler map based on a predetermined confirmation criterion;
• receiving, with a second radar-IC, a plurality of second receive signals from second antennas of the antenna array;
• determining, in the second radar-IC, a second combined range-Doppler map based on range-Doppler maps of each of the second antennas of the antenna array;
• determining, in the second radar-IC, second selected range-Doppler cells of the second combined range-Doppler map based on the predetermined selection criterion;
• determining, in the second radar-IC, second confirmable range-Doppler cells of the second combined range-Doppler map based on the predetermined confirmation criterion;
• communicating information indicating the first confirmable range-Doppler cells from the first radar-IC to the second radar-IC;
• determining, in the second radar-IC, a set of confirmable range-Doppler cells based on the first confirmable range-Doppler cells and the second confirmable range-Doppler cells;
• communicating the set of confirmable range-Doppler cells to the first radar-IC;
• communicating values of the first combined range-Doppler map corresponding to the set of confirmable range-Doppler cells from the first radar-IC to the second radar-IC;
• performing, in the second radar-IC, a summation of the values of the first combined range-Doppler maps and values of the second combined range-Doppler maps corresponding to the set of confirmable range-Doppler cells to obtain summed values of the set of confirmable range-Doppler cells;
• selecting one or more summed values, of the summed values of the set of confirmable range-Doppler cells, exceeding a predefined threshold as third selected range-Doppler cells;
• combining the third selected range-Doppler cells with the first selected range-Doppler cells and the second selected range-Doppler cells to obtain collectively selected range-Doppler cells;
• and
• forwarding information indicative of the collectively selected range-Doppler cells to a common processor for further processing.

A method for detecting radar targets, the method comprising:

• receiving, with a first radar-integrated circuit (IC), a plurality of first receive signals from first antennas of an antenna array;
• determining, in the first radar-IC, a first combined range-Doppler map by combining range-Doppler maps of each of the first antennas;
• determining, in the first radar-IC, first confirmable range-Doppler cells of the first combined range-Doppler map matching a predetermined confirmation criterion;
• receiving, with a second radar-IC, a plurality of second receive signals from second antennas of the antenna array;
• determining, in the second radar-IC, a second combined range-Doppler map by combining range-Doppler maps of each of the second antennas;
• determining, in the second radar-IC, second confirmable range-Doppler cells of the second combined range-Doppler map matching the predetermined confirmation criterion;
• combining the first confirmable range-Doppler cells and second confirmable range-Doppler cells to obtain a set of confirmable range-Doppler cells;
• summing values of the first and the second combined range-Doppler map corresponding to the set of confirmable range-Doppler cells to obtain summed values of the set of confirmable range-Doppler cells;
• and
• selecting one or more summed values, of the summed values of the set of confirmable range-Doppler cells, exceeding a predefined selection threshold as selected range-Doppler cells.