Radar system

Vehicle having a radar system

• wherein the radar system comprises a radar transmission unit, a radar reception unit, and a central unit which is connected to the radar transmission unit and the radar reception unit,
• wherein the central unit comprises a signal generator configured to provide a periodic electrical base signal, wherein the frequency of the periodic electrical base signal continuously increases or decreases over time at least in a segment of each periodic cycle,
• wherein the central unit comprises a modulator configured to modulate the electrical base signal onto an optical carrier signal and transmit the modulated optical carrier signal to the radar transmission unit via a first optical fiber,
• wherein the radar transmission unit comprises an opto-electrical converter and a radar transmitter, wherein the opto-electrical converter is configured to receive the modulated optical carrier signal, convert it into an electrical radar driver signal and forward the electrical radar driver signal to the radar transmitter,
• wherein the radar reception unit comprises a radar receiver, a mixer, a filter and an optical modulator,
• wherein the mixer is electrically arranged between the radar receiver and the filter and mixes an electrical radar echo signal provided by the radar receiver with an electrical reference signal which is derived from an optical reference signal,
• wherein the optical reference signal is optically received from the central unit via a second optical fiber,
• wherein the filter filters the mixed signal and provides a filtered signal, said filter providing a second order high-pass filtering range,
• wherein the optical modulator modulates the filtered signal onto a second optical carrier signal and transmits the modulated second optical carrier signal to the central unit via a third optical fiber, and
• wherein the central unit further comprises a central opto-electrical converter and an evaluation unit, the opto-electrical converter being configured to convert the modulated second optical carrier signal into a corresponding electrical signal, and the evaluation unit being configured to evaluate the corresponding electrical signal and derive one or more distance values indicating the distance of one or more objects that are located in a predefined nominal distance range from the vehicle.

Method of generating a radar information,

• wherein a signal generator of a central unit provides a periodic electrical base signal such that the frequency of the periodic electrical base signal continuously increases or decreases over time at least in a segment of each periodic cycle,
• wherein a modulator of the central unit modulates the electrical base signal onto an optical carrier signal and transmits the modulated optical carrier signal to the radar transmission unit via a first optical fiber,
• wherein an opto-electrical converter of a radar transmission unit receives the modulated optical carrier signal and converts it into an electrical radar driver signal and forwards the electrical radar driver signal to the radar transmitter,
• wherein a mixer of the radar reception unit mixes a radar echo signal received by a radar receiver of the radar reception unit with an electrical reference signal which is optically received from the central unit via a second optical fiber,
• wherein a filter of the radar reception unit filters the mixed signal and provides a filtered signal, the filter providing a second order high-pass filtering range,
• wherein an optical modulator of the radar reception unit modulates the filtered signal onto a second optical carrier signal and transmits the modulated second optical carrier signal to the central unit via a third optical fiber, and
• wherein an opto-electrical converter of the central unit converts the modulated second optical carrier signal into a corresponding electrical signal, and
• wherein an evaluation unit of the central unit evaluates the corresponding electrical signal and derives a radar information therefrom.