Systems and methods for scheduling radar scan patterns in a vehicular radar system

A radar system for a vehicle comprising:

• a front end configured to detect one or more objects in an environment surrounding the vehicle with electromagnetic radiation, the front end comprising one or more antenna systems configured to emit and receive electromagnetic radiation;
• a control system configured to control operation of the one or more antenna systems of the front end, the control system comprising:
• a processor;
• a memory device storing logic configured to determine a plurality of sets of waveforms to be emitted by the one or more antenna systems and to evaluate return signals received by the one or more antenna systems in response to an emitted set of waveforms;
• and
• the logic comprising instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
• analyze return signals received by the one or more antenna systems in response to the emission of a first set of waveforms;
• generate one or more parameters associated with the environment surrounding the vehicle from the analysis of the return signals;
• generate a plurality of second sets of waveforms based on the generated one or more parameters associated with the environment surrounding the vehicle, wherein each second set of waveforms of the plurality of second sets of waveforms is different from the first set of waveforms;
• assign each second set of waveforms of the plurality of second sets of waveforms into a queue of a plurality of queues based on a corresponding priority of the second set of waveforms, wherein each queue of the plurality of queues is associated with a different priority level;
• select one or more second sets of waveforms from the plurality of second sets of waveforms based on corresponding priorities associated with each of the second sets of waveforms;
• provide the selected second sets of waveforms for emission by the one or more antenna systems of the front end;
• subsequently repeat the selection and providing of one or more second sets of waveforms based on the corresponding priorities associated with each of the second sets of waveforms;
• analyze system performance with respect to each selected second set of waveforms previously emitted by the one or more antenna systems of the front end;
• and
• move a second set of waveforms from a lower priority queue of the plurality of queues to a higher priority queue having a different priority level based on the analysis of system performance.