Integrated radar signal processing circuit

An integrated radar signal processing circuit, comprising:

• a signal processing unit configured to generate a radar map represented by an array with a first index and a second index;
• a peak detection unit, configured to identify potential targets in the radar map, wherein the peak detection unit comprises:
• a first peak detection sub-unit configured to scan the radar map along the first index and store in a radar data memory a first detection bitmap that identifies peaks as a function of the first index, and
• a second peak detection sub-unit configured to scan the radar map along the second index and output into the radar data memory a second detection bitmap that identifies peaks as a function of the second index,
• wherein the first detection bitmap and the second detection bitmap identify each of the peaks using a single bit;
• and
• a hardware accelerator connected to the radar data memory, wherein the hardware accelerator is configured to combine individual bits of the first detection bitmap and the second detection bitmap to generate a combined detection bitmap.

A method, comprising:

• generating a radar map which is represented by an array with a first index and a second index;
• identifying potential targets in the radar map by
• scanning the radar map along the first index and storing in a radar data memory a first detection bitmap that identifies peaks as a function of the first index, and
• scanning the radar map along the second index and outputting into the radar data memory a second detection bitmap that identifies peaks as a function of the second index,
• wherein the first detection bitmap and the second detection bitmap identify each of the peaks using a single bit value;
• and
• for each bit of the first detection bitmap and the second detection bitmap,
• incrementing a counter;
• in response to the bit indicating a peak, determining a corresponding index value pair based on the counter value;
• and
• adding the determined index value pair to a list of index value pairs corresponding to respective peaks identified in the bitmap.