Method for detecting and correcting non-linearities in a microwave radar system

A method for detecting and correcting nonlinearities in a microwave radar system, in which a transmitted signal frequency-modulated according to a defined function is generated by a transmitting oscillator (1), and from the mixing of the transmitted signal with a received signal reflected from an object, a distance of the microwave radar system from the object is ascertained;

• and in which the linearity properties of the microwave radar system are investigated by a reference signal, and the respective results are employed for correction,
• wherein, in defined time windows (Δt), instead of a trigger voltage effecting frequency modulation, a defined constant test trigger voltage (16) is switched to the transmitting oscillator (1);
• and the reference signal ascertained in the context of the respective constant test trigger voltage (16), which signal corresponds to a frequency value (fGUNN) of the transmitting oscillator (1), is employed to correct the characteristic for the frequency modulation and thus to compensate for nonlinearities.