Using frequency diversity to detect objects
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorsDavid A. Whelan, David Lynch, Jr., Eric B. Jensen
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Abstract
Technologies for detecting a passive object through the use of frequency diversity to find at least a resonant peak are disclosed. For example, a radar system may illuminate a suspect area with a pulsed radio wave based on a large number of frequency bands and based on parameters associated with the passive object. The reflected radio wave may be processed to generate synthetic aperture radar (SAR) maps associated with the frequency bands. The SAR maps may be analyzed and compared to determine large deviation amplitudes that may indicate a location of the passive object.
Claims20
A detection system comprising:
- radar transmitter circuitry configured to transmit a first signal representative of a plurality of frequency bands, each frequency band being at an interval from another frequency band based on a range resolution, the plurality of frequency bands forming a bandwidth that causes a variation of a scatterer in a radar map;
- radar receiver circuitry configured to generate a plurality of synthetic aperture radar maps based on a second signal representative of a reflection of the first signal, each synthetic aperture radar map of the plurality of synthetic aperture radar maps being associated with a frequency band from the plurality of frequency bands;
- and
- signal processing circuitry configured to detect a target object based on a first synthetic aperture radar map representative of the plurality of synthetic aperture radar maps and a contribution of a second synthetic aperture radar map of the plurality of radar maps to the first synthetic aperture radar map.
A method of generating a synthetic aperture radar image, the method comprising:
- determining a range resolution based on a dimension of a passive target;
- determining a number of frequency bands based on a predetermined frequency diversity, each frequency band being at an interval from another frequency band based on the range resolution;
- transmitting a signal at a pulse repetition interval, the signal being based on the number of frequency bands;
- and
- causing the synthetic aperture radar image to be generated based on a plurality of processed synthetic aperture radar images in response to the transmitted signal, each processed synthetic aperture radar image of the plurality of processed synthetic aperture radar images being associated with a frequency band from the number of frequency bands.
A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed on one or more systems, cause the one or more systems to:
- generate a plurality of radar-based maps, each radar-based map spanning a frequency band that is at a predefined interval from a frequency band associated with another radar-based map, the plurality of radar-based maps mapping an area within a predefined duration;
- and
- determine a retroreflection associated with an object based on a comparison of the plurality of radar-based maps.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.