Techniques for angle resolution in radar

A method comprising:

• estimating, at a radar apparatus, an azimuth frequency associated with an obstacle from a signal received from the obstacle;
• estimating, at a radar apparatus, a complex amplitude associated with the obstacle from the estimated azimuth frequency associated with the obstacle and from the signal received from the obstacle;
• estimating, at a radar apparatus, a complex phasor associated with the obstacle from the estimated complex amplitude associated with the obstacle and from the signal received from the obstacle;
• and
• estimating, at a radar apparatus, an azimuth angle and an elevation angle associated with the obstacle from the estimated complex phasor associated with the obstacle and from the estimated azimuth frequency associated with the obstacle.

An apparatus comprising:

• a transmitter configured to generate an outbound RF (radio frequency) signal;
• a receiver configured to receive an inbound RF signal, wherein the outbound RF signal is scattered by the obstacle to generate the inbound RF signal;
• a mixer coupled to the receiver and to the transmitter and configured to demodulate the inbound RF signal to generate a demodulated signal;
• an analog to digital converter (ADC) coupled to the mixer and configured to generate a digital signal in response to the demodulated signal received from the mixer;
• an FFT (fast fourier transform) module coupled to the ADC and configured to transform the digital signal from a time domain to a frequency domain;
• and
• a signal processing unit coupled to the FFT module and configured to process the digital signal, the signal processing unit further configured to:
• estimate an azimuth frequency associated with an obstacle from the digital signal;
• estimate a complex amplitude associated with the obstacle from the estimated azimuth frequency associated with the obstacle and from the digital signal;
• estimate a complex phasor associated with the obstacle from the estimated complex amplitude associated with the obstacle;
• and
• estimate an azimuth angle and an elevation angle associated with the obstacle from the estimated complex phasor associated with the obstacle and from the estimated azimuth frequency associated with the obstacle.