Distributed Aperture Automotive Radar System with Forward and Backward Difference Co-Array Processing

A distributed aperture radar system comprising first and second small aperture radar devices that are physically distributed from one another and connected to a radar control processing unit,

• the first small aperture radar device comprising a first plurality of transmit and receive antennas coupled to a first signal processor component that is configured to generate at least a first mono-static virtual array aperture and a first bi-static virtual array aperture in response to a first radar signal transmitted, respectively, from the first small aperture radar device or the second small aperture radar device;
• the second small aperture radar device comprising a second plurality of transmit and receive antennas coupled to a second signal processor component that is configured to generate at least a second mono-static virtual array aperture and a second bi-static virtual array aperture in response to a second radar signal transmitted, respectively, from the second small aperture radar device or the first small aperture radar device;
• and
• the radar control processing unit configured:
• to coherently combine virtual array apertures from the first and second distributed radar devices to construct an extended bi-static MIMO virtual array aperture that is larger than the first or second bi-static MIMO virtual array apertures, and
• to construct a bi-static MIMO forward difference virtual array aperture by performing forward difference co-array processing on the extended bi-static MIMO virtual array aperture to fill in holes in the extended bi-static MIMO virtual array aperture, thereby mitigating or suppressing spurious sidelobes caused by gaps or holes in the extended bi-static MIMO virtual array aperture.