Power control for radar applications and method thereof

Abstract

A radar system includes a hybrid-power amplifier and a power control unit coupled to the hybrid-power amplifier. The power control unit is configured to control the amplification of a chirp signal output by the radar system based upon an assessment of an interchirp time provided by a chirp profile. The interchirp time is a time difference between a first chirp signal and a second chirp signal that are to be output by the hybrid-power amplifier. When the power control unit determines that the interchirp time is less than an interchirp time threshold, a fast-power loop control configuration is used to control the transmitted output power at hybrid amplifier level. When the power control unit determines that the interchirp time is equal to or greater than the interchirp time threshold, a slow-power loop configuration or a combination of the slow-loop configuration and the fast-loop configuration is used to control the transmitted output power at the hybrid-power amplifier. A look-up table generated by the power control unit in a controller is used to ascertain the control signals and values that are to be used by the hybrid-power amplifier and voltage regulator to amplify the chirp signal.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.