Systems and methods for increasing radar resolution using semi-coherent radar networks

A method comprising:

• providing a first radar unit, wherein the first radar unit is set as a master radar unit;
• providing a second radar unit, wherein the second radar unit is a distance from the first radar unit;
• each radar unit emitting radar signals and only processing returned radar signals emitted from itself;
• each radar unit determining target information from its processed return radar signals;
• wherein this step includes generating a plurality of virtual receiver channels for each radar unit;
• transmitting from each radar unit the target information including information from the virtual receiver channels to a central processing unit;
• and
• in the central processing unit, generating beamforming information by using the information from the virtual receiver channels from each radar unit.

A radar system comprising:

• at least first and second radar units;
• the first and second radar units separated by a distance;
• each radar unit emitting radar signals and only processing returned radar signals emitted from itself;
• and each radar unit comprising target information having beamforming information;
• a central processing unit in circuit communication with the radar units and comprising:
• logic for receiving from each radar unit the target information including the beamforming information;
• and
• logic for generating combined beamforming information by summing the target information including the beamforming information from each radar unit.