Dynamic programming of chirps in a frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar system

#Field of the Disclosure

#Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) radar systems, and more specifically relate to dynamically programming chirps in FMCW radar systems.

#Description of the Related Art

#Particular embodiments will now be described, by way of example only, and with reference to the accompanying drawings:

#FIGS. 1, 2, 3, and 4 are examples illustrating the operation of a frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar;

#FIG. 5 illustrates some example chirp configurations;

#Specific embodiments of the disclosure will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying figures. Like elements in the various figures are denoted by like reference numerals for consistency.

#FIGS. 1-4 are simple examples illustrating the operation of a frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar system. As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, in an FMCW radar system, frequency ramps (also referred to as chirps) are transmitted via a transmit antenna. An FMCW radar may, for example, transmit a 4 Giga-hertz (GHz) bandwidth chirp that ramps from 77 GHz to 81 GHz. Composite radio frequency (RF) signals reflected from the scene in front of the radar are received by a receive antenna and processed to extract the range, velocity, and angle (if multiple receive antennas are present) of objects in the scene.

#Multiple sequential chirps are typically transmitted in a unit referred to as a frame. As illustrated in FIG. 3, a synthesizer and timing engine in the radar front end of an FMCW radar system operate to generate the chirp signal to be transmitted. The timing engine generates control/configuration signals for chirps based on chirp parameter values stored in the chirp parameter registers and programs the synthesizer according to the desired chirp configurations. The timing engine and the chirp parameter registers are configured by a processing unit via a serial peripheral interface (SPI).