Apparatus for driver assistance and method of controlling the same
Disclosed herein is an apparatus including a transmitter configured to transmit a signal through a transmission antenna, a receiver configured to receive a signal reflected from a target through a reception antenna and output the received signal as a digital signal, and a signal processor electrically connected to the transmitter and the receiver, wherein the signal processor generates a virtual antenna signal based on an original signal received from the receiver and suppress a side lobe of the original signal based on the virtual antenna signal.
1 . An apparatus for driver assistance, the apparatus comprising:
a transmitter configured to transmit a signal through a transmission antenna;
a receiver configured to receive a signal reflected from a target through a reception antenna and output the received signal as a digital signal; and
a signal processor electrically connected to the transmitter and the receiver,
wherein the signal processor is configured to:
generate a virtual antenna signal in combinations of phase components of original signals received from the receiver;
perform digital beam forming (DBF) on an original signal received from the receiver;
perform the DBF on the virtual antenna signal; and
suppress a side lobe of the original signal using a DBF result of the original signal and a DBF result of the virtual antenna signal.
2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the signal processor is configured to generate the virtual antenna signal based on a virtual antenna including internal element antennas which are equidistant each other.
3 . The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the reception antenna is a physical reception including internal element antennas which are non-equidistant each other, and
the virtual antenna is a virtual reception antenna including the internal element antennas which are equidistant each other.
4 . The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein array intervals of the internal element antennas of the virtual antenna are equal intervals of 0.5λ or less.
5 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the signal processor comprises:
a virtual antenna generator configured to generate the virtual antenna signal based on the original signal received from the receiver;
a digital beam former configured to form a first DBF signal by performing DBF on the original signal received from the receiver and form a second DBF signal by performing DBF on the virtual antenna signal generated by the virtual antenna generator; and
a side lobe suppressor configured to suppress the side lobe of the original signal by synthesizing the first DBF signal and the second DBF signal.
6 . The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the digital beam former is configured to:
form the first DBF signal by applying phase modulation to the original signal and amplifying a signal in a specific direction; and
form the second DBF signal by applying phase modulation to the virtual antenna signal and amplifying a signal in a specific direction.
7 . The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the side lobe suppressor is configured to suppress the side lobe of the original signal by multiplying the first DBF signal by the second DBF signal.
8 . The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the side lobe suppressor is configured to suppress the side lobe of the original signal by multiplying the second DBF signal by a window coefficient for windowing processing and normalizing a multiplying result, and then multiplying the first DBF signal by a normalizing result.
9 . An apparatus for driver assistance, the apparatus comprising:
a transmitter configured to transmit a signal through a transmission antenna;
a receiver configured to receive a signal reflected from a target through a reception antenna and output the received signal as a digital signal; and
a signal processor electrically connected to the transmitter and the receiver,
wherein the signal processor comprises:
a virtual antenna generator configured to generate a virtual antenna signal based on an original signal received from the receiver;
a digital beam former configured to form a first digital beam forming (DBF) signal by performing DBF on the original signal received from the receiver and form a second DBF signal by performing DBF on the virtual antenna signal generated by the virtual antenna generator; and
a side lobe suppressor configured to suppress a side lobe of the original signal by synthesizing the first DBF signal and the second DBF signal.
10 . The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the side lobe suppressor is configured to suppress the side lobe of the original signal by multiplying the second DBF signal by a window coefficient for windowing processing and normalizing a multiplying result, and then multiplying the first DBF signal by a normalizing result.
11 . An apparatus for driver assistance, the apparatus comprising:
a transmitter configured to transmit a signal through a transmission antenna;
a receiver configured to receive a signal reflected from a target through a reception antenna and output the received signal as a digital signal; and
a signal processor electrically connected to the transmitter and the receiver,
wherein the signal processor comprises:
a virtual antenna generator configured to generate a virtual antenna signal based on an original signal received from the receiver;
a digital beam former configured to form a first digital beam forming (DBF) signal by performing DBF on the original signal received from the receiver and form a second DBF signal by performing DBF on the virtual antenna signal generated by the virtual antenna generator; and
a side lobe suppressor configured to suppress a side lobe of the original signal by synthesizing the first DBF signal and the second DBF signal,
wherein the side lobe suppressor is configured to:
suppress the side lobe of the original signal by multiplying the first DBF signal by the second DBF signal.
12 . The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the side lobe suppressor is configured to suppress the side lobe of the original signal by multiplying the second DBF signal by a window coefficient for windowing processing and normalizing a multiplying result, and then multiplying the first DBF signal by a normalizing result.