Beamvector filtering and disambiguation using velocity profile pattern for low-level radar ego-motion

1 . A method for controlling an advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS) of a vehicle, the method comprising:

acquiring radar data from each of one or more radar antennas, wherein:

the acquired radar data includes range rate (Doppler) data, and

the one or more radar antennas are mounted on the vehicle;

determining beamvectors from the acquired radar data;

filtering the beamvectors, wherein:

the filtering includes determining filtered beamvectors by removing, from the beamvectors, at least one of features corresponding to one or more moving targets or features corresponding to ambiguous range rate data, and

the filtering is based on minimal and maximal values for each of a lateral velocity, a longitudinal velocity, and a yaw rate of the vehicle;

determining, based on the filtered beamvectors, a characteristic of at least one of an environment of the vehicle or of the vehicle itself, wherein the determined characteristic includes information on at least one stationary target; and

controlling the ADAS based on the determined characteristic.

2 . The method of claim 1 wherein the characteristic is information on at least one of stationary targets, moving targets, or an ego-motion of the vehicle.

3 . The method of claim 1 wherein the filtering further includes reassigning, from a first beamvector to a second beamvector, features corresponding to ambiguous range rate data.

4 . The method of claim 1 wherein the filtering is based on one or more filter windows representing one or more validity regions in motion spectrum space.

5 . The method of claim 4 wherein the one or more validity regions includes at least one of:

a first validity region corresponding to expected motion spectra of stationary targets within a field-of-view of the one or more radar antennas,

a second validity region corresponding to positive range rate ambiguities resulting from stationary targets within the field-of-view of the one or more radar antennas having a velocity that exceeds an unambiguous velocity interval of the one or more radar antennas, and

a third validity region corresponding to negative range rate ambiguities resulting from stationary targets within the field-of-view of the one or more radar antennas having a velocity that falls below the unambiguous velocity interval of the one or more radar antennas.

6 . The method of claim 5 wherein the filtering is based on convolutions using the beamvectors, the one or more filter windows, and a transformation matrix.

7 . The method of claim 1 wherein the radar data includes range data.

8 . The method of claim 1 wherein acquiring radar data from each of one or more radar antennas includes processing of time domain data using Doppler processing.

9 . The method of claim 1 wherein a size of an unambiguous velocity interval is based on a pulse width of a corresponding transmitted radar signal.

10 . The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one stationary target is located in an environment traversed by the vehicle.

11 . The method of claim 1 wherein the method includes estimating an ego-motion of the vehicle based on the filtered beamvectors.

12 . A data processing apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor, and

memory storing instructions for execution by the at least one processor, wherein the instructions include:

acquiring radar data from each of one or more radar antennas, wherein:

the acquired radar data includes range rate (Doppler) data, and

the one or more radar antennas are mounted on a vehicle;

determining beamvectors from the acquired radar data;

filtering the beamvectors, wherein:

the filtering includes removing, from the beamvectors, at least one of features corresponding to one or more moving targets or features corresponding to ambiguous range rate data, to determine filtered beamvectors, and

the filtering is based on minimal and maximal values for each of a lateral velocity, a longitudinal velocity, and a yaw rate of the vehicle;

determining a characteristic of at least one of an environment of the vehicle or of the vehicle itself based on the filtered beamvectors, wherein the determined characteristic includes information on at least one stationary target; and

controlling an advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS) of the vehicle based on the determined characteristic.

13 . The vehicle comprising the data processing apparatus of claim 12 .

14 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions including:

acquiring radar data from each of one or more radar antennas, wherein:

the acquired radar data includes range rate (Doppler) data, and

the one or more radar antennas are mounted on a vehicle;

determining beamvectors from the acquired radar data;

filtering the beamvectors, wherein:

the filtering includes removing, from the beamvectors, at least one of features corresponding to one or more moving targets or features corresponding to ambiguous range rate data, to determine filtered beamvectors, and

the filtering is based on minimal and maximal values for each of a lateral velocity, a longitudinal velocity, and a yaw rate of the vehicle;

determining a characteristic of at least one of an environment of the vehicle or of the vehicle itself based on the filtered beamvectors, wherein the determined characteristic includes information on at least one stationary target; and

controlling an advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS) of the vehicle based on the determined characteristic.