Granted Patent B2

US 7,151,476 · App. 10/879,718 · Granted Dec 19, 2006

Abstract

Claims (23)

1. A radar system, comprising:

a transmission system, comprising a plurality of radiators, configured to transmit, simultaneously, a plurality of radar signals having different frequencies at a target and wherein each radiator is configured to transmit a radar signal that is unique with respect to other radar signals transmitted by other radiators of the plurality of radiators, and wherein the transmission system is further configured to permute the radar signals transmitted by each of the radiators over time; and

a receiver system, comprising a plurality of radiators, configured to receive at least a portion of the plurality of radar signals being reflected from the target, and to combine the at least a portion of the plurality of radar signals into a composite waveform representing an image of the target.

2. The radar system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the transmission system and the receiver system are phased-locked to a common reference oscillator signal.

3. A radar system, comprising:

a common reference oscillator signal;

a plurality of transmit/receive (T/R) elements phased locked to the common reference oscillator signal, each configured to simultaneously transmit a radar signal with a frequency that is unique to the particular T/R element and permuted over time, and simultaneously receive a conglomeration of the radar signals reflected from a target, including the radar signal with the frequency that is unique to the particular T/R element and permuted over time; and

a processing system, configured to correlate each of the unique radar signals reflected from the target to each of the T/R elements that transmitted the radar signal, and based on the correlation, combine the radar signals to form an image of the target.

4. The radar system as recited in claim 3 , further comprising a reference oscillator configured to generate the common reference oscillator signal.

5. The radar system as recited in claim 3 , wherein each of the T/R elements includes a transmission unit and a receiver unit.

6. The radar system as recited in claim 3 , wherein each of the T/R elements includes a transmission unit, a receiver unit, and a processing unit.

7. The radar system as recited in claim 3 , wherein the processing system includes a plurality of processing units each corresponding to the plurality of T/R elements.

8. A method for transmitting and receiving radar signals, comprising:

transmitting a pattern comprising a plurality of unique radar signals having different, time permuted frequencies from a plurality of radiators simultaneously; and

receiving a reflection of the pattern; and

combining the plurality of unique radar signals having different, time permuted frequencies into a composite waveform to form an image of a target.

9. The method as recited in claim 8 , wherein a transmission system transmits the pattern and a receiver system receives the reflection and combines the plurality of radar signals.

10. The method as recited in claim 8 , further comprising generating a common reference oscillator signal.

11. The method as recited in claim 8 , further comprising generating a common reference oscillator signal, and phase locking the plurality of radar signals when transmitting and combining the radar signals.

12. The method as recited in claim 8 , further comprising transmitting a radar signal that is unique with respect to other radar signals.

13. A radar system, comprising:

means, having a plurality of transmit elements, for transmitting a pattern comprising a plurality of unique radar signals having different, time permuted frequencies simultaneously; and

means having a plurality of receive elements for receiving a reflection of the pattern, and combining the plurality of unique radar signals having different, time permuted frequencies into a composite waveform to form an image of a target.

Assignments (9)