Detection and ranging appartus and detection and ranging method

1. A detection and ranging apparatus comprising:

spreaders for generating spread transmitter waves;

transmitting sensor elements for transmitting the spread transmitter waves;

receiving sensor elements for receiving reflected transmitter waves from targets; wherein

said spreaders are configured as M spreaders for receiving transmitter waves from an oscillator and generating M spread transmitter waves by spreading the transmitter waves using mutually orthogonal M orthogonal codes, where M is an integer not smaller than 2;

said transmitting sensor elements are configured as M transmitter sensors for transmitting out said M spread transmitter waves;

said receiving sensor elements are configured as N receiving sensor elements separately from the transmitting sensor elements, where N is an integer not smaller than 2, and enlarge an effective aperture thereof by a combination with said transmitting sensor elements;

a receiving control part having units for receiving, from the N receiving sensor elements, the N signals of the reflected transmitter waves which have transmitted from the M transmitter sensor elements at the same time, demodulating by a demodulating unit the received N signals, wherein said receiving control part is operative to split by splitting unit each of the N received signals into M parts and generate M×N despread outputs by despreading at despreading means the M parts using the M orthogonal codes given from a code generator so that the MxN despread outputs are processed in parallel;

a direction-of-arrival estimating part for estimating, based on said M×N despread outputs, directions of arrival of the reflected transmitter waves from the targets; and

a processor for applying a control input to the oscillator for switching the oscillator output to operate the detection and ranging apparatus as at least one of FM-CW radar and SS radar.

2. The detection and ranging apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said M spreaders each include a BPSK modulator for spreading said transmitter wave by binary phase-shift keying (BPSK) said transmitter wave with a corresponding one of said orthogonal codes.

3. The detection and ranging apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a transmitter wave generator for selectively generating one of a carrier wave frequency-modulated by a triangular wave and an unmodulated carrier wave, as said transmitter wave.

4. The detection and ranging apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said N receiving sensor elements are arranged at equally spaced intervals, and

said M transmitting sensor elements are two transmitting sensor elements arranged so as to flank said N receiving sensor elements.

5. The detection and ranging apparatus according to claim 4 , further comprising a phase shifter for adjusting the phase of a radio wave to be radiated from at least one of said two transmitting sensor elements.

6. The detection and ranging apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said N receiving sensor elements are arranged at equally spaced intervals, and

said M transmitting sensor elements are arranged one spaced apart from another by a distance that is N times as great as the distance by which said N receiving sensor elements are spaced apart.

7. A detection and ranging method of detecting a direction of arrival of a signal, comprising:

generating M spread transmitter waves by receiving transmitter waves from an oscillator and spreading the transmitter waves using mutually orthogonal M orthogonal codes at M spreaders, where M is an integer not smaller than 2;

transmitting out said M spread transmitter waves from M transmitter sensors;

receiving, at N receiving sensor elements, the N received signals of the reflected transmitter waves which have transmitted from the M transmitter sensors at the same time, while enlarging an effective aperture of the receiving antenna by the combination with the M transmitting antennas;

demodulating the N received signals;

splitting each of the N received signals into M parts;

generating M×N despread outputs by dispreading the M parts using said M orthogonal codes;

processing the M×N despread outputs in parallel;

estimating, based on said MxN despread outputs, a direction of arrival of the reflected transmitter waves from targets; and

controlling said oscillator to operate the detection and ranging apparatus as at least one of FM-CW radar and SS radar.

8. A detection and ranging apparatus comprising:

M spreaders for generating M spread transmitter waves by spreading a transmitter wave using mutually orthogonal M orthogonal codes, where M is an integer not smaller than 2;

M transmitting sensor elements for transmitting out said M spread transmitter waves;

N receiving sensor elements, where N is an integer not smaller than 2;

a receiving control part for splitting each of N received signals obtained at said N receiving sensor elements into M parts, and for generating M×N despread outputs by dispreading the M parts using said M orthogonal codes; and

a direction-of-arrival estimating part for estimating, based on said M×N despread outputs, directions of arrival of reflected signals arriving from a plurality of targets, wherein

said M orthogonal codes includes a first orthogonal code and a second orthogonal code having a higher chip rate than said first orthogonal code, and

at least the transmitter wave spread by said first orthogonal code is a carrier wave frequency-modulated by a triangular wave, said apparatus further comprising

a first distance calculating part for taking as an input the despread output produced by despreading with said first orthogonal code, and for calculating a distance to a target from the frequency of said despread output in an upsweep section of said triangular wave and the frequency of said despread output in a downsweep section of said triangular wave, and

a second distance calculating part for taking as an input the despread output produced by despreading with said second orthogonal code, and for calculating the distance to said target from the phase of said second orthogonal code used for said despreading.

9. The detection and ranging apparatus according to claim 8 , further comprising:

a correcting part for correcting the distance calculated by said first distance calculating part, based on a difference between the distances calculated by said first and second distance calculating parts for the same target.