Distributed radar signal processing in a radar system
A cascaded radar system is provided that includes a first radar system-on-a-chip (SOC) operable to perform an initial portion of signal processing for object detection on digital beat signals generated by multiple receive channels of the radar SOC, a second radar SOC operable to perform the initial portion of signal processing for object detection on digital beat signals generated by multiple receive channels in the radar SOC, and a processing unit coupled to the first radar SOC and the second radar SOC to receive results of the initial portion of signal processing from each radar SOC, the processing unit operable to perform a remaining portion of the signal processing for object detection using these results.
1. A system comprising:
a first radar system-on-a-chip (SOC) including a first receive channel and a first signal processor component coupled to the first receive channel, the first signal processor configured to:
detect a first beat signal on the first receive channel;
generate a first digitized beat signal from the first beat signal;
a second radar SOC including a second receive channel and a second signal processor component coupled to the second receive channel, the second signal processor configured to:
detect a second beat signal on the second receive channel; and
generate a second digitized beat signal from the second beat signal; and
a processing unit coupled to the first radar SOC and the second radar SOC, the processing unit configured to perform angle fast Fourier transforms (FFTs) using the first digitized beat signal and the second digitized beat signal.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the first signal processor component is configured to compute a first range FFT using the first digitized beat signal; and
the second signal processor component is configured to compute a second range FFT using the second digitized beat signal.
3. The system of claim 2 , wherein:
the first signal processor component is configured to compute a first Doppler FFT using the first range FFT; and
the second signal processor component is configured to compute a second Doppler FFT using the second range FFT.
4. The system of claim 3 , wherein:
the first signal processor component is configured to compute a first angle FFT using the first Doppler FFT; and
the second signal processor component is configured to compute a second angle FFT using the second Doppler FFT.
5. The system of claim 1 , in which the first radar SOC is a master radar SOC and the second radar SOC is a slave radar SOC.
6. A method comprising:
detect a first beat signal on a first receive channel of a first radar system-on-a-chip (SOC);
generate a first digitized beat signal from the first beat signal;
detect a second beat signal on generated by a second receive channel of a second radar SOC;
generate a second digitized beat signal from the second beat signal; and
performing, by a processing unit in the radar system, angle fast Fourier transforms (FFTs) using the first digitized beat signal and the second digitized beat signal.
7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
computing a first range FFT using the first digitized beat signal; and
computing a second range FFT using the second digitized beat signal.
8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
computing a first Doppler FFT using the first range FFT; and
computing a second Doppler FFT using the second range FFT.
9. The method of claim 8 ,
computing a first angle FFT using the first Doppler FFT; and
computing a second angle FFT using the second Doppler FFT.
10. The method of claim 6 , in which the first radar SOC is a master radar SOC and the second radar SOC is a slave radar SOC.