Vehicle radar system arranged for reducing interference

1. A vehicle radar system comprising, at least one transceiver arrangement arranged to generate and transmit radar signals, and to receive reflected radar signals, where the transmitted radar signals have been reflected by one or more objects, where the transceiver arrangement comprises an ADC, Analogue to Digital Converter, that is arranged to output a digital IF, Intermediate Frequency signal in a time domain to a DSP, Digital Signal Processor, that is adapted for radar signal processing, the digital signal processor arranged by providing a first DSP function including:

transform the digital IF signal from the time domain to a spectral domain;

identify and retain sample points of the digital IF signal in the spectral domain with signal components that exceed a certain level threshold to form a spectral repair signal;

transform the spectral repair signal from the spectral domain to the time domain to form an output repair signal;

form an approximation signal domain based on the output repair signal;

identify possible sections of the digital IF signal in the time domain that exhibit interference exceeding an interference threshold; and

replace the possible sections with equivalent sections of the approximation signal.

2. The vehicle radar system according to claim 1 , further comprising, that the first DSP function is arranged to set all other sample points to zero when the approximation signal is formed.

3. The vehicle radar system according to claim 2 , wherein the first DSP function comprises an FFT, Fast Fourier Transform module, a threshold module, an inverse FFT module, an approximation module and a detection and repair module, wherein:

the FFT module is arranged to transform the digital IF signal from the time domain to the spectral domain;

the threshold module is arranged to identify and retain sample points with signal components that exceed a certain level threshold, while all other sample points are set to zero;

the inverse FFT module is arranged to transform a spectral repair signal output from the threshold module to the time domain;

the approximation module is arranged to output an approximation signal; and

the detection and repair module is arranged to identify the possible sections of the digital IF signal in the time domain that exhibit interference exceeding an interference threshold, to determine whether or not to replace the possible sections with the equivalent sections of the approximation signal, and, if applicable, to replace the possible sections with the equivalent sections of the approximation signal.

4. The vehicle radar system according to claim 3 , further comprising, the detection and repair module is arranged to output a repaired digital IF signal to a second DSP function that is adapted for radar signal processing by use of a range FFT to convert the repaired digital IF signal to a range domain, and a Doppler FFT to combine the results from successive Doppler radar cycles into the Doppler domain.

5. The vehicle radar system according to claim 1 , wherein the radar system further comprises, a plurality of simultaneous parallel receiver channels, where the radar system is arranged to identify possible sections of the digital IF signal in the time domain that exhibit interference exceeding the interference threshold for only one receiver channel.

6. A method for a radar system, where the method comprises the steps of:

generating and transmitting radar signals;

receiving reflected radar signals, where the transmitted radar signals have been reflected by one or more objects; and

outputting a digital IF signal in a time domain;

transforming the digital IF signal from the time domain to a spectral domain;

identifying and retaining sample points of the digital IF signal in the spectral domain with signal components that exceed a certain level threshold to form a spectral repair signal;

transforming the spectral repair signal from the spectral domain to the time domain to form an output repair signal;

forming an approximation signal based on the output repair signal;

identifying possible sections of the digital IF signal in the time domain that exhibit interference exceeding an interference threshold; and

replacing the possible sections with equivalent sections of the approximation signal.

7. A method according to claim 6 , wherein the method further comprises setting all other sample points to zero when forming the approximation signal.

8. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the method further comprises, outputting a repaired digital IF signal for radar signal processing by converting the repaired digital IF signal to a range domain, and combining the results from successive Doppler radar cycles into the Doppler domain.

9. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the method further comprises, identifying possible sections of the digital IF signal in the time domain that exhibit interference exceeding an interference threshold for only one receiver channel where the radar system uses a plurality of simultaneous parallel receiver channels.

10. A vehicle radar system comprising, at least one transceiver arrangement arranged to generate and transmit radar signals, and to receive reflected radar signals, where the transmitted radar signals have been reflected by one or more objects, where the transceiver arrangement comprises an ADC, Analogue to Digital Converter, that is arranged to output a digital IF, Intermediate Frequency signal in a time domain to a DSP, Digital Signal Processor, that is adapted for radar signal processing, the digital signal processor arranged by providing a first DSP function including:

identify and retain sample points of the digital IF signal in a spectral domain with signal components that exceed a certain level threshold, such that an approximation signal is formed in the time domain;

identify possible sections of the digital IF signal in the time domain that exhibit interference exceeding an interference threshold; and

replace the possible sections with equivalent sections of the approximation signal;

wherein the first DSP function is arranged to set all other sample points to zero when the approximation signal is formed; and

wherein the first DSP function comprises an FFT, Fast Fourier Transform module, a threshold module, an inverse FFT module, an approximation module and a detection and repair module, wherein:

the FFT module is arranged to transform the digital IF signal from the time domain to the spectral domain;

the threshold module is arranged to identify and retain sample points with signal components that exceed a certain level threshold, while all other sample points are set to zero;

the inverse FFT module is arranged to transform a spectral repair signal output from the threshold module to the time domain;

the approximation module is arranged to output an approximation signal; and

the detection and repair module is arranged to identify the possible sections of the digital IF signal in the time domain that exhibit interference exceeding an interference threshold, to determine whether or not to replace the possible sections with the equivalent sections of the approximation signal, and, if applicable, to replace the possible sections with the equivalent sections of the approximation signal.

11. The vehicle radar system according to claim 10 , further comprising, the detection and repair module is arranged to output a repaired digital IF signal to a second DSP function that is adapted for radar signal processing by use of a range FFT to convert the repaired digital IF signal to a range domain, and a Doppler FFT to combine the results from successive Doppler radar cycles into the Doppler domain.