Rotating radar system utilizing MIMO radar processing
A radar system deploys a MIMO antenna assembly containing arrays of antenna elements. The MIMO antenna assembly may be rotated by a rotational assembly. Control circuitry may be used to form one or more beams. Receiver antennae may receive reflected signals transmitted by transmitter antennae. The received signals may be processed to generate a radar image. This radar system may be used in a marine vessel.
1. A marine multiple input multiple output (MIMO) radar system, comprising:
a rotating MIMO antenna assembly comprising at least two transmitting antennae for transmitting signals and at least two receiving antennae for receiving reflected signals, wherein the at least two transmitting antennae emit multiple orthogonal signals at a same time; and
control circuitry for controlling the MIMO antenna assembly to perform adaptive beamforming while forming multiple different beams simultaneously,
wherein the system includes a housing for housing the antennae and control circuitry, and wherein the housing has a diameter of less than 25 inches.
2. The marine MIMO radar system of claim 1 , wherein the transmitting antennae and the receiving antennae are co-located such that the transmitting antennae and the receiving antennae are aligned in a vertical plane.
3. The marine MIMO radar system of claim 1 , wherein the transmitting antennae each have multiple elements arranged vertically in a column.
4. The marine MIMO radar system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the antennae elements acts as both one of the transmitting antennae and one of the receiving antennae.
5. The marine MIMO radar system of claim 1 , wherein each of the antennae contains at most 10 antenna elements.
6. The marine MIMO radar system of claim 1 , wherein the adaptive beamforming is in accordance with one of the following:
multiple signal classifier (MUSIC) adaptive beam forming; estimation of signal parameters via rotational invariance technique (ESPRIT) adaptive beam forming or minimum variance distortionless response (MVDR) adaptive beam forming.
7. The marine MIMO radar system of claim 1 wherein the MIMO antenna assembly includes at least twice as many receiving antennae as transmitting antennae.
8. A system, comprising:
a rotating multiple input multiple output (MIMO) antenna assembly comprising at least two transmitting antennae for transmitting signals and at least two receiving antennae for receiving reflected signals, wherein the at least two transmitting antennae emit multiple orthogonal signals at a same time;
control circuitry for controlling the MIMO antenna assembly to perform beamforming while forming multiple different beams simultaneously;
a rotational assembly for rotating the MIMO antenna assembly over a range; and
a marine electronic device for display of a radar image from the rotating MIMO antenna assembly,
wherein the MIMO antenna assembly has a diameter of less than 13 inches.
9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the rotational assembly rotates the MIMO antenna assembly through a continuous arc of at least 180°.
10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the rotational assembly rotates the MIMO antenna assembly through a continuous arc at 360°.
11. The system of claim 8 , wherein some of the antennae in the MIMO antenna assembly are used both for transmitting and for receiving.
12. The system of claim 8 further comprising a housing that houses the MIMO antenna assembly, the control circuitry and the rotational assembly.
13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the housing has a domed configuration.
14. A method, comprising:
causing a rotating multiple input multiple output (MIMO) marine radar assembly to emit multiple signals and perform beamforming while forming multiple different beams simultaneously, wherein the MIMO marine radar assembly comprises at least two transmitting antennae for transmitting signals and at least two receiving antennae for receiving reflected signals, wherein the at least two transmitting antennae emit multiple orthogonal signals at a same time, wherein the MIMO marine radar assembly includes a housing that has a diameter of less than 25 inches;
receiving reflected signals at the MIMO marine radar assembly; and
processing the received reflected signals with electrical processing logic to generate video output of at least one object off of which the reflected signals reflected.
15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising displaying the video output on a display device.
16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the MIMO marine radar assembly is rotating when the assembly receives the reflected signals and/or when the assembly emits signals.