Method and apparatus for radar infrastructure

1. An infrastructure element positioned proximate to a roadway, comprising:

a radar unit comprising an antenna module and a perception engine to control beam steering of the antenna module, the radar unit configured to:

produce radar data from one or more return radio frequency (RF) beams reflected from a surrounding environment using one or more steerable RF beams radiated from the antenna module to the surrounding environment, wherein the antenna module is configured to determine parameters of the one or more steerable RF beams during a guidance of the perception engine and achieves beam steering in various directions within a scan angular range;

detect a moving object in a path of the surrounding environment from the radar data with the perception engine;

determine whether the moving object in the path is violating directional criteria; and

generate an alert message notifying one or more receiving units to avoid the path of the moving object when the moving object in the path is violating the directional criteria; and

a communication unit coupled to the radar unit and configured to send the alert message to the one or more receiving units in the surrounding environment.

2. The infrastructure element of claim 1 , wherein the radar unit comprises:

a velocity compare module configured to:

perform a comparison between a velocity of the detected moving object and a predetermined threshold;

determine whether the velocity of the detected moving object is a compliant velocity or a non-compliant velocity from the comparison; and

determine that the moving object is violating the directional criteria when the velocity is a negative velocity.

3. The infrastructure element of claim 1 , wherein the radar unit is further configured to:

extract the velocity as a function of a modulated signal from the radar data;

determine whether the extracted velocity is lesser than zero; and

determine that the moving object is violating the directional criteria when the extracted velocity is lesser than zero.

4. The infrastructure element of claim 1 , wherein the radar unit is further configured to:

obtain a velocity measurement of the moving object from the radar data;

determine that the velocity measurement does not satisfy the directional criteria; and

generate the communication signal with a first priority that corresponds to a first preventative action.

5. The infrastructure element of claim 4 , wherein the radar unit is further configured to determine that the velocity measurement corresponds to the first preventative action from a mapping between a plurality of actions and velocity measurements of the moving object.

6. The infrastructure element of claim 4 , wherein the radar unit is further configured to:

confirm whether the velocity measurement is lesser than zero, or within the first range of velocities;

send a second communication signal indicating a second alert message with a second priority different from the first priority when the velocity measurement is confirmed, the second alert message causing the one or more receiving units to perform a second action with more urgency than the first action; and

send a third communication signal that instructs the one or more receiving units to cancel the first action when the velocity measurement is not confirmed.

7. A radar system in an infrastructure element, comprising:

an antenna module comprising one or more meta-structure antennas that are configured to radiate one or more transmission radio frequency (RF) beams to a surrounding environment and receive one or more return RF beams reflected from a moving object in the surrounding environment;

a perception engine, wherein the antenna module is configured to determine parameters of the one or more transmission RF beams during a guidance of the perception engine;

an object detection unit configured to detect the moving object and control beam steering of the antenna module to focus on a specific area of a field of view (FoV) within a scan angular range;

a directional criteria evaluation unit configured to extract a velocity of the moving object and determine whether the moving object is violating directional criteria; and

a communication unit coupled to the radar unit and configured to send an alert message to one or more receiving units in the surrounding environment, the alert message notifying the one or more receiving units of a traffic condition status based at least on whether the moving object is violating the directional criteria.

8. The radar system of claim 7 , further comprising a velocity compare module configured to:

perform a comparison between the velocity of the moving object and a predetermined threshold;

determine whether the velocity of the detected moving object is a compliant velocity or a non-compliant velocity from the comparison; and

determine that the moving object is violating the directional criteria when the velocity is a non-compliant velocity.

9. The radar system of claim 7 , wherein the directional criteria evaluation unit is further configured to:

determine whether the velocity is lesser than zero; and

determine that the moving object is violating the directional criteria when the velocity is lesser than zero.

10. The radar system of claim 7 , wherein the directional criteria evaluation unit is further configured to:

obtain a velocity measurement of the moving object from the radar data;

determine that the velocity measurement does not satisfy the directional criteria; and

generate the communication signal with a first priority that corresponds to the first preventative action.

11. The radar system of claim 10 , wherein the directional criteria evaluation unit is further configured to determine that the velocity measurement is lesser than zero based at least on a comparison to the directional criteria.

12. The radar system of claim 10 , wherein the directional criteria evaluation unit is further configured to determine that the velocity measurement is not within a first range of velocities based at least on a comparison to the directional criteria, the first range of velocities comprising compliant velocities.

13. The radar system of claim 10 , wherein the directional criteria evaluation unit is further configured to determine that the velocity measurement corresponds to the first action from a mapping between a plurality of actions and velocity measurements of the moving object.

14. The radar system of claim 10 , wherein the directional criteria evaluation unit is further configured to:

confirm whether the velocity measurement is lesser than zero, or within the first range of velocities;

send a second communication signal indicating a second alert message with a second priority different from the first priority when the velocity measurement is confirmed, the second alert message causing the one or more receiving units to perform a second action with more urgency than the first action; and

send a third communication signal that instructs the one or more receiving units to cancel the first action when the velocity measurement is not confirmed.

15. A method of operating a radar system in an infrastructure element, the method comprising:

directing a beam steering antenna structure to generate one or more radio frequency (RF) beams and radiate the one or more RF beams to a surrounding environment;

producing radar data from one or more return RF beams reflected from the surrounding environment;

determining parameters of the one or more RF beams during a guidance of a perception engine;

detecting a moving object in a path of the surrounding environment from the radar data;

controlling the beam steering of the beam steering antenna structure based on the detection of the moving object, wherein controlling includes focusing on a specific area of a field of view (FoV) within a scan angular range;

determining whether the moving object in the path is violating directional criteria; and

sending a communication signal to one or more receiving units in the surrounding environment when the moving object in the path is violating the directional criteria, the communication signal indicating an alert message that notifies the one or more receiving units to perform a first preventative action that causes the one or more receiving units to avoid the path of the moving object.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

obtaining a velocity measurement of the moving object from the radar data;

determining that the velocity measurement does not satisfy the directional criteria; and

generating the communication signal with a first priority that corresponds to the first preventative action.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein determining that the velocity measurement does not satisfy the directional criteria comprises determining that the velocity measurement is lesser than zero.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein determining that the velocity measurement does not satisfy the directional criteria comprises determining that the velocity measurement is not within a first range of velocities, the first range of velocities comprising compliant velocities.

19. The method of claim 16 , further comprising determining that the velocity measurement corresponds to the first action from a mapping between a plurality of actions and velocity measurements of the moving object.

20. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:

confirming whether the velocity measurement is lesser than zero, or within the first range of velocities;

sending a second communication signal indicating a second alert message with a second priority different from the first priority when the velocity measurement is confirmed, the second alert message causing the one or more receiving units to perform a second action with more urgency than the first action; and

sending a third communication signal that instructs the one or more receiving units to cancel the first action when the velocity measurement is not confirmed.