Vehicle radar apparatus and control method thereof

1. A vehicle radar apparatus comprising:

a transmitting array antenna configured to radiate radar signals for forward detection;

N receiving array antennas configured to receive the radar signals reflected from a target after being radiated from the transmitting array antenna; and

a controller configured to estimate an azimuth of the target using non-offset receiving array antennas from among the N receiving array antennas,

wherein the non-offset receiving array antennas comprise antennas having no offset in a vertical direction from among the N receiving array antennas.

2. The vehicle radar apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to estimate an elevation of the target using a phase difference between an offset receiving array antenna from among the N receiving array antennas and the non-offset receiving array antenna and the azimuth of the target,

wherein the offset receiving array antenna comprise an antenna having an offset in a vertical direction from the non-offset receiving array antennas.

3. The vehicle radar apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the controller comprises:

an azimuth estimator configured to estimate the azimuth of the target using the non-offset receiving array antennas, except for the offset receiving array antennas, among the N receiving array antennas; and

an elevation estimator configured to estimate the elevation of the target using a phase difference remaining by removing a phase difference occurring due to the azimuth from a phase difference between the radar signals received by one of the offset receiving array antennas and one of the non-offset receiving array antennas.

4. The vehicle radar apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the controller further comprises:

an analog to digital converter (ADC) configured to convert the radar signals received from the N receiving array antennas into digital signals and output the digital signals to the azimuth estimator.

5. The vehicle radar apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:

a signal generator configured to generate a frequency signal to be provided to the transmitting array antenna.

6. A control method of a vehicle radar apparatus, the control method comprising:

radiating, by a transmitting array antenna, radar signals for forward detection;

receiving, by N receiving array antennas, radar signals reflected from a target after being radiated from the transmitting array antenna; and

estimating, by a controller, an azimuth of the target using non-offset receiving array antennas from among the N receiving array antennas,

wherein the non-offset receiving array antennas comprise antennas having no offset in a vertical direction from among the N receiving array antennas.

7. The control method according to claim 6 , wherein the estimating further comprises:

estimating, by the controller, an elevation of the target using a phase difference between an offset receiving array antenna from among the N receiving array antennas and the non-offset receiving array antenna and the azimuth of the target,

wherein the offset receiving array antenna comprise an antenna having an offset a vertical direction from the non-offset receiving array antennas.

8. The control method according to claim 7 , wherein the estimating of the azimuth comprises:

estimating, by an azimuth estimator, the azimuth of the target by using the non-offset receiving array antennas, except for the offset receiving array antennas, among the N receiving array antennas.

9. The control method according to claim 8 , wherein the estimating further comprises:

converting, by an analog to digital converter (ADC), the radar signals received from the N receiving array antennas into digital signals and outputting the digital signals to the azimuth estimator.

10. The control method according to claim 7 , wherein the estimating of the elevation comprises:

estimating, by an elevation estimator, the elevation of the target by using a phase difference remaining by removing a phase difference occurring due to the azimuth from a phase difference between the radar signals received by one of the offset receiving array antennas and one of the non-offset receiving array antennas.

11. The control method according to claim 6 , further comprising:

generating, by a signal generator, a frequency signal to be provided to the transmitting array antenna.