CONTINUOUSLY STEERING PHASED ARRAY AND HEADLIGHT RADARS
Examples disclosed herein relate to a radar system for use in millimeter wave applications. The radar system includes an array of transmit elements to transmit a transmit beam and to scan the transmit beam in an azimuth plane across an azimuth field of view (FOV AZ ) at a transmit refresh rate. In one or more implementations, the transmit beam is a fan beam in an elevation plane, and the array of transmit elements is arranged along a first axis. The radar system further includes an array of receive elements to receive a receive beam and to scan the receive beam in an elevation plane across an elevation field of view (FOV EL ) or to a predetermined elevation location. In one or more implementations, the receive beam is a fan beam in the azimuth plane, and the array of receive elements is arranged along a second axis. In some implementations, the second axis is orthogonal to the first axis.
1 . A method for operating a radar system, the method comprising:
transmitting a transmit beam, the transmit beam comprising a first fan beam in an elevation plane;
scanning the transmit beam in an azimuth plane across an azimuth field of view (FOV AZ ) at a transmit refresh rate;
receiving a receive beam, the receive beam comprising a second fan beam in the azimuth plane; and
scanning the receive beam in the elevation plane across an elevation field of view (FOV EL ).
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the radar system comprises an array of transmit elements and an array of receive elements, wherein the array of transmit elements is configured to transmit the transmit beam and the array of receive elements is configured to transmit the receive beam.
3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
adaptively controlling the transmit refresh rate based on an environmental condition.
4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
scanning the transmit beam over a period of time such that the transmit beam is at predefined azimuth at a predefined time.
5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
scanning the receive beam across the elevation field of view (FOV EL ) over a period of time such that the receive beam is at predefined elevation at a predefined time.
6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
scanning the receive beam across the elevation field of view (FOV EL ) at a receive refresh rate, wherein the receive refresh rate is greater than the transmit refresh rate.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the array of transmit elements is arranged along a first axis and the array of receive elements is arranged along a second axis orthogonal to the first axis.
8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the array of transmit elements comprises at least two rows of radio frequency (RF) transmit antenna elements and the array of receive elements comprises at least two rows of RF receive antenna elements, and wherein each of the RF transmit antenna elements and each of the RF receive antenna elements is one of a patch antenna, a dipole antenna, an antenna horn, or a cup dipole antenna.
9 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
reflecting the transmit beam off of at least one object that generates the receive beam.
10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein an intersection of the transmit beam and the receive beam forms an active aperture.
11 . A radar system, comprising:
an array of transmit elements configured to transmit a transmit beam and to scan the transmit beam in an azimuth plane across an azimuth field of view (FOV AZ ) at a transmit refresh rate, wherein the transmit beam is a fan beam in an elevation plane, and wherein the array of transmit elements is arranged along a first axis; and
an array of receive elements configured to receive a receive beam and to scan the receive beam in an elevation plane across an elevation field of view (FOV EL ) or to a predetermined elevation location.
12 . The radar system of claim 11 , wherein the array of receive elements is configured to scan the receive beam across the elevation field of view (FOV EL ) at a receive refresh rate, wherein the receive refresh rate is greater than the transmit refresh rate.
13 . The radar system of claim 11 , wherein the receive beam is a fan beam in the azimuth plane, and wherein the array of receive elements is arranged along a second axis orthogonal to the first axis.
14 . The radar system of claim 11 , wherein the array of transmit elements is configured to scan the transmit beam over a period of time such that the transmit beam is at predefined azimuth at a predefined time.
15 . The radar system of claim 11 , wherein the array of receive elements is configured to scan the receive beam across the elevation field of view (FOV EL ) over a period of time such that the receive beam is at predefined elevation at a predefined time.
16 . The radar system of claim 11 , wherein the array of transmit elements comprises at least two rows of radio frequency (RF) transmit antenna elements, and the array of receive elements comprises at least two rows of RF receive antenna elements, wherein each of the RF transmit antenna elements and each of the RF receive antenna elements is one of a patch antenna, a dipole antenna, an antenna horn, or a cup dipole antenna.
17 . A radar system, comprising:
an array of transmit elements configured to transmit a transmit beam and to scan the transmit beam in an azimuth plane across an azimuth field of view (FOV AZ ) at a transmit refresh rate, wherein the array of transmit elements is arranged along a first axis; and
an array of receive elements configured to receive a receive beam and to scan the receive beam in an elevation plane across an elevation field of view (FOV EL ) or to a predetermined elevation location, and wherein the array of receive elements is arranged along a second axis orthogonal to the first axis.
18 . The radar system of claim 17 , wherein the transmit beam is a first fan beam in an elevation plane and the receive beam is a second fan beam in the azimuth plane.
19 . The radar system of claim 17 , wherein the array of receive elements is configured to scan the receive beam across the elevation field of view (FOV EL ) at a receive refresh rate, wherein the receive refresh rate is greater than the transmit refresh rate.
20 . The radar system of claim 17 , wherein the array of transmit elements comprises at least two rows of radio frequency (RF) transmit antenna elements, and the array of receive elements comprises at least two rows of RF receive antenna elements, wherein each of the RF transmit antenna elements and each of the RF receive antenna elements is one of a patch antenna, a dipole antenna, an antenna horn, or a cup dipole antenna.