System and method for controlling operation of a vehicle using a millimeter-wave radar sensor

1. A system, comprising:

a first millimeter-wave radar sensor coupled to a driver-side door of a vehicle, the first millimeter-wave radar sensor configured to produce a first set of radar data indicative of a presence of an object within a first field of view;

a second millimeter-wave radar sensor coupled to a side-view mirror of the vehicle adjacent to the driver-side door, the second millimeter-wave radar sensor configured to produce a second set of radar data indicative of a presence of the object within a second field of view;

a processing circuit coupled to the first millimeter-wave radar sensor and the second millimeter-wave radar sensor, the processing circuit configured to:

determine whether the object is approaching the driver-side door based on the first set of radar data; and

determine whether the object is approaching the side-view mirror based on the second set of radar data; and

a controller coupled to the processing circuit, the first millimeter-wave radar sensor, and the second millimeter-wave radar sensor, the controller configured to control an operation of the vehicle based on a control signal provided to the controller by the processing circuit, wherein the controller is further configured to alternatingly enable the first millimeter-wave radar sensor and the second millimeter-wave radar sensor in response to the vehicle being stationary.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to lock the driver-side door of the vehicle in response to the processing circuit determining that the object is approaching the side-view mirror.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuit is further configured to classify the object based on a classification algorithm, and wherein the controller is configured to deploy airbags of the vehicle in response to the processing circuit classifying the object as another vehicle and determining that the another vehicle is approaching the driver-side door.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the controller is configured to deploy the airbags of the vehicle in response to a velocity of the another vehicle being greater than a velocity threshold.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the velocity threshold is between 5 meters per second and 20 meters per second.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first millimeter-wave radar sensor and the second millimeter-wave radar sensor are alternatingly enabled every 1 millisecond to every 20 milliseconds.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to enable the first millimeter-wave radar sensor and disable the second millimeter-wave radar sensor in response to an engine of the vehicle being switched on and the vehicle being stationary.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the controller is further configured to enable the second millimeter-wave radar sensor and disable the first millimeter-wave radar sensor in response to the engine of the vehicle being switched off.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first field of view is perpendicular to the second field of view.

10. A method, comprising:

generating, by a first millimeter-wave radar sensor coupled to a driver-side door of a vehicle, a first set of radar data indicative of a presence of an object within a first field of view;

generating, by a second millimeter-wave radar sensor coupled to a side-view mirror of the vehicle adjacent to the driver-side door, a second set of radar data indicative of a presence of the object within a second field of view;

determining, by a processing circuit coupled to the first millimeter-wave radar sensor and the second millimeter-wave radar sensor, whether the object is approaching the driver-side door based on the first set of radar data;

determining, by the processing circuit, whether the object is approaching the side-view mirror based on the second set of radar data;

controlling, by a controller coupled to the processing circuit, the first millimeter-wave radar sensor, and the second millimeter-wave radar sensor, an operation of the vehicle based on a control signal provided to the controller by the processing circuit; and

alternatingly enabling the first millimeter-wave radar sensor and the second millimeter-wave radar sensor in response to the vehicle being stationary.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein determining whether the object is approaching the driver-side door based on the first set of radar data comprises:

converting the first set of radar data to a first range-Doppler data;

determining a velocity of the object based on the first range-Doppler data; and

determining that the object is approaching the driver-side door in response to the velocity of the object being greater than a velocity threshold.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

classifying the object based on a classification algorithm; and

deploying airbags of the vehicle in response to the object being identified as another vehicle.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein determining whether the object is approaching the side-view mirror based on the second set of radar data comprises:

converting the second set of radar data to a second range-Doppler data;

determining whether the object is in motion based on the second range-Doppler data; and

disabling the driver-side door in response to a determination that the object is in motion.

14. The method of claim 10 , further comprising enabling the first millimeter-wave radar sensor and disabling the second millimeter-wave radar sensor in response to an engine of the vehicle being switched on and the vehicle being stationary.

15. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium with an executable program stored thereon, the executable program including instructions to:

generate, using a first millimeter-wave radar sensor coupled to a driver-side door of a vehicle, a first set of radar data indicative of a presence of an object within a first field of view;

generate, using a second millimeter-wave radar sensor coupled to a side-view mirror of the vehicle adjacent to the driver-side door, a second set of radar data indicative of a presence of the object within a second field of view;

determine, using a processing circuit coupled to the first millimeter-wave radar sensor and the second millimeter-wave radar sensor, whether the object is approaching the driver-side door based on the first set of radar data;

determine, using the processing circuit, whether the object is approaching the side-view mirror based on the second set of radar data; and

control, using a controller coupled to the processing circuit, the first millimeter-wave radar sensor, and the second millimeter-wave radar sensor, an operation of the vehicle based on a control signal provided to the controller by the processing circuit; and

alternatingly enable the first millimeter-wave radar sensor and the second millimeter-wave radar sensor in response to the vehicle being stationary.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein determining whether the object is approaching the driver-side door based on the first set of radar data comprises converting the first set of radar data to a first range-Doppler data; determining a velocity of the object based on the first range-Doppler data; determining that the object is approaching the driver-side door in response to the velocity of the object being greater than a velocity threshold; classifying the object based on a classification algorithm; and deploying airbags of the vehicle in response to the object being identified as another vehicle.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein determining whether the object is approaching the side-view mirror based on the second set of radar data comprises converting the second set of radar data to a second range-Doppler data; determining whether the object is in motion based on the second range-Doppler data; and locking the driver-side door in response to a determination that the object is in motion.

18. A system, comprising:

a first millimeter-wave radar sensor coupled to a driver-side door of a vehicle, the first millimeter-wave radar sensor configured to produce a first set of radar data indicative of a presence of an object within a first field of view;

a second millimeter-wave radar sensor coupled to a side-view mirror of the vehicle adjacent to the driver-side door, the second millimeter-wave radar sensor configured to produce a second set of radar data indicative of a presence of the object within a second field of view;

a processing circuit coupled to the first millimeter-wave radar sensor and the second millimeter-wave radar sensor, the processing circuit configured to:

determine whether the object is approaching the driver-side door based on the first set of radar data; and

determine whether the object is approaching the side-view mirror based on the second set of radar data; and

a controller coupled to the processing circuit, the first millimeter-wave radar sensor, and the second millimeter-wave radar sensor, the controller configured to control an operation of the vehicle based on a control signal provided to the controller by the processing circuit, wherein the controller is further configured to enable the first millimeter-wave radar sensor and disable the second millimeter-wave radar sensor in response to an engine of the vehicle being switched on and the vehicle being stationary.

19. A method, comprising:

generating, by a first millimeter-wave radar sensor coupled to a driver-side door of a vehicle, a first set of radar data indicative of a presence of an object within a first field of view;

generating, by a second millimeter-wave radar sensor coupled to a side-view mirror of the vehicle adjacent to the driver-side door, a second set of radar data indicative of a presence of the object within a second field of view;

determining, by a processing circuit coupled to the first millimeter-wave radar sensor and the second millimeter-wave radar sensor, whether the object is approaching the driver-side door based on the first set of radar data;

determining, by the processing circuit, whether the object is approaching the side-view mirror based on the second set of radar data;

controlling, by a controller coupled to the processing circuit, the first millimeter-wave radar sensor, and the second millimeter-wave radar sensor, an operation of the vehicle based on a control signal provided to the controller by the processing circuit; and

enabling the first millimeter-wave radar sensor and disabling the second millimeter-wave radar sensor in response to an engine of the vehicle being switched on and the vehicle being stationary.

20. A method, comprising:

generating, by a first millimeter-wave radar sensor coupled to a driver-side door of a vehicle, a first set of radar data indicative of a presence of an object within a first field of view;

generating, by a second millimeter-wave radar sensor coupled to a side-view mirror of the vehicle adjacent to the driver-side door, a second set of radar data indicative of a presence of the object within a second field of view;

determining, by a processing circuit coupled to the first millimeter-wave radar sensor and the second millimeter-wave radar sensor, whether the object is approaching the driver-side door based on the first set of radar data;

determining, by the processing circuit, whether the object is approaching the side-view mirror based on the second set of radar data;

classifying the object comprising:

performing a static classification of the object based on a first range-Doppler map to form a first classifier,

determining a maximum number N of range-Doppler maps based on the static classifier or a velocity of the object,

performing a dynamic classification of the object using up the maximum number N of range-Doppler maps, and

performing a decision fusion of the static classification and the dynamic classification;

generating a control signal based on performing the decision fusion; and

controlling, by a controller coupled to the processing circuit, the first millimeter-wave radar sensor, and the second millimeter-wave radar sensor, an operation of the vehicle based on the control signal.