Method and apparatus for determining object direction

1. A processor-implemented method of determining a direction of an object using a plurality of antennas, the method comprising:

determining, by a processor using at least two or more antennas of the plurality of the antennas, an optimal antenna pattern to determine the direction of the object from among candidate antenna patterns; and

determining, by the processor, the direction of the object based on the optimal antenna pattern,

wherein the determining of the direction of the object comprises:

receiving a reflected signal based on the optimal antenna pattern;

generating a weighting vector based on the reflected signal;

determining an object detection region based on the weighting vector;

reconstructing the reflected signal through compressed sensing; and

determining the direction of the object based on the reconstructed reflected signal and the object detection region.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining of the optimal antenna pattern comprises:

determining a candidate antenna pattern having a maximum metric value from among metric values calculated for each of the candidate antenna patterns; and

setting the determined candidate antenna pattern to be the optimal antenna pattern,

wherein a metric value comprises a value of power for a target direction relative to noise power.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the determining of the optimal antenna pattern further comprises:

setting a first candidate antenna pattern from among the candidate antenna patterns;

receiving M signals based on the first candidate antenna pattern;

generating N signals by reconstructing the M signals;

generating a beam pattern for the N signals through beamforming;

calculating a first metric value of the first candidate antenna pattern based on the beam pattern; and

determining whether a metric value of each of the candidate antenna patterns is calculated.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the first antenna pattern comprises M antennas selected from an array of N antennas.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the generating of the N signals by reconstructing the M signals comprises:

generating the N signals based on the M signals through compressed sensing.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining of the direction of the object further comprises:

transmitting a signal,

wherein the reflected signal is a signal of the transmitted signal reflected by the object.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the transmitted signal is a signal modulated based on a frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW), a phase modulated continuous wave (PMCW), or a frequency-shift keying (FSK) scheme.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining of the object detection region comprises:

generating a beam pattern based on the weighting vector; and

determining the object detection region based on the beam pattern.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining of the direction of the object further comprises:

determining a distance to the object and a speed of the object based on the reflected signal.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the determining of the object detection region based on the weighting vector comprises:

determining, to be the object detection region, a region corresponding to the determined distance and the determined speed.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining whether to change the optimal antenna pattern.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the determining of whether to change the optimal antenna pattern comprises:

calculating a metric value of the optimal antenna pattern; and

determining to change the optimal antenna pattern, in response to the metric value being less than a threshold value.

13. An apparatus for determining a direction of an object, comprising:

a processor configured to:

determine an optimal antenna pattern to determine the direction of the object from among candidate antenna patterns, using, by the processor, at least two or more antennas of plural antennas; and

determine the direction of the object using based on the optimal antenna pattern,

wherein, for the determining of the direction of the object, the processor is further configured to:

receive a reflected signal based on the optimal antenna pattern;

generate a weighting vector based on the reflected signal;

determine an object detection region based on the weighting vector;

reconstruct the reflected signal through compressed sensing; and

determine the direction of the object based on the reconstructed reflected signal and the object detection region.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

determine a candidate antenna pattern having a maximum metric value from among metric values calculated for each of the candidate antenna patterns; and

set the determined candidate antenna pattern to be the optimal antenna pattern,

wherein a metric value comprises a value of power for a target direction relative to noise power.

15. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the processor is further configured to determine the optimal antenna pattern at periodic intervals.

16. The apparatus of claim 13 , further comprising a memory storing instructions that, when executed, configure the processor to determine the optimal antenna pattern, and to determine the direction of the object.

17. An apparatus for determining a direction of an object, comprising:

a radar comprising a plurality of antennas; and

a processor configured to:

determine a candidate antenna pattern having a maximum metric value from metric values calculated for respective candidate antenna patterns, the respective candidate antenna patterns comprising at least two or more antennas of the plurality of the antennas;

set the determined candidate antenna pattern to be the optimal antenna pattern;

determine the direction of the object based on the optimal antenna pattern; and

render the object and the direction of the object on a display,

wherein, for the determining of the direction of the object, the processor is further configured to:

receive a reflected signal based on the optimal antenna pattern;

generate a weighting vector based on the reflected signal;

determine an object detection region based on the weighting vector;

reconstruct the reflected signal through compressed sensing; and

determine the direction of the object based on the reconstructed reflected signal and the object detection region.