Granted Patent B2

US 12,724,136 · App. 18/438,082 · Granted Sep 1, 2026

Inventors: Thomas G Pratt (South Bend, IN); Luke Saladis (South Bend, IN)

Assignee: University of Notre Dame du Lac

G01S13/08G01S7/411

Abstract

Claims (64)

1 . A system comprising:

a radar device configured to transmit a radar signal and receive a return of the radar signal; and

circuitry configured to:

generate a first data set representative of a range profile based at least in part on the return,

wherein the range profile comprises a plurality of range resolution cells corresponding to discrete ranges from the radar device;

identify, within the plurality of range resolution cells, a remote range resolution cell in which no objects are detected;

identify a matched filter corresponding to the remote range resolution cell in which no objects are detected;

repurpose the matched filter for an additional range resolution cell in which the at least one frequency-dependent object is detected;

increase a resolution of the additional range resolution cell based at least in part on the repurposed matched filter;

generate a second data set representative of a shifted version of the range profile by applying the repurposed matched filter to the return; and

characterize at least one frequency-dependent object detected in the range profile based at least in part on the first data set and the second data set.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to determine a distance between the radar device and the at least one frequency-dependent object detected in the range profile based at least in part on the first data set and the second data set.

3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to:

detect the distance between the radar device and the at least one frequency-dependent object based at least in part on the first data set; and

increase a resolution of the distance between the radar device and the at least one frequency-dependent object based at least in part on the first data set and the second data set.

4 . The system of claim 3 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to:

determine a first reflection coefficient of the at least one frequency-dependent object based at least in part on the first data set;

determine a second reflection coefficient of the at least one frequency-dependent object based at least in part on the second data set; and

increase the resolution of the distance between the radar device and the at least one frequency-dependent object based at least in part on a relationship between the first reflection coefficient and the second reflection coefficient.

5 . The system of claim 4 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to:

generate a convolution matrix with values corresponding to select ranges of interest from the range profile based at least in part on the return; and

resolve the relationship between the first reflection coefficient and the second reflection coefficient based at least in part on the convolution matrix.

6 . The system of claim 5 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to mitigate depolarization from polarimetric channels of the radar device based at least in part on the relationship.

7 . The system of claim 5 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to modify the range profile to account for a frequency dependence of the frequency-dependent object based at least in part on the relationship.

8 . The system of claim 5 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to:

mitigate noise in one of the select ranges of interest via range filtering; and

resolve at least one additional frequency-dependent object in the one of the select ranges of interest via range filtering.

9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to:

generate a convolution matrix with values corresponding to select ranges of interest from the radar device based at least in part on the return; and

apply a Gram Schmidt filter to the convolution matrix to filter out at least one additional frequency-dependent object from the range profile.

10 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to detect at least one further object in the range profile upon filtering out the at least one additional frequency-dependent object.

11 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to:

generate the first set of data by applying a first matched filter to the return; and

generate the second set of data by shifting the first matched filter by at least one offset to form the matched filter.

12 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to detect at least one additional frequency-dependent object in the range profile by applying the first matched filter and the matched filter to the first set of data and the second set of data.

13 . The system of claim 11 , wherein

the offset corresponds to a fraction of the size of each of the plurality of range resolution cells.

14 . The system of claim 13 , wherein:

the first set of data comprises a collection of samples that:

are based at least in part on the radar signal and the return; and

correspond to the discrete ranges; and

the circuitry is further configured to apply at least one matched filter to each sample included in the collection of samples.

15 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to determine a distance between the radar device and one or more scattering components associated with the at least one frequency-dependent object based at least in part on the first data set and the second data set.

16 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to characterize a polarization response of the frequency-dependent object based at least in part on the first data set and the second data set.

17 . An apparatus comprising:

a radar device configured to transmit a radar signal and receive a return of the radar signal via one or more polarimetric channels; and

circuitry configured to:

generate a first data set representative of a range profile based at least in part on the return, the range profile comprising a plurality of range resolution cells corresponding to discrete ranges from the radar device;

generate a second data set representative of a shifted version of the range profile by applying the repurposed matched filter to the return;

identify, within the plurality of range resolution cells, a remote range resolution cell in which no objects are detected;

identify a matched filter corresponding to the remote range resolution cell in which no objects are detected;

repurpose the matched filter for an additional range resolution cell in which the at least one frequency-dependent object is detected;

increase a resolution of the additional range resolution cell based at least in part on the repurposed matched filter; and

characterize at least one frequency-dependent object detected in the range profile based at least in part on the first data set and the second data set.

18 . The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to determine a distance between the radar device and the at least one frequency-dependent object detected in the range profile based at least in part on the first data set and the second data set.

19 . A method comprising:

receiving, by a radar device, a return of a radar signal;

generating, by circuitry communicatively coupled to the radar device, a first data set representative of a range profile based at least in part on the return, the range profile comprising a plurality of range resolution cells corresponding to discrete ranges from the radar device;

generating, by the circuitry, a second data set representative of a shifted version of the range profile by applying a matched filter to the return; and

identifying, within the plurality of range resolution cells, a remote range resolution cell in which no objects are detected;

identifying a matched filter corresponding to the remote range resolution cell in which no objects are detected;

repurposing the matched filter for an additional range resolution cell in which the at least one frequency-dependent object is detected;

increasing a resolution of the additional range resolution cell based at least in part on the repurposed matched filter; and

characterizing, by the circuitry, at least one frequency-dependent object detected in the range profile based at least in part on the first data set and the second data set.

Assignments (2)

Continuity (3)

References Cited (70)