On fast chirp modulations and compressed sensing for automotive radar applications

In the last decade radar based driver assistance systems have increased the safety in all vehicle classes and get the access to mass market applications. Currently slow FMCW waveforms are the state of the art principle for automotive radar sensors at 24 GHz and 77 GHz. This contribution presents an innovative 77 GHz multi channel radar sensor, with the capability for fast FMCW PLL locked chirp modulations down to 10 μs. It gives a brief review on short FMCW chirp modulations and its processing. Furthermore the application of compressed sensing algorithms for r/v estimation is discussed and system simulations and measurements are presented.