Novel 4D 79 GHz Radar Concept for Object Detection and Active Safety Applications

a novel 4D automotive radar capable of estimating the range, azimuth, elevation angles, and velocity is presented in this work. The radar operates at 79 GHz with a 1.6 GHz bandwidth and uses the ubiquitous fast chirp FMCW. To achieve the elevation information, the MIMO technique and a BPSK-based coding [1] is used on the transmit signals for a simultaneous transmission covering a wide angular field-of-view without any blind spots. A real-time signal processing and 3D mapping of the environment is made possible by the physical antenna arrangement and simplified digital beamforming processing. Three measured use cases i.e. curb stone height estimation, drain cover detection and parking lot detection; to determine height of the obstacles and the quality of the height estimation are shown in this work. The performance of this 4D radar is promising for the active safety applications within the definitions of the Euro NCAP.