Automotive radar with mechanically scanned monopulse antenna

摘要

An automotive radar which can process signals at high speed to detect a target in a wide angle range is provided. The automotive radar having a monopulse antenna which comprises a transmitting antenna which emits an electromagnetic wave, two receiving antennas which receive the electromagnetic wave reflected by a target and an antenna plate on which the transmitting antenna and two receiving antennas are arranged. The radar also includes a drive which rotates the antenna plate in an azimuth direction, which corresponds to the direction of arrangement of the two receiving antennas, to scan a detection angle formed by the two receiving antennas with the purpose to reduce noise caused by high-intensity Doppler-signals of large (stationary) objects within the field-of-view of the automotive radar. The drive has rest time between scans to stop rotation. The automotive radar also includes a signal processor which detects the azimuth angle of the target with respect to a reference direction during the rest time according to received signals from the two receiving antennas (monopulse principle) and the rotation angle of the antenna plate (mechanical scanning principle) at rest.