High Resolution Automotive Radar Imaging Integrating Doppler Division Multiple Access and Frequency Agility

Abstract: Millimeter-wave (MMW) radar is one of the indispensable sensors for advanced driver assistance systems (ADASs) and autono⁃ mous driving. This paper adopts inter-pulse frequency agility (FA) to synthesize a broadband signal, achieving broadband imaging without in⁃ creasing the sampling rate. Meanwhile, given that Doppler division multiple access (DDMA) has higher transmission efficiency than time divi⁃ sion multiple access (TDMA) and is widely used in automotive radar, this paper proposes a signal transmission framework that integrates DDMA and FA. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed DDMA FA multiple-input multiple-output (DDMA-FA-MIMO) processing architecture can yield 30 to 40 times more detection points for a single target compared to traditional methods, preliminarily achieving target contour imaging.

Keywords: automotive radar; radar imaging; stepped frequency radar; 4D radar; DDMA-FA-MIMO