STTR Phase I: Joint Wireless Communication and Vehicular RADAR through Successive Structured Target Estimation

该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是以更低的成本生产高保真智能交通系统，以提高全球汽车安全，而不会浪费无线频谱用于其他人类改善技术。该项目工作计划的成功完成为无线通信设备供应商和汽车原始设备制造商(OEM)提供了通过结构化目标估计(SSTE)在车载雷达传感器市场上的机会。初步研究表明，SSTE可能会将汽车原始设备制造商对车载雷达的设备成本要求降低一个数量级。标准无线通信设备上的雷达处理功能还可实现双重用途的无线设备，从而进一步降低了成本并提高了安全性。降低成本和提高车载雷达的安全性不仅带来了诱人的商机，还带来了全球更安全的交通运输。初步研究还表明，SSTE需要的频谱资源减少了87%。更高效的频谱使用为蜂窝通信等其他应用提供了更多的频谱可用性，同时也增加了获得免许可证公共频谱的机会。这个小企业技术转移研究(STTR)第一阶段项目将通过一套称为连续结构化目标估计(SSTE)的信号处理功能来验证雷达的新框架。与标准雷达波形处理不同，SSTE使用无线通信设备上可用的信道脉冲响应估计。SSTE利用新发现的目标结构在测距精度和频谱消耗方面大幅提高性能。该工作计划将通过移动车辆的空中射频(RF)测试来评估测距精度和频谱消耗。这些测试必须证明：(1)SSTE使雷达应用能够使用比当前雷达设备所需的频谱少得多的频谱(2)SSTE在所有相关车辆环境中充分发挥作用(3)SSTE能够为车载应用跟踪足够数量的目标(4)无线通信设备可以通过SSTE为雷达应用提供服务，而不会牺牲相关车辆环境中的性能。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is the production of high-fidelity intelligent transportation systems at lower costs to increase automotive safety globally without wasting wireless spectrum to be used for other humanity improvement technologies. Successful completion of the work plan in this project enables opportunity for wireless communication device vendors and automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the vehicular RADAR sensor market through structured target estimation (SSTE). Preliminary studies have suggested that SSTE may reduce the device cost requirements for vehicular RADAR to automotive OEMs by one order of magnitude. The availability of RADAR processing on standard wireless communication devices also enables dual-purpose wireless devices, leading to further reduced costs as well as increased security. Reduced costs and increased security in vehicular RADAR not only presents an attractive business opportunity, but also leads to safer transportation globally. Preliminary studies have also shown that SSTE requires 87% fewer spectrum resources. More efficient spectrum usage yields more spectrum availability for other applications like cellular communications and simultaneously increases the opportunity for license-free public spectrum.This Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) Phase I project will validate a new framework for RADAR through a suite of signal processing functions known as successive structured target estimation (SSTE). In contrast to standard RADAR waveform processing, SSTE uses channel impulse response estimates available on wireless communication devices. SSTE exploits newly-discovered target structure to substantially improve performance in terms of ranging accuracy and spectrum consumption. The work plan will evaluate ranging accuracy and spectrum consumption through over-the-air radio frequency (RF) testing with moving vehicles. These tests must show that: (1) SSTE enables RADAR applications that use much less spectrum than required by current RADAR devices (2) SSTE functions adequately in all relevant vehicular environments (3) SSTE is able to track a sufficient number of targets for vehicular applications (4) wireless communication devices may service RADAR applications through SSTE without sacrificing performance in relevant vehicular environments.