SBIR Phase II: Novel Radar Using 3D Printed Luneburg Lens for Autonomous Transportation

该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力将是，这项研究将解决城市场景等复杂环境中自动驾驶的分辨率和检测范围要求。交通运输的下一次重大革命无疑是自动驾驶，它将提高安全性、机动性和生产力。全自动交通可以消除人为错误，这是交通事故的主要原因，也可以减少交通拥堵，提高能源效率，并增强老年人和残疾人的流动性。拟议中的具有智能算法的先进传感系统有望帮助实现和推进自动驾驶革命。这项计划也将产生巨大的商业影响。自主传感器的全球市场规模预计将从2018年的52亿美元增长到2023年的119亿美元，其中基于雷达的传感器市场规模将在2023年达到29亿美元。此外，预期的研究成果可能会导致一些重要的市场领域的进步，包括无线通信，传感，移动的互联网，辅助技术和增材制造。这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第二阶段项目旨在实现一个3D打印的基于Luneburg透镜的高性能自动驾驶汽车雷达。现有的汽车雷达没有足够的距离检测、视场和角分辨率来分类和定位密集目标，这对于实现完全自动驾驶至关重要。因此，目前的自动驾驶测试使用LiDAR（光探测和测距）系统，该系统比雷达更昂贵，可靠性更低，特别是在雨，雪，雾和烟雾等恶劣天气条件下。与传统的制造技术相比，该项目利用3D打印，方便，快速，廉价，能够实现毫米波Luneburg透镜。基于卢内堡的透镜？利用这种高增益、宽带宽的多波束形成能力，将雷达探测器安装在透镜周围，设计出一种新型的汽车雷达。此外，利用Luneburg透镜的宽带宽和自然波束形成能力，提出了一种自适应感知方法，以提高扫描效率并避免来自附近或入侵雷达系统的干扰。通过这些建议的方法，目标是实现一个高性能和高价值的毫米波传感系统，适用于自主交通应用。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will be that this research will address the resolution and detection range requirements of autonomous driving in complex environments such as urban scenarios. The next major revolution of transportation is undoubtedly autonomous driving, which will increase safety, mobility and productivity. Fully autonomous transportation may eliminate human error, the leading cause of traffic accidents, and could also lead to reduced traffic congestion, higher energy efficiency, and enhanced mobility for the aging and disabled population. The proposed advanced sensing system with intelligent algorithms is expected to help enable and advance the autonomous driving revolution. The proposed effort will also have great commercial impact. The global market size of autonomous sensors is expected to grow from $5.2 billion in 2018 to $11.9 billion in 2023, with the radar-based sensor segment representing $2.9 billion in 2023. In addition, the expected research outcome may lead to advancements in a number of important market sectors including wireless communications, sensing, mobile internet, assistive technology, and additive manufacturing.This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 2 project aims to realize a 3D-printed Luneburg lens-based high performance automotive radar for autonomous driving. Existing automotive radars do not have enough distance detection, field of view, and angular resolution for classifying and locating dense targets, which is critical for achieving fully autonomous driving. As a result, current autonomous driving tests utilize LiDAR ((Light Detection And Ranging) systems which are more expensive and less reliable than radar especially under adverse weather conditions such as rain, snow, fog, and smoke. Compared to conventional manufacturing techniques, this project utilizes 3D printing, which is convenient, fast, inexpensive and capable of implementing millimeter wave Luneburg lenses. Based on the Luneburg lens?s ability to form multiple beams with high gain and broad bandwidth, a novel automotive radar will be designed by mounting radar detectors around the lens. Moreover, with the wide bandwidth and natural beam forming capabilities of the Luneburg lens, an adaptive sensing approach is proposed to improve the scanning efficiency and avoid interference from nearby or intruder radar systems. With these proposed approaches, the objective is to achieve a high performance and high value millimeter-wave sensing system suitable for autonomous transportation applications.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.