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Automotive SAR imaging: potentials, challenges, and performances

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 April 2023

Marco Manzoni Open the ORCID record for Marco Manzoni [Opens in a new window] ,
Stefano Tebaldini ,
Andrea Virgilio Monti-Guarnieri ,
Claudio Maria Prati ,
Dario Tagliaferri ,
Monica Nicoli ,
Umberto Spagnolini ,
Ivan Russo  and
Christian Mazzucco
Marco Manzoni*
Affiliation:
Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano, Via Giuseppe Ponzio 34, 20133 Milano, Italy
Stefano Tebaldini
Affiliation:
Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano, Via Giuseppe Ponzio 34, 20133 Milano, Italy
Andrea Virgilio Monti-Guarnieri
Affiliation:
Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano, Via Giuseppe Ponzio 34, 20133 Milano, Italy
Claudio Maria Prati
Affiliation:
Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano, Via Giuseppe Ponzio 34, 20133 Milano, Italy
Dario Tagliaferri
Affiliation:
Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano, Via Giuseppe Ponzio 34, 20133 Milano, Italy
Monica Nicoli
Affiliation:
Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano, Via Giuseppe Ponzio 34, 20133 Milano, Italy
Umberto Spagnolini
Affiliation:
Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano, Via Giuseppe Ponzio 34, 20133 Milano, Italy
Ivan Russo
Affiliation:
Huawei Technologies Italia S.r.l., Segrate, Italy
Christian Mazzucco
Affiliation:
Huawei Technologies Italia S.r.l., Segrate, Italy
*
Corresponding author: Marco Manzoni; Email: marco.manzoni@polimi.it
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Abstract

The main interest in using synthetic aperture radar (SAR) technology in automotive scenarios is that arbitrarily long arrays can be synthesized by exploiting the natural motion of the ego vehicle, enabling finer azimuth resolution and improved detection. All of this is achieved without increasing the hardware complexity in terms of the number of physical antennas. In this paper, we start by discussing the application of SAR imaging in the automotive environment from both theoretical and experimental perspectives. We proceed by describing an efficient processing workflow and we derive the rough number of operations required to focus an image proving the real-time imaging capability of the system. The experimental results are based on open road data acquired using an eight-channel radar at 77 GHz, considering side-looking SAR and forward SAR. The results confirm the idea that SAR imaging can be successfully and routinely used for high-resolution mapping of urban environments in the near future.

Keywords

SARautomotiveimagingMIMOperformances

Information

Type
MMS 2022 Special Issue
Information
International Journal of Microwave and Wireless Technologies , Volume 16 , Special Issue 1: MMS 2022 Special Issue , February 2024 , pp. 3 - 12
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press in association with the European Microwave Association

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