Method and apparatus for radar infrastructure

Abstract

Examples disclosed herein relate to a radar warning system positioned in a highway infrastructure. The infrastructure element includes a radar unit that is configured to produce radar data from one or more return radio frequency (RF) beams reflected from a surrounding environment using one or more steerable RF beams radiated to the surrounding environment, detect a moving object in a path of the surrounding environment from the radar data, determine whether the moving object in the path is violating directional criteria, and generate an alert message notifying one or more receiving units to avoid the path of the moving object when the moving object in the path is violating the directional criteria. The infrastructure element also includes a communication unit coupled to the radar unit and configured to send the alert message to the one or more receiving units in the surrounding environment.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An infrastructure radar system, comprising:
 a radar unit comprising an antenna module and a perception engine to control beam steering of the antenna module, the radar unit configured to:
 produce radar data from one or more radio frequency (RF) beams reflected from a moving object within an environment; 
 determine parameters of the one or more reflected RF beams during a guidance of the perception engine; 
 detect the moving object along a path within the environment; 
 determine whether a velocity or a direction of the moving object along the path is in violation of traffic rules; and 
 generate an alert message notifying one or more receiving units to avoid the path of the moving object when the moving object is in violation of the traffic rules. 
   
     
     
         2 . The infrastructure radar system of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a velocity compare module configured to:
 perform a comparison between the velocity of the detected moving object and a predetermined velocity; 
 determine whether the velocity of the detected moving object is a non-negative velocity or a negative velocity from the comparison; and 
 determine that the moving object is in violation of the traffic rules when the velocity is the negative velocity. 
   
     
     
         3 . The infrastructure radar system of  claim 2 , wherein the radar unit is further configured to:
 extract velocity information as a function of a modulated signal from the radar data;   determine whether the velocity of the detected moving object is within a velocity range based on the extracted velocity information; and   determine that the moving object is in violation of the traffic rules when the velocity is within the velocity range.   
     
     
         4 . The infrastructure radar system of  claim 1 , wherein the radar unit is further configured to:
 obtain a velocity measurement of the moving object from the radar data;   determine that the velocity measurement does not satisfy a directional criteria; and   generate a communication signal with a first priority that corresponds to a first preventative action.   
     
     
         5 . The infrastructure radar system of  claim 4 , wherein the radar unit is further configured to:
 determine that the velocity measurement corresponds to the first preventative action from a mapping between a plurality of actions and velocity measurements of the moving object.   
     
     
         6 . The radar unit of  claim 4 , wherein the radar unit is further configured to:
 confirm whether the velocity measurement is lesser than zero, or within the first range of velocities;   generate a second alert message with a second priority different from the first priority when the velocity measurement is confirmed, the second alert message causing the one or more receiving units to perform a second preventative action with more urgency than the first preventative action; and   send a third communication signal that instructs the one or more receiving units to cancel the first preventative action when the velocity measurement is not confirmed.   
     
     
         7 . A radar system, comprising:
 a radar unit for monitoring an environment, the radar unit comprising an antenna module and a perception engine configured to provide a guidance to the antenna module for determining radio frequency (RF) beam parameters in the environment; and   an object detection unit configured to detect a moving object within the environment and control beam steering of the antenna module to focus on a specific area of a field of view (FoV) within a scan angular range, wherein the radar unit is configured to extract a velocity or a direction of the moving object and determine whether the moving object is in violation of traffic rules.   
     
     
         8 . The radar system of  claim 7 , further comprising:
 a velocity compare module configured to:
 determine whether the detected velocity of the moving object is a compliant velocity or a non-compliant velocity based on comparison between the detected velocity and a predetermined threshold; and 
 provide a determination that the moving object is in violation of the traffic rules if the velocity is a non-compliant velocity. 
   
     
     
         9 . The radar system of  claim 7 , wherein the radar unit is further configured to:
 determine whether the velocity is a negative velocity; and   determine that the moving object is in violation of the traffic rules if the velocity is the negative velocity.   
     
     
         10 . The radar system of  claim 7 , wherein the radar unit is further configured to:
 obtain a velocity measurement of the moving object from the radar data; and   determine that the velocity measurement does not satisfy directional criteria.   
     
     
         11 . The radar system of  claim 10 , wherein the determination that the velocity measurement does not satisfy the directional criteria comprises determining that the velocity measurement is a negative velocity or that the velocity measurement is not within a range of compliant velocities. 
     
     
         12 . The radar system of  claim 7 , further comprising:
 a communication unit configured to send an alert message to one or more receiving units in the environment, the alert message notifying the one or more receiving units of a traffic condition status based at least on whether the moving object is in violation of the traffic rules.   
     
     
         13 . The radar system of  claim 12 , wherein the alert message further comprises a first preventative action based on a mapping between a plurality of actions and velocity measurements of the moving object. 
     
     
         14 . The radar system of  claim 13 , wherein the alert message is a first alert message, the radar unit further configured to:
 confirm whether the velocity measurement is the negative velocity, or within the range of compliant velocities; and   based on the confirmation, send a second alert message causing the one or more receiving units to perform a second preventative action and cancel the first preventative action.   
     
     
         15 . A method of operating a radar system, the method comprising:
 radiating, via a beam steering antenna, one or more radio frequency (RF) beams within an environment;   acquiring radar data from the one or more return RF beams reflected from the environment;   determining parameters of the one or more reflected RF beams during a guidance of a perception engine;   detecting a moving object along a path of within the environment from the radar data;   steering of the beam steering antenna based on determining the moving object along the path is in violation of traffic rules; and   sending a communication signal based on the determining that the moving object is in violation of traffic rules.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the communication signal comprises an alert message notifying one or more receiving units to perform a first action that causes the one or more receiving units to avoid the path of the moving object. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising:
 obtaining a velocity measurement of the moving object from the radar data; and   determining that the velocity measurement does not satisfy directional criteria.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein determining that the velocity measurement does not satisfy the directional criteria comprises determining that the velocity measurement is a negative velocity or that the velocity measurement is not within a range of compliant velocities. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 17 , further comprising:
 determining that the velocity measurement corresponds to the first action based on a mapping between a plurality of actions and velocity measurements of the moving object.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the communication signal is a first communication signal, the method further comprising:
 confirming whether the velocity measurement is the negative velocity, or within the range of compliant velocities; and   sending a second communication signal indicating a second alert message causing the one or more receiving units to perform a second action and cancel the first action.