Threshold-Free Interference Cancellation Method for Automotive FMCW Radar Systems

Radar systems are key components for today’s advanced driver assistance systems such as adaptive cruise control or emergency brake assistants. Along with the rising utilization of radars in modern cars, the issue of interference amongst themselves arises. It has been shown in previous work that interference between different frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar systems leads to an increased noise floor. This may severely impact the detectability of objects, especially those with a small radar cross section like pedestrians. In this work we propose a novel concept to mitigate interference in FMCW radar transceivers using digital signal processing. The actual interference cancellation is carried out in frequency domain taking into account a sequence of FMCW chirps. Therewith noise suppression is performed, the interference is cancelled, and the object information is retained in the radar image. In contrast to existing interference cancellation concepts, no threshold needs to be chosen in advance. We prove our method with simulation results, and compare it to existing work.