SLOW TIME FREQUENCY DIVISION MULTIPLEXING WITH BINARY PHASE SHIFTERS
FIG2 schematically illustrates an example embodiment of a detector device
FIG2 illustrates an example detector device 22. A plurality of transmitters 26, which are antenna in this example, are configured to transmit respective signals that are useful for detecting any objects in a vicinity of the vehicle 20 within the field of view of the detector 22. A plurality of receivers 28 are configured to receive reflected signals that are reflections of the transmitted signals after they reflect off an object.
embodiment
28
receivers
30
controller
38
voltage controlled oscillator
22
detector device
48
digital converter
34
memory
40
binary phase shifter binary phase shifters
50
DSP
26
transmitters transmitter
46
low noise amplifier
32
processor processors
['1. A detector device (22), comprising: a plurality of transmitters (26); and a controller (30) that controls the transmitters (26) to transmit respective signals defined at least in part by a sequence of 2N pulses within a period, wherein: N is an integer greater than 1, a first one of the transmitters (26) transmits 2N first signal pulses within the period, each of the 2N first signal pulses have a first phase, a second one of the transmitters (26) transmits 2N second signal pulses within the period, each of the 2N first signal pulses is simultaneous with one of the 2N second signal pulses, N second signal pulses have a phase shift of 180° relative to the first phase, others of the second signal pulses have the first phase, and the N second signal pulses having the phase shift are immediately adjacent each other in the sequence.', '2. The detector device (22) of claim 1, comprising a binary phase shifter (40) that introduces the phase shift of the N second signal pulses having the phase shift.', '4. The detector device (22) of any of claims 1 - 3, comprising a plurality of receivers (28) and wherein the receivers (28) receive reflected signals that comprise the respective signals reflected by an object within a vicinity of the detector device (22); the reflected signals include a first portion corresponding to the 2N first signal pulses and a second portion corresponding to the 2N second signal pulses; the first portion has a single peak with a first magnitude at a first frequency; the second portion has two peaks separated by a second frequency; and the controller (30) discriminates between the first portion and the second portion based on the second frequency.']