Patent ID: 11921186
Assignee: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
Field: Measurement (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 27:
28. A method for operating a radar device that includes: at least one transmitter to generate a transmission chirp signal synchronized with a timing signal; at least two receivers to each receive a reflected wave and a direct wave of the transmission chirp signal emitted from the transmitter, each generates a reception chirp signal, and each performs mixing on a received signal, using the reception chirp signal, the reception chirp signal being synchronized with the timing signal and having the same slope as the transmission chirp signal; and a signal processor to analyze a beat signal resulting from the mixing performed by the receivers, the signal processor detecting a target from a reflected wave component of the beat signal resulting from the mixing performed by the receivers, detecting a level of a direct wave component of the beat signal, and determining a failure of the device by comparing the detected level with a threshold, the threshold being set on the basis of a beat signal level measurement under an environment that eliminates the reflected wave component in advance, wherein
the transmission chirp signal and the reception chirp signal
include a first chirp signal for target detection and a second chirp signal for failure detection; and
have a first radar operation cycle in which the first chirp signal is transmitted and received so that the target is detected on the basis of a beat signal from the first chirp signal, and a second radar operation cycle in which the second chirp signal is transmitted and received so that a failure of the radar device is determined on the basis of a beat signal from the second chirp signal, and
the second radar operation cycle is controlled on the basis of a timing signal output from the signal processor, and is included at least once within a plurality of cycles of the first radar operation cycle.