Patent ID: 6888494

Claim:
A frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar system for detecting a distance and a relative velocity of a target, the radar system comprising: a transmitter having: means for generating, every detection cycle, a transmission signal, a frequency of which increases during an increasing section and decreases during a decreasing section; a receiver having: means for extracting a beat component signal from said transmission signal and a received return signal reflected by said target; and processing means having: (a) means for extracting peak frequencies of said increasing and decreasing sections at which said beat component signal becomes amplitude peaks from said beat component signal; (b) means for finding target information of each of definitely detected targets from a peak pair which denotes a pair of peak frequencies of said increasing and decreasing sections selected for said definitely detected target from said extracted peak frequencies said target information including a distance and a relative velocity; (c) means for making provisional peak pairs from extracted peak frequencies other than those used for peak pairs associated with said definitely detected targets, and assuming that said provisional peak pairs correspond to respective provisional targets; d) means, activated every detection cycle, for making a test to see if each of continuation provisional targets which have been detected at least one detection cycle ago has continuity with any of said provisional peak pairs; (e) means for registering said continuation provisional target that has passed said test made in a preset number of detection cycles as a new definitely detected target; (f) means for registering said provisional target that has failed in continuity with any of said continuation provisional targets as a new continuation provisional target; and (g) means for setting said preset number of detection cycles associated with said new continuation provisional target to a value, said value being such that the higher the relative velocity of said new continuation provisional target, the smaller said value and vice versa.