Radar and radio data fusion platform for future intelligent transportation system

We present a software-defined data fusion system which integrates both radar (sensing) function and radio (communication) function within a single transceiver platform. In the proposed architecture, the radar mode and the radio mode operate in different time slots. The required modulated waveform is generated with the help of a direct digital synthesizer (DDS) that is able to control signal parameters such as amplitude, frequency and phase with very high resolution. For the radar mode, a specially arranged trapezoidal frequency modulation continuous-wave (TFMCW) modulation scheme is adopted, which combines three time intervals, namely an up-chirp, a constant-frequency period and a down-chirp. As such, range-velocity ambiguity can be resolved. Moreover, a constant-frequency period follows the radar cycle in the transmitted signal, which can be encoded with information data using different modulation schemes such as ASK, FSK, PSK, and some combinations among them. A low-frequency prototype for the 5.9-GHz dedicated short range communication (DSRC) system was designed and prototyped. Both system simulation results and preliminary measurement results have proved the proposed concept. The presented system has demonstrated such advantages as low cost, low complexity, and versatile functionality, which promises to play an important role in the design of future intelligent transportation system.