Automotive Radar Network for 360° Situational Awareness

Provision of high level of automation for driver assistance and full vehicle autonomy is one of the strategic directions of road transport development. A wide range of electro-optical and microwave sensors are used on modern cars to provide sensing required for high levels of automation. There some advantages and disadvantages of using diversity of sensors: radar is robust to operate in all-weather and all-light conditions, but have relatively poor resolution, while optical sensors which have high resolution may lose their performance in adverse weather conditions. Capability of radar to operate in adverse environmental conditions as well as the ability to evaluate distance and relative speed to the obstacle directly makes radar a vital part of future autonomous sensing system. It is expected that cars will be equipped with a number of radar sensors mounted all around the vehicle to provide 360° situational awareness.

Therefore, investigation of operation of such sensors as distributed system or network to provide 360° imaging with the highest possible resolution will be the main goal of the PhD project. Also, radar data fusion and co-registration for situational awareness of the vehicle as well as automatic road actors and surface recognition and classification will be investigated in the project. To achieve high image resolution, specific attention will be paid to prospective automotive radar operating at frequencies above 100 GHz (sub-THz).

Eligibility notes:

First class degree or equivalent in Electrical Engineering or Physics, with knowledge in Electromagnetism, signal processing, radar and/or communication systems.

For information on how to apply, please see here: https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/calgs/postgraduate-research/howtoapplyforanartsphd.aspx