Interference in Automotive Radar Systems: Characteristics, Mitigation Techniques, and Current and Future Research

This article examines the problem of interference in automotive radar. Different types of automotive radar as well as mechanisms and characteristics of interference and the effects of interference on radar system performance are described. The interference-to-noise ratio (INR) at the output of a detector is a measure of the susceptibility of a radar to interference. The INR is derived from different types of interfering and victim radars and depends on the location of both as well as parameters such as transmit power, antenna gain, and bandwidth. In addition, for victim radar with beamscanning, INR depends on the location of the target the victim radar is attempting to detect. Analysis is presented to show the effects of various interference scenarios on the INR. A review of the current state of the art in interference mitigation techniques previously deployed as well as areas of research currently being addressed is then provided. Finally, important future research directions are suggested.