A doppler radar measures both the distance and relative speed of the object. A doppler radar directly and instantaneously measures speed by detecting the frequency shift of the return signal relative to the transmitted signal. The analogy is when you hear an approaching siren go higher in frequency and then go lower as the siren recedes. That is the doppler effect as shown by sound waves. With radar, the effect is measured by a frequency shift in radio waves instead.
Radar Support
My Model Y came with radar. As a safety engineer using multiple sensors, e.g. radar and sight, adds redundancy and, therefore, safety. The Y no longer comes with radar. Question: Is radar still used as part of the driver safety systems (FSD, Autosteer, speed control, etc.) and still supported with updates as the software becomes more sophisticated?
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Yes, exactly. If Tesla is putting them back into vehicles hopefully there is something different from the old iteration. Antenna design, beam forming techniques and systems on a chip have made huge leaps forward, so it is possible something has become cheap enough to be that missing sensor we have needed.A doppler radar measures both the distance and relative speed of the object. A doppler radar directly and instantaneously measures speed by detecting the frequency shift of the return signal relative to the transmitted signal. The analogy is when you hear an approaching siren go higher in frequency and then go lower as the siren recedes. That is the doppler effect as shown by sound waves. With radar, the effect is measured by a frequency shift in radio waves instead.
I know enough to know it is beyond my limited knowledge.
Marine radar is definitely not doppler radar. Doppler radar measures the velocity of an object moving either towards or away from the radar transmitter/receiver by looking at the frequency shift of the reflected signal vs the transmited signal. If the object is moving towards the receiver the frequency will be shifter higher whereas if the object is moving away from the receiver the frequency will be shifted lower. The faster the object is moving towards or away from the receiver, the greater this frequency shift will be. This allows doppler radar to calculate the speed of the object's movement. Marine radars only measure distance to the object, not it's velocity. Marine radar also displays the direction and distance of the object relative to the transmitter/receiver. Doppler radar may or may not measure the direction, depending on the design of the receiving antenna. Police radar uses doppler to only measures the speed of the car it is aimed towards. Weather doppler radar measures both the speed of percipitation as well as where it is located and how far away it is. Automotive radar is advancing in leaps and bounds beyond the simple radars of only a few years ago. This is driven by the need for less expensive and lower power radar units as well the need for radar that can only detect the pulses it sends out, and not detect pulses sent out by other vehicles near it. Interference from other similarly radar equipped vehicles will become an increasingly complex problem, especially in dense traffic situations. Research frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radars if you want to do a deeper dive.
The biggest issue with current automotive radars is that they can only determine an object's azimuth. That's why the radar can't tell the difference between the bottom of a coke can on the road, a billboard above the road surface, and a semi truck trailer crossing the road in front of you. Companies are now coming out with automotive radars that can simultaneously distinguish elevation, so I would expect Tesla's new radar to be making use of one of these new radar chipsets.Yes, exactly. If Tesla is putting them back into vehicles hopefully there is something different from the old iteration.
You seem to be assuming that Tesla is going to use the new radar as they did the old one. That's not necessarily a valid assumption, there are a number of other uses that it may be used for.Yes, exactly. If Tesla is putting them back into vehicles hopefully there is something different from the old iteration. Antenna design, beam forming techniques and systems on a chip have made huge leaps forward, so it is possible something has become cheap enough to be that missing sensor we have needed.
I know enough to know it is beyond my limited knowledge.
That's true.. maybe the mm wave microwave RADAR will be used to zap protesters blocking the roads like the Active Denial System does:You seem to be assuming that Tesla is going to use the new radar as they did the old one. That's not necessarily a valid assumption, there are a number of other uses that it may be used for.
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