Auto-calibration of Automotive MIMO Radars Using Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping

Abstract

This paper presents a new method of automotive MIMO radar self-calibration which uses targets of opportunity embedded in road infrastructure, such as road signs and traffic lights. While conventional offline calibration of a phased array antenna requires accurate knowledge of the positions of calibration targets relative to the radar, such information is not available in a dynamic scenario. To compensate for this, we have developed an estimation procedure based on an extended Kalman filter (EKF) to address the challenge of simultaneous localisation, mapping and calibration. Numerical simulations demonstrate the possibility to decrease the sidelobes level and compensate the steering bias of a MIMO radar with the proposed method..