Cognitive Risk Control for Transmit-Waveform Selection in Vehicular Radar Systems

Cognitive dynamic system (CDS) is a structured engineering model and research tool inspired by certain features of the human brain. As a special function of CDS, cognitive risk control (CRC) actualizes the concept of predictive adaptation to bring risk under control when encountered with unexpected uncertainty. In this paper, the first experimental demonstration of CRC is presented in the practical application of vehicular radar systems, and an algorithm for transmit-waveform selection in cognitive vehicular radar (CVR) based on CRC is proposed. During each perception-action cycle, the perceptor of CVR processes new environmental inputs and provides the processed information to the executive through feedback channel for the selection of cognitive action. With the mechanism of task-switch control being functional all the time, the CVR will switch to a more capable operation mode in the face of unexpected disturbances or adverse events. In such cases, a new subsystem of executive is brought into play, in which the risk-sensitive cognitive action is finally selected and applied to the environment. Simulation results have shown the robustness and effectiveness of the proposed CVR system, which can make the next-generation vehicular radars more intelligent and play an important role in future self-driving cars.