A Non-Reconstruction Multi-Coset Sampling-Based Algorithm for Frequency Estimation with FMCW Lidar

Frequency-Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) lidar for long-distance measurements face challenges in signal acquisition and frequency estimation due to the high sampling rates required, leading to increased processing load, cost, and power consumption. Although sub-Nyquist sampling can alleviate the burden of high sampling rates, it requires a complex reconstruction process that degrades real-time performance. In this study, we propose a frequency estimation algorithm based on multi-coset sampling (MCS) that not only reduces the sampling rate but also avoids reconstructing the original signal. This algorithm performs a preliminary frequency estimation by exploiting the relationship among the signal support set, the measured sequences by sampling spectrum, and the original signal spectrum, and then refines the spectrum to obtain an accurate frequency estimate. Since the algorithm relies solely on the sampled sequences for estimation, frequency ambiguity may occur during the calculation. We analyze the causes of ambiguity and propose a support set determination method to eliminate this issue. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm attains the Cramér–Rao lower bound (CRLB) at low signal-to-noise ratios. It achieves a 10-fold improvement over Nyquist method and a 35 dB SNR reduction compared with the original MCS, while maintaining stable performance down to −20 dB.