Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.

Michigan Technological University

Environmental Research Institute of Michigan

Altarum Institute

Other

Nikola Stevan Subotic

Jae Seung Lee

Carl C Aleksoff

Paul Donald Schmalenberg

James Paul Ebling

Joseph W Burns

Christopher Roussi

Nickolas P Vlannes

Helen Kourous Harrigan

Michael T Eismann

Nickolas P Viannes

An augmented road line display system that includes one or more sensors installed on a vehicle, one or more external databases, and processing circuitry. The processing circuitry is configured to receive inputs from the one or more databases, sensors of the vehicle, and a sub-system of the vehicle, build and validate a road line model to detect or predict a road line based on the inputs received, determine environmental conditions based on the inputs from one or more of the databases, and a sub-system of the vehicle, assign weights to the inputs received based on the environmental conditions to generate weighted inputs, and execute the road line model to determine the road line based on the weighted inputs.

Augmented road line detection and display system

A dedicated short range radar system is provided for use with a GPS system. The radar system includes a transmitter which transmits a microwave radio signal. A receiver is coupled to a horizontally scanning receiver antenna array which receives an echo, if present, from the radio signal transmitted by the transmitter. The radio receiver then generates an output signal representative of the echo. A control circuit then receives the output signal from the antenna array as well as the output signal from the GPS system. The control circuit then varies the mode of operation of the receiver and/or the transmitter as a function of the type of roadway for optimal radar performance.

Map aware adaptive automotive radar

An example radar apparatus has a transmission frequency modulated by a chirp waveform having three chirp segments, including increasing, decreasing, and a constant frequency segments. The chirp waveform may extend over the full revisit time of the radar beam. The frequency difference between the transmitted and echo signals are determined at least once per chirp segment. Example apparatus include a Doppler radar for vehicle use.

High resolution Doppler collision avoidance radar

The relative movement of a receiver and transmitter in a communications system is used to advantage by electronically synthesizing a larger apparent antenna aperture, thereby increasing signal-to-noise ratio. The approach may be used regardless of whether the transmitter is fixed and the user or vehicle is moving, or the user or vehicle is fixed and the transmitter is moving. According to the method, the apparent angle between the receiver and transmitter is determined relative to the direction of movement and used to produce time-delayed replicas of the received signaling stream which are coherently added to synthesize the increased apparent receiver antenna aperture. Since only the receiver is modified according to the invention, existing transmitters and infrastructures can be used without modification. Although some data buffering is required, only a few number of beams need to be synthesized, in contrast to more complex military SAR configurations.

Synthetic-aperture communications receivers

An antenna pattern disposed on a three-dimensional object is used to optimize gain, beam pattern, polarization response, or other qualities despite or independently of physical orientation. In the preferred embodiment a fractal array is used on a polyhedron, though non-fractal and other self-replicating antenna patterns may be generated through the use of additional transformations and candidate geometric shapes to achieve patterns which are not only arbitrary in terms of wavelength/frequency, but also permit variable radiation patterns and variable polarization other desirable criteria. In addition to the use of variable scaling, geometric patterns, and the like, multiple structures may be placed within the same spatial footprint to permit reception over more bands. As an alternative to a fixed pattern with switches used to swap elements or change feed points, a reconfigurable multi-dimensional array may be used having an active area optimized to maximize reception for a desired frequency and/or direction. This aspect of the invention may exploit flat-panel technology, wherein, for example, a conductor array face on the object may be mapped to an addressable interconnect back plane to achieve a desired level of reconfigurability.

Self-orienting antenna array systems

This invention is a compact optical processor including a coherent light source, plural optical elements that together form a Fourier transform interferometer, and a two dimensional detector array. The light source generates a two dimensional input optical wavefront intensity modulated according to the input signal. The optical elements are formed as slab-like members with parallel input and output surfaces. These optical elements are disposed abutting in tandem. The light detecting device includes a two dimensional array of photosensitive elements generating an image signal corresponding to the processed two dimensional optical wavefront. The plural optical elements preferably include at least one acousto-optical element forming a two dimensional scanner. The plural optical elements may further includes a holographic optical element to block light undiffracted by the scanning elements. The plurality of optical elements may include a modified Kosters interferometer with a beam splitter and two orthogonally disposed roof prisms. The optical processor may operate on plural input signals on separate wavelengths employing sets dichroic beam splitters to assemble and separate plural wavelengths from separate point sources.

Compact optical processor

Two dimensional charge coupled device (CCD) memories are coupled to acoustic charge transport devices (ACT) which act as input and/or output multiplexers for the memories. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the input to a NXM memory is in the form of an optical image projected on the CCD device and the output stage of each column of the memory is provided to one of N FET switches. A 1-D ACT device has multiple taps each connected to the gate of one of the FET switches and as an impulse signal propagates along the ACT channel, the FET switches are successively triggered causing the column outputs to be provided to a summing device to generate a serial output. In an alternative embodiment forming a corner-turn memory, an ACT tapped delay line has a number of equally spaced electrode taps equal to the number of columns of a CCD corner-turn array and each tap is connected to an electrical switch which in turn is connected to an input cell of a bordering row of the array. A serial data stream which may be either analog or digital is provided to the electrical switches which are timely activated by the ACT device and is fed in parallel to the array and then shifted between columns, in parallel, to fill the array. An output ACT multiplexer employing FET switches is provided orthogonally to the input multiplexer and receives the output of each column of the array and generates a serial output stream.

2D charge coupled device memory with acoustic charge transport

The invention is a method for obtaining fringe visibility in hybrid-optical interferometric processors. Encoded data defining an image is utilized to provide both a timing input signal and a method of modulating a light source in synchronization with the modulation of an optical-acoustical element. The modulated light is then detected in a receptor array and converted into signals suitable for driving a readable, visual-imaging device or other devices for image analysis.

Method of fringe-freezing of images in hybrid-optical interferometric

The invention is a method for obtaining fringe visibility in hybrid-optical interferometric processors. Encoded data defining an image is utilized to provide both a timing input signal and a method of modulating a light source in synchronization with the modulation of an optical-acoustical element. The modulated light is then detected in a receptor array and converted into signals suitable for driving a readable, visual-imaging device.

Growing community of inventors

Ann Arbor, MI, United States of America

Nikola Stevan Subotic