Delco Electronics Corporation

Hughes Aircraft Company

Santa Barbara Research Center

Phillip A May

Cheng P Wen

Mark Ford Henderson

Zhaohong Zhang

John Christopher Reed

Douglas L Dunn

Stephen J Ferry

Kassahun Kebede

John L Ward

A method and system for discriminating a target which presents a hazard to a motor vehicle moving in a first lane of traffic from a target moving in a second adjacent lane of traffic which does not present a hazard to the vehicle. The method includes the steps of utilizing an antenna mounted flush to a side of the vehicle to produce a radar beam having a beamwidth greater than 5-10 degrees to illuminate the target. At least a portion of the radar beam is produced along a first axis which is perpendicular to the direction of motion of the vehicle. The reflected signal is received from the illuminated target and a velocity of the illuminated target is estimated with a Kalman filter relative to the velocity of the vehicle in the direction of a second axis which is parallel to the direction of motion of the vehicle based on the reflected signal. The method also includes the steps of measuring the velocity of the vehicle using at least one velocity sensor and determining that the illuminated target is hazardous if the sum of the measured vehicle velocity and the estimated parallel target velocity is greater than a predetermined threshold. The illuminated target is determined not to be hazardous if the sum of the measured vehicle velocity and the estimated parallel target velocity is less than a predetermined threshold.

Blind-zone target discrimination method and system for road vehicle radar

A vehicle near obstacle detection system includes a plurality of radio frequency heads that can transmit and receive both frequency-modulated, continuous wave and two-frequency Doppler radar signals, such that the system operates in frequency-modulated, continuous wave radar mode and in two-frequency Doppler radar mode. The radio frequency heads used for transmitting the radar signals transmit their radar signals in accordance with commands from a system controller. The radio frequency heads are provided at various locations on the vehicle, directed at points around the vehicle which cannot easily be seen by the vehicle operator. The system controller switches between the two radar modes depending on which one is more appropriate to make use of one mode's strengths while avoiding the other mode's weaknesses. When there is no relative movement between objects and the vehicle, the frequency-modulated, continuous wave mode is used. When there is relative movement and the accuracy warrants it, the two-frequency Doppler mode is used.

FMCW/2FD implementation for vehicle near obstacle detection system

In a radar system, an RF signal is transmitted at a frequency modulated by a sawtooth signal. The transmitted RF signal is mixed with the transmitted signal reflected from an object. The resulting IF signal is analyzed into a Fourier series having a DC coefficient and harmonic frequency coefficients. The range to the object is determined from the harmonic frequency coefficients in multiples of the range resolution determined by the RF bandwidth of the system when the DC coefficient is less than each of the harmonic frequency coefficients. The range to the object is determined to be within 1/2 the range resolution determined by the RF bandwidth when the DC coefficient is greater than each of the harmonic frequency coefficients.

Near obstacle detection system

A vehicle near-obstacle detector in the form of a diplex Doppler radar system provides range information between a vehicle and an object based on the phase shift between a pair of Doppler signals derived from two transmitted radar signals at slightly different frequencies. A speed dependent error introduced by the time constant of a filter circuit converting duty cycle range information based on the phase shift to an analog signal is compensated by introducing a small time shift in the signal path of one of the Doppler signals to effect a shift in the duty cycle range information.

Vehicle diplex doppler near-obstacle detection system

Growing community of inventors

Lompoc, CA, United States of America

Phillip A May