Omron Corporation

Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Satoru Arita

Wataru Ishio

Hayato Kikuchi

Yasutada Asada

Hidenori Miyazaki

Takashi Shirai

A vehicular radar device detects an object within a detection area on the basis of detection data having a reception intensity exceeding a predefined threshold. The detection data is contained in reflected-wave data on waves irradiated into the detection area outward of a vehicle provided with the vehicular radar device. The device is capable of varying a direction or/and a range of the detection area in a vertical direction, and setting, during a normal time, the direction or/and the range of the detection area in the vertical direction to a normal state in which the object is correctly detected, and performing a detection operation in the normal state.

Vehicular radar device

A vehicular radar device capable of accurately detecting rain or the like or a road surface by discriminating between the rain or the like or the road surface and others. The vehicular radar device has a control circuit which performs a detection operation in an up state in which the visual field of the radar is shifted comparatively upwardly in the vertical direction so that the road surface is not detected, and determines that, from among detection data obtained during the up state, detection data which does not vary in reception intensity nor in reception delay time (distance data) for a predefined time is detection data relative to rain or the like.

An object detecting device has components which emit electromagnetic waves by scanning a scan range in horizontal and vertical directions, receive reflected waves, obtain signal level of the received reflected waves, calculate a correction value based on vertical position of the zone in the scan range where the level of the received waves is the highest and the center position of the scan range in the vertical direction, and correct the center position in the vertical direction of the scan range based on the calculated correction value.

Object detecting device and method with means for controlling direction of scan by electromagnetic waves

A distance measuring apparatus includes components for transmitting electromagnetic waves such as laser light to scan a detection area, and receiving reflected waves. The detection area is partitioned into standard areas of a fixed width and signals corresponding to waves received from different standard areas are stored separately. Mutually adjacent standard areas are combined to form a single combined area, if the corresponding signals each fail to exceed a specified threshold value, and these signals are cumulatively added. Conditions of a target object, such as its presence and its position, may be judged on the basis of combined areas thus created such that the detection can be made with increased sensitivity although the resolving power is adversely affected. An upper limit may be introduced for the number of standard areas over which cumulative addition of signals may be made. The threshold value may be made variable according to an average of signal values to be used for detection judgment or the noise component, or time-dependent so as to decrease as the delay time until the reflected waves are received increases.

Distance measuring apparatus

A plurality of pieces of detection data of a preceding vehicle, which have been collected in a straight line running state in which a self-vehicle and a preceding vehicle are running straight on the same straight line, are extracted as effective detection data. Setting of an inside parameter is automatically changed so that a center of the detection area can coincide with an average center of the preceding vehicle obtained by a statistical treatment of the plurality of pieces of detection data. The above automatic adjusting function is provided in a control circuit 7 of the range finder, and while the self-vehicle is stably running straight on the same straight line while chasing the preceding vehicle, and optical axis adjustment is conducted by operating the automatic adjusting function of the control circuit 7.

Growing community of inventors

Kasugai, Japan

Satoru Arita