On-board radar apparatus and region detection method

Abstract

An on-board radar apparatus includes a transmitter/receiver that transmits a radar signal to a detection range for every frame and receives one or more reflected signals which are the radar signal reflected by one or more objects; a detector that detects, for every frame in each direction within the detection range, a position of a reflection point closest to the on-board radar apparatus as a boundary candidate position, which serves as a boundary with a region where no object exists within the detection range, among one or more reflection points detected on the basis of the one or more reflected signals; a calculator that calculates movement amount concerning an amount of movement of the on-board radar apparatus; an estimator that generates, for every frame in each direction within the detection range, an estimated boundary position by converting the boundary candidate position detected in a past frame into a boundary position in a current frame on the basis of the movement amount; and a smoother that performs, for every frame in each direction within the detection range, smoothing processing by using the boundary candidate position in the current frame and the estimated boundary position to calculate a boundary position with the region where no object exists within the detection range and outputs the calculated the boundary position to a driving support apparatus.