Method for identifying a vehicle-borne transmitter

• US 10,049,568 B2
• Filed: 01/21/2015
• Issued: 08/14/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/21/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qinetiq Limited (QinetiQ Group PLC)
• Original Assignee: Qinetiq Limited (QinetiQ Group PLC)
• Inventors: Davies, Nigel Clement, MacLeod, Malcolm David
• Primary Examiner(s): Akhavannik, Hadi
• Application Number:
  US15/112,950
• Publication Number:
  US 20160343252A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,301 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/1025 preventing jamming or interference of said signal
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/305 using a camera
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/33 of global position, e.g. by providing GPS coordinates
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/21 Interference related issues ; Issues related to cross-correlation, spoofing or other methods of denial of service
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/215 issues related to spoofing
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/06 Position of source determined by co-ordinating a plurality of position lines defined by path-difference measurements G01S5/12 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/5846 using extracted text
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/5866 using information manually generated, e.g. tags, keywords, comments, manually generated location and time information
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30252 Vehicle exterior; Vicinity of vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/20 Analysis of motion motion estimation for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals H04N19/43, H04N19/51
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/73 using feature-based methods
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/54 of traffic, e.g. cars on the road, trains or boats
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/625 License plates
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0175 by photographing vehicles, e.g. when violating traffic rules
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/188 Capturing isolated or intermittent images triggered by the occurrence of a predetermined event, e.g. an object reaching a predetermined position signal generation from motion picture films H04N5/253

Abstract

Some embodiments are directed to a method of identifying a vehicle-borne transmitter emitting an interfering signal over a predefined frequency band. The method comprises monitoring the predefined frequency band at a first location to identify an emission of an interfering signal from a passing vehicle. If an interfering signal is detected, the method further comprises capturing a first image of the passing vehicle to enable an identity of the passing vehicle to be determined.

Claims

1. A method of identifying a vehicle-borne transmitter emitting an interfering signal over a predefined frequency band, the method comprising:

monitoring the predefined frequency band at a first location to identify an emission of an interfering signal from a passing vehicle, wherein, if an interfering signal is detected, the method further includes;

capturing a first image of the passing vehicle to enable an identity of the passing vehicle to be determined,

wherein the monitoring of the frequency band at the first location includes;

collecting phase change data corresponding to a change in a phase difference between a first phase and a second phase, the first phase being a phase of the interfering signal received at a first position and the second phase being a phase of the interfering signal received at a second position, and

estimating from the phase change data a position of the passing vehicle in the image by;

fitting the phase change data to a phase change model, the phase change model being a model of the change in the phase difference between the first and second phase using a set of parameters, the parameters including a speed and track of a vehicle,

determining parameters of the model,

generating from the parameters of the model an estimated track and estimated speed of the passing vehicle, and

using the estimated track and estimated speed of the passing vehicle to determine a position of the passing vehicle within the captured image.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

performing an image recognition process on the first image to recognize a feature of the passing vehicle.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the recognized feature is an identifier plate.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

capturing time data associated with a time at which the image was captured, and/or capturing location data associated with the first location.

5. The method according to claim 4, further comprising

generating a vehicle tracking message comprising recognized identifier plate details of the passing vehicle and the time and/or location data, and

sending the vehicle tracking message to a third party.

6. The method according to claim 3, further comprising:

searching a vehicle identity database including vehicle details associated with identifier plate details to determine an identity of the passing vehicle based on the recognized identifier plate.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein monitoring the frequency band at the first location comprises:

monitoring the frequency band with a plurality of directional antennas, each directional antenna directed in a predetermined direction, and

estimating a position of the vehicle in the first image based on which of the directional antennas detected the interfering signal.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein each predetermined direction corresponds to a lane of a road.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the predefined frequency is monitored at a plurality of further locations, the method further comprising

capturing further images at each of the further locations where interfering signal is detected, and

analyzing the first image and the further images by identifying vehicles common to the first image and at least some of the further images to identify the passing vehicle emitting the interfering signal.

10. The method according to claim 7, further comprising:

capturing time data associated with a time at which the first image and further images were captured, and

capturing location data associated with the first location and further locations at which the first images and further images were captured.

11. The method according to claim 10, further comprising:

estimating a direction and/or speed of the passing vehicle based on the time data and location data.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the predefined frequency band is a frequency band within which GNSS signals are transmitted.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first location is a gantry positioned over a road.

27. A computer program comprising computer readable instructions which when loaded on a computer performs a method according to claim 1.

28. A computer program product comprising a computer program according to claim 27.

14. A system for identifying a vehicle-borne transmitter emitting an interfering signal over a predefined frequency band, the system comprising:

a detector positioned at a first location configured to monitor the predefined frequency band and to identify an emission of an interfering signal from a passing vehicle, and

a camera that operates such that, if the detector detects an interfering signal, the detector is configured to send a trigger signal causing the camera to capture a first image of the passing vehicle thereby enabling an identity of the passing vehicle to be determined;

wherein the detector operates such that the monitoring of the frequency band at the first location includes;

collecting phase change data corresponding to a change in a phase difference between a first phase and a second phase, the first phase being a phase of the interfering signal received at a first position and the second phase being a phase of the interfering signal received at a second position, and

estimating from the phase change data a position of the passing vehicle in the image by;

fitting the phase change data to a phase change model, the phase change model being a model of the change in the phase difference between the first and second phase using a set of parameters, the parameters including a speed and track of a vehicle,

determining parameters of the model, generating from the parameters of the model an estimated track and estimated speed of the passing vehicle, and

using the estimated track and estimated speed of the passing vehicle to determine a position of the passing vehicle within the captured image.

15. The system according to claim 14, further comprising an image processor configured to perform an image recognition process on the first image to recognize a feature of the passing vehicle.

16. The system according to claim 15, wherein the recognized feature is an identifier plate.

17. The system according to claim 16, further comprising a camera control unit configured to capture time data associated with a time at which the image was captured, and/or capture location data associated with the first location.

18. The system according to claim 17, wherein the image processor is configured to receive the time data and location data generated by the camera control unit and generate a vehicle tracking message comprising recognized identifier plate details of the passing vehicle and the time and location data, the image processor being operable to send the vehicle tracking message to a third party.

19. The system according to claim 14, wherein the detector includes a plurality of directional antennas, each directional antenna directed in a predetermined direction, the detector configured to communicate a message to the image processor indicating which directional antenna detected the interfering signal, the image processor configured to identify a position of the vehicle based on which of the directional antennas detected the interfering signal.

20. The system according to claim 14, wherein each predetermined direction corresponds to a lane of a road.

21. The system according to claim 14, comprising detectors and cameras at a plurality of further locations configured to capture further images at each of the further locations where interfering signal is detected, and the image processor is configured to analyze the first image and the further images by identifying vehicles common to the first image and at least some of the further images to identify the passing vehicle emitting the interfering signal.

22. The system according to claim 21, further including respective camera control units at each further location, each camera control unit configured to capture time data associated with a time at which each further image is captured, and to capture location data associated with each respective further location at which each further image is captured.

23. The system according to claim 14, wherein the detector comprises

a first antenna at a first position and a second antenna at a second position and a phase difference analyzer unit, the phase difference analyzer unit configured to collect data corresponding to a change in a phase difference between a first phase and a second phase, the first phase being a phase of the interfering signal received by the first antenna and the second phase being a phase of the interfering signal received by the second antenna, and

the image processor is configured to estimate a position of the passing vehicle in the image from an output of the phase difference analyzer unit.

24. The system according to claim 23, wherein the phase difference analyzer is configured to:

fit the phase change data to a phase change model, the phase change model being a model of the change in the phase difference between the first and second phase using a set of parameters, the parameters including a speed and track of a vehicle,

determine parameters of the model,

generate from the parameters of the model an estimated track and estimated speed of the passing vehicle,

transmit data corresponding to the estimated track and estimated speed of the passing vehicle to the image processor, thereby enabling the image processor to estimate a position of the passing vehicle in the image.

25. The system according to claim 14, wherein the predefined frequency band is a frequency band within which GNSS signals are transmitted.

26. The system according to claim 14, wherein the first location is a gantry positioned over a road.