Detection of a distributed radar target based on an auxiliary sensor

• US 10,088,561 B2
• Filed: 09/14/2015
• Issued: 10/02/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/19/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: Bialer, Oded, Bilik, Igal, Stainvas Olshansky, Inna
• Primary Examiner(s): Barker, Matthew M
• Application Number:
  US14/853,320
• Publication Number:
  US 20160084954A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,114 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/86 Combinations of radar systems with non-radar systems, e.g. sonar, direction finder
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/865 Combination of radar systems with lidar systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/867 Combination of radar systems with cameras
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/931 of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/414 Discriminating targets with respect to background clutter

Abstract

A detection system to detect an object and a method of performing detection of an object are described. The system includes a radar system to transmit radiation and receive resulting reflections, the object being a distributed radar target reflecting multi-point reflections. The system also includes an auxiliary sensor to estimate one or more parameters of the object, and a processor to estimate a probability density function based on estimates of the one or more parameters of the object and the multi-point reflections and to detect the object based on the probability density function.

Claims

1. A detection system to detect an object, comprising:

a radar system configured to transmit radiation and receive resulting reflections, the object being a distributed radar target reflecting multi-point reflections;

an auxiliary sensor configured to estimate one or more parameters of the object; and

a processor configured to identify the object by estimating a cluster of reflection points {circumflex over (Ω

)} based on a maximum likelihood estimation given by;

{circumflex over (Ω

)}=arg max_Ω

f(Y|Ω

,Λ

), wherein

Ω

represents the cluster of reflection points, Λ

represents the one or more parameters of the object estimated by the auxiliary sensor, and Y represents the multi-point reflections obtained by the radar system.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the auxiliary sensor is one of a camera or a lidar.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein at least two auxiliary sensors are configured to estimate two or more parameters of the object.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the one or more parameters of the object include at least one of location, size, shape, orientation, material, or texture.

5. A method of performing detection of an object, the method comprising:

emitting transmissions using a radar system,

obtaining, using the radar system, multi-point reflections resulting from each transmission by the radar system;

obtaining, using an auxiliary sensor, an estimate of one or more parameters of the object;

estimating a cluster of reflection points {circumflex over (Ω

)} based on a maximum likelihood estimation given by;

{circumflex over (Ω

)}=arg max_Ω

f(Y|Ω

,Λ

), wherein

Ω

represents the cluster of reflection points, Λ

represents the one or more parameters of the object estimated by the auxiliary sensor, and Y represents the multi-point reflections obtained by the radar system; and

identifying the object based on the cluster of reflection points {circumflex over (Ω

)}.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the obtaining the estimate of the one or more parameters of the object includes using at least one of a camera or a lidar.

7. The method according to claim 5, wherein the obtaining the estimate of the one or more parameters of the object is based on at least two of the auxiliary sensors.

8. The method according to claim 5, wherein the obtaining the estimate of the one or more parameters of the object includes obtaining at least one of location, size, shape, orientation, material, or texture.