VEHICLE TYPE RADAR DEVICE AND VEHICLE TYPE RADAR CONTROL METHOD

• US 20160274231A1
• Filed: 03/18/2015
• Published: 09/22/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/18/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HL Klemove Corporation
• Original Assignee: Mando Corporation
• Inventors: LEE, Jae Eun, LIM, Hae Seung, JEONG, Seong Hee
• Granted Patent: US 10,126,420 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/48 using multiple beams at emission or reception
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/931 of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 3/16 using amplitude comparison of signals derived sequentially from receiving antennas or antenna systems having differently-oriented directivity characteristics or from an antenna system having periodically-varied orientation of directivity characteristic
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/40 Means for monitoring or calibrating
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/4034 in elevation, i.e. in the vertical plane

Abstract

Disclosed herein are an automotive radar apparatus and a method of controlling automotive radar, capable of recognizing a road gradient by easily adjusting a vertical scan angle based on intensities of radio waves received by radar of a vehicle traveling on a road to recognize a gradient of the road, and of preventing deterioration of detection performance by vertically adjusting a radio wave elevation angle of the radar so as to be suitable for the road gradient. The automotive radar apparatus includes an antenna unit transmitting radar signals or receiving reflected radar signals according to elevation angles of a transmission antenna or a receiving antenna, and a control unit searching a center angle based on received power according to the elevation angles to set a beam corresponding to the center angle as a center beam and setting ranges of interest on the basis of the center beam.

Claims

1. An automotive radar apparatus comprising:

an antenna unit transmitting radar signals or receiving reflected radar signals according to elevation angles of a transmission antenna or a receiving antenna; and

a control unit searching a center angle based on received power according to the elevation angles to set a beam corresponding to the center angle as a center beam and setting ranges of interest on the basis of the center beam.

2. The automotive radar apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the control unit further comprises a signal intensity measurement part configured to measure the received power of the received reflected radar signals; and

the control unit receives the reflected radar signals according to the elevation angles of the receiving antenna and selects a specific angle matched with a preset criteria based on the received power of the received reflected radar signals, so that the specific angle is set as the center angle.

3. The automotive radar apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the control unit further comprises an elevation angle adjustment part configured to drive a motor and adjust each elevation angle of the transmission antenna or receiving antenna, so as to transmit a radar signal or receive a reflected radar signal for each angle.

4. The automotive radar apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the control unit further comprises an elevation angle adjustment part configured to adjust each elevation angle in a digital beamforming logic so as to transmit a radar signal for each angle or receive a reflected radar signal for each angle.

5. The automotive radar apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the specific angle matched with the preset criteria is an angle at which the received power of the associated reflected radar signal is equal to or more than a certain criteria and is the greatest, from among the elevation angles of the receiving antenna.

6. The automotive radar apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the control unit sets a beam through the transmission antenna, the control unit transmits the radar signals on a cycle of a high beam, a center beam, and a low beam and receives the reflected radar signals within one receiving antenna beam region.

7. The automotive radar apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the control unit sets a beam through the receiving antenna, the control unit transmits the radar signals as signals corresponding to one transmission antenna beam and receives the reflected radar signals on a cycle of a high beam, a center beam, and a low beam.

8. The automotive radar apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the control unit sets ranges of interest of a high beam and a low beam on the basis of the center beam; and

when the high beam has the highest received power, the control unit sets the high beam as a new center beam corresponding to the center angle, sets the center beam as a new low beam, and adds a beam directed upward by a certain angle on the basis of the new center beam to set the beam as a new high beam.

9. The automotive radar apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the control unit sets ranges of interest of a high beam and a low beam on the basis of the center beam; and

when the low beam has the highest received power, the control unit sets the low beam as a new center beam corresponding to the center angle, sets the center beam as a new high beam, and adds a beam directed downward by a certain angle on the basis of the new center beam to set the beam as a new low beam.

10. The automotive radar apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the control unit sets ranges of interest of a high beam and a low beam on the basis of the center beam; and

the control unit changes a monitoring cycle of each beam based on the received power thereof.

11. The automotive radar apparatus according to claim 10, wherein after the control unit sets an interest rate for each beam based on the received power thereof, the control unit changes the monitoring cycle based on the set interest rate and excludes the beam having the received power less than a threshold value from the ranges of interest.

12. The automotive radar apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the control unit sets a monitoring period of the beam having the highest interest rate to be smaller than a certain criteria and sets a monitoring period of the beam having the decreased interest rate to be longer than the certain criteria.

13. A method of controlling automotive radar, comprising:

searching a center angle based on received power according to elevation angles of an antenna;

setting ranges of interest on the basis of the searched center angle; and

transmitting radar signals to the set ranges of interest or receiving reflected radar signals from the set ranges of interest.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the setting the ranges of interest comprises setting a beam corresponding to the center angle as a center beam, and setting a high beam directed upward by a certain angle and a low beam directed downward by a certain angle on the basis of the center beam.