Radar-Enabled Sensor Fusion
First Claim
1. An apparatus comprising:
- at least one computer processor;
at least one radar sensor comprising;
at least one radar-emitting element configured to provide radar fields; and
at least one radar-receiving element configured to receive radar reflection signals caused by reflections of the radar fields off objects within the radar fields;
a plurality of sensors, each of the sensors comprising a distinct type of sensor configured to sense a respective environmental variance of the apparatus; and
at least one computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, responsive to execution by the computer processor, cause the apparatus to;
provide, via the radar-emitting element, a radar field;
receive, via the radar-receiving element, a reflection signal caused by a reflection of the radar field off an object within the radar field;
determine, based on the received reflection signal, at least one of a radar detection feature, a radar reflection feature, a radar motion feature, a radar position feature, or a radar shape feature of the object;
select, based on the determined radar detection, motion, position, or shape feature of the object, one of the sensors to provide supplemental sensor data;
receive the supplemental sensor data from the selected sensor;
augment the radar detection, motion, position, or shape feature of the object with the supplemental sensor data to enhance the radar detection, motion, position, or shape feature of the object; and
provide the enhanced radar detection, motion, position, or shape feature of the object to a sensor-based application effective to improve performance of the sensor-based application.
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Accused Products
Abstract
This document describes apparatuses and techniques for radar-enabled sensor fusion. In some aspects, a radar field is provided and reflection signals that correspond to a target in the radar field are received. The reflection signals are transformed to provide radar data, from which a radar feature indicating a physical characteristic of the target is extracted. Based on the radar features, a sensor is activated to provide supplemental sensor data associated with the physical characteristic. The radar feature is then augmented with the supplemental sensor data to enhance the radar feature, such as by increasing an accuracy or resolution of the radar feature. By so doing, performance of sensor-based applications, which rely on the enhanced radar features, can be improved.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. An apparatus comprising:
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at least one computer processor; at least one radar sensor comprising; at least one radar-emitting element configured to provide radar fields; and at least one radar-receiving element configured to receive radar reflection signals caused by reflections of the radar fields off objects within the radar fields; a plurality of sensors, each of the sensors comprising a distinct type of sensor configured to sense a respective environmental variance of the apparatus; and at least one computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, responsive to execution by the computer processor, cause the apparatus to; provide, via the radar-emitting element, a radar field; receive, via the radar-receiving element, a reflection signal caused by a reflection of the radar field off an object within the radar field; determine, based on the received reflection signal, at least one of a radar detection feature, a radar reflection feature, a radar motion feature, a radar position feature, or a radar shape feature of the object; select, based on the determined radar detection, motion, position, or shape feature of the object, one of the sensors to provide supplemental sensor data; receive the supplemental sensor data from the selected sensor; augment the radar detection, motion, position, or shape feature of the object with the supplemental sensor data to enhance the radar detection, motion, position, or shape feature of the object; and provide the enhanced radar detection, motion, position, or shape feature of the object to a sensor-based application effective to improve performance of the sensor-based application. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method comprising:
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providing, via at least one radar-emitting element of a device, a radar field; receiving, via at least one radar-receiving element of the device, a reflection signal caused by a reflection of the radar field off a target within the radar field; abstracting, from the reflection signal, a radar feature that indicates a physical characteristic of the target; selecting, based on the radar feature being a first type of radar feature, a first sensor of a plurality of sensors of the device;
orselecting, based on the radar feature being a second type of radar feature, a second sensor of the sensors of the device that is a different type of sensor than the first sensor; receiving supplemental sensor data from the selected sensor, the supplemental sensor data describing an environmental variance corresponding to the distinct type of the selected sensor that further indicates the physical characteristic of the target; augmenting the radar feature with the supplemental sensor data; and providing the augmented radar feature to a sensor-based application. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. At least one computer-readable storage media device comprising instructions that, when executed by a processing system, cause the processing system to:
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cause at least one radar-emitting element to provide a radar field; receive, via at least one radar-receiving element, a reflection signal caused by reflection of the radar field off a target within the radar field; resolve the reflection signal into at least one of a radar detection feature, a radar reflection feature, a radar motion feature, a radar position feature, or a radar shape feature of the target causing the reflection signal; select, based on the radar detection, reflection, motion, position, or shape feature of the target, at least one sensor to provide supplemental sensor data for the radar detection, reflection, motion, position, or shape feature of the target, the supplemental sensor data indicating at least one environmental variance around the target; receive, from the selected sensor, the supplemental sensor data indicating the environmental variance; augment the radar detection, reflection, motion, position, or shape feature of the target with the supplemental sensor data indicating the environmental variance to provide an enhanced radar detection, reflection, motion, position, or shape feature of the target; and expose the enhanced radar detection, reflection, motion, position, or shape feature of the target to a sensor-based application effective to improve performance of the sensor-based application. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification