Anti-collision vehicular radar system
First Claim
1. A system using a reflected energy signal from an irradiated object to determine whether a moving vehicle and said object are on a collision course and to provide a warning of an impending collision, the system comprising:
- transmitter means for irradiating said object with first and second over-lapping pulsed radiant energy beams,means for comparing reflected signals from the first and second beams and for providing pulses upon detection of reflected signals from said object from both beams,means for periodically determining from said pulses the relative velocity and distance of said object with respect to said vehicle, for storing said periodically-determined relative velocity and distance to provide a table of relative velocity and distance, and for determining from said stored table of relative velocity and distance whether the vehicle and object are on a collision course to provide a warning signal at a time sufficient to prevent a collision if said object is determined to be in the path of the vehicle.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention includes an anti-collision vehicular radar system which incorporates a microprocessor. The system provides a warning of a potential collision of the vehicle with other vehicles or objects in the path of the vehicle and automatic braking. More particularly, the present invention utilizes a pulsed radar system with overlapped antenna beams for off-axis object discrimination which determines the pattern of the change in relative velocity of the vehicle and the object which is detected by its radar to provide signals which are processed by a microprocessor and associated digital circuitry to determine whether the detected object is a potential obstruction which must be avoided by braking or maneuvering of the vehicle.
132 Citations
10 Claims
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1. A system using a reflected energy signal from an irradiated object to determine whether a moving vehicle and said object are on a collision course and to provide a warning of an impending collision, the system comprising:
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transmitter means for irradiating said object with first and second over-lapping pulsed radiant energy beams, means for comparing reflected signals from the first and second beams and for providing pulses upon detection of reflected signals from said object from both beams, means for periodically determining from said pulses the relative velocity and distance of said object with respect to said vehicle, for storing said periodically-determined relative velocity and distance to provide a table of relative velocity and distance, and for determining from said stored table of relative velocity and distance whether the vehicle and object are on a collision course to provide a warning signal at a time sufficient to prevent a collision if said object is determined to be in the path of the vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5)
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2. For use with a vehicle of the type having a pulsed radar, including a transmitter means, which periodically transmits a signal in the path of the vehicle, receives echoes of the transmitted signal reflected from objects in the path of motion of the vehicle, and provides an output signal representative of the received echoes, a collision avoidance system for determining the presence of an object in the path of the vehicle, comprising;
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means for defining a first plurality of successive range gate times representative of a corresponding first plurality of adjacent range gate intervals extending in the path of motion of the vehicle, and including means responsive to the radar output signal for providing a like first plurality of range gate signals, each corresponding to a respective range gate interval and each indicative of the presence or absence of an object in the corresponding range gate interval in the path of the vehicle, means for proving system pulses at a rate proportional to the speed of the vehicle; and processing means, responsive to the system pulses and to the range gate signals, for determining and storing the number of system pulses produced while a detected object is in each range gate interval for each range gate interval passed through by the detected object, and for comparing the stored numbers of pulses with data representative of pulse counts produced by objects laterally displaced from the path of the vehicle to determine if the variation in the stored numbers of pulses is a variation which would be produced by an object laterally displaced from the path of the vehicle to provide a warning signal when a detected object is not determined to be laterally displaced from the path of the vehicle by the time that the distance between a detected object and the vehicle becomes less than a predetermined threshold distance. - View Dependent Claims (6)
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3. For use with a vehicle of the type having a pulsed radar, including a transmitter means, which periodically transmits a signal in the path of the vehicle, receives echoes of the transmitted signal reflected from objects in the path of motion of the vehicle, and provides an output signal representative of the received echoes, a collision avoidance system for determining the presence of an object in the path of the vehicle, comprising;
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means for defining a first plurality of successive range gate times representative of a corresponding first plurality of adjacent range gate intervals extending in the path of motion of the vehicle, and including means responsive to the radar output signal for providing a like first plurality of range gate signals, each corresponding to a respective range gate interval and each indicative of the presence or absence of an object in the corresponding range gate interval in the path of the vehicle; means for providing system pulses at a rate proportional to the speed of the vehicle; processing means, responsive to the system pulses and to the range gate signals, for determining and storing the number of system pulses produced while a detected object is in each range gate interval, for each range gate interval passed through by the detected object and for comparing the stored number of pulses to determine if the numbers of pulses are invariant; said processing means being further operative to provide a warning signal when the stored numbers of pulses produced by a detected object are determined to be invariant at the time that the distance between a detected object and the vehicle becomes less than a predetermined threshold distance.
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7. A system using reflected energy from an irradiated object to determine whether a moving vehicle and said object are on a collision course to prevent a collision by providing a warning signal, comprising:
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transmitter means for periodically transmitting electromagnetic radiation in front of said vehicle; means for receiving radiation signals reflected from said object; means, responsive to the received signals reflected by said object, for determining the relative distance of said object with respect to said vehicle; and means for periodically determining the velocity of the object relative to the vehicle at times corresponding to a predetermined change in distance between said object and said vehicle, for storing said relative velocity at each of said times, and for determining from said stored velocities whether said vehicle and object are on a collision course to provide a warning signal when said distance between said vehicle and object is less than the stopping distance of the vehicle, determined as a function of the relative velocity.
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8. A method for providing a warning to the driver of a moving vehicle to avoid a collision with an object, the method comprising the steps of:
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periodically transmitting an electromagnetic signal in the path of motion of the vehicle; receiving electromagnetic signals reflected from an object; determining from said received signals the presence of an object in each of a plurality of adjacent range gate intervals extending in the path of motion of the vehicle and producing a like plurality of range gate signals, each range gate signal being associated with a respective one of the range gate intervals and being representative of the presence or absence of an object in the associated range gate interval; identifying an object represented by a range gate signal and associating range gate signals produced by the identified object with that object as it moves from one range gate interval to an adjacent range gate interval; periodically determining and storing the relative velocity with respect to the vehicle of an identified object as it moves from one range gate interval to another; determining an alarm range gate interval at which to provide an alarm signal as a function of the relative velocity; and providing the warning signal if the stored relative velocities are invariant at the time a detected object reaches the alarm range gate interval.
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9. A method for detecting an impending collision between a moving vehicle and an object comprising the steps of:
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producing clock pulses as the vehicle moves such that each clock pulse represents movement of the vehicle by a predetermined distance; periodically transmitting an electromagnetic signal in the path of motion of the vehicle in response to the clock pulses; receiving echoes produced by reflections of the transmitted signal by an object, the received signals representing the relative distance from the vehicle of such an object; determining from said received signals the presence or absence of an object in each of a first plurality of range gate intervals located in the path of motion of the vehicle and adjacent to one another and producing a similar first plurality of range gate signals, each associated with a respective one of the range gate intervals and representative of the presence or absence of an object in the associated range gate interval; counting and storing the number of clock pulses produced while an object is in a range gate interval for each range gate interval in which the object is detected; and discriminating between an object which is in the path of motion of the vehicle and an object which is outside the path of motion of the vehicle based on said stored numbers of clock pulses. - View Dependent Claims (10)
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Specification