Police traffic radar for allowing manual rejection of incorrect patrol speed display
DCFirst Claim
1. In a police traffic surveillance radar having an antenna unit of conventional design for transmitting radar signals and receiving radar signals reflected from stationary and moving objects, and coupled to a frequency counting and display unit of conventional design having at least one display window, the improvement comprising:
- a switch having open and closed states and which can be caused to transition between said open and closed states by a user directly or through an infrared data link, said switch providing the capability for a user to reject an obviously incorrect patrol speed by causing said switch to transition to a predetermined one of said open or closed states;
a first circuit for selecting a radar return signal received by said antenna as the most likely candidate for calculating and displaying patrol car speed, and for calculating and displaying patrol car speed in said at least one display window of said counting and display unit based upon said selected most likely candidate radar return signaland wherein said first circuit is coupled to said switch so as to sense the state of said switch so as to determine if the displayed patrol speed currently displayed by said first circuit is incorrect, and, if said user has rejected the currently displayed patrol speed, said first circuit for blanking the displayed patrol speed and generating said reject signal and, upon receiving said reject signal, selecting a new most likely candidate radar return signal for calculating and displaying patrol car speed, and for calculating and displaying patrol car speed in said at least one display window based upon said selected new most likely candidate radar return signal.
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Abstract
A police radar utilizing digital data transmission from the antenna unit to a separately housed counting and display unit. The antenna has a double balanced mixer to suppress even order harmonics. The counting and display unit has a computer programmed to perform digital signal processing on the digital data received from the antenna to improve the quality and accuracy of calculated speeds for patrol speed, strongest target speed and fastest target speed. Fastest target speed can be displayed simultaneously with strongest target speed. Signal processing techniques are used to suppress false signals caused by double and triple bounce, harmonics, ntermodulation products, video display terminal interference, etc.
47 Citations
7 Claims
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1. In a police traffic surveillance radar having an antenna unit of conventional design for transmitting radar signals and receiving radar signals reflected from stationary and moving objects, and coupled to a frequency counting and display unit of conventional design having at least one display window, the improvement comprising:
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a switch having open and closed states and which can be caused to transition between said open and closed states by a user directly or through an infrared data link, said switch providing the capability for a user to reject an obviously incorrect patrol speed by causing said switch to transition to a predetermined one of said open or closed states; a first circuit for selecting a radar return signal received by said antenna as the most likely candidate for calculating and displaying patrol car speed, and for calculating and displaying patrol car speed in said at least one display window of said counting and display unit based upon said selected most likely candidate radar return signal and wherein said first circuit is coupled to said switch so as to sense the state of said switch so as to determine if the displayed patrol speed currently displayed by said first circuit is incorrect, and, if said user has rejected the currently displayed patrol speed, said first circuit for blanking the displayed patrol speed and generating said reject signal and, upon receiving said reject signal, selecting a new most likely candidate radar return signal for calculating and displaying patrol car speed, and for calculating and displaying patrol car speed in said at least one display window based upon said selected new most likely candidate radar return signal.
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2. A police traffic surveillance radar, comprising:
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an antenna unit for transmitting radar signals and receiving a spectrum of radar signals reflected from stationary and moving objects; a counter/display unit coupled to said antenna unit and having at least one display; first means for selecting and tracking a radar return signal from the spectrum of radar return signals received by said antenna unit as the most likely candidate signal indicating patrol speed and for calculating patrol speed therefrom and displaying said patrol speed on a display of said counter/display unit; a switch operable directly or indirectly by a user to reject an incorrect displayed patrol speed; second means coupled to said switch for sensing when said switch has been changed by said user to a state indicating the patrol speed displayed by said first means is incorrect and for generating a reject signal indicating said displayed patrol speed is incorrect; and third means for sensing activation of said reject signal and for selecting from said spectrum of radar return signals a new radar return signal which is different from the radar return signal previously selected and tracked from which the incorrect patrol speed was calculated, said new radar return signal being the next most likely candidate for patrol speed and calculating and displaying therefrom a new patrol speed.
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3. An apparatus, comprising:
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antenna means for sending radar signals and receiving a spectrum of reflected radar signals which bounced back to said antenna from stationary and moving objects; counter/display means coupled to said antenna means and having at least one display, for receiving signals from said antenna means embodying said spectrum of reflected radar signals, and for selecting a reflected radar signal from said spectrum which is the most likely candidate for patrol car speed and calculating therefrom patrol car speed and displaying said calculated patrol car speed on said display, and for selecting the strongest radar return signal in said spectrum from a moving target and calculating the speed of said moving target therefrom and displaying said calculated speed on said display, and for receiving a signal from a user rejecting the currently displayed patrol car speed as incorrect and removing said currently displayed patrol car speed and excluding the reflected radar signal from which the rejected currently displayed patrol speed was calculated before re-selection of a new reflected radar signal from said spectrum of reflected radar signals as a new patrol speed candidate signal and calculating a new patrol car speed therefrom and displaying said new patrol car speed; means operable by a user for generating said reject signal in response to a signal from a user in response to display of an incorrect patrol car speed displayed on said display of said counter/display means. - View Dependent Claims (4)
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5. A police traffic surveillance radar, comprising:
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an antenna unit for sending radar signals and receiving a spectrum of Doppler radar signals reflected from stationary and moving objects; counter/display unit coupled to said antenna unit and having at least one display, for receiving signals from said antenna unit embodying said spectrum of radar signals, and including a computer programmed to carry out a target recognition algorithm imposing predetermined screening criteria on the signals in said spectrum so as to select a signal from said spectrum which is the most likely candidate for patrol car speed and calculate therefrom patrol car speed and display said calculated patrol car speed on said display, said computer also programmed to select a radar return signal in said spectrum representing the strongest radar return signal from a moving target and programmed to calculate the speed of said moving target therefrom and display said calculated speed on said display, and further programmed to receive a signal from a user indicating that the displayed patrol car speed is incorrect in the opinion of the user and programmed to remove said displayed patrol car speed and exclude from said target recognition algorithm the signal in said spectrum from which the rejected patrol speed was calculated, and programmed to re-execute said target recognition algorithm so as to select a new patrol speed candidate signal from said spectrum of Doppler radar return signals and calculate a new patrol car speed therefrom and display said new patrol car speed on said display.
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6. A police traffic surveillance radar, comprising:
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antenna means for generating radar signals and transmitting said radar signals and for receiving radar signals and suppressing even order harmonics thereof, and for amplifying the received signals with an adjustable gain and digitizing said received signals; counting/display means for calculating the speed of the moving target having the strongest radar return signal and displaying said speed and for calculating and displaying from said radar return signals the speed of the patrol car carrying said police traffic surveillance radar; digital serial data transmission means for transmitting said digital data in serial format from said antenna means to said counting display means; a switch directly or indirectly operable by a user to reject an obviously incorrect patrol car speed displayed by said counting/display means; and wherein said counting/display unit includes a computer programmed to read said switch to determine if it has been placed in a position indicating the currently displayed patrol car speed is incorrect and to select a new signal from said spectrum of radar return signals as a candidate for patrol car speed and calculate therefrom and display a new patrol car speed.
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7. A police traffic surveillance radar, comprising:
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an antenna unit for sending radar signals and receiving a spectrum of radar signals reflected from stationary and moving objects, said antenna unit having an amplifier therein coupled to amplify audio range frequencies derived from said spectrum of received radar signals and having a gain control signal input for receiving a gain control signal which controls the gain of said amplifier; a switch directly or indirectly operable by a user to reject an obviously incorrect patrol car speed displayed by said counting/display means; counter/display unit coupled to said antenna unit and having at least one display, for receiving signals from said antenna unit embodying said spectrum of radar signals, and including a computer programmed to carry out a target recognition algorithm imposing predetermined screening criteria on the signals in said spectrum so as to select a signal from said spectrum which is the most likely candidate for patrol car speed and calculate therefrom patrol car speed and display said calculated patrol car speed on said display, and further programmed to read the position of said switch to determine if said switch is in a position indicating that the displayed patrol car speed is incorrect in the opinion of the user and remove said patrol car speed from said display and exclude from said target recognition algorithm the signal in said spectrum from which the rejected patrol car speed was calculated, and programmed to re-execute said target recognition algorithm so as to select a new patrol speed candidate signal from said spectrum of radar return signals and calculate a new patrol car speed therefrom and display said new patrol car speed on said display; means for comparing the amplitude of signals being received from the antenna unit to high and low reference limits and generating said gain control signal from said comparison to keep said amplitude within said limits and for informing said computer of the gain level that was in use for any signal received from said antenna unit; and wherein said computer is programmed to use said information about the gain applicable to signals received from said antenna unit to calculate the true power of said signals and to use said true power information to improve the process of selection of a signal from which said patrol speed is to be calculated by eliminating any signal as a candidate for calculation of patrol speed therefrom which does not satisfy minimum acceptable signal-to-noise criteria based upon said true power.
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Specification