Object recognition apparatus designed to detect adhesion of dirt to radar
First Claim
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1. An object recognition apparatus for a vehicle, comprising:
- a radar working to emit a plurality of radar waves over an angular range defined in front of a vehicle equipped with the object recognition apparatus, said radar receiving returns of the radar waves reflected by an object to produce receive signals as functions of intensities of the returns of the radar waves;
a time measuring circuit working to measure times required by respective radar waves to travel to and return from the object;
an intensity determining circuit working to determining the intensities of the returns of the respective radar waves using the receive signals;
an object recognition circuit working to recognize the object based on the radar waves emitted by said radar and the returns received by said radar; and
a dirt detecting circuit working to detect adhesion of dirt to said radar, said dirt detecting circuit determining that the dirt is adhered to said radar when a first condition is met,wherein the first condition is when a number of the respective radar waves is greater than or equal to a first value, the respective radar waves having times shorter than a predetermined period of time and having intensities of the returns greater than a predetermined value, the times being measured by said time measuring circuit, the returns being determined by said intensity determining circuit,wherein when said number of the respective radar waves decreases below a second value smaller than the first value after a determination is made that the dirt is adhered to said radar, said dirt detecting circuit cancels the determination that the dirt is adhered to said radar.
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Abstract
An object recognition apparatus for vehicles is provided which is equipped with a radar. The apparatus is designed to detect adhesion of any dirt to the radar which will disturbs emission of radar waves to and reception radar echoes from a target. When the number of radar waves is great which cause the times required by the radar waves to travel to and return from a target to be measured as being shorter than a predetermined period of time and the intensities of the radar returns to be greater than a predetermined value, it is determined that the dirt is adhered to the radar, thereby improving the accuracy of detecting the adhesion of dirt to the radar.
17 Citations
12 Claims
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1. An object recognition apparatus for a vehicle, comprising:
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a radar working to emit a plurality of radar waves over an angular range defined in front of a vehicle equipped with the object recognition apparatus, said radar receiving returns of the radar waves reflected by an object to produce receive signals as functions of intensities of the returns of the radar waves; a time measuring circuit working to measure times required by respective radar waves to travel to and return from the object; an intensity determining circuit working to determining the intensities of the returns of the respective radar waves using the receive signals; an object recognition circuit working to recognize the object based on the radar waves emitted by said radar and the returns received by said radar; and a dirt detecting circuit working to detect adhesion of dirt to said radar, said dirt detecting circuit determining that the dirt is adhered to said radar when a first condition is met, wherein the first condition is when a number of the respective radar waves is greater than or equal to a first value, the respective radar waves having times shorter than a predetermined period of time and having intensities of the returns greater than a predetermined value, the times being measured by said time measuring circuit, the returns being determined by said intensity determining circuit, wherein when said number of the respective radar waves decreases below a second value smaller than the first value after a determination is made that the dirt is adhered to said radar, said dirt detecting circuit cancels the determination that the dirt is adhered to said radar. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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2. An object recognition apparatus for a vehicle comprising:
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a radar working to emit a plurality of radar waves over an angular range defined in front of a vehicle equipped with the object recognition apparatus, said radar receiving returns of the radar waves reflected by an object to produce receive signals as functions of intensities of the returns of the radar waves; a time measuring circuit working to measure times required by respective radar waves to travel to and return from the object; an intensity determining circuit working to determining the intensities of the returns of the respective radar waves using the receive signals; an object recognition circuit working to recognize the object based on the radar waves emitted by said radar and the returns received by said radar; and a dirt detecting circuit working to detect adhesion of dirt to said radar, said dirt detecting circuit determining that the dirt is adhered to said radar when a first condition is met, wherein the first condition is when a number of the respective radar waves is greater than or equal to a first value, the respective radar waves having times shorter than a predetermined period of time and having intensities of the returns greater than a predetermined value, the times being measured by said time measuring circuit, the returns being determined by said intensity determining circuit, wherein said radar is designed to cyclically emit the radar waves at given time intervals over the angular range, and wherein said dirt detecting circuit determines that the dirt is adhered to said radar when the first condition continues for a first period of time, wherein when after a determination that the dirt is adhered to said radar is made, a cancel condition continues for a second period of time, said dirt detecting circuit cancels the determination that the dirt is adhered to said radar, wherein said cancel condition is when the number of the respective radar waves decreases below a second value smaller than the first value, the respective radar waves having times shorter than the predetermined period of time and having intensities of returns greater than the predetermined value, the times being measured by said time measuring circuit and the intensities of the returns being determined by said intensity determining circuit, wherein the second period of time is shorter than the first period of time.
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Specification