Use of E-field sensors for situation awareness/collision avoidance
First Claim
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1. A method for providing a vehicle with situational awareness, including the presence and position of an object moving relative to the vehicle in a protection zone thereof, comprising the steps of:
- providing an array of E-field sensors on the vehicle; and
,processing the outputs of the E-field sensors to detect the presence and direction of an object within the protection zone around the vehicle.
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Abstract
E-field sensors are used to establish a protection zone around a vehicle so as to detect the presence of objects within the protection zone, be they other vehicles or individuals. In one embodiment the direction to the intruding object is established by virtue of the use of pairs of E-field sensors. In a further embodiment the range of the E-field sensors determines the limited protection zone around the vehicle. Because of the limited protection zone, false alarms are greatly reduced.
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. A method for providing a vehicle with situational awareness, including the presence and position of an object moving relative to the vehicle in a protection zone thereof, comprising the steps of:
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providing an array of E-field sensors on the vehicle; and
,processing the outputs of the E-field sensors to detect the presence and direction of an object within the protection zone around the vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method for protecting an armored vehicle having limited visibility by detecting intruders close in to the vehicle, comprising the steps of:
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providing the vehicle with an array of E-field sensors; determining the presence of an intruder from the outputs of the E-field sensors to be within a predetermined protection zone; alerting personnel in the armored vehicle upon detecting the presence of an intruder within the protection zone; and
,ascertaining the direction to a detected intruder in the protection zone and deploying countermeasures in the direction of the detected intruder. - View Dependent Claims (17)
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18. Apparatus for providing a protection zone around a vehicle, comprising:
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an array of E-field sensors; a processor for processing the outputs of the E-field sensors to detect the presence and direction of an object in said protection zone; and
,an indicator within said vehicle for indicating the presence of an object causing an E-field disturbance within said protection zone. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A method for providing a vehicle with situational awareness including the presence and position of an object moving relative to the vehicle, comprising the steps of:
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providing an array of E-field sensors on the vehicle; processing the outputs of the E-field sensors to detect the presence of an object within a protection zone around the vehicle; and
,determining the direction to an object causing an E-field disturbance in the protection zone and ignoring all objects causing E-field disturbances that are at an angle greater than a predetermined angle from the direction of travel of said vehicle, whereby oncoming vehicles in a different lane can be discriminated against by virtue of the off-axis angle of the corresponding E-field disturbance.
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25. A method for providing a vehicle with situational awareness where the vehicle has a blind spot, including providing the presence and position of an object moving relative to the vehicle, comprising the steps of:
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providing an array of E-field sensors on the vehicle; processing the outputs of the E-field sensors to detect the presence of an object within a protection zone around the vehicle; indicating from the outputs of the E-field sensors the direction of an object creating an E-field disturbance in the protection zone in the direction of the blind spot; and
,causing an alarm indication responsive to an object causing an E-field disturbance in the blind spot.
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Specification