Onboard radar device and program of controlling onboard radar device

• US 8,264,398 B2
• Filed: 05/04/2010
• Issued: 09/11/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/04/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honda Elesys Co., Ltd. (Nidec Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Honda Elesys Co., Ltd. (Nidec Corporation)
• Inventors: Kamo, Hiroyuki
• Primary Examiner(s): Keith, Jack W
• Assistant Examiner(s): BYTHROW, PETER M
• Application Number:
  US12/773,539
• Publication Number:
  US 20110102238A1
• Time in Patent Office: 861 Days
• Field of Search: 342/22, 342/25.R, 342/25.A, 342/25.B, 342/25.C, 342/25.D, 342/25.E, 342/25.F, 342/26.R, 342/26.A, 342/26.B, 342/26.C, 342/26.D, 342 70- 72, 342/175, 342/188
• US Class Current: 342/70
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/955 mounted on satellite
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/025 involving the transmission of linearly polarised waves
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 90/10 Information and communication technologies [ICT] supporting adaptation to climate change, e.g. for weather forecasting or climate simulation

Abstract

An onboard radar apparatus includes a transmission wave generating unit configured to generate a transmission wave, a vertically polarized wave transmitting antenna configured to vertically polarize and transmit the transmission wave, a horizontally polarized wave transmitting antenna configured to horizontally polarize and transmit the transmission wave, a receiving antenna configured to receive a reflection wave, a switch control unit configured to perform a switching between the vertically polarized wave transmitting antenna and the horizontally polarized wave transmitting antenna, and a receiving unit configured to receive one of the reflection waves based on receiving levels of the reflection waves, which have been received by the receiving antenna before and after the switching is performed by the switch control unit.

Claims

1. An onboard radar apparatus comprising:

a transmission wave generating unit configured to generate a transmission wave;

a vertically polarized wave transmitting antenna configured to vertically polarize and transmit the transmission wave;

a horizontally polarized wave transmitting antenna configured to horizontally polarize and transmit the transmission wave;

a receiving antenna configured to receive a reflection wave reflected from an object;

a switch control unit configured to perform a switching between the vertically polarized wave transmitting antenna and the horizontally polarized wave transmitting antenna, the switch control unit controlling a supply of the transmission wave, which has been generated by the transmission wave generating unit, to the switched one of the vertically polarized wave transmitting antenna and the horizontally polarized wave transmitting antenna, so as to alternately transmit the transmission wave that is vertically polarized and the transmission wave that is horizontally polarized;

a receiving unit configured to receive one of the reflection wave corresponding to the transmission wave that is vertically polarized and the reflection wave corresponding to the transmission wave that is horizontally polarized as a reception signal, based on receiving levels of the reflection waves, which have been received by the receiving antenna before and after the switching is performed by the switch control unit; and

a storage unit configured to store the reception signal, which has been received by the receiving unit, every time the switching between the vertically polarized wave transmitting antenna and the horizontally polarized wave transmitting antenna is performed, and

wherein the receiving unit compares the reception signal stored in the storage unit with the reception signal, which has been received by the receiving antenna after the switching between the vertically polarized wave transmitting antenna and the horizontally polarized wave transmitting antenna is performed by the switch control unit, so as to receive the reception signal with a high receiving level.

3. The onboard radar apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the receiving antenna receives both a vertically polarized reflection wave reflected from the object and a horizontally polarized reflection wave reflected from the object.

4. The onboard radar apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the receiving antenna is an obliquely polarized wave receiving antenna that receives an obliquely polarized reflection wave reflected from the object.

5. The onboard radar apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the receiving antenna is a circularly polarized wave receiving antenna that receives a circularly polarized reflection wave reflected from the object.

6. The onboard radar apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the receiving antenna comprises:

a vertically polarized wave receiving antenna configured to receive a vertically polarized reflection wave reflected from the object; and

a horizontally polarized wave receiving antenna configured to receive a horizontally polarized reflection wave reflected from the object, and

the switch control unit performs the switching between the vertically polarized wave receiving antenna and the horizontally polarized wave receiving antenna by synchronizing with the switching between the vertically polarized wave transmitting antenna and the horizontally polarized wave transmitting antenna.

2. An onboard radar apparatus comprising:

a transmission wave generating unit configured to generate a transmission wave;

a vertically polarized wave transmitting antenna configured to vertically polarize and transmit the transmission wave;

a horizontally polarized wave transmitting antenna configured to horizontally polarize and transmit the transmission wave;

a receiving antenna configured to receive a reflection wave reflected from an object;

a switch control unit configured to perform a switching between the vertically polarized wave transmitting antenna and the horizontally polarized wave transmitting antenna, the switch control unit controlling a supply of the transmission wave, which has been generated by the transmission wave generating unit, to the switched one of the vertically polarized wave transmitting antenna and the horizontally polarized wave transmitting antenna, so as to alternately transmit the transmission wave that is vertically polarized and the transmission wave that is horizontally polarized; and

a receiving unit configured to receive one of the reflection wave corresponding to the transmission wave that is vertically polarized and the reflection wave corresponding to the transmission wave that is horizontally polarized as a reception signal, based on receiving levels of the reflection waves, which have been received by the receiving antenna before and after the switching is performed by the switch control unit,

when it is not detected that the reflection wave is received by the receiving antenna, the switch control unit performs the switching between the vertically polarized wave transmitting antenna and the horizontally polarized wave transmitting antenna, and

the receiving unit receives the reflection wave, which has been received by the receiving antenna after the switching performed by the switch control unit, as the reception signal.

12. The onboard radar apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the receiving antenna receives both a vertically polarized reflection wave reflected from the object and a horizontally polarized reflection wave reflected from the object.

13. The onboard radar apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the receiving antenna is an obliquely polarized wave receiving antenna that receives an obliquely polarized reflection wave reflected from the object.

14. The onboard radar apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the receiving antenna is a circularly polarized wave receiving antenna that receives a circularly polarized reflection wave reflected from the object.

15. The onboard radar apparatus according to claim 2, wherein

the receiving antenna comprises:

a vertically polarized wave receiving antenna configured to receive a vertically polarized reflection wave reflected from the object; and

a horizontally polarized wave receiving antenna configured to receive a horizontally polarized reflection wave reflected from the object, and

the switch control unit performs the switching between the vertically polarized wave receiving antenna and the horizontally polarized wave receiving antenna by synchronizing with the switching between the vertically polarized wave transmitting antenna and the horizontally polarized wave transmitting antenna.

7. An onboard radar apparatus comprising:

a transmission wave generating unit configured to generate a transmission wave;

a transmitting antenna configured to polarize and transmit the transmission wave;

a vertically polarized wave receiving antenna configured to receive a vertically polarized reflection wave reflected from an object;

a horizontally polarized wave receiving antenna configured to receive a horizontally polarized reflection wave reflected from the object;

a switch control unit configured to perform a switching between the vertically polarized wave receiving antenna and the horizontally polarized wave receiving antenna so as to alternately receive the vertically polarized reflection wave reflected from the object and the horizontally polarized reflection wave reflected from the object;

a receiving unit configured to receive one of the vertically polarized reflection wave, which has been received by the vertically polarized wave receiving antenna, and the horizontally polarized reflection wave, which has been received by the horizontally polarized wave receiving antenna, as a reception signal, before and after the switching performed by the switch control unit, based on a receiving level of one of the vertically polarized reflection wave, which has been received by the vertically polarized wave receiving antenna, and the horizontally polarized reflection wave, which has been received by the horizontally polarized wave receiving antenna; and

a storage unit configured to store the reception signal, which has been received by the receiving unit, every time the switching between the vertically polarized wave receiving antenna and the horizontally polarized wave receiving antenna is performed, and

wherein the receiving unit compares the reception signal stored in the storage unit with the reception signal, which has been received by one of the vertically polarized wave receiving antenna and the horizontally polarized wave receiving antenna after the switching between the vertically polarized wave receiving antenna and the horizontally polarized wave receiving antenna is performed by the switch control unit, so as to receive the reception signal with a high receiving level.

9. The onboard radar apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the transmitting antenna transmits both the transmission wave that is vertically polarized and the transmission wave that is horizontally polarized.

10. The onboard radar apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the transmitting antenna is an obliquely polarized wave transmitting antenna that obliquely polarizes and transmits the transmission wave.

11. The onboard radar apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the transmitting antenna is a circularly polarized wave transmitting antenna that circularly polarizes and transmits the transmission wave.

8. An onboard radar apparatus comprising:

a transmission wave generating unit configured to generate a transmission wave;

a transmitting antenna configured to polarize and transmit the transmission wave;

a vertically polarized wave receiving antenna configured to receive a vertically polarized reflection wave reflected from an object;

a horizontally polarized wave receiving antenna configured to receive a horizontally polarized reflection wave reflected from the object;

a switch control unit configured to perform a switching between the vertically polarized wave receiving antenna and the horizontally polarized wave receiving antenna so as to alternately receive the vertically polarized reflection wave reflected from the object and the horizontally polarized reflection wave reflected from the object; and

a receiving unit configured to receive one of the vertically polarized reflection wave, which has been received by the vertically polarized wave receiving antenna, and the horizontally polarized reflection wave, which has been received by the horizontally polarized wave receiving antenna, as a reception signal, before and after the switching performed by the switch control unit, based on a receiving level of one of the vertically polarized reflection wave, which has been received by the vertically polarized wave receiving antenna, and the horizontally polarized reflection wave, which has been received by the horizontally polarized wave receiving antenna, wherein

when it is not detected that the reflection wave is received by at least one of the vertically polarized wave receiving antenna and the horizontally polarized wave receiving antenna, the switch control unit performs the switching between the vertically polarized wave receiving antenna and the horizontally polarized wave receiving antenna, and

the receiving unit receives one of the vertically polarized reflection wave, which has been received by the vertically polarized wave receiving antenna, and the horizontally polarized reflection wave, which has been received by the horizontally polarized wave receiving antenna, as the reception signal after the switching is performed by the switch control unit.

16. The onboard radar apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the transmitting antenna transmits both the transmission wave that is vertically polarized and the transmission wave that is horizontally polarized.

17. The onboard radar apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the transmitting antenna is an obliquely polarized wave transmitting antenna that obliquely polarizes and transmits the transmission wave.

18. The onboard radar apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the transmitting antenna is a circularly polarized wave transmitting antenna that circularly polarizes and transmits the transmission wave.