Method and arrangement for detecting traffic violations in a traffic light zone through rear end measurement by a radar device

• US 9,417,319 B2
• Filed: 12/20/2013
• Issued: 08/16/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Jenoptik Robot GmbH (Jenoptik AG)
• Original Assignee: Jenoptik Robot GmbH (Jenoptik AG)
• Inventors: Lehning, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Brainard, Timothy A
• Application Number:
  US14/136,174
• Publication Number:
  US 20140176360A1
• Time in Patent Office: 970 Days
• Field of Search: 342/66
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/42 Simultaneous measurement of distance and other co-ordinates indirect measurement G01S13/46
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/58 Velocity or trajectory determination systems; Sense-of-movement determination systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/867 Combination of radar systems with cameras
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/91 for traffic control G01S13/93 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/04 using optical or ultrasonic detectors

Abstract

The invention is directed to a method and an arrangement for detecting a traffic violation in a traffic light zone through rear end measurement by a FMCW radar device. For this purpose, a vehicle driving through a radar beam of a FMCW radar device, whose first outer edge beam horizontally forms an obtuse angle with the roadway edge, is measured at its front end, flank and rear end. The vehicle length is determined from the obtained measurement signals and added to the specific radial distance of the vehicle, which is determined close to a stop line through the vehicle rear, and a prediction is made based on the vehicle speed about the vehicle front driving over the stop line.

Claims

1. A method for detecting traffic violations by a vehicle in a traffic light zone comprising,

deriving a measurement time-dependent specific position value and speed of the vehicle by measurement of a rear end of said vehicle at a plurality of measurement times from measurement signals caused by reflection from said vehicle when driving through an observation zone covered by radar radiation,

determining whether or not a stop line lying within the observation zone and associated with a traffic signal installation was driven over by the vehicle outside of a green-light phase of said traffic signal installation, said determination based on the specific position value which changes over the course of driving through the observation zone and on the vehicle speed, so that, if required, a camera is triggered at least once for producing at least one evidentiary photograph, wherein a FMCW radar device having at least one radar sensor which sends radar radiation at an aperture angle between two outer edge beams and which receives a plurality of measurement signals within a measurement duration at said plurality of said measurement times, and wherein a radial velocity and, as position value, a specific radial distance and a specific object angle can be derived at each measurement time, be positioned and aligned next to a roadway with a roadway edge such that the observation space completely covers the stop line and the first of the two edge beams forms a horizontal, obtuse angle with a segment of the roadway edge extending in driving direction, the vehicle length is derived from the specific position values and is added to the specific radial distance that is determined only from the position of the rear end of the vehicle to an increasing extent as the stop line is approached, and a corrected specific radial distance formed in this way is then used for determining the crossing of the stop line to make a prediction about the front end of the vehicle driving over the stop line.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said specific position values are stored as a function over a measurement duration comprising the measurement times, wherein the function has a plurality of segments in which the position values are derived from measurement signals caused over a first segment by reflection only at the vehicle front, over a second segment by reflection at the vehicle front and increasingly at a vehicle flank, over a third segment by reflection only at the vehicle flank, over a fourth segment by reflection at the vehicle flank and the vehicle rear, and over a fifth segment by reflection only at the vehicle rear, the transitions between the second segment and third segment and between the third segment and fourth segment are detected, the length of the third segment is determined, and the length of the vehicle is calculated from the length of the third segment by means of the determined vehicle speed.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein a vehicle model is modeled from the specific position values and, after normalizing by means of the determined vehicle speed, is compared with existing comparison models whose vehicle length is known, and the vehicle length is derived by assigning the modeled vehicle model to the comparison model most similar to it.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the specific position value for each measurement time is formed by calculating a specific value of the radial distances associated with this measurement time.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the specific position value for each measurement time is formed by calculating a specific value of the object angle associated with this measurement time.

6. The method according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the specific value represents the arithmetic mean value.

7. Use of a device for carrying out the method according to claim 1, wherein said method comprises the steps of:

deriving a measurement time-dependent specific position value and speed of the vehicle by measurement of a rear end of said vehicle at a plurality of measurement times from measurement signals caused by reflection from said vehicle when driving through an observation zone covered by radar radiation, and

determining whether or not a stop line lying within the observation zone and associated with a traffic signal installation was driven over by the vehicle outside of a green-light phase of said traffic signal installation, said determination based on the specific position value which changes over the course of driving through the observation zone and on the vehicle speed, so that, if required, the camera is triggered at least once for producing at least one evidentiary photograph, wherein the FMCW radar device having at least one radar sensor which sends radar radiation at an aperture angle between two outer edge beams and which receives a plurality of measurement signals within a measurement duration at a plurality of said measurement times, and wherein a radial velocity and, as position value, a specific radial distance and a specific object angle can be derived at each measurement time, be positioned and aligned next to a roadway with a roadway edge such that the observation space completely covers the stop line and the first of the two edge beams forms a horizontal, obtuse angle with a segment of the roadway edge extending in driving direction, the vehicle length is derived from the specific position values and is added to the specific radial distance that is determined only from the position of the rear end of the vehicle to an increasing extent as the stop line is approached, and a corrected specific radial distance formed in this way is then used for determining the crossing of the stop line to make a prediction about the front end of the vehicle driving over the stop line,

said device comprising the FMCW radar device with at least one radar sensor and the camera, said FMCW radar device configured and is arranged and aligned in such a way at a perpendicular, horizontal installation distance next to an edge of a roadway with a stop line that a radar beam coming from the FMCW radar device and limited by two outer edge beams covers an observation space which completely encloses a stop line on the roadway, the first of the two edge beams forming an obtuse horizontal angle with a portion of the roadway edge extending in driving direction so that the vehicle is acquired initially by measurement of the front end of the vehicle as it drives through the observation space.

8. The use of a device according to claim 7, wherein an aperture angle formed by the two outer edge beams is greater than 90°

.

9. The use of a device according to claim 7, wherein the FMCW radar device comprises exactly one radar sensor and the radar radiation forms a radar lobe whose edge beams present the outer edge beams of the radar radiation so that the observation space is completely covered.

10. The use of a device according to claim 7, wherein the FMCW radar device includes a plurality of radar sensors, and the radar radiation forms a plurality of radar lobes which are rotated horizontally by an angular offset relative to one another and which are not all adjacent to one another or which overlap so that energy is conserved in that the observation space is covered in an energy-efficient manner only partially.