Radar device

• US 9,547,073 B2
• Filed: 03/18/2016
• Issued: 01/17/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Automotive Systems Company of America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Kishigami, Takaaki, Tokuhiro, Takafumi, Morita, Tadashi
• Primary Examiner(s): Sotomayor, John B
• Application Number:
  US15/074,713
• Publication Number:
  US 20160202348A1
• Time in Patent Office: 305 Days
• Field of Search: 342/108, 342/107, 342/90, 342/189, 342/195, 340/928, 340/933
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/003 Bistatic radar systems; Multistatic radar systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/284 using coded pulses
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/58 Velocity or trajectory determination systems; Sense-of-movement determination systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/581 using transmission of interrupted pulse modulated waves and based upon the Doppler effect resulting from movement of targets
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/878 Combination of several spaced transmitters or receivers of known location for determining the position of a transponder or a reflector G01S13/874 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/91 for traffic control G01S13/93 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/92 for velocity measurement
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/4091 during normal radar operation
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/41 using analysis of echo signal for target characterisation; Target signature; Target cross-section
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/411 Identification of targets based on measurements of radar reflectivity G01S7/415 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/015 with provision for distinguishing between two or more types of vehicles, e.g. between motor-cars and cycles
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/052 with provision for determining speed or overspeed speed measuring in general G01P

Abstract

A radar transmitting unit Tx transmits a radio-frequency radar transmission signal from a transmission antenna which is inclined in the direction of a depression angle φ. A radar receiving unit Rx estimates the height and speed of a vehicle which travels on a road surface using a reflected wave signal from the vehicle. A template generating unit 19 generates a variation in a phase component of the reflected wave signal corresponding to N heights and speeds of the vehicle as N templates. N vehicle height/speed template correlation calculation units #1 to #Nrep calculate correlation on the basis of any one of the N templates and a correlation value between the reflected wave signal and a transmission code of the radar transmission signal.

Claims

1. A radar device configured to be installed in a moving body which travels on a road surface, comprising:

radar transmitting circuitry which, in operation, transmits a radio-frequency radar transmission signal in a horizontal direction from a transmission antenna which is inclined in a predetermined direction; and

radar receiving circuitry which, in operation, estimates a distance to a stationary target and an azimuth of the target, using a reflected wave signal which is the radar transmission signal reflected from the target,

wherein the radar receiving circuitry includes;

correlation calculation circuitry which, in operation, calculates a correlation value between the reflected wave signal and a transmission code of the radar transmission signal;

speed detecting circuitry which, in operation, detects a moving speed and a moving direction of the moving body;

template generating circuitry which, in operation, calculates a variation in a phase component of the reflected wave signal for each parameter set of N parameter sets of the distance to the target and the azimuth of the target to generate N templates, the azimuth being defined by the moving speed and the moving direction of the moving body;

N template correlation calculation circuitry which, in operation, calculates correlation values between the generated N templates and the correlation value output from the correlation calculation circuitry; and

output selection circuitry which, in operation, determines a type of the target, using the distance to the target and the azimuth of the target corresponding to any one of the generated N templates, on the basis of outputs from the N template correlation calculation circuitry.

2. The radar device according to claim 1,

wherein the radar receiving circuitry further includes adding circuitry which, in operation, adds the correlation value output from the correlation calculation circuitry a predetermined number of times, and

the N template correlation calculation circuitry calculates correlation values between an output of the adding circuitry and the generated N templates.

3. The radar device according to claim 2, wherein, where a plurality of outputs among the outputs of the N template correlation calculation circuitry are greater than a predetermined threshold value, the output selection circuitry performs an interpolation process of the plurality of outputs greater than the predetermined threshold value and select an output after the interpolation process as an estimated value.

4. The radar device according to claim 2, wherein the N template correlation calculation circuitry includes:

down sampling circuitry which, in operation, down-samples the output of the adding circuitry at a predetermined interval; and

correlation calculation circuitry which, in operation, calculates correlation on the basis of the down-sampled output of the adding circuitry and any one of the generated N templates.

5. The radar device according to claim 1, wherein, where a plurality of outputs among the outputs of the N template correlation calculation circuitry are greater than a predetermined threshold value, the output selection circuitry selects a maximum value of the plurality of outputs greater than the predetermined threshold value as an estimated value.

6. The radar device according to claim 1, wherein the template generating circuitry, in operation, calculates a variation in a sine value of the phase component of the reflected wave signal corresponding to the N parameter sets of the distance to the target and the azimuth of the target to generate the N templates.