Patents Examined by Ismaaeel A. Siddiquee
  • Patent number: 11977145
    Abstract: Disclosed is a method and a corresponding distance-measuring device for measuring a distance to an object using FMCW radar. The method includes the frequency-dependent determination of the amplitude of the radar signal, i.e. the frequency response in the output path and in the input path of the distance-measuring device. The standard windowing of the evaluation signal can be corrected using a correction factor dependent on the frequency responses. Thus the frequency dependence of the radar signal is compensated independently of device-internal or external interferences by adapting the window function. The result is more accurate and reliable distance measurement using FMCW radar. Because the distance can be determined by the disclosed method very accurately and without distortion, it is advantageous to use the distance-measuring device as a fill-level measuring device to measure the fill level of a filling material in a container.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2024
    Assignee: Endress+Hauser SE+Co. KG
    Inventor: Winfried Mayer
  • Patent number: 11959792
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a method for safe and exact ascertaining of fill level of a fill substance located in a container by means of an ultrasonic, or radar-based, fill level measuring device. In such case, the method is distinguished by the feature that the evaluation curve created based on the reflected received signal is differently greatly smoothed as a function of measured distance. To achieve this, the evaluation curve can be specially filtered, depending on the application. In this way, noise fractions and disturbance echoes can be efficiently suppressed, without unnecessarily limiting the accuracy of the fill level measurement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2024
    Assignee: Endress+Hauser SE+Co. KG
    Inventors: Stefan Gorenflo, Alexey Malinovskiy
  • Patent number: 11953615
    Abstract: A radar system with on-system calibration for cross-coupling and gain/phase variations includes capabilities for radar detection and correction for system impairments to improve detection performance. The radar system is equipped with pluralities of transmit antennas and pluralities of receive antennas. The radar system uses a series of calibration measurements of a known object to estimate the system impairments. A correction is then applied to the beamforming weights to mitigate the effect of these impairments on radar detection. The estimation and correction requires no external measurement equipment and can be computed on the radar system itself.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 13, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2024
    Assignee: Uhnder Inc.
    Inventors: Murtaza Ali, Ali Erdem Ertan, Kevin B. Foltinek
  • Patent number: 11927668
    Abstract: Disclosed are techniques for employing deep learning to analyze radar signals. In an aspect, an on-board computer of a host vehicle receives, from a radar sensor of the vehicle, a plurality of radar frames, executes a neural network on a subset of the plurality of radar frames, and detects one or more objects in the subset of the plurality of radar frames based on execution of the neural network on the subset of the plurality of radar frames. Further, techniques for transforming polar coordinates to Cartesian coordinates in a neural network are disclosed. In an aspect, a neural network receives a plurality of radar frames in polar coordinate space, a polar-to-Cartesian transformation layer of the neural network transforms the plurality of radar frames to Cartesian coordinate space, and the neural network outputs the plurality of radar frames in the Cartesian coordinate space.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2024
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Daniel Hendricus Franciscus Fontijne, Amin Ansari, Bence Major, Ravi Teja Sukhavasi, Radhika Dilip Gowaikar, Xinzhou Wu, Sundar Subramanian, Michael John Hamilton
  • Patent number: 11920970
    Abstract: A method of determining a filling level of a product in a tank having a tank wall, the method comprising: generating and transmitting an electromagnetic first transmit signal; propagating the first transmit signal through a tank atmosphere towards a corner reflector formed by the surface of the product and the tank wall where the surface of the product meets the tank wall, the corner reflector being at a known horizontal distance from the radar level gauge system; receiving an electromagnetic first reflection signal resulting from reflection of the first transmit signal at the corner reflector; determining a measure indicative of a propagation direction of the first reflection signal; and determining the filling level based on the measure indicative of the propagation direction of the first reflection signal and the known horizontal distance between the radar level gauge system and the corner reflector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 2023
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2024
    Assignee: ROSEMOUNT TANK RADAR AB
    Inventors: Christer Frövik, Olov Edvardsson
  • Patent number: 11907829
    Abstract: A radar device may include a radar transmitter to output a radio frequency (RF) transmission signal including a plurality of frequency-modulated chirps. The radar device may include a radar receiver to receive an RF radar signal, and generate, based on the RF radar signal, a dataset including a set of digital values, the dataset being associated with a chirp or a sequence of successive chirps. The radar device may include a neural network to filter the dataset to reduce an interfering signal included in the dataset, the neural network being a convolutional neural network. At least one layer of the neural network may be a complex-valued neural network layer includes complex-valued weighting factor, where the complex-valued neural network layer is configured to perform one or more operations according to a complex-valued computation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2024
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Paul Meissner, Franz Pernkopf, Johanna Rock, Wolfgang Roth, Mate Andras Toth, Alexander Fuchs
  • Patent number: 11906621
    Abstract: Systems and methods for improving the use of precipitation sensors, such as radar and rain gauges, are described herein. In an embodiment, an agricultural intelligence computer system receives one or more digital precipitation records comprising a plurality of digital data values representing precipitation amount at a plurality of locations. The system additionally receives one or more digital forecast records comprising a plurality of digital data values representing precipitation forecasts, each of which comprising predictions of precipitation at a plurality of lead times. The system identifies a plurality of forecast values for a plurality of locations at a particular time, each of the plurality of forecast values corresponding to a different lead time. The system uses the plurality of forecast values to generate a probability of precipitation at each of the plurality of locations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2024
    Assignee: CLIMATE LLC
    Inventors: Frederick Anthony Eckel, Bradley Nicholas Guy
  • Patent number: 11899127
    Abstract: A multiple input multiple output (MIMO) radar system synthesizes a virtual antenna array where at least a subset of the transmit antennas and receive antennas forming the virtual antenna array are disposed in different local oscillator domains. In some instances, doing so enables radar sensors to be constructed using multiple Antenna On Package (AOP) devices that lack support for cascading or that otherwise would have limited angular resolution on their own to adequately discriminate between various objects in the environment of an autonomous or other vehicle to be used collectively by a vehicle control system in connection with the autonomous control of a vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2024
    Assignee: AURORA OPERATIONS, INC.
    Inventors: Stephen Crouch, Chunshu Li
  • Patent number: 11885903
    Abstract: A method for a radar device is described below. According to an example implementation, the method comprises transmitting an RF transmission signal that comprises a plurality of frequency-modulated chirps, and receiving an RF radar signal and generating a dataset containing in each case a particular number of digital values based on the received RF radar signal. A dataset may in this case be associated with a chirp or a sequence of successive chirps. The method furthermore comprises filtering the dataset by way of a neural network to which the dataset is fed in order to reduce an interfering signal contained therein. A convolutional neural network is used as the neural network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Paul Meissner, Elmar Messner, Franz Pernkopf, Johanna Rock, Mate Andras Toth
  • Patent number: 11867804
    Abstract: This invention provides a device for measuring precipitation by means of radar, comprising an antenna adapted to transmit and receive radar waves and a dielectric lens, the antenna being oriented to the dielectric lens such that radar waves radiated from the antenna pass through the dielectric lens. Furthermore, it is provided a method of determining a velocity of raindrops by radar, comprising the steps of: radiating a radar signal by means of an antenna, receiving a reflected radar signal by said antenna and determining the velocity of the raindrops based on the received reflected radar signal wherein a dielectric lens is disposed in front of the antenna such that the radiated radar signal passes through the dielectric lens.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2024
    Assignee: OTT HydroMet Fellbach GmbH
    Inventors: Axel Schmitz-Hübsch, Matthias Tonnier
  • Patent number: 11867833
    Abstract: A classification method comprises positioning an object and a radar unit in proximity to each other; receiving by the radar unit radar signals reflected from the object; and classifying the object, wherein the classifying is based on the radar signals and/or at least one feature extracted from the radar signals, and the classifying of the object comprises determining classification data for the object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2024
    Inventors: Hui Shyong Yeo, Aaron Quigley, Gergely Flamich, Patrick Schrempf, David Harris-Birtill
  • Patent number: 11846535
    Abstract: A radar level gauge comprising a signal propagation device, a dielectric filling member arranged in the signal propagation device, and a sealing arrangement for preventing tank content from escaping into the outside environment, wherein the dielectric filling member comprises a main body and a sealing arrangement comprising a first sealing portion. The radar level gauge further comprises a structural reinforcement element positioned above the first sealing portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2023
    Assignee: ROSEMOUNT TANK RADAR AB
    Inventors: Håkan Fredriksson, Peter Elmberg
  • Patent number: 11846708
    Abstract: An object monitoring system includes means for determining an arrangement relationship between a monitoring area and an external object on a basis of a distance measurement value of the external object, and calculating an influence degree of the external object on an object distance measurement in the monitoring area in accordance with the determined arrangement relationship.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2023
    Assignee: FANUC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Minoru Nakamura, Yuuki Takahashi, Atsushi Watanabe
  • Patent number: 11835649
    Abstract: Two-dimensional data obtained by performing a Fourier transform on a digitally converted FMCW radar signal at every pulse repetition interval over N pulse repetition intervals is input to a convolutional neural network (CNN) to find the probabilities of the existence of a target in range indices. The range indices, i.e., bit frequencies are selected based on the probabilities of the existence of the target. In order to reduce the size of the CNN, windowing is applied to the two-dimensional data. A speed-index-specific coefficient value may be calculated by re-performing a Fourier transform on range data for the selected bit frequencies. Thus, the range and speed of the target may be calculated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2023
    Assignee: SMART RADAR SYSTEM, INC.
    Inventor: Jong Il Kim
  • Patent number: 11796630
    Abstract: Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar systems are equipped with channel extenders to further increase the number of receive and/or transmit antennas that can be supported by a given radar transceiver. One illustrative radar system includes: a radar transceiver to generate a transmit signal and to downconvert at least one receive signal; and a receive-side extender that couples to a set of multiple receive antennas to obtain a set of multiple input signals, that adjustably phase-shifts each of the multiple input signals to produce a set of phase-shifted signals, and that couples to the radar transceiver to provide the at least one receive signal, the at least one receive signal being a sum of the phase-shifted signals. An illustrative receive-side extender includes: multiple phase shifters each providing an adjustable phase shift to a respective input signal; a power combiner that forms a receive signal by combining outputs of the multiple phase shifters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2023
    Assignee: Ay Dee Kay LLC
    Inventors: Danny Elad, Dan Corcos
  • Patent number: 11796667
    Abstract: A mobile device can include ranging circuitry to determine distance to another mobile device. A first wireless protocol can establish an initial communication session to perform authentication and/or exchange ranging settings. One mobile device acting as a beacon device can define a ranging round including an initial timeslot and a plurality of non-overlapping response slots for discovering and performing ranging with any mobile device in a vicinity of the beacon. The beacon can broadcast a ranging request including a beacon device identifier at a request time. A first mobile device can transmit a first acknowledgement message during a first response slot. A second mobile device can transmit a second acknowledgement message during a second response slot. The beacon device can calculate a first distance from the first mobile device and a second distance from the second mobile device based at least upon information in the first and second acknowledgement messages.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2023
    Assignee: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Jonathan R. Schoenberg, Robert Golshan, Merrick K. McCracken, Yagil Burowski
  • Patent number: 11774553
    Abstract: In an embodiment, a method includes: transmitting a plurality of radar signals using a millimeter-wave radar sensor towards a target; receiving a plurality of reflected radar signals that correspond to the plurality of transmitted radar signals using the millimeter-wave radar; mixing a replica of the plurality of transmitted radar signals with the plurality of received reflected radar signals to generate an intermediate frequency signal; generating raw digital data based on the intermediate frequency signal using an analog-to-digital converter; processing the raw digital data using a constrained L dimensional convolutional layer of a neural network to generate intermediate digital data, where L is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2, and where the neural network includes a plurality of additional layers; and processing the intermediate digital data using the plurality of additional layers to generate information about the target.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2023
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Avik Santra, Thomas Reinhold Stadelmayer
  • Patent number: 11774551
    Abstract: A method for compensating for noise in a secondary radar system is described. The method includes, using a first transceiver, transmitting, in temporally overlapping manner, a first transmission signal containing a first interfering component and a second transmission signal containing a second interfering component, and compensating for at least one of phase shifts or frequency shifts resulting from the first and second interfering components by evaluation of the first and second transmission signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2023
    Assignee: Symeo GmbH
    Inventors: Martin Vossiek, Peter Gulden, Michael Gottinger
  • Patent number: 11774592
    Abstract: A wireless multimode system includes: an array of N antenna elements that includes a first portion of M antenna elements and a second portion of L antenna elements; M transmission amplifiers configured to transmit, via the M antenna elements, frames of transmit data, where the frames of transmit data include transmit radar signals and transmit communication signals; M reception amplifiers configured to receive, via the M antenna elements, frames of receive data, where the frames of receive data includes receive communication signals; and L reception amplifiers configured to receive, via the L antenna elements, receive radar signals; and a resource scheduler configured to allocate bandwidth for transmit radar signals and transmit communication signals within the frames of transmit data based on one or more predetermined parameters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2023
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Ivan Tsvelykh, Ashutosh Baheti, Avik Santra, Samo Vehovc
  • Patent number: 11762079
    Abstract: A vehicle radar system utilizes multiple radar sensors having overlapping fields of view to effectively synthesize a distributed radar antenna array aperture from the outputs of the multiple radar sensors and effectively enhance one or more of angular resolution, detection range and signal to noise ratio beyond that supported by any of the radar sensors individually.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2023
    Assignee: AURORA OPERATIONS, INC.
    Inventors: Stephen Crouch, Chunshu Li