Combined With Determining Direction Patents (Class 342/133)
  • Patent number: 11002778
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method for determining the phase center of an antenna under test comprises the following steps: acquiring a transmitted near-field or far-field signal of the antenna under test, by rotational movement of a measuring antenna relative to the antenna under test, the rotation covering at least the angle between the z axis and the x axis of the antenna, the rotational movement covering a spherical measurement region, the acquisition being performed at different angles phi to the z axis and while rotating, relative to the measuring antenna, the antenna under test around its z axis, obtaining far-field phase data by applying a field transformation on the near-filed or far-filed signal obtained, determining the main beam peak location within the measurement region, and transforming the coordinate center of the far-field data based on the main beam peak location in order to determine the phase center.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 11, 2021
    Assignee: ROHDE & SCHWARZ GMBH & CO. KG
    Inventors: Gerhard Hamberger, Hendrik Bartko, Mert Celik
  • Patent number: 10903918
    Abstract: A cognitive HF radio is disclosed having a cognitive engine that optimizes HF transmission parameters on the basis of learned experience with previous transmission under varying transmission and environmental conditions. Additionally, electrically small HF antennas optionally using non-Foster matching elements are disclosed. Furthermore, another electrically small HF antenna and associated impedance matching networks are disclosed, including an impedance matching network using non-Foster matching elements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 26, 2021
    Assignee: Arizona Board of Regents on Behalf of the University of Arizona
    Inventors: Tamal Bose, Hao Xin, Michael Marefat, Hamed Asadi, Ahmed Abdelrahman, Min Liang
  • Patent number: 10890652
    Abstract: A radar apparatus includes: a radar transmitter that transmits a plurality of radar signals while switching among a plurality of transmitting subarrays; and a radar receiver that receives reflected-wave signals produced by the plurality of radar signals being reflected by a target, the plurality of radar signals being transmitted from the respective transmitting subarrays. In the radar apparatus, each of the plurality of transmitting subarrays includes a plurality of transmitting antennas, and adjacent ones of the plurality of transmitting subarrays share at least one of the plurality of transmitting antennas with each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2021
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventor: Takaaki Kishigami
  • Patent number: 10823820
    Abstract: An information acquiring unit for acquiring direction information indicating the direction in which a target is to be searched for and observation accuracy information indicating the observation accuracy in the direction, and a beam arrangement determining unit for determining an arrangement of beams to be emitted by an antenna from the direction information and the observation accuracy information acquired by the information acquiring unit are provided, and a beam controlling unit controls the directions of the beams to be emitted by the antenna in accordance with the arrangement of beams determined by the beam arrangement determining unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 3, 2020
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tetsutaro Yamada, Tetsuji Harada, Yasushi Obata
  • Patent number: 10393862
    Abstract: A trailer-detection system includes a radar-sensor and a controller. The radar-sensor is used to determine a range, an azimuth-angle, and an elevation-angle of a radar-signal reflected by a trailer towed by a host-vehicle. The controller is in communication with the radar-sensor. The controller is configured to determine a size of the trailer towed by the host-vehicle based on the range, the azimuth-angle, and the elevation-angle of the radar-signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 27, 2019
    Assignee: APTIV TECHNOLOGIES LIMITED
    Inventors: Robert J. Cashler, Premchand Krishna Prasad
  • Patent number: 9886801
    Abstract: Methods and systems for vehicle sensor compensation are provided. A sensor is configured to at least facilitating obtaining sensor data pertaining to an object in proximity to the vehicle. The sensor data includes a measured azimuth angle value for the object. A processor is coupled to the sensor. The processor is coupled to the sensor, and is configured to at least facilitate estimating a misalignment angle for the sensor using the sensor data and generating a correction factor for the measured azimuth angle value using the misalignment angle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2018
    Assignee: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC
    Inventors: Fred W. Huntzicker, Paul R. Williams, Xiaofeng F. Song
  • Patent number: 9864051
    Abstract: A method of estimating a local plot density in a radar system observing an observation volume, the radar system configured to generate plots with plot attributes, by establishing a non-empty set of M-dimensional basis functions and corresponding coefficients, and repeatedly updating at least one coefficient based on at least one plot as obtained from the radar system, adjusting the basis functions and corresponding coefficients to represent a number of plots in a predetermined adjusting interval, and estimating the local plot density at a given point in the observation volume.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2018
    Assignee: Terma A/S
    Inventor: Esben Nielsen
  • Patent number: 9442183
    Abstract: There is provided a radar apparatus capable of extracting a peak signal obtained from a difference frequency between a transmitting signal and a receiving signal during first and second periods and deriving target information based on the extracted peak signals. A predicting unit derives a predicted peak signal obtained by predicting a current peak signal based on the peak signal obtained in a previous process. An extracting unit extracts a peak signal included within a predetermined frequency range, with the predicted peak signal being as a base point, in each of the first and second periods. A pairing unit pairs the peak signals extracted in the first and second periods. The pairing unit changes a pairing method according to the number of the peak signals extracted in each of the first and second periods.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2016
    Assignee: FUJITSU TEN LIMITED
    Inventor: Hisateru Asanuma
  • Patent number: 9372256
    Abstract: Radar imaging for medical diagnosis addresses the need for non-ionizing and low-cost alternatives to conventional medical diagnosis methods, such as mammography x-ray techniques, which expose patients to ionizing radiation for cancer detection. An ultra wide band (UWB) sensor can produce very fine beams at the V- or W-bands using beam forming techniques developed specifically for wafer scale antenna arrays. The high bandwidth radio waves can penetrate tissue and resolve tissue anomalies with high-resolution. Pseudo-random coding creates a signal that allows the correlating receiver to extract very low energy reflected signals from background noise providing coding gain. An integrated panel of sensor antenna arrays enables rapid scanning of the subject area, such as breast tissue, to detect anomalies by eliminating the need for mechanical scanning (e.g.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2016
    Assignee: Farrokh Mohamadi
    Inventor: Farrokh Mohamadi
  • Patent number: 9215515
    Abstract: Provided is an apparatus and method for observing a physical phenomenon in the ocean and the atmosphere, the observation apparatus including an observation signal receiving unit to receive an observation signal indicating a physical phenomenon of an observation object, a physical quantity determining unit to determine a physical quantity of the observation object, using the observation signal, and a frequency determining unit to determine whether an observation frequency is to be changed, based on the physical quantity of the observation object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 15, 2015
    Assignee: ELECTRONICS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH INSTITUTE
    Inventor: Cheol Oh Jeong
  • Patent number: 9088071
    Abstract: An antenna system and method for fabricating an antenna are provided. The antenna system includes a substrate and an antenna. The antenna includes a conductive particle based material applied onto the substrate. The conductive particle based material includes conductive particles and a binder. When the conductive particle based material is applied to the substrate, the conductive particles are dispersed in the binder so that at least a majority of the conductive particles are adjacent to, but do not touch, one another.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 21, 2015
    Assignee: ChamTech Technologies, Incorporated
    Inventors: Rhett Francis Spencer, Eric Guzman Hernandez, Anthony Joseph Sutera
  • Patent number: 9035821
    Abstract: An antenna array for a radar sensor, wherein the antenna array has a number of antenna elements linearly arranged next to one another. The antenna elements are designed for transmitting or receiving a radar signal, and the antenna array has a switching unit, which is designed to connect the antenna elements according to a predetermined switching sequence individually, one after the other in time, with a transmitting or receiving unit of the radar sensor. The switching sequence, according to which the antenna elements are connected one after the other with the transmitting or receiving unit, deviates from the spatial sequence of the antenna elements in the antenna array.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2015
    Assignee: Endress+Hauser GmbH +Co. KG
    Inventor: Peter Feil
  • Patent number: 8994581
    Abstract: In an example method, a vehicle is configured with a radar system used to aid in vehicle guidance. The method could include an array of antennas plurality of antennas configured to receive a radar signal. The array of antennas has a respective spacing between the given antenna and an adjacent antenna; however, the plurality of spacings includes at least two different spacings. A portion of the method may be performed by a processor configured to calculate a detection channel, based on a difference between differential phases associated with two antenna pairs in the array. The processor may also calculate an unambiguous angle based on the detection channel and the plurality of antenna spacings. Additionally, the processor may control the radar unit based on the calculated unambiguous angle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 31, 2015
    Inventor: Adam Brown
  • Patent number: 8922423
    Abstract: This disclosure provides a radar apparatus, which includes an antenna for discharging a transmission beam with frequencies corresponding to elevation/depression angles with respect to a particular surface and receiving a reflection echo from a reflective body and a reception module for detecting an elevation/depression angle of the reflective body based on a frequency component of a reception signal received by the antenna and detecting a distance of the reflective body based on a time component of the reception signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 30, 2014
    Assignee: Furuno Electric Company Limited
    Inventors: Tetsuya Takashima, Takuo Kashiwa
  • Publication number: 20140347208
    Abstract: A method for evaluating obstacles based on locating data of a radar sensor in a driver assistance system for motor vehicles, in which at least one evaluation function is calculated which indicates, as a function of a set of measured variables which are related to a potential obstacle, whether the potential obstacle is to be evaluated as a real obstacle, a complexity indicator being formed based on the locating data which indicates the complexity of a present measurement situation, and at least two different evaluation functions being defined for the same set of measured variables, and it being decided which of the evaluation functions is applied in the present measurement situation as a function of the complexity indicator.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 23, 2014
    Publication date: November 27, 2014
    Applicant: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventors: Michael SCHOOR, Goetz KUEHNLE, Volker GROSS, Benedikt LOESCH, Stefan HEILMANN
  • Publication number: 20140333471
    Abstract: A method for measuring the position of a surface of a vehicle on a roadway comprising the following steps: transmitting and receiving radar beams at transmitting and receiving positions in various primary transmitting and primary receiving directions and converting these beams into received signals; selecting the received signal having the greatest signal strength; and determining the aforementioned position from the transmitting and receiving positions and the primary transmitting and primary receiving directions of the received signal having the greatest signal strength.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 30, 2014
    Publication date: November 13, 2014
    Applicant: Kapsch TrafficCom AG
    Inventor: Oliver Nagy
  • Publication number: 20140333472
    Abstract: An apparatus is disclosed for measuring the position of a vehicle or a surface thereof on a roadway. The apparatus comprises at least one radar transmitter, which is arranged in a transmitting position above the plane of the roadway and transmits radar beams downwardly, a plurality of radar receivers, which are distributed above the plane of the roadway in different receiving positions at distances from one another, receive reflections of the radar beams from beneath, and convert the reflections into a received signal, and an evaluation device, which is connected to the radar transmitter and the radar receivers and is configured to measure the said position from the transmitting position, the receiving positions and the received signals.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 1, 2014
    Publication date: November 13, 2014
    Applicant: Kapsch TrafficCom AG
    Inventor: Oliver Nagy
  • Patent number: 8860605
    Abstract: A method for estimating the position and the speed of a target with a radar is provided. The radar emits a waveform including a train of pulses, each pulse having an OFDM chip constructed from subcarriers, the subcarriers covering the whole bandwidth of the radar. Upon receipt of the echoed pulses, some of the subcarriers are used in a step of Doppler processing, each of the subcarriers being fixed over the pulses. Upon receipt of the echoed pulses, other subcarriers, which are not used for Doppler processing, are used in a step of High Range Resolution processing, the subcarriers being randomly distributed over the pulses.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 20, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 14, 2014
    Assignee: Thales Nederland B.V.
    Inventors: Gabriel Lellouch, Radmila Erkocevic-Pribic
  • Patent number: 8860604
    Abstract: A radar system comprising a transmitter to transmit radar signals into a region, a receiver to receive return signals of said radar signals reflected from within the region wherein the transmitter and receiver are adapted for location on a structure at a wind farm, and a processor to process the return signals to extract wind farm associated data for said region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 14, 2014
    Assignee: Cambridge Consultants Limited
    Inventor: Gordon Kenneth Andrew Oswald
  • Publication number: 20140292559
    Abstract: There is provided a radar apparatus capable of emitting a transmission wave relating to a transmitting signal which is frequency-modulated, and receiving a reflection wave coming from a target at which the transmission wave is reflected as a receiving signal, to derive at least position information of the target based on the receiving signal. A deriving unit derives a fluctuation value of a signal level relating to the receiving signal for a stationary target among the targets. A calculating unit calculates a fluctuation integrated value integrated by the fluctuation value. A judging unit judges the stationary target as a target other than a control subject if the fluctuation integrated value is below a predetermined threshold.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 11, 2013
    Publication date: October 2, 2014
    Applicant: FUJITSU TEN LIMITED
    Inventors: Hisateru ASANUMA, Hiroyuki ISHIMORI
  • Patent number: 8847815
    Abstract: An electronic scanning radar apparatus mounted on a moving object includes a receiving unit including a plurality of antennas receiving a received wave arriving from a target having reflected a transmitted wave, a beat signal generating unit generating a beat signal from the transmitted wave and the received wave, a frequency resolving unit resolving the beat signal in beat frequencies and to calculate complex data based on the beat signal resolved for each beat frequency, and an azimuth detecting unit calculating a direction of arrival of the received wave based on original complex data calculated based on the beat signal, wherein the azimuth detecting unit includes a data extending unit generating extended complex data by extending the number of data based on the original complex data, and a first computation processing unit calculating the direction of arrival of the received wave based on the extended complex data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2011
    Date of Patent: September 30, 2014
    Assignee: Honda elesys Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Junji Kanamoto
  • Patent number: 8836574
    Abstract: An integrated radar system includes a processing module and a radar device. The radar device includes an antenna module, a configurable shaping module, and a configurable transceiver module. The processing module generates an outbound signal and a control signal to configure the integrated radar system. The configured transceiver module converts the outbound signal into an outbound wireless signal. The configured shaping module shapes the outbound wireless signal into a shaped signal. The antenna module transmits the shaped signal and then receives an inbound radar signal. The configured shaping module shapes the inbound radar signal into an inbound wireless signal. The configured transceiver module converts the inbound wireless signal into an inbound symbol stream. The processing module determines location information regarding an object based on the inbound symbol stream.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 16, 2014
    Assignee: Broadcom Corporation
    Inventors: Alfred Grau Besoli, Nicolaos G. Alexopoulos, Jesus Alfonso Castaneda
  • Patent number: 8786489
    Abstract: An active radar target includes several receive antennas and several transmit antennas that are arrangeable into pairs of antennas. Each pair includes a transmit and a receive antenna. At least one antenna in a pair is at a different height relative to at least one other antenna in a different pair of antennas.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 22, 2014
    Assignee: Guidance IP Limited
    Inventor: David E. Patrick
  • Patent number: 8704704
    Abstract: Presented is a method for determining speeds (vr14, vr16) and distances (r14, r16) of objects (14, 16) relative to a radar system (12) of a motor vehicle (10), wherein a coverage area (EB) of the radar system (12) is divided into at least two part-areas (TB1, TB2, TB3), the coverage area (EB) is examined for reflecting objects (14, 16) in successive measuring cycles (MZ1, MZ2; MZi, MZi+1), wherein radar signals received in a measuring cycle (MZ1, MZ2; MZi, MZi+1) are processed separated in accordance with part-areas (TB1, TB2, TB3) and processed signals are assembled to form a total result differentiated in accordance with spatial directions. The method is characterized in that from signals received in a first measuring cycle (MZ1; MZi), hypotheses for the distance (r14, r16) and speed (vr14, vr16) of reflecting objects (14, 16) are formed and the hypotheses are validated in dependence on signals received in at least one further measuring cycle (MZ2; MZi+2).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2007
    Date of Patent: April 22, 2014
    Assignee: VALEO Schalter und Sensoren GmbH
    Inventors: Urs Luebbert, Udo Haberland
  • Patent number: 8674873
    Abstract: A signal processing apparatus performs an object detection process of detecting object data with respect to peak signals which indicate a difference in frequency between a transmitted signal of which the frequency is changed in a predetermined period and a received signal which is obtained by receiving a reflected wave that corresponds to a transmitted wave which is based on the transmitted signal and is reflected from an object, by deriving the peak signals in a first period where the frequency of the transmitted signal ascends and in a second period where the frequency of the transmitted signal descends and by pairing the peak signals in the first period and the second period. A continuity determination section determines a continuity between the object data and past object data detected prior to the object data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2014
    Assignee: Fujitsu Ten Limited
    Inventors: Shinichi Shibata, Hideki Kajioka
  • Patent number: 8665140
    Abstract: This disclosure provides a signal processing device, which includes an echo signal input unit for being inputted with echo signals caused by electromagnetic waves discharged from an antenna and reflected on one or more target objects, an echo signal level detector for detecting a level of each of the echo signals with reference to an azimuth and a distance to the antenna, a level change detector for detecting a level change between the echo signals from locations close to each other, the locations of the echo signals being such that the distances from the antenna are substantially the same but the azimuths are different, a pattern output module for comparing the level change with a predetermined reference pattern and outputting a level change pattern, and a missing determining module for determining a missing of a signal based on at least two of the level change patterns.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 4, 2014
    Assignee: Furuno Electric Company Limited
    Inventors: Kazuya Nakagawa, Hitoshi Maeno
  • Patent number: 8665136
    Abstract: This disclosure provides an image processing device, which includes a relative trail image memory for storing a relative trail data group indicating relative changes in position of a target object detected by echo signals obtained corresponding to detection signals transmitted while changing a transmitting azimuth direction, with respect to a transmitting position from which the detection signals are transmitted, and an approaching target object determination processing module for determining whether the target object detected with the detection signals is an approaching target object that approaches the transmitting position based on relative trail data existing on the same sweep line among the relative trail data group stored in the relative trail image memory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 4, 2014
    Assignee: Furuno Electric Company, Limited
    Inventors: Tatsuya Kojima, Takumi Fujikawa
  • Patent number: 8643536
    Abstract: A positioning system for radio frequency devices includes a two-way radio antenna, for vehicles, having a transmitting and a receiving element. Reference antennas have retro-directive arrays which can shape the signal beams in elevation; polarize transmission and reception signals according to a circular or a linear polarization, the polarized transmission retro-directively reflecting signals having the same polarization as the incident ones in the case of circular polarization, or retro-directively reflecting signals having orthogonal polarization in the case of linear polarization. An encoder is included for transmitting an identification code of the reference antenna. A controller processes the spatial and temporal data resulting from communication through the radio waves transmitted and received by the vehicle antennas and reflected by the reference antennas. The controller calculates the distance of the vehicle from the reference antennas that have reflected the signal transmitted by the antennas.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2014
    Assignee: Elettric 80 S.p.A.
    Inventors: Vittorio Cavirani, Francesco Trotta, Luca Marcaccioli, Roberto Vincenti Gatti, Franco Manzini, Domenico Di Terlizzi
  • Publication number: 20140028487
    Abstract: There is provided a radar apparatus. A setting unit is configured to set a first range including at least a reference target. A deriving unit is configured to derive a representative position of targets included in the first range on the basis of position information of the targets included in the first range. An acquiring unit is configured to acquire vehicle information indicating that the vehicle is running in a curve-shaped lane or a road shape in front of the vehicle is a curve shape. When the acquiring unit acquires the vehicle information, the setting unit sets a second range wider than the first range and the deriving unit derives a representative position of targets included in the second range on the basis of position information of the targets included in the second range.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 26, 2013
    Publication date: January 30, 2014
    Applicant: FUJITSU TEN LIMITED
    Inventors: Hiroyuki ISHIMORI, Masayuki KISHIDA, Hisateru ASANUMA
  • Patent number: 8619908
    Abstract: A wireless ranging system for determining a range of a remote wireless device may include a wireless transmitter and a wireless receiver. The wireless ranging system may also include a ranging controller to cooperate with the wireless transmitter and receiver to generate a multi-carrier base waveform, transmit a sounder waveform to the remote wireless device including concatenated copies of the multi-carrier base waveform, and receive a return waveform from the remote wireless device in response to the sounder waveform. The ranging controller may also generate time domain samples from the return waveform, convert the time domain samples into frequency domain data, and process the frequency domain data to determine the range of the remote wireless device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2013
    Assignee: Harris Corporation
    Inventors: John E. Hoffmann, Carlos G. Abascal, Christopher D. Moffatt
  • Patent number: 8482455
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a radar device with high angular accuracy. The solution provided by the invention simultaneously combines an interferometer that is accurate but, for example, ambiguous when receiving; and a space coloring mode when transmitting. The coloring of the space consists notably in transmitting on N transmitting antennas N orthogonal signals. These signals are then separated by filtering on reception using the orthogonality properties of the transmission signals. It is, for example, possible, with two contiguous antennas in transmission associated with two orthogonal codes to produce a single-pulse type system when transmitting. The invention applies notably to the obstacle sensing and avoidance function, also called “Sense & Avoid”.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 9, 2013
    Assignee: Thales
    Inventors: Stéphane Kemkemian, Pascal Cornic, Patrick Le Bihan
  • Patent number: 8466829
    Abstract: A radar system comprises an electromagnetic transmitter and an array of antenna elements connected in Multiple-Input Multiple-Output manner for routing signals reflected from the target to a plurality of receive beam rotation processors. The receive beam rotation processing for each antenna element includes application of rotation frequency offsets to the received signals and summation in summing and differencing adders to generate I and Q components of the rotating beams. The I and Q components for each element are summed to generate received signals including angle-or-arrival (AOA) information. The AOA information is further processed by correlating with reference replica AOA signals and by averaging to determine the actual AOA. The transmitter may have multiple contrarotating beams generated by application of frequency offsets. The transmit and receive beam rotations may be synchronized.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 18, 2013
    Assignee: Lockheed Martin Corporation
    Inventors: Vladimir Volman, John B. Stetson
  • Patent number: 8456349
    Abstract: A bistatic radar receiver is centrally located within an array of multiple bistatic transmitters at an airport to precisely determine bird positions and altitudes. Bird target reflections from multiple transmitters are received by the radar receiver. Target location is determined by the transmitter location, receiver location, and measured transmitter-to-target-to-receiver ranges. Target position and altitude accuracy is similar to GPS. The radar receiver antenna is composed of a vertical array of elements and rotated 360 degrees in azimuth. The output of each element is downconverted, digitized, and digitally beamformed to provide multiple simultaneous antenna beams each electronically scanned in elevation. When bistatic transmitters cannot be deployed, a narrow-azimuth wide-elevation transmit antenna beam is overlapped with a wide-azimuth narrow-elevation receive antenna beam electronically scanned in elevation to provide a composite narrow azimuth and elevation beamwidth.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2013
    Inventor: Gregory Hubert Piesinger
  • Patent number: 8436762
    Abstract: In an embodiment, a coordinate determiner is operable to identify at least first and second surfaces that each approximately intersect an object, and to determine at least two approximate coordinates of the object from the first and second surfaces, where at least one of the surfaces is nonplanar. For example, if the coordinate determiner is disposed on a fighter jet having at least two short-baseline-interferometers (SBIs), then two surfaces may be the surfaces of two cones having two of the SBIs as respective vertices, the object may be a close-in target, and the coordinate determiner may determine the azimuth and elevation of the target from the cone surfaces. Furthermore, the coordinate determiner or another computation unit onboard the jet may determine the slant range of the target from the elevation and the altitude of the jet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2013
    Assignee: BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration Inc.
    Inventor: Ronald M. Yannone
  • Patent number: 8390506
    Abstract: An FMCW radar locating device includes a transmitting device having a controllable transmitting-signal-generating device generating a transmitting signal having a frequency corresponding to an input control signal; a control device connected to the transmitting-signal-generating device and generating the input control signal which controls the transmitting signal such that it rises periodically in a discontinuous, inconsistent linear fashion in first frequency segments, and drops periodically in a discontinuous, inconsistent linear fashion in second frequency segments; and a receiving device for receiving an echo signal reflected by an object and locating an object based on the received echo signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2013
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventors: Thomas Focke, Joerg Hilsebecher, Arne Zender, Thomas Schoeberl, Thomas Hansen
  • Patent number: 8305258
    Abstract: A radar device includes: a receive antenna having a plurality of element antennas disposed in the left-right direction such that at least some of the plurality of element antennas is shifted in the up-down direction from the others; and a position detecting ECU. The position detecting ECU Includes: a first position detecting section, which detects a position of an object in the up-down direction, based on a phase difference between the respective reception signals received by the plurality of element antennas; and a first position correcting section which corrects the position in the up-down direction, based on the history of the position in the up-down direction, and obtains a first corrected position which is a position in the up-down direction after the correction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2011
    Date of Patent: November 6, 2012
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Naoyuki Yamada, Toshiaki Watanabe, Makoto Nakai
  • Patent number: 8212713
    Abstract: An object detecting apparatus including: an object detecting device that causes electromagnetic waves to be reflected from an object and receives the reflected waves to detect the object while scanning a predetermined scan range; a rotating device that changes a direction of the object detecting device; an imaging device that captures images; a display device that displays an image captured by the imaging device; a setting device that sets the scan range of the object detecting device on the image displayed by the display device; and a control device that instructs the rotating device to rotate the object detecting device based on the set scan range, and instructs the object detecting device to scan the scan range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2008
    Date of Patent: July 3, 2012
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yoshimitsu Aiga, Takeshi Sasajima, Takashi Asaba
  • Publication number: 20120119940
    Abstract: In a radar apparatus, a signal processor successively selects outputs of a plurality of receiving channels at time intervals and repeat, at a sampling cycle, a sequence of the successive selections of the outputs of the plurality of receiving channels, thus sampling values of a beat signal. The signal processor changes a value of the time interval for a current sequence of the successive selections of the outputs of the plurality of receiving channels so that the value of the time interval for the current sequence of the successive selections of the outputs of the plurality of receiving channels is different from a value of the time interval for a previous sequence of the successive selections of the outputs of the plurality of receiving channels.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 11, 2011
    Publication date: May 17, 2012
    Applicant: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Akiyoshi Mizutani, Yutaka Ninoyu
  • Patent number: 8179303
    Abstract: A signal processing apparatus for a radar transceiver, which receives a reflected signal generated by a target object in response to a frequency modulated transmission signal, and generates a beat signal having a frequency difference between the transmission signal and a reception signal, includes: an azimuth angle detection unit that detects an azimuth angle of the target object on the basis of a peak signal in a frequency spectrum of the beat signal; a peak signal extraction unit that prioritizes extraction of a peak signal corresponding to a predetermined azimuth angle range and a predetermined relative distance range of the target object; and a target object detection unit that detects the target object from the extracted peak signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 5, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 15, 2012
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masayuki Kishida, Hisateru Asanuma, Tomoya Kawasaki
  • Patent number: 8164510
    Abstract: In an embodiment, a quantity smoother includes a first stage and a second stage. The first stage is operable to receive a sequence of raw samples of a quantity and to generate from the raw samples intermediate samples of the quantity, the intermediate samples having a reduced level of fluctuation relative to the sequence of raw samples. The second stage is coupled to the first stage and is operable to generate from the intermediate samples resulting samples of the quantity, the resulting samples having a reduced level of fluctuation relative to the sequence of intermediate samples. For example, such a quantity smoother may be part of a target-ranging system on board a fighter jet, and may smooth an error in an estimated target range so that the fighter pilot may more quickly and confidently determine in his head a range window within which the target lies.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2012
    Assignee: BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration Inc.
    Inventor: Ronald M. Yannone
  • Patent number: 8149161
    Abstract: A maximum gap method and system provide for identifying a space sector within which a system capable of engaging an object, should search for the object. A detector system that may be a radar or other active range determination system tracks position of the moving object and based on position estimates and the uncertainties associated with the position estimates, generates a range of possible positions for each estimate then determines gaps between the uncertainties and derives the search sector based on the maximum gap.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 18, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2012
    Assignee: Lockheed Martin Coporation
    Inventors: Mark A. Friesel, Thomas R. Gillespie
  • Patent number: 8135537
    Abstract: A route data base generating system avoids GPS satellite signals sources for land based vehicle azimuth and heading determinations in areas where reception of the satellite signals is unavailable or impaired and relies on vehicle part movements that are equatable to the heading and azimuth changes of the vehicle for determining such vehicle orientations. Part movements equatable to the heading changes are found in the vehicle wheel assemblies. A route data base founded on interconnecting linear route segments that are arranged in and end-to-end serial order is advocated and wherein the angular deviation between connecting segments in the order is predetermined. Various uses of the generating systems and related procedures are advocated for both on-the-road and off-road usage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 13, 2012
    Inventors: Roger L. Martin, Thurman Sasser
  • Patent number: 8134493
    Abstract: A system and method for determining the geolocation of a signal emitter moving at an unknown velocity by combining signal data of a target detection platform (e.g., a radar system) and signal data collected by two or more moving signal collection platforms (e.g., RF signal receivers). In one embodiment, the target detection platform determines tentative location and velocity of the signal emitter, and the signal collection platforms are configured to perform TDOA and/or FDOA analysis of the collected signal data corresponding to a signal of the signal emitter. In one embodiment, solutions provided from the TDOA and/or FDOA analysis are unbiased by using the tentative velocity of the signal emitter, and the geolocation of the signal emitter is determined by matching the TDOA/FDOA solutions and the detected tentative location.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 13, 2012
    Assignee: Raytheon Company
    Inventors: William B. Noble, Duncan L. Crawford, Jeffrey M. Guild
  • Patent number: 8116350
    Abstract: A passive tracking system is provided with a plurality of ultrawideband (UWB) receivers that is asynchronous with respect to a UWB transmitter. A geometry of the tracking system may utilize a plurality of clusters with each cluster comprising a plurality of antennas. Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) may be determined for the antennas in each cluster and utilized to determine Angle of Arrival (AOA) based on a far field assumption regarding the geometry. Parallel software communication sockets may be established with each of the plurality of UWB receivers. Transfer of waveform data may be processed by alternately receiving packets of waveform data from each UWB receiver. Cross Correlation Peak Detection (CCPD) is utilized to estimate TDOA information to reduce errors in a noisy, multipath environment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 14, 2009
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2012
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
    Inventors: G. Dickey Arndt, Phong H. Ngo, Chau T. Phan, Julia A. Gross, Jianjun Ni, John Dusl
  • Patent number: 8102308
    Abstract: The present invention provides a radar apparatus capable of changing a characteristic of filter processing while considering also a relative velocity of an object. A measurement section measures a relative position and a relative velocity of an object such as another vehicle, a pedestrian, and an object placed on a road. The radar apparatus calculates a time until the object and an own vehicle collide with each other, based on the relative position and relative velocity of the object measured by the measurement section, and changes, based on the calculated time, a filter coefficient to be used when filter processing is performed on a measured position converted from the measured relative position of the object, thereby changing a characteristic of the filter processing to be performed on the measured position, between stability and responsiveness.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2012
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Jun Tsunekawa
  • Patent number: 8081106
    Abstract: In an embodiment, an apparatus includes a detector, direction finder, receiver, and range finder. The detector is operable to detect a target, and the direction finder is operable to determine a first direction to the target from the apparatus. The receiver is operable to receive a second direction to the target from a remote object, and the range finder is operable to determine from the first and second directions a range of the target from the apparatus. For example, the apparatus may be a first fighter jet, and the remote object may be a second fighter jet. By using directional information from both the first and second jets, a computer system onboard the first jet may compute a range to the target from the first jet more quickly and more accurately than by using directional information from only the first jet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2011
    Assignee: BAE Systems Information and Electric Systems Integration Inc.
    Inventor: Ronald M. Yannone
  • Publication number: 20110267220
    Abstract: Systems and methods for positioning sensor nodes in a sensor network are described. A system can include multiple base nodes. The base nodes can have a differential global positioning system. The global positioning system can be used to determine a precise location of the base nodes. Sensor nodes can be placed in locations with respect to the plurality of base nodes using measurement data from at least one of the base nodes. A positional device can provide the position measurement data relative to the base nodes to a user for use in placing the plurality of sensor nodes. A communications system enables electronic communication between the base nodes and the sensor nodes.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 30, 2010
    Publication date: November 3, 2011
    Inventors: John Paul Strachan, R. Stanley Williams
  • Patent number: 8026841
    Abstract: Disclosed is a method, means for and computer program for enhancing range and azimuth resolution in a two-dimensional (2D) image generated by a frequency modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) radar for providing enhanced situational awareness in autonomous approach and landing guidance (AALG) system by forming and displaying a two-dimensional (2D) model of landing conditions from received range and azimuth real beam radar (RBR) signals by rendering one or more target locations and amplitudes in both range and azimuth, selecting a region of interest from the displayed 2D model to enhance the one or more target locations in the selected region of interest, selectively applying range and azimuth resolution enhancement using a first and second beamforming approach or applying azimuth only resolution enhancement by using just the second beamforming approach to obtain an one or more accurate target location estimations and combining the enhanced one or more target locations to render an enhanced 2D image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 2008
    Date of Patent: September 27, 2011
    Assignee: BAE SYSTEMS Controls Inc.
    Inventors: Guoqing Liu, Ken Yang
  • Patent number: 7948431
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method for increasing the accuracy of a measurement of a radio-based locating system comprising a mobile station and at least one fixed station, wherein the movement of a mobile station from an initial position is detected by way of measuring data of an absolute sensor system and a relative sensor system, a virtual antenna is embodied in the form of synthetic aperture by way of measuring data and the mobile station is focused on the fixed station and/or vice versa by using the synthetic aperture.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 7, 2005
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2011
    Assignee: Symeo GmbH
    Inventors: Peter Gulden, Stephan Max, Martin Vossiek
  • Patent number: 7932854
    Abstract: In an azimuth detecting apparatus, a receiver includes a plurality of first antenna elements and a second antenna element. The first antenna elements are arranged at first intervals d1 to form an array. The second antenna element is arranged to define a second interval d2 between itself and one of the first antenna elements which is located at an end of the array, where d2 is less than d1. A first azimuth detector detects, within a first azimuth detection area whose angular range is defined by d1, the azimuth of a target based on the signals generated by all the first antenna elements. A second azimuth detector detects, within a second azimuth detection area whose angular range is defined by d2, the azimuth of the target based on the signals generated by the second antenna element and the first antenna element located at the end of the array.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 26, 2011
    Assignee: Denso Corporation
    Inventor: Takamasa Ando