Mti (moving Target Indicator) Patents (Class 342/160)
  • Patent number: 11802953
    Abstract: A radar system in an autonomous vehicle may be operated in various modes and with various configurations. In one example, the radar system determines a target range for further interrogation. The target range may be determined based on the radar system transmitting a first electromagnetic radiation signal and receiving a first reflected electromagnetic signal radiation signal. After the radar system determines a target range, it transmits a second electromagnetic radiation signal. Additionally, the radar system receives a reflected electromagnetic signal radiation based on the transmission. After receiving the reflected signal, the radar system can process the reflected signal to only have components associated with the target range. The processing of the reflected signal may create a processed signal. Finally, the radar system may determine at least one parameter of a target object based on the processed signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2023
    Assignee: Waymo LLC
    Inventor: Adam Brown
  • Patent number: 11474230
    Abstract: Radar systems and methods of using the same for detecting objects in non-line-of-sight (“NLOS”) areas are disclosed. In various embodiments, the disclosed radar systems and methods use a clutter signature to determine a location and motion of an object. The disclosed radar systems may include a sounding signal module for transmitting a sounding signal to determine a clutter signature; a radar controller generating, controlling, and interpreting an object detection signal; a transmit antenna unit coupled to the radar controller, adapted to transmit the object detection signal; a receive antenna unit coupled to the radar controller, adapted to receive a return object detection signal; and/or a non-line of sight module coupled to the transmit antenna unit and the receive antenna unit adapted to determine a location of a detected object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2022
    Assignee: METAWAVE Corporation
    Inventor: Maha Achour
  • Patent number: 11378682
    Abstract: A synthetic aperture radar (SAR) system may employ SAR imaging to advantageously estimate or monitor a transit characteristic (e.g., velocity, acceleration) of a vehicle, for example a ground based vehicle or water based vehicle. A dual-beam SAR antenna illuminate a moving target with a first radar beam and a second radar beam at an angular offset relative to the first radar beam. Pulses may be transmitted and backscattered energy received simultaneously by the SAR transceiver via the first and second radar beams. A SAR data processor may generate a first image from the first radar beam and a second image from the second radar beam, co-registering the first and second images, comparing the location of the moving target in the first and second images, and estimate a velocity of the moving target based at least in part on the angular offset.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 23, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2022
    Assignee: SPACEALPHA INSIGHTS CORP.
    Inventors: Peter Allen Fox, Keith Dennis Richard Beckett
  • Patent number: 11366198
    Abstract: A method for processing a radar signal includes adjusting a processing clock signal, wherein the processing clock signal determines an operation period of a signal processing circuit, wherein the processing clock signal is determined based on a time window, wherein the size of the time window is determined based on the maximum time available for processing a portion of the radar signal and wherein the end of the time window is determined such that it does not occur during an active transmission portion of the radar system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2022
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Markus Bichl, Ljudmil Anastasov, Romain Ygnace
  • Patent number: 11280882
    Abstract: A method is described for ascertaining an acceleration of a target or an object with the aid of radar waves. In a first step, at least one radar transmit signal is sent by at least one transmitting device. At least one radar reception signal reflected from a target is received and subsequently conveyed to an evaluation unit. The evaluation unit converts the radar reception signals into digital measuring values and is used for further processing of the digital measuring values. In a further step, the digital measuring values are subjected to a two-dimensional Fourier transform. At least one target reflection is detected on the basis of peak values or selected from a resulting absolute value spectrum or distance-velocity spectrum. At least one distance of a target from the transmitting device and at least one radial velocity of a target in relation to the transmitting device are ascertained based on the distance-velocity spectrum.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 22, 2022
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventor: Thomas Brosche
  • Patent number: 11249185
    Abstract: The purpose is to calculate wave information accurately. A signal processing device 10 is provided, which may include a frequency area spectrum generating module 8, an integrating module 17, and a wave information calculating module 18. The frequency area spectrum generating module 8 may carry out a frequency analysis of the echoes from the waves included in a plurality of analysis areas set within the detection area, respectively, and generate frequency area spectrums for the plurality of analysis areas, respectively. The integrating module 17 may integrate echo intensities indicated by each sampling point that constitutes each of the frequency area spectrums while unifying directions included in coordinates of the frequency area spectrum, and generate an integrated frequency area spectrum. The wave information calculating module 18 may calculate wave information that is information related to the waves included in the analysis areas based on the integrated frequency area spectrum, respectively.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 15, 2022
    Assignee: FURUNO ELECTRIC CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Satoshi Kawanami, Atsushi Uodome, Kensuke Iseri, Ryosuke Morigaki, Yuya Yakiyama
  • Patent number: 11231495
    Abstract: In order to achieve object detection that does not detect an object moving at a speed within a prescribed speed range, the present invention comprises at least two cross-correlation calculation units which each calculate a cross correlation function between a waveform of a reflection signal obtained when a transmission signal having changing frequencies is reflected by a target object, and a different correlation waveform generated from the waveform of the transmission signal, and a synthesis unit that synthesizes at least two cross-correlation functions from at least the two cross-correlation calculation units so as to make detection of a target object moving at a speed within the prescribed speed range less likely, and that outputs the synthesis results to a post-processing unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 25, 2022
    Assignee: NEC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Osamu Hoshuyama, Kentarou Kudou, Shohei Ikeda
  • Patent number: 11195294
    Abstract: To contribute to improved usability, an image measurement method includes selectably displaying geometric shape-related information in a measurement target, selectably displaying a measurement candidate of the measurement target based on a geometric shape corresponding to the selected geometric shape-related information (S38), and outputting a calculation result of the selected measurement candidate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 7, 2021
    Assignee: Nikon Corporation
    Inventors: Motoi Murakami, Junichi Kubota
  • Patent number: 11158078
    Abstract: To contribute to improved usability, an image measurement method includes selectably displaying geometric shape-related information in a measurement target, selectably displaying a measurement candidate of the measurement target based on a geometric shape corresponding to the selected geometric shape-related information (S38), and outputting a calculation result of the selected measurement candidate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 26, 2021
    Assignee: Nikon Corporation
    Inventors: Motoi Murakami, Junichi Kubota
  • Patent number: 11061131
    Abstract: A mode S Interrogation Side Lobe Suppression System (ISLS) for an electronically scanned interrogator is described. One aspect introduces the 90° phase offset between the main and control beams thereby enabling the full power capability of the TRU to be effectively utilized and the effective beamwidth in Mode S to be sharply defined. The system allows the transmission of the simultaneous ISLS pulse of a Mode S all-call interrogation to be transmitted using the same array as is used by the main beam.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 13, 2021
    Assignee: LEONARDO MW LTD.
    Inventor: Euan Thomas
  • Patent number: 10983208
    Abstract: A fusion system and method for constructing tracks of a ground target from radar and optical detections are described. The system includes a radar channel and an optical channel. The radar channel includes a Ground Moving Target Indicator (GMTI) radars providing GMTI detections in the form of GMTI plots, a GMTI tracker configured for constructing GMTI tracks of the ground target from the GMTI plots, and a Smooth Radar Plots generator configured for sequentially in time producing smooth radar plots in the form of locations of ground target on the GMTI tracks and corresponding location errors. The optical channel includes electro optical (EO) sensors sequentially in time providing EO detections in the form of coordinates of the ground target, and a combiner tracker configured for combining data streams of the radar channel with data streams of the optical channel, and producing fused tracks of the ground target.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 20, 2021
    Assignee: ELTA SYSTEMS LTD.
    Inventors: Akiva Novoselsky, Benjamin Kupfer, Merav Shomrony Danieli
  • Patent number: 10942253
    Abstract: A radar system having at least one radar transmission unit, at least one radar reception unit, a central unit, and a glass fiber for connecting these units, wherein the central unit has a central optical transmission unit to provide an optical radar driver signal, and wherein the at least one radar transmission unit has an optical reception unit and a radar transmitter, wherein the optical reception unit receives the optical radar driver signal and converts the optical radar driver signal into an electrical radar driver signal and provides the electrical radar driver signal for driving the radar transmitter, wherein the at least one radar reception unit includes a radar receiver, a mixer and an optical modulation unit. Also disclosed is an associated method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 9, 2021
    Inventors: Thomas Schneider, Jörg Schöbel, Fabian Schwartau, Stefan Preußler, Hanjo Rhee, Christoph Scheytt, Michael Schwenkert, Thorsten Bagdonat, Heiko Kurz
  • Patent number: 10823832
    Abstract: In an emission process for remote sensing, pulse signals (630) are periodically produced in elementary time windows spaced one pulse period (T) apart, and waves corresponding to those signals are emitted towards remote objects, so as to enable to monitor waves transmitted by those objects upon receiving the emitted waves. The emission of those waves is periodically prevented, according to at least one inhibition period (3T, 5T) proportional to the pulse period and equal to at least three times that pulse period. Parameters are set, suited to producing measurement information on the objects from the wave monitoring, based on at least part of a frequency content of the transmitted waves to which the pulse and inhibition periods contribute. Applications to lidars, radars, active sonars and ultrasound monitoring.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 3, 2020
    Inventor: Thierry Kerber
  • Patent number: 10503975
    Abstract: A system for incorporating geographical data into a map-related system, adding objects being tracked while moving within a specific geographic area and automatically analyzing their movement characteristics; wherein the tracking is done by visual means from a sky-borne platform.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2019
    Assignee: DIGITALGLOBE, INC.
    Inventor: Ken Campbell
  • Patent number: 10438326
    Abstract: A method of suppressing clutter in video imagery includes receiving video imagery from a focal plane array, and decomposing the video imagery into independently-moving coordinate transformations corresponding to clutter patterns that are subimages of the video imagery. The method also includes removing the subimages from an image of the video imagery to produce a clutter-suppressed version of the image, and rendering the clutter-suppressed version of the image. Removing the subimages from the image includes generating respective zeroth-order corrections for the subimages, and subtracting the respective zeroth-order corrections from the image. And removing the subimages includes recursively generating respective first-order corrections for the subimages from the respective zeroth-order corrections, and subtracting the respective first-order corrections from the image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2019
    Assignee: THE BOEING COMPANY
    Inventor: Dennis J. Yelton
  • Patent number: 10387726
    Abstract: An image monitoring system includes: recording means for recording an image captured by a camera via a network; control means for controlling the system so as to display the present image captured by the camera or a past image recorded on the recording means on display means; and moving-object detecting means for detecting a moving object from the image captured by the camera; wherein the moving-object detecting means includes resolution conversion means for generating an image with a resolution lower than the resolution of the image captured by the camera, positional-information output means for detecting a moving object from the image generated by the resolution conversion means and outputting positional information on the detected moving object, and information merging means for merging the positional information of the moving object with the image captured by the camera on the basis of the positional information of the moving object output by the positional-information output means.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 24, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 20, 2019
    Assignee: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Masaki Demizu, Miki Murakami
  • Patent number: 10346686
    Abstract: An image monitoring system includes a recorder that records an image captured by a camera via a network. The system is controlled to display the present image captured by the camera or a past image recorded on the recorder. A moving object is detected from the image captured by the camera, the detector including a resolution converter for generating an image with a resolution lower than the resolution of the image captured by the camera. A moving object is detected from the image generated by the resolution converter and positional information on the detected moving object is output. The positional information of the detected moving object is merged with the image captured by the camera on the basis of the positional information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 3, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 9, 2019
    Assignee: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Masaki Demizu, Miki Murakami
  • Patent number: 10331951
    Abstract: An image monitoring system includes: recording means for recording an image captured by a camera via a network; control means for controlling the system so as to display the present image captured by the camera or a past image recorded on the recording means on display means; and moving-object detecting means for detecting a moving object from the image captured by the camera; wherein the moving-object detecting means includes resolution conversion means for generating an image with a resolution lower than the resolution of the image captured by the camera, positional-information output means for detecting a moving object from the image generated by the resolution conversion means and outputting positional information on the detected moving object, and information merging means for merging the positional information of the moving object with the image captured by the camera on the basis of the positional information of the moving object output by the positional-information output means.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 2, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2019
    Assignee: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Masaki Demizu, Miki Murakami
  • Patent number: 10312578
    Abstract: There is provided a radar device with which the density of transmitted signals can be made uniform in relation to orientation even if the rotation rate of an antenna fluctuates, and interference removal processing can be given a simpler configuration. A radar device that transmits and receives signals while rotating an antenna comprises a motor, a transmission pulse generator, and a transmitter. The motor rotates the antenna (antenna main body). The transmission pulse generator generates transmission timing pulses for transmission signals from the antenna based on the rotational angle of the antenna main body. The transmitter transmits transmission signals via the antenna according to the transmission timing pulses generated by the transmission pulse generator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2019
    Assignee: FURUNO ELECTRIC COMPANY LIMITED
    Inventor: Masahiro Nakahama
  • Patent number: 10302740
    Abstract: System and method for adaptive target estimation in a radar system include: receiving a range-Doppler map (RDM) of a plurality of radar return signals; detecting N strongest signals in the RDM, wherein N is an integer greater than zero; removing the detected N strongest signals from the RDM by orthogonalizing the data in the RDM; storing information about the removed N strongest signals in a memory; repeating the steps of detecting, removing, and storing until a stopping criteria is met; when the stopping criteria is met, repopulating the RDM with the stored information about N strongest signals in the RDM to obtain a final RDM; and detecting targets using the final RDM.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 28, 2019
    Assignee: RAYTHEON COMPANY
    Inventors: Michael D. Fuchs, Carolyn Moore
  • Patent number: 10274596
    Abstract: A method of improving height measurement resolution for a radar system is provided. The method includes periodically generating, at a FFT processor, a set of FFT bins across a frequency range based on a periodic ramping of a FMCW radar signal from a first frequency to a second frequency; selecting a subset of bins from at least one set of FFT bins by implementing a leading-edge-tracking algorithm by at least one processor; implementing a second algorithm on the selected subset of bins to determine a power ratio between the leading edge tracked bin and the remaining bins in the selected subset of bins to determine an interpolated bin number within the selected subset of bins; and determining an approximate distance to the target based on the interpolated bin number within the selected subset of bins. The sets of FFT bins are indicative of a respective plurality of distances.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2019
    Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
    Inventor: David C. Vacanti
  • Patent number: 10255500
    Abstract: An image monitoring system includes: recording means for recording an image captured by a camera via a network; control means for controlling the system so as to display the present image captured by the camera or a past image recorded on the recording means on display means; and moving-object detecting means for detecting a moving object from the image captured by the camera; wherein the moving-object detecting means includes resolution conversion means for generating an image with a resolution lower than the resolution of the image captured by the camera, positional-information output means for detecting a moving object from the image generated by the resolution conversion means and outputting positional information on the detected moving object, and information merging means for merging the positional information of the moving object with the image captured by the camera on the basis of the positional information of the moving object output by the positional-information output means.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2019
    Assignee: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Masaki Demizu, Miki Murakami
  • Patent number: 10078138
    Abstract: Techniques for GNSS positioning using three-dimensional (3D) building models are described. A processor can determine a probable path for a signal from a GNSS space vehicle (e.g., a satellite) to reach the GNSS receiver. The probable path can include one or more specular reflections. The processor can determine a Doppler correction based on the probable path, including inverting a sense of a vector of the Doppler correction for each reflection. The processor can then incorporate the Doppler correction in an estimated velocity of the mobile device, an estimated position of the mobile device, or both.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 18, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Kumar Gaurav Chhokra, Glenn Donald MacGougan
  • Patent number: 10054680
    Abstract: A radar signal target detection and display system employs feedback to produce improved detection and tracking. Portions of the radar images for each antenna channel to search for the target of interest are defined using the track state to define the center of the search region and using the track covariance matrix to define the size of the region. Moving reference processing (MRP) is performed. MRP employs a search centered on the motion state derived from the detection sent to the tracker on the previous coherent processing interval (CPI). Space-time adaptive processing (STAP) is employed on each CPI using a unique set of adaptive degrees of freedom (DOFs) derived from pre-MRP and post-MRP complex radar image amplitudes for each antenna channel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 21, 2018
    Assignee: BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration Inc.
    Inventors: Gregory J. Owirka, Douglas A. Page, Thomas J. Kragh, Howard E. Nichols
  • Patent number: 10048370
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and devices for processing a radar return signal to estimate reflectivity values. An example weather radar system includes one or more antennas configured to transmit a radar signal generated by a transmitter and deliver a radar return signal to a receiver. The example weather radar system further includes one or more processors configured to sample the radar return signal, determine a first signal power measurement of the sampled radar return signal based on Doppler signal processing, determine a quality of the first signal power measurement, and estimate reflectivity values of the sampled radar return signal based on the first signal power measurement when the quality is above a threshold. The example weather radar system further includes memory configured to store the estimated reflectivity values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 14, 2018
    Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
    Inventors: Paul E. Christianson, Robert J. Jensen
  • Patent number: 10002294
    Abstract: An image monitoring system includes a recorder that records an image captured by a camera via a network. The system is controlled to display the present image captured by the camera or a past image recorded on the recorder. A moving object is detected from the image captured by the camera, the detector including a resolution converter for generating an image with a resolution lower than the resolution of the image captured by the camera. A moving object is detected from the image generated by the resolution converter and positional information on the detected moving object is output. The positional information of the detected moving object is merged with the image captured by the camera on the basis of the positional information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 19, 2018
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Masaki Demizu, Miki Murakami
  • Patent number: 9843109
    Abstract: An antenna device includes a plurality of antenna elements respectively configured to receive incident waves coming from an object, a modulating unit respectively configured to modulates a first received signal of the incident waves output from the antenna elements into a second received signal, the second received signals having a plurality of different frequencies and phases corresponding to polarization directions of the received incident waves, a synthesizing unit configured to synthesize the plurality of second received signals and generates a synthetic signal, a signal processing unit, configured to perform predetermined signal processing on the synthetic signal, and an extracting unit configured to extract third received signals for each frequency and each phase from the synthetic signal on which has been performed the predetermined signal processing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 14, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2017
    Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Mitsunori Nakamura, Hiroshi Satoh, Shinichi Nishioka, Hidekazu Nishiuchi
  • Patent number: 9791563
    Abstract: The various embodiments presented herein relate to utilizing an operational single-channel radar to collect and process synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and ground moving target indicator (GMTI) imagery from a same set of radar returns. In an embodiment, data is collected by randomly staggering a slow-time pulse repetition interval (PRI) over a SAR aperture such that a number of transmitted pulses in the SAR aperture is preserved with respect to standard SAR, but many of the pulses are spaced very closely enabling movers (e.g., targets) to be resolved, wherein a relative velocity of the movers places them outside of the SAR ground patch. The various embodiments of image reconstruction can be based on compressed sensing inversion from undersampled data, which can be solved efficiently using such techniques as Bregman iteration. The various embodiments enable high-quality SAR reconstruction, and high-quality GMTI reconstruction from the same set of radar returns.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2017
    Assignee: National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC
    Inventors: Douglas Thompson, Aaron Hallquist, Hyrum Anderson
  • Patent number: 9784830
    Abstract: A transponder, able to equip a cooperative target facing a Doppler radar, includes at least one receiving antenna able to receive a signal transmitted by said radar and a transmitting antenna able to retransmit a signal. The signal received by the receiving antenna is amplitude-modulated before being retransmitted by the transmitting antenna to produce a variation of the radar cross-section of the target, the variation triggering a frequency shift between the signal transmitted and the signal received by the radar comparable to a Doppler echo. The transponder applies notably to the field of radars, more particularly for collaborative systems also operating at low velocity or nil velocity. It applies for example to assisted take-off, landing and deck-landing of drones, in particular rotary-wing drones, as well as manned helicopters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2017
    Assignee: THALES
    Inventors: Patrick Garrec, Pascal Cornic, Régis Levaufre
  • Patent number: 9772402
    Abstract: The present invention is directed to a ground moving target (GMTI) radar that can detect targets, including dismounts, with very small minimum detectable velocities by combining signals from antennas on different spatially separated platforms in a main beam clutter-suppressing spatially adaptive process without requiring that the relative positions of the antenna phase centers be accurately tracked. The clutter nulling is in addition to that provided by the Doppler filters. The spatial displacement provides a narrow main beam clutter null reducing undesired target suppression. The clutter-suppressing spatially adaptive structure is used in both the sum and delta channels of the monopulse processor so that the beam distortion caused by the spatial nulling is compensated for, and the monopulse look-up process is preserved to maintain angle accuracy. Noncoherent integration is employed to recover signal to noise loss resulting from the uncertain relative locations of the platforms.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 26, 2017
    Assignee: SRC, INC.
    Inventors: Harvey K. Schuman, Ping G. Li
  • Patent number: 9730219
    Abstract: For providing time multiplexing sequences for transmit antennas of a linear or two-dimensional MIMO radar unit that includes antennas situated close to one another (collocated MIMO radar), a method that enables a precise angle estimation includes implementing an algorithm with which a transmit sequence of transmitters and their transmit times are determined so that object movements have essentially no influence on the angle estimation. In this way, as a function of previously known quantities, optimal time multiplexing sequences can be determined in each case.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2017
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventors: Kilian Rambach, Markus Karl Vogel
  • Patent number: 9678203
    Abstract: A method for determining at least one parameter for the purpose of correlating two objects (10, 20), particularly the distance (r) and/or the relative speed (v) of the two objects (10, 20). A plurality of transmission pulse sequences following one after the after, each with at least one transmission pulse of an electromagnetic signal, forms a series of transmission pulse sequences. The duration of transmission of the individual transmission pulses is varied from transmission pulse sequence to transmission pulse sequence in order to reduce the susceptibility to interference in the determination of the at least one parameter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2017
    Assignee: Hella KGaA Hueck & Co.
    Inventor: Andreas von Rhein
  • Patent number: 9575173
    Abstract: An image processing device which generates an image where a target object can be discriminated from an object other than the target object. An image processor (15), for echo signals read from a sweep memory (14), calculates a ratio of echo signals indicating a predetermined level or higher among the echo signals of a predetermined number of samples, and generates image data having a display element according to the calculated ratio. This ratio indicates a lower value for an object more isolated and a higher value for an object existing as a larger mass. The image processor (15)acquires color values according to the calculated ratio. Since the target object, such as a ship, is an isolated object and the ratio becomes low, the color values indicate red, and since inland is an object existing as a large mass and the ratio becomes high, the color values indicate green.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2017
    Assignee: Furuno Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Koji Nishiyama
  • Patent number: 9507020
    Abstract: A method to initialize tracks from sensor measurements is provided. The method includes identifying at least one tentative track based on data collected from at least one sensor at three sequential times; initializing a confirm/delete track filter for the identified tentative tracks; and using gates computed from state vector statistics to one of: confirm the at least one tentative track; reprocess the at least one tentative track; or delete the at least one tentative track.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 5, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2016
    Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
    Inventors: Vibhor L. Bageshwar, Nuri Kundak, Milos Vesely
  • Patent number: 9405001
    Abstract: Described are radar systems and methods. A transmit pulse is generated by the radar system. A first portion of the transmit pulse is processed by the radar system to form transmit pulse data. A second portion of the transmit pulse is directed by the radar system into a monitored volume. A return signal is received by the radar system, the return signal at least partially comprising a portion of the second portion of the transmit pulse reflected by one or more objects in the monitored volume. The return signal is processed, by the radar system, to form return signal data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2016
    Assignee: Laufer Wind Group LLC
    Inventors: Hamilton Morris Stewart, Eric David Laufer
  • Patent number: 9366758
    Abstract: This disclosure provides a detection device, which includes a transceiving module for transmitting a transmission signal and receiving an echo caused by the transmission signal to output a reception signal according to an intensity of the echo, a memory module for storing the reception signals for a plurality of measurements, and an interference detecting module for detecting an interference signal from the reception signals, the interference detecting module determining that the reception signal contains the interference signal when the reception signal has an intensity difference with the previous reception signal by more than a predetermined threshold for over a reference time period in one measurement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 2, 2011
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2016
    Assignee: FURUNO ELECTRIC COMPANY LIMITED
    Inventors: Yuriko Onishi, Satoshi Misonoo
  • Patent number: 9268022
    Abstract: This disclosure provides an underwater detection device, which includes a first generator for generating a first transmission signal, a second generator for generating a second transmission signal having a longer pulse width than that of the first transmission signal, an output unit for outputting the transmission signals generated by the first and second generators to a transducer for transmitting underwater ultrasonic waves based on the first and second transmission signals, respectively, receiving the reflection waves caused by the ultrasonic waves, respectively, and converting the reflection waves into a first reception signal and a second reception signal, respectively, an underwater detector for detecting at least one of a presence of a target object and a water bottom depth based on the first reception signal, and a bottom sediment discriminator for discriminating a water bottom sediment type based on the second reception signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2016
    Assignee: FURUNO ELECTRIC COMPANY LIMITED
    Inventors: Takeharu Yamaguchi, Nicolas Borrallo
  • Patent number: 9097800
    Abstract: A light detection and ranging device associated with an autonomous vehicle scans through a scanning zone while emitting light pulses and receives reflected signals corresponding to the light pulses. The reflected signals indicate a three-dimensional point map of the distribution of reflective points in the scanning zone. A radio detection and ranging device scans a region of the scanning zone corresponding to a reflective feature indicated by the three-dimensional point map. Solid objects are distinguished from non-solid reflective features on the basis of a reflected radio signal that corresponds to the reflective feature. Positions of features indicated by the reflected radio signals are projected to estimated positions during the scan with the light detection and ranging device according to relative motion of the radio-reflective features indicated by a frequency shift in the reflected radio signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2015
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventor: Jiajun Zhu
  • Patent number: 9092866
    Abstract: An airborne mine countermeasure system includes a processor coupled to a memory having stored therein software instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform a series of image processing operations. The operations include obtaining input image data from an external image sensor, and extracting a sequence of 2-D slices from the input image data. The operations also include performing a 3-D connected region analysis on the sequence of 2-D slices, and extracting 3-D invariant features in the image data. The operations further include performing coarse filtering, performing fine recognition and outputting an image processing result having an indication of the presence of any mines within the input image data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2015
    Assignee: Lockheed Martin Corporation
    Inventor: Bing Li
  • Patent number: 9030351
    Abstract: A land-based Smart-Sensor System and several system architectures for detection, tracking, and classification of people and vehicles automatically and in real time for border, property, and facility security surveillance is described. The preferred embodiment of the proposed Smart-Sensor System is comprised of (1) a low-cost, non-coherent radar, whose function is to detect and track people, singly or in groups, and various means of transportation, which may include vehicles, animals, or aircraft, singly or in groups, and cue (2) an optical sensor such as a long-wave infrared (LWIR) sensor, whose function is to classify the identified targets and produce movie clips for operator validation and use, and (3) an IBM CELL supercomputer to process the collected data in real-time. The Smart Sensor System can be implemented in a tower-based or a mobile-based, or combination system architecture. The radar can also be operated as a stand-alone system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2015
    Assignee: Vista Research, Inc.
    Inventors: Phillip A. Fox, Joseph W. Maresca, Jr.
  • Patent number: 8912951
    Abstract: A system and method for discrimination and identification of a target including: receiving a radar return signal including target information and clutter information; determining a two-fold forward or forward-backward data matrix from the received signal, using a multi-dimensional folding (MDF) process; computing singular values of the two-fold forward or forward-backward data matrix; using the computed singular values to determine a noise power level of the radar return signal; determining the number of scatterers in the radar return signal according to a predetermined threshold value above the noise power; estimating complex Doppler and azimuth frequencies of each scatterer from the determined number of scatterers using the MDF process; determining dispersive scatterers and non-dispersive scatterers using the estimated Doppler and azimuth complex frequencies of each scatterer; and distinguishing the target information from the clutter information, according to the determined dispersive scatterers and non-di
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 16, 2014
    Assignee: Raytheon Company
    Inventors: Timothy Campbell, Theagenis J. Abatzoglou
  • Patent number: 8912950
    Abstract: This invention relates to sense through the wall radar. A main channel of a radar system (12) is operated at a frequency capable of penetrating opaque barriers such as the wall (24) of a building (22) to sense targets (16) therein. The main channel performance may be impaired by multipath interference, i.e., radar returns resulting from targets (20) outside the building (22) illuminated by reflection from the wall (24). A guard channel of the radar, operating at a higher frequency which does not penetrate the wall (24), is used to identify targets (20) outside the building (22) and suppress the multipath interference they produce in the main channel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 16, 2014
    Assignee: Raytheon Company
    Inventor: Scott E. Adcook
  • Patent number: 8907841
    Abstract: A method for detecting a target in a non-homogeneous environment using a space-time adaptive processing of a radar signal includes normalizing training data of the non-homogeneous environment to produce normalized training data; determining a normalized sample covariance matrix representing the normalized training data; tracking a subspace represented by the normalized sample covariance matrix to produce a clutter subspace matrix; determining a test statistic representing a likelihood of a presence of the target in the radar signal based on the clutter subspace matrix and a steering vector; and comparing the test statistic with a threshold to detect the target.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 9, 2014
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Zafer Sahinoglu, Man-On Pun, Pu Wang
  • Patent number: 8878718
    Abstract: A normalization processing circuit normalizes a position of a complex demodulation signal on a complex plane from an A/D converter, and outputs a normalized complex demodulation signal after the normalization to a multiple-dimensional feature extractor. The multiple-dimensional feature extractor calculates a feature quantity that changes when a person intrudes, a feature quantity that changes in wind and rain, and a feature quantity that changes when a spatially isolated intense electric field exists. A discriminator discriminates that a person has intruded based on the feature quantities of three dimensions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 2010
    Date of Patent: November 4, 2014
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Koichi Ikuta, Naoki Aizawa, Kenji Inomata, Hiroshi Kage, Kazuhiko Sumi
  • Patent number: 8866666
    Abstract: This disclosure provides a signal processing device, which includes a reception signal acquiring module for acquiring reception signals received by a radar antenna, an identifying module for identifying a kind of each reception signal, an extracting module for extracting the reception signal for each kind, and a kind-base signal processing module for performing individual signal processing for each kind of the extracted reception signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 21, 2014
    Assignee: Furuno Electric Company, Limited
    Inventor: Masahiro Nakahama
  • Patent number: 8854255
    Abstract: An airborne moving target indicating (MTI) radar includes an array antenna. A receive processor electronically multiplies the signals received by each antenna element by element enable/disable signals which vary from time to time, thus electronically moving the effective phase center of the antenna array. The motion of the phase center is matched to the moving vehicle speed and direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 7, 2014
    Assignee: Lockheed Martin Corporation
    Inventor: Timothy Ehret
  • Patent number: 8803732
    Abstract: Method and apparatus for simultaneous synthetic aperture radar and moving target detection. A plurality of independent radio frequency signals are generated and applied to separate radiating, receiving antenna elements. Signals are generated as basis functions, such that moving target detection and synthetic aperture radar signals are constructed from individual waveform components in space, time, frequency, and coding. Waveform components are sorted and combined at reception. Received data is simultaneously processed to extract synthetic aperture radar images and moving target indication detections.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 11, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2014
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force
    Inventors: Paul Antonik, Michael C. Wicks
  • Patent number: 8744800
    Abstract: A distance measuring, device including a lookup table storing values to calibrate a Class AB amplifier to produce a pulse pair with the desired characteristics. The distance measuring device analyzes the characteristics of the output signal and recursively adapts the values stored in a lookup table to force the output the power amplifier to meet the required performance characteristics.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2011
    Date of Patent: June 3, 2014
    Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc.
    Inventor: Mark Billsberry
  • Patent number: 8730090
    Abstract: This disclosure provides a signal processing device, which includes a reception signal acquiring module for acquiring reception signals received by a radar antenna, an identifying module for identifying a kind of each reception signal, an extracting module for extracting the reception signal for each kind, and a kind-base signal processing module for performing individual signal processing for each kind of the extracted reception signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2014
    Assignee: Furuno Electric Company, Limited
    Inventor: Masahiro Nakahama
  • Patent number: 8665135
    Abstract: A radar device is disclosed, which includes an antenna for transmitting an electromagnetic wave and receiving an echo signal from a target object while rotating in a horizontal plane, a display module for displaying the target object so as to correspond the echo signal to a position of the target object with respect to the antenna, a speed calculation module for calculating a relative velocity of the antenna and the target object, and a risk level detection module for detecting a risk level of the target object based on the relative velocity of the target object calculated by the speed calculation module. The speed calculation module calculates the relative velocity of the target object based on a change in phases of at least two of the echo signals received at a different time. The display module controls a display mode of the target object based on the risk level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 4, 2014
    Assignee: Furuno Electric Company Limited
    Inventor: Koji Dai