Angle extent estimation method for a motor vehicle object detection system
US6002983A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Aug 27, 1997 |
| Grant date | Dec 14, 1999 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Aug 27, 2017 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01S2013/9319
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A method of operation for a motor vehicle object detection system is described, in which the extent angle of an identified target is accurately determined by applying a point source scatterer identification technique to data at the periphery of a composite return. Return amplitude data from one or more complete scans of the sensor beam are collected and compared with a target threshold to identify objects in the viewing angle, thereby forming an array of amplitude data associated with successive beam positions for each identified object. In each array, the left-most and right-most pair of amplitude data points associated with successive beam positions are selected and individually used to compute the angle of a point source scatterer which would be responsible for that data pair. The computed scatterer angles are taken as the left and right edges of the target and used to determine the angle extent of the identified object, which in turn, enables reliable determination as to whether the identified object is in or out of the vehicle travel path, and what, if any, vehicle response is appropriate to maintain a given headway or avoid a collision with the object.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.