US 10,852,410 B2Granted

Angle estimating apparatus and angle estimating method

AssigneeDENSO TEN Limited

InventorsKazuo Shirakawa, Yasuhiro Kurono

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Abstract

A receiving circuit uses a weight set by calibration to weight signals incident to receiving elements. A storing unit stores a measured value of a mode vector reflecting characteristics of the receiving circuit in an error-free state of the weight for the receiving circuit characteristics and further correlates and stores an incident signal angle estimated by an estimating unit, and for the error-free state, a calculation result of an evaluation value by an evaluation function capable of calculating the evaluation value, which varies according to the incident signal angle and error. A detecting unit calculates the evaluation value based on the stored measured value of the mode vector and the evaluation function and detects an occurrence of the error based on comparison of the calculated evaluation value and the stored evaluation value, when the estimated incident signal angle corresponds to a value close to the stored incident signal angle.

Claims15

Dependent claims

An angle estimating apparatus for estimating an angle between vehicles comprising:

a receiving circuit, including a signal processor and a plurality of receiving elements, that receives respective signals transmitted from a transmitting device and reflected by a vehicle, configured to use a weight to weigh the respective signals relative to characteristics of the plurality of receiving elements, wherein the weight is set by a calibration process and the respective signals are at least one of ultrasonic signals, electromagnetic signals, or frequency modulated continuous wave signals;
an estimating circuit configured to estimate an incident angle of the respective signals relative to the vehicle using the weight of the respective signals;
a storing circuit configured to store a measured value of a mode vector reflecting characteristics of the receiving circuit the incident angle of the respective a reference value for an evaluation value that varies according to at least the incident angle of the respective signals;
and
a detecting circuit configured to calculate the evaluation value based on an evaluation function and the measured value of the mode vector stored by the storing circuit, when the incident angle of the respective signals estimated by the estimating circuit is an angle corresponding to a value within a predefined degree of the incident angle of the respective signals stored by the storing circuit, and to correct a calibration error when it has been determined by the detecting circuit that an error occurred when a ratio of the evaluation value stored by the storing circuit and the calculated evaluation value differs from a predefined value.

2 more elements

An angle estimating apparatus for estimating an angle between vehicles, comprising:

a receiving circuit, including a signal processor and a plurality of receiving elements, that receives respective signals transmitted from a transmitting device and reflected by a vehicle, configured to use a weight to weigh respective signals reflected by the vehicle relative to characteristics of the plurality of receiving elements, wherein the weight is set by a calibration process and the respective signals are at least one of ultrasonic signals, electromagnetic signals, or frequency modulated continuous wave signals;
an estimating circuit configured to estimate an incident angle of the respective signals relative to the vehicle using the weight of the respective signals;
a storing circuit configured to store a measured value of a mode vector reflecting characteristics of the receiving circuit of the weight for the characteristics of the receiving circuit;
and
a detecting circuit configured to calculate a matrix W (equation (33)) based on the measured value of the mode vector stored by the storing circuit and a function capable of calculating an evaluation value that varies according to the incident angle of the respective signals and error, the detecting circuit further configured to detect occurrence of the error based on the calculated matrix W, a noise-specific vector En obtained by a multiple signal classification technique for a plurality of incident angles θm (m=1 to M), and a given function (equation (34)), when the incident angle of the respective signals estimated by the estimating circuit is a given incident angle,
W
=
[
LV
-
H
V
-
H
⁢
Ω
H
]
⁢
⁢
(
L
=
[
0
1
×
2
,
1
]
)
(
33
)
f
⁡
(
C
,
θ
)
=
E
n
⁢
W
H
(
34
)
where, in equations (33) and (34), V represents a matrix obtained from eigenvectors that decompose into eigenvalues, a given matrix (U1−1U2) used for angle estimation at the estimating circuit, Ω represents the eigenvalues of the given matrix, H represents complex conjugate transpose, C represents the error, and θ represents the incident angle estimated by the estimating circuit, wherein the detecting circuit corrects the error when it has been determined that the error occurred.

49 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 14/878,846Filed 8 Oct 2015
Priority: JP 2014-2084179 Oct 2014
Published: US 2016/0103207 A114 Apr 2016
Granted: 1 Dec 2020
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification5 codes

G01S 13/42
Systems determining position data of a target: simultaneous measurement of distance and other co-ordinates
G01S 3/74
Using radio waves: multi-channel systems specially adapted for direction-finding, i.e. having a single antenna system capable of giving…
G01S 7/4021
Of parts of a radar system: of receivers
G01S 13/931
For anti-collision purposes: of land vehicles