US 11,884,292 B1Granted

Radar sensor system for vehicles

AssigneeAurora Operations, Inc.

InventorsBo Li, Chunshu Li

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Abstract

A radio detection and ranging (RADAR) sensor system for vehicles, such as autonomous vehicles, includes a first RADAR sensor configured to provide first RADAR data descriptive of an environment of a vehicle having a first antenna configured to output a first RADAR beam having a first azimuthal component over a first angular range and a second RADAR sensor configured to provide second RADAR data descriptive of the environment of the vehicle, the second RADAR sensor having a second antenna configured to output a second RADAR beam having a second azimuthal component that is narrower than the first azimuthal component of the first RADAR beam, wherein the second RADAR sensor is configured to sweep the second RADAR beam over a second angular range closer to a rear of the vehicle than a front of the vehicle to obtain the second RADAR data.

Claims17

Dependent claims

A radio detection and ranging (RADAR) sensor system for an autonomous truck, the RADAR sensor system comprising:

(a) a first RADAR sensor configured to generate first RADAR data descriptive of an environment of the autonomous truck, the first RADAR sensor comprising a first antenna configured to output a first RADAR beam having a first azimuthal component over a first angular range;
and
(b) a second RADAR sensor configured to provide second RADAR data descriptive of the environment of the autonomous truck, the second RADAR sensor comprising a second antenna configured to output a second RADAR beam having a second azimuthal component that is narrower than the first azimuthal component of the first RADAR beam, wherein the second RADAR sensor is configured to sweep the second RADAR beam over a second angular range closer to a rear of the autonomous truck than a front of the autonomous truck to obtain the second RADAR data, the second angular range configured to be proximate to a trailer coupled to the autonomous truck;
wherein a transmit pattern of the second antenna comprises power focused in a smaller azimuthal component than a transmit pattern of the first antenna.

1 more element

An autonomous vehicle control system comprising:

(a) one or more processors;
and
(b) one or more non-transitory, computer-readable media storing instructions that are executable to cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
(i) obtaining first RADAR data comprising one or more first data points associated with a first angular range of an environment of an autonomous truck from a first RADAR sensor, wherein the first RADAR sensor comprises a first antenna configured to output a first RADAR beam having a first azimuthal component;
(ii) obtaining second RADAR data comprising one or more second data points associated with a second angular range of the environment of the autonomous truck from a second RADAR sensor, wherein obtaining the second RADAR data comprises sweeping a second RADAR beam over a second angular range,
wherein the second RADAR sensor comprises a second antenna configured to output the second RADAR beam having a second azimuthal component that is narrower than the first azimuthal component of the first RADAR beam, wherein the second RADAR sensor is configured to sweep the second RADAR beam over the second angular range which is closer to a rear of the autonomous truck than a front of the autonomous truck to obtain the second RADAR data, the second angular range configured to be proximate to a trailer coupled to the autonomous truck;
wherein a transmit pattern of the second antenna comprises power focused in a smaller azimuthal component than a transmit pattern of the first antenna;
and
(iii) detecting one or more objects in the environment of the autonomous truck based on the first RADAR data and the second RADAR data.

6 more elements

An autonomous truck, comprising:

(a) a first RADAR sensor comprising a first antenna configured to output a first RADAR beam over a first angular range, the first RADAR beam having a first azimuthal component;
(b) a second RADAR sensor comprising a second antenna configured to output a second RADAR beam having a second azimuthal component that is narrower than the first azimuthal component of the first RADAR beam, wherein the second RADAR sensor is configured to sweep the second RADAR beam over a second angular range which is closer to a rear of the autonomous truck than a front of the autonomous truck, the second angular range configured to be proximate to a trailer coupled to the autonomous truck;
wherein a transmit pattern of the second antenna comprises power focused in a smaller azimuthal component than a transmit pattern of the first antenna;
and
(c) an autonomous vehicle control system comprising one or more processors and one or more non-transitory, computer-readable media storing instructions that are executable to cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
(i) obtaining first RADAR data comprising one or more first data points associated with the first angular range of an environment of the autonomous truck from the first RADAR sensor;
(ii) obtaining second RADAR data comprising one or more second data points associated with the second angular range of the environment of the autonomous truck from the second RADAR sensor, wherein obtaining the second RADAR data comprises sweeping the second RADAR beam over the second angular range;
and
(iii) detecting one or more objects in the environment of the autonomous truck based on the first RADAR data and the second RADAR data.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.