Integrated Electromagnetic-Acoustic Sensor and Sensing

An obstacle detector, comprising:

• a radar transceiver configured to transmit an electromagnetic (EM) transmit signal to an EM input of a first EM-acoustic sensor and configured to obtain an EM receive signal from an EM output of a second EM-acoustic sensor;
• and
• an acoustic transceiver configured to provide an acoustic transmit signal to an acoustic input of the first EM-acoustic sensor and configured to obtain an acoustic receive signal from an acoustic output of the second EM-acoustic sensor;
• wherein the obstacle detector is configured to combine an EM baseband or intermediate frequency (IF) signal corresponding to the EM receive signal and an acoustic baseband or IF signal corresponding to the acoustic receive signal, and to determine a distance to an obstacle based at least in part on the combination.

A vehicle comprising an obstacle array detector, wherein the obstacle detector comprises:

• a radar transceiver configured to transmit an electromagnetic (EM) transmit signal to an EM input of a first EM-acoustic sensor and configured to obtain an EM receive signal from an EM output of a second EM-acoustic sensor;
• and
• an acoustic transceiver configured to provide an acoustic transmit signal to an acoustic input of the first EM-acoustic sensor and configured to obtain an acoustic receive signal from an acoustic output of the second EM-acoustic sensor;
• wherein the obstacle detector is configured to combine an EM baseband or intermediate frequency (IF) signal corresponding to the EM receive signal and an acoustic baseband or IF signal corresponding to the acoustic receive signal, and to determine a distance to an obstacle based at least in part on the combination.

A method for detecting an obstacle, the method comprising:

• by an obstacle detector:
• transmitting an electromagnetic (EM) transmit signal;
• receiving an EM receive signal;
• providing an acoustic transmit signal;
• receiving an acoustic receive signal;
• converting the EM receive signal to an EM baseband or intermediate frequency (IF) signal and converting the acoustic receive signal to an acoustic baseband or IF signal;
• combining the EM baseband or IF signal and the acoustic baseband or IF signal;
• and
• determining a distance to the obstacle based at least in part on the combination.