Distance measuring system, particularly for spacing of moving vehicles
AssigneeRobert Bosch GmbH
InventorsJohannes Nier, Heins Bollhagen, Berthold Wocher
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Radiation is directed between moving vehicles, and the time between transmission and reception of waves, such as microwaves, is determined similarly to radar timing, to determine the spacing between the vehicles. To prevent spurious responses and ambiguities, the signal reflected from the leading vehicle to the trailing vehicle is modulated; modulation can be controlled either automatically, by providing a modulation control signal associated with a given lane of roadway or under driver-command.
Claims11
Non-contacting distance measurement apparatus to determine the distance between leading and trailing vehicles moving in a predetermined traffic lane of a multiple traffic lane highway between two sequentially positioned vehicles having means (50) secured to the trailing vehicle to propagate radiation towards the leading vehicle;
- means (58) to receive returned radiation;
- means (65) to determine the transit time of the radiation between the vehicles to determine their distance based on known propagation speed of the radiation,
- comprising
- a frequency generator (38) to modulate the signal reflected from the leading vehicle to the trailing vehicle;
- traffic lane signalling means (14, 15, 16) respectively associated with a respective traffic lane (I, II, III) and providing respective, different lane identification outputs;
- and means (21, 22;
- 24-27) responsive to said lane identification output defined by the respective traffic lanes, and coupled to the frequency generator (38) to determine a respective modulation frequency.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.