Vehicle collision avoidance system

A collision avoidance system for use on a vehicle comprising:

• a housing which is mounted in a vehicle side view mirror position;
• a mirror mounted on a rotatable shaft in said housing;
• an acoustical ranging unit mounted on a rotatable shaft in said housing and including an acoustical transducer and a conical wave guide;
• a stepper motor suitably engaged to the rotatable shaft of said acoustical ranging unit;
• an angle encoder comprising a plate of semicircular configuration having detents about an arcuate periphery thereof mounted to each rotatable shaft;
• a detect mechanism which rides along the periphery of each angle encoder plate and produces electrical signals relating to an exact location about the semicircle;
• an alarm and at least two displays, one corresponding to a front end of the vehicle and another corresponding to the rear of the vehicle;
• and
• a microcomputer which receives signals from the transducer, indicating an object in a signal path, calculates the distance to the object, calculates the speed of the object relative to the speed of the vehicle and, if the distance is less than an operator programmed distance within the microcomputer, causes visualization of the speed on an appropriate display as well as causing an audible alarm to sound.

A system for avoiding a vehicular collision by detecting an object in proximity to a vehicle at any angle relative thereto including:

• rotatable means for creating an ultrasonic signal and receiving an echo thereof;
• means for calculating the time between creation and receiving of said signal;
• means for determining from which rotational position said echo is received;
• means for modifying said time calculation relative to speed of a vehicle to which the system is engaged;
• means for generating a warning signal if said modified time calculation generates a value within predefined limits;
• and
• means for resetting said system to cause said signal creating means to generate and receive an echo of another ultrasonic signal at an adjacent rotational position to which said signal creating means are rotated.

A system for avoiding a vehicular collision by detecting an object in proximity to a vehicle at any angle relative thereto including:

• rotatable means for creating an ultrasonic signal and receiving an echo thereof;
• means for calculating the time between creation and receiving of said signal;
• means for converting the calculated time to a distance equivalent;
• means for determining from which rotational position said echo is received;
• means for modifying said distance equivalent relative to speed of a vehicle to which the system is engaged;
• means for generating a warning signal if said modified distance equivalent generates a value within predefined limits;
• and
• means for resetting said system to cause said signal creating means to generate and receive an echo of another ultrasonic signal at an adjacent rotational position to which said signal creating means are rotated.