Method for determining a visual range
AssigneeDaimler-Benz Aktiengesellschaft
InventorsHubert Gramling, Horst Hahn, Wolfgang Lauer
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Abstract
A method for determining the visual range improves the visual range measurement adopted as a basis, to the end that the measurement of the visual range can take place using one emitter and using one receiver, which are disposed to be stationary. The method permits the determination of the visual range, even though an obstacle is situated within the field of view. A comparison of a measured backscatter signal with a specimen curve permits the determination of the visual range from the intensity curve obtained, without any need, for this purpose, of further information such as, for example, the direction from which the backscatter signal comes.
Claims8
A method for determining a visual range from a backscatter signal of a light pulse emitted by a light source, the method comprising the steps of:
- directly coupling-in into a receiver a small part of the emitted light pulse for normalization of the backscatter signal with an intensity of the light pulse;
- measuring in the receiver the intensity of the backscatter signal as a function of a transit time elapsed since the light pulse was emitted;
- concluding from the transit time of the backscatter signal a distance from a backscatterer;
- adapting a specimen curve of the intensity progression, dependent upon at least two parameters, to the measured backscatter signal by determining the at least two parameters;
- and
- employing at least one of said parameters as a measure of the visual range.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.