Target recognition apparatus

A target recognition apparatus, which recognizes an object in a predetermined measurement cycle by using a radar sensor, in which a basic detection area is defined where a direction of the object is uniquely determined from a phase difference of received signals, an additional detection area is defined which is adjacent to the basic detection area and where if a target exists therein, a virtual image is detected in the basic detection area due to phase folding, a folding area is defined which is in the basic detection area and where the virtual image appears, and the basic detection area and the additional detection area are defined as a search area, and an image sensor in which an angular range wider than the search area of the radar sensor is defined as an imaging area, comprising:

• a candidate detection section which detects a target candidate in the measurement cycle, provided that a target exists in the basic detection area, based on a detection result of the radar sensor;
• a candidate addition section which adds, regarding each target candidate detected in the folding area by the candidate detection section, a target candidate determined provided that the target candidate detected in the folding area is a virtual image, and a corresponding real image exists in the additional detection area;
• a tracking section which determines, regarding each target candidate detected and added by the candidate detection section and the candidate addition section, presence/absence of a history connection with the target candidate detected in a past measurement cycle;
• a correspondence determination section which determines, regarding each target candidate for which presence/absence of the history connection is determined by the tracking section, whether or not an image target corresponding to the target candidate exists in image targets which are detected by the image sensor;
• and
• a likelihood calculation section which sets a likelihood of the image target being a virtual image to an initial value for each target candidate determined to have no history connection by the tracking section and updates the likelihood for each target candidate determined to have a history connection by the tracking section based on a determination result of the correspondence determination section.