Micro-doppler apparatus and method for trailer detection and tracking

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10845478-B2
Application number	US-201816124569-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 7, 2018
Priority date	Sep 7, 2018
Publication date	Nov 24, 2020
Grant date	Nov 24, 2020

Abstract

The present application generally relates to a method and apparatus for application trailering in a motor vehicle. In particular, the system is operative to determine a trailer type and handling characteristic of a trailer in response to a micro-Doppler signature of the trailer.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of controlling a vehicle comprising:
receiving a data signal indicating a trailering condition;
transmitting an electromagnetic pulse in a direction of a trailer;
receiving a reflected electromagnetic pulse reflected from the trailer;
determining a micro-Doppler signature in response to the reflected electromagnetic pulse;
determining a trailer characteristic in response to a comparison of the micro-Doppler signature to a stored trailer micro-Doppler signature; and
generating a control signal for controlling a vehicle in response to the trailer characteristic.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving a sensor signal indicating the presence of a trailer and wherein the micro-Doppler signature is determined in response to the sensor signal and the reflected electromagnetic pulse.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the trailer characteristic is indicative of a size and weight of a trailer.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the vehicle is an autonomous vehicle.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising filtering the reflected electromagnetic pulse in response to a frequency of the electromagnetic pulse to extract a micro-Doppler signal and wherein the micro-Doppler signature is determined in response to the micro-Doppler signal.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the trailer characteristic is indicative of a handling characteristic of a towed trailer.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the reflected electromagnetic pulse comprises a frequency indicative of a radial velocity and wherein the data signal is generated in response to the radial velocity having a zero magnitude.

8. An apparatus comprising:
a transceiver for transmitting an electromagnetic pulse and for receiving a reflection of the electromagnetic pulse;
a filter for extracting a micro-Doppler characteristic from the reflection of the electromagnetic pulse;
a memory for storing a trailer characteristic;
a processor for comparing the micro-Doppler characteristic to the trailer characteristic, the processor being further operative to generate a control signal in response to the micro-Doppler characteristic corresponding to the trailer characteristic; and
a controller for controlling a vehicle in response to the control signal.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 further comprising a trailer sensor for determining the presence of a trailer and wherein the processor is operative to perform the comparison in response to the presence of the trailer.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the trailer characteristic is indicative of a trailer size and weight.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the transceiver comprises a first transmitter, a second transmitter and a first receiver.

12. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the vehicle is an autonomous vehicle.

13. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the reflection of the electromagnetic pulse comprises a frequency indicative of a radial velocity and wherein the micro-Doppler characteristic is extracted from the reflection of the electromagnetic pulse in response to the radial velocity having a zero magnitude.

14. A method of controlling a vehicle comprising:
transmitting a radar pulse;
receiving a reflection of the radar pulse;
filtering the reflection of the radar pulse in response to a frequency of the radar pulse to extract a micro-Doppler signal;
determining a micro-Doppler characteristic in response to the micro-Doppler signal;
determining a trailer type in response to the micro-Doppler characteristic and a stored trailer characteristic; and
generating a control signal for input to a vehicle control system in response to the trailer type.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising receiving a data signal indicating the presence of a trailer.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein the reflection of the electromagnetic pulse comprises a frequency indicative of a radial velocity and wherein a data signal indicative of a trailer is generated in response to the radial velocity having a zero magnitude.

17. The method of claim 14 wherein vehicle is an autonomous vehicle.

18. The method of claim 14 wherein trailer type is indicative of a trailer size and weight.

19. The method of claim 14 further comprising generating a trailer control signal to engage a trailer brake in response to the trailer type.

Assignees

• Gm Global Tech Operations Llc

Inventors

• Flores Tapia Daniel
• Gray Jeremy P

Classifications

• G01S2013/93185

  Controlling the brakes · CPC title

• G01S13/931 Primary

  of land vehicles · CPC title

• G01S7/292

  Extracting wanted echo-signals · CPC title

• B60R16/0232

  for measuring vehicle parameters and indicating critical, abnormal or dangerous conditions · CPC title

• G01S13/581

  using transmission of interrupted pulse modulated waves and based upon the Doppler effect resulting from movement of targets · CPC title