Vehicle sensing system for classification of vehicle model

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10866310-B2
Application number	US-202016946127-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 8, 2020
Priority date	Sep 6, 2016
Publication date	Dec 15, 2020
Grant date	Dec 15, 2020

Abstract

A sensing system for a vehicle includes at least one radar sensor disposed at the vehicle and having a field of sensing exterior of the vehicle. The radar sensor includes an antenna array having multiple transmitting antennas and multiple receiving antennas. Sensed radar data provides a data set of received sensed radar data that is representative of an object in the field of sensing of the at least one radar sensor, and the data set of received sensed radar data is compared to stored data sets representative of a plurality of vehicle types. Responsive to the data set of received sensed radar data being determined to correspond to a particular stored data set, the sensing system classifies the detected object as a particular vehicle type.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A sensing system for a vehicle, said sensing system comprising:
at least one radar sensor disposed at a vehicle equipped with said sensing system and having a field of sensing exterior of the equipped vehicle;
wherein said at least one radar sensor comprises an antenna array having multiple transmitting antennas and multiple receiving antennas, wherein said transmitting antennas transmit signals and said receiving antennas receive the signals reflected off objects;
a control, wherein radar data sensed by said at least one radar sensor is received at said control;
wherein a data set of received sensed radar data that is representative of an object present in the field of sensing of said at least one radar sensor is compared to stored data sets;
wherein the stored data sets comprise sets of data representative of a plurality of vehicle types;
wherein the data set of received sensed radar data representative of the object is compared with the stored data sets to determine if the data set of received sensed radar data corresponds to a particular stored data set of the stored data sets; and
wherein, responsive to the data set of received sensed radar data being determined to correspond to the particular stored data set of the stored data sets, said sensing system classifies the detected object as a particular vehicle type.

2. The sensing system of claim 1 , wherein the received sensed radar data comprises high definition radar reflection responses.

3. The sensing system of claim 2 , wherein the high definition radar reflection responses are evaluated by data analysis software methods to establish surface responses for objects in the field of sensing of said at least one radar sensor.

4. The sensing system of claim 1 , wherein the stored data sets are available via a deep learning neural network.

5. The sensing system of claim 4 , wherein the deep learning neural network is accessible via a system controller that is capable of controlling the motion of the vehicle.

6. The sensing system of claim 1 , wherein the equipped vehicle includes a vision system comprising at least one exterior viewing camera disposed at the equipped vehicle and an image processor for processing image data captured by the at least one exterior viewing camera, wherein image data captured by the at least one exterior viewing camera is provided to said control.

7. The sensing system of claim 6 , wherein image data acquired from the vision system is processed to establish a confirmation correlation associated with the data set of received sensed radar data that is representative of the object.

8. The sensing system of claim 1 , wherein said sensing system accesses data from external to the equipped vehicle to confirm vehicle classification of the detected object.

9. The sensing system of claim 8 , wherein said sensing system accesses data from Internet of Things (IoT) cloud data sources.

10. The sensing system of claim 1 , wherein the particular stored data set comprises data representative of radar signature of a particular vehicle type.

11. The sensing system of claim 1 , wherein said sensing system comprises two or more individual radar sensors, each having an antenna array having multiple transmitting antennas and multiple receiving antennas, and wherein said two or more individual radar sensors are spaced at a known separation and aligned within a known attitude.

12. The sensing system of claim 11 , wherein information is shared between the individual radar sensors operating in stereo to determine high definition radar reflection responses for objects detected by said sensing system.

13. The sensing system of claim 1 , wherein said at least one radar sensor is disposed at a front portion of the equipped vehicle and senses forward of the equipped vehicle.

14. The sensing system of claim 1 , wherein said at least one radar sensor is disposed at a rear portion of the equipped vehicle and senses rearward of the equipped vehicle.

15. The sensing system of claim 1 , wherein said at least one radar sensor is disposed at a side portion of the equipped vehicle and senses sideward of the equipped vehicle.

16. The sensing system of claim 1 , wherein said at least one radar sensor is part of a sensing system capable of providing automatic emergency braking.

17. The sensing system of claim 1 , wherein said at least one radar sensor is part of a sensing system capable of providing pedestrian detection.

18. The sensing system of claim 1 , wherein said at least one radar sensor is part of a sensing system capable of providing intersection collision mitigation.

19. The sensing system of claim 1 , wherein said sensing system is capable of providing short range communication with a system of another vehicle or an infrastructure system.

20. The sensing system of claim 19 , wherein the short range communication comprises a one-way communication or a two way communication.

21. The sensing system of claim 19 , wherein information communicated by said sensing system includes at least one selected from the group consisting of (i) status of driver assist system functions, (ii) environment maps, (iii) object classification data, (iv) position data, (v) intended route, (vi) vehicle condition monitoring data, (vii) tolling authorization, (viii) parking requests, (ix) driver monitoring, (x) driver preferences and (xi) infrastructure updates.

22. The sensing system of claim 19 , wherein the information communicated includes sensed radar data representative of objects in the field of sensing of the at least one radar sensor.

23. The sensing system of claim 22 , wherein the short range communication comprises a two way communication and the information communicated includes sensed radar data of a radar sensor of another vehicle.

24. The sensing system of claim 23 , wherein the sensed radar data of the at least one radar sensor of the equipped vehicle and sensed radar data of the radar sensor of the other vehicle received via communicated information are combined and evaluated by data analysis software methods to establish enhanced surface responses and classification for objects in the field of sensing of said at least one radar sensor of the equipped vehicle.

25. A sensing system for a vehicle, said sensing system comprising:
at least one radar sensor disposed at a front portion of a vehicle equipped with said sensing system and having a field of sensing forward of the equipped vehicle;
wherein said at least one radar sensor comprises an antenna array having multiple transmitting antennas and multiple receiving antennas, wherein said transmitting antennas transmit signals and said receiving antennas receive the signals reflected off objects;
a control, wherein radar data sensed by said at least one radar sensor is received at said control;
wherein a data set of received sensed radar data that is representative of an object present in the field of sensing of said at least one radar sensor is compared to stored data sets;
wherein the stored data sets comprise sets of data representative of a plurality of vehicle types;
wherein the data set of received sensed radar data representative of the object is compared with the stored data sets to determine if the data set of received sensed radar data corresponds to a particular stored data set of the stored data sets;
wherein, responsive to the data set of received sensed radar data being determined to corre

Assignees

• Magna Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Wodrich Helmut A
• Woodington Walter G

Classifications

• G01S13/867

  Combination of radar systems with cameras · CPC title

• G01S2013/9322

  using additional data, e.g. driver condition, road state or weather data · CPC title

• G01S2013/9314

  Parking operations · CPC title

• G01S13/58 Primary

  Velocity or trajectory determination systems; Sense-of-movement determination systems · CPC title

• G01S2013/93271

  in the front of the vehicles · CPC title