Radar device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9459342-B2
Application number	US-201314035618-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 24, 2013
Priority date	Mar 24, 2011
Publication date	Oct 4, 2016
Grant date	Oct 4, 2016

Abstract

A radar device capable of reducing load of a clustering process and improving the tracking performance is provided.
A tracking calculation unit 116 of a radar device 100 performs a clustering process, in which an input detected data set is grouped into clusters, and a tracking process, in which an averaged value and a prediction value are calculated for each of the clusters. In the radar device 100 , the shape of cluster areas for grouping the detected data is defined to be a fan shape. The clustering process and tracking process using fan-shaped cluster areas can reduce the load of the clustering process and improve the tracking performance.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A radar device that radiates a transmission signal from a predetermined measure point, receives reflected waves that have been reflected by targets to be measured to obtain detected data including at least position information, and detect the targets by processing the detected data, the radar device comprising:
a tracking processing unit configured to:
group the detected data into one or more cluster areas using at least the position information, that defines each of the cluster areas as one of clusters,
perform a clustering process, in which a central value of each of the clusters is calculated, and based on the position information of the detected data, determine whether a detected datum is within a predetermined distance from an area of an already formed one of the clusters, and when the detected datum is within the predetermined distance from the area of the already formed one of the clusters, update at least one of a gravity center, a width, and a height of the already formed one of the clusters, and
perform a tracking process, in which each of the targets is defined as one item, a distance between a position of each of the items that have been detected and the central value of each of the clusters is calculated, when the distance for any of the items is determined to have a predetermined value or less, a cluster is determined to correspond to an item, and when the distances from all of the items that have been detected are more than the predetermined value, the cluster is determined as a new item, an averaged position that is the position which has been averaged is calculated using the central value of the cluster for each of the items, wherein

each of the cluster areas is a fan-shaped cluster area that has a center at the measure point and that is surrounded by:
two arcs having identical center angles and different radii; and
two line segments on the different radii.

2. The radar device according to claim 1 , wherein
the detected data includes relative speed information of a target as viewed from the measure point,
in the clustering process, the detected data having relative speeds which fall within an identical relative speed range are grouped into one of the clusters that is identical, and an average speed that is an average of the relative speeds is calculated for each of the clusters, and
in the tracking process, when a difference between an averaged speed of the item and the average speed of the cluster is in a predetermined range, the cluster is determined to correspond to the item, and the averaged speed is calculated using the average speed of the cluster for each of the items.

3. The radar device according to claim 1 , wherein the transmission signal is a pulse signal having a predetermined pulse width.

4. The radar device according to claim 2 , wherein the transmission signal is a pulse signal having a predetermined pulse width.

5. The radar device according to claim 3 , wherein the pulse signal is an Ultra Wide Band (UWB) radio signal.

6. The radar device according to claim 4 , wherein the pulse signal is an Ultra Wide Band (UWB) radio signal.

7. The radar device according to claim 1 , wherein when the detected datum is not within the predetermined distance from the area of the already formed one of the clusters, the tracking processing unit is configured to form a new cluster.

8. The radar device according to claim 7 , wherein when the new cluster is formed, the tracking processing unit is configured to calculate at least one of a gravity center, a width, and a height of the new cluster.

9. A radar device that radiates a transmission signal from a predetermined measure point, receives reflected waves that have been reflected by targets to be measured to obtain detected data including at least position information, and detect the targets by processing the detected data, the radar device comprising:
circuitry configured to:
group the detected data into one or more cluster areas using at least the position information, that defines each of the cluster areas as one of clusters,
perform a clustering process, in which a central value of each of the clusters is calculated, and based on the position information of the detected data, determine whether a detected datum is within a predetermined distance from an area of an already formed one of the clusters, and when the detected datum is within the predetermined distance from the area of the already formed one of the clusters, update at least one of a gravity center, a width, and a height of the already formed one of the clusters, and
perform a tracking process, in which each of the targets is defined as one item, a distance between a position of each of the items that have been detected and the central value of each of the clusters is calculated, when the distance for any of the items is determined to have a predetermined value or less, a cluster is determined to correspond to an item, and when the distances from all of the items that have been detected are more than the predetermined value, the cluster is determined as a new item, an averaged position that is the position which has been averaged is calculated using the central value of the cluster for each of the items, wherein

each of the cluster areas is a fan-shaped cluster area that has a center at the measure point and that is surrounded by:
two arcs having identical center angles and different radii; and
two line segments on the different radii.

Assignees

• Furukawa Electric Co Ltd
• Furukawa Automotive Systems Inc

Inventors

• Itohara Hiroyuki
• Aoyagi Yasushi

Classifications

• G01S7/295 Primary

  Means for transforming co-ordinates or for evaluating data, e.g. using computers · CPC title

• G01S13/58

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

• G01S13/72

  for two-dimensional [2D] tracking, e.g. combination of angle and range tracking, track-while-scan radar · CPC title

• G01S13/66 Primary

  Radar-tracking systems; Analogous systems · CPC title