WHEEL DETECTION AND ITS APPLICATION IN OBJECT TRACKING AND SENSOR REGISTRATION

摘要

A method and system are disclosed for tracking a remote vehicle which is driving in a lateral position relative to a host vehicle. Target data from two radar sensors are provided to an object detection fusion system. Wheels on the remote vehicle are identified as clusters of radar points with essentially the same location but substantially varying Doppler range rate values. If both wheels on the near side of the remote vehicle can be identified, a fusion calculation is performed using the wheel locations measured by both radar sensors, yielding an accurate estimate of the position, orientation and velocity of the remote vehicle. The position, orientation and velocity of the remote vehicle are used to trigger warnings or evasive maneuvers in a Lateral Collision Prevention (LCP) system. Radar sensor alignment can also be calibrated with an additional fusion calculation based on the same wheel measurement data.

主权项

1. A method for tracking a remote vehicle which is moving in a region of interest in proximity to a host vehicle, said method comprising:
providing data from two radar sensors onboard the host vehicle, where the radar sensors have coverage areas which overlap such that at least part of the remote vehicle is sensed by both of the radar sensors when the remote vehicle is in the region of interest, and where the data from the radar sensors includes radar points identifying position and Doppler range rate of points on the remote vehicle; identifying two or more wheels on the remote vehicle from the radar points; providing wheel location measurements for the two or more wheels from the two radar sensors, where the wheel location measurements identify a range and an azimuth angle of a center of each of the wheels relative to each of the radar sensors; computing, using a microprocessor, a position, orientation and velocity of the remote vehicle relative to the host vehicle, using a fusion calculation including the wheel location measurements; and computing an alignment calibration angle for one of the radar sensors using a fusion calculation including the wheel location measurements.