Detecting automobile seat occupant by microwave absorption

摘要

A system (10) and method (100) for detecting (104) a vehicle occupant (12) in order to determine (108) a deployment force of a vehicle's air bag system. The system (10) of the present invention has a microwave emitter (20) that emits (102) low power microwaves in short duty cycle pulses at a target (14) having a reflective surface (24) therein. A detector (20) is used to detect (104) microwaves that are reflected from the target (14). Should a human occupant (12) be present in the vehicle, the microwaves will be absorbed by the occupant and according to the method (100) of the present invention, the position, size and weight of the occupant can be determined based on calibrating (106) the detected microwaves. The calibrated data is used to calculate (106) a deployment force for the air bag (17).