Obstacle detection; vehicle parking aid

摘要

In a manoeuvring aid for road vehicles, which detects obstacles in the region near behind the vehicle 13 when its reversing, transmitter units 14, 16 and receiver units 17, 18, each of which comprises several transmitter elements or receiver elements respectively, the radiating angle phi i and receiver angle eta j of which are arranged in fan shapes which overlap behind the vehicle, are at the rear corners of the vehicle 13. The transmitter elements 14/1 to 14/7, 16/1 to 16/7 are activated consecutively, whereas the receiver elements 17/1 to 17/7, 18/1 to 18/7 all receive simultaneously. The direction of transmission of the radiation is determined by the time of reception of echoes from the obstacle, and the direction of reception by the receiver element that is activated by the radiation. Simple trigonometry then gives the obstacle range. The embodiment described uses infrared radiation, although ultrasonic radiation is also stated to be usable. In place of several receiver elements, a single scanning element may be used.