US 12,461,200 B2
Detection of blocked radar sensor
Sebastian Marsch, Niederwerrn (DE)
Assigned to MAGNA ELECTRONICS SWEDEN AB, Vårgårda (SE)
Appl. No. 17/634,096
Filed by MAGNA ELECTRONICS SWEDEN AB, Vargarda (SE)
PCT Filed Aug. 12, 2020, PCT No. PCT/EP2020/072647
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Feb. 9, 2022,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/028483, PCT Pub. Date Feb. 18, 2021.
Claims priority of application No. 19191505 (EP), filed on Aug. 13, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0349994 A1, Nov. 3, 2022
Int. Cl. G01S 7/40 (2006.01); G01S 13/58 (2006.01); G01S 13/931 (2020.01)
CPC G01S 7/4039 (2021.05) [G01S 13/584 (2013.01); G01S 13/931 (2013.01)] 10 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A radar system for a vehicle, comprising:
a radar transceiver unit including a radar sensor; and
an electronic control unit configured to receive, from the radar transceiver unit, a signal representing the radar signal, wherein the electronic control unit is further configured to:
determine, based on the signal representing the radar signal, a range-Doppler representation of the radar signal by processing the signal representing the radar signal such that received radar signal energy is represented as a function of distance and relative velocity;
determine a plurality of predetermined azimuth angles for the radar sensor, where each predetermined azimuth angle of the plurality of predetermined azimuth angles corresponds to a respective relative velocity;
calculate a relative velocity for each predetermined azimuth angle of the plurality of predetermined azimuth angles;
integrate at least part of the range-Doppler representation of the radar signal over time to obtain each of: a first distribution of detected energy over distance for a first azimuth angle of the plurality of predetermined azimuth angles, and at least one other distribution of detected energy over distance for at least one other azimuth angle of the plurality of predetermined azimuth angles, different from the first azimuth angle;
compare the first distribution of detected energy over distance to the at least one other distribution of detected energy over distance to generate a measure of similarity; and
determine if the measure of similarity satisfies a similarity criterion, to thereby distinguish between a blockage of the radar sensor and a case where there are no objects within a field of view of the radar sensor.