A method for operating a sensor arrangement in a motor vehicle on the basis of a DSI protocol is disclosed. The sensor arrangement has a central unit as a master and a plurality of sensor units, each having a receiver as slaves controlled by the master. The central unit and the sensor units are connected to a bus line and via the bus cable a communication takes place between the central unit and the sensor units. The method includes selecting a first group of sensor units by the central unit for a first measurement, assigning a first time slot or first time slots within a first cycle respectively to one of the sensor units from the first group by means of the central unit, and broadcasting corresponding first time slot information from the central unit to the sensor units.

A system may include a first sensor of a first type and a second sensor of a second different type and having a detector. A field of view of the second sensor may be formed by a plurality of regions of interest (ROIs) defined by the detector. Control circuitry of the system may be configured to perform operations including obtaining, from the first sensor, first sensor data representing an environment, and determining, based on the first sensor data, information associated with a feature of interest within the environment. The operations may also include determining, based on the information, a particular ROI that corresponds to an expected position of the feature at a later time, obtaining a plurality of ROI sensor data from the particular ROI instead of obtaining full-resolution sensor data, and analyzing the plurality of ROI sensor data to determine one or more attributes of the feature.

Devices, non-transitory computer-readable media and methods for providing a haptic signal based upon a detection of an object are disclosed. For example, the processor of a device may transmit a first ultrasonic signal via an ultrasonic emitter and detect an object based upon a receiving of a reflected signal via an ultrasonic detector, where the reflected signal comprises a reflection of the first ultrasonic signal from the object. The processor may further monitor for a second ultrasonic signal via the ultrasonic detector. The device may be associated with a user, and the second ultrasonic signal may be associated with a teammate of the user. The processor may also select whether to provide an instruction to a haptic actuator when the object is detected, based upon whether the second ultrasonic signal is received via the ultrasonic detector.

Devices, non-transitory computer-readable media and methods for providing a haptic signal based upon a detection of an object are disclosed. For example, the processor of a device may transmit a first ultrasonic signal via an ultrasonic emitter and detect an object based upon a receiving of a reflected signal via an ultrasonic detector, where the reflected signal comprises a reflection of the first ultrasonic signal from the object. The processor may further monitor for a second ultrasonic signal via the ultrasonic detector. The device may be associated with a user, and the second ultrasonic signal may be associated with a teammate of the user. The processor may also select whether to provide an instruction to a haptic actuator when the object is detected, based upon whether the second ultrasonic signal is received via the ultrasonic detector.

A vehicle flow monitoring system for detecting both a car count and direction of movement of vehicles passing a point of interest. The vehicle flow monitoring system generally includes a car counter which may include a microcontroller and a pair of distance sensors. Each of the distance sensors is oriented toward a unique point of interest. Each of the distance sensors includes a threshold distance reading which is used to detect whether a vehicle has passed underneath the car counter. The system may determine direction of travel of the vehicle based on which of the distance sensors is passed by the vehicle first. The microcontroller may assign an Event ID to each time a vehicle passes each of the sensors, with the Event ID being used to identify when and if the vehicle should be counted, or whether a non-vehicle object has passed the car counter.

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is provided. The UAV includes a main body, a plurality of motors connected to the main body, each of the plurality of motors having a rotor blade, a plurality of ultrasonic sensors located at least one of the plurality of motors and the main body, and transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves to and from a ground surface, and measuring distances from the ground surface, a gyro sensor disposed at the main body and maintaining the UAV in a horizontal state, and a controller disposed at the main body, detecting an unevenness of the ground surface based on the distances from the plurality of ultrasonic sensors to the ground surface, generating a control signal whether to land on the ground surface or not in response to the detection of the unevenness, and transmitting the control signal to the plurality of motors.

An obstacle-avoidance system for a vehicle, the obstacle-avoidance system may comprise: a communication device; a plurality of sensors, the plurality of sensors configured to detect collision threats within a predetermined distance of the vehicle; and a processor. The processor may communicatively couple to the communication device and the plurality of sensors and configured to receive navigation commands being communicated to a control system via said communication device. The processor may also receive, from at least one of said plurality of sensors, obstruction data reflecting the position of an obstruction. Using the obstruction data, the processor identifies a direction for avoiding said obstruction. In response, the processor may output, via said communication device, a derivative command to said control system causing the vehicle to travel in said flight direction.

The invention relates to a method for detecting at least one object (9a, 9b, 9c) in a surrounding area (7) of a motor vehicle (1) by means of a driver assistance system (2), in which a transmission signal is transmitted in each of chronologically consecutive measurement cycles via a distance sensor (4), and a first and a second echo of the transmission signal reflected by the at least one object (9a, 9b, 9c) are received; and, by means of a control device (3), a first distance value (a1) is determined based on the first echo, a second distance value (a2) is determined based on the second echo, and a height of the at least one object (9a, 9b, 9c) is determined based on the first and the second distance value (a1, a2); wherein the measurement cycles are carried out during a relative movement of the motor vehicle (1) with respect to the at least one object (9a, 9b, 9c); in at least two of the measurement cycles, a difference value is determined in each case, which describes a difference between the second distance value (a2) and the first distance value (a1); and the height of the at least one object (9a, 9b, 9c) is determined based on a change in the respective difference value determined in the at least two measurement cycles.

An obstacle detection apparatus includes: a transceiver transmitting a transmission wave and receiving an ultrasonic wave; a transmission controller; a receiver circuit detecting a signal level of a receiving wave; a distance calculator sequentially calculating a distance to an object reflecting the transmission wave; a memory storing the distance to the object; an obstacle determinator determining whether the object is an obstacle; and a reception level monitoring device monitoring the signal level of the receiving wave before the transmission wave being transmitted. When the signal level exceeds a predetermined threshold, the obstacle determinator sets a first number of determination data elements to an increased number of determinations for a predetermined period to be used for determining whether the object is the obstacle, as being larger than a second number of determination data elements used when the signal level does not exceed the predetermined threshold.

A system for monitoring animate presence, including one or more ultrasonic transducers configured to transmit an ultrasonic signal comprising a train of pulses of a selected frequency, one or more ultrasonic receivers configured to receive an echo signal in response to the transmitted ultrasonic signal, the echo signal including multiple pulses in response to the train of pulses of the transmitted signal, an electronic circuit for comparing the transmitted signal to the received echo signal to identify a phase shift between the transmitted signal and the received echo signal, and additionally identifying differences between the multiple pulses of the received echo signal; wherein the electronic circuit identifies animate presence based on the identified phase shift and the identified differences.