There is provided a method for acquiring information regarding terrain and/or objects within a volume, said method comprising: transmitting signals over time (node signals) from one or more nodes of a wireless network (subject network); receiving the node signals after their traversing a medium (node resultant signals) using one or more receiving units (node signal receivers); measuring one or more physical attributes (signal attributes) for one or more of the node resultant signals, wherein at least one of the signal attributes is of at least one of the following types: (a) time difference between node signal transmission by the applicable transmitting subject network node and node resultant signal reception by the applicable node signal receiver; (b) phase difference between the transmitted node signal and the received node resultant signal; (c) power ratio between the transmitted node signal and the received node resultant signal; (d) frequency difference between the received node resultant signal and the transmitted node signal (Doppler shift); and/or (e) direction from which the node resultant signal has arrived, and/or its projection on one or more predefined axes; estimating the spatial location as a function of time for one or more of the transmitting subject network nodes and/or one or more of the node signal receivers; and analyzing one or more of the node resultant signals and/or one or more of the signal attributes to extract information regarding objects along the signal's paths (mapping information).

A method for determining a movement state of a rigid body relative to an environment using a multiplicity of measurement data sets relating to objects in the environment around the body. Each measurement data set includes a measurement time, a Doppler velocity, and an azimuth angle in relation to a respective sensor reference system. The method includes determining a movement state of the body relative to the environment as a velocity vector and an angular velocity vector in a body reference system. At least one set of conditions that includes a plurality of measurement data sets is created. A function dependent on Doppler velocity deviations between estimated Doppler velocities and the Doppler velocities of the measurement data sets included in the set of conditions is minimized in a regression analysis for the set of conditions. The estimated Doppler velocities are regarded as dependent variables in the regression analysis.

A method and device for determining a first highly precise position of a vehicle. The method includes acquiring surrounding-area data values using at least one radar sensor of the vehicle, the surrounding-area data values representing a surrounding area of the vehicle; and determining a rough position of the vehicle as a function of the acquired surrounding area data values. In addition, the method includes determining surrounding-area feature data values as a function of the determined rough position of the vehicle, the surrounding-area feature data values representing at least one surrounding-area feature and a second highly precise position of the at least one surrounding-area feature; and determining the first highly precise position of the vehicle as a function of the at least one surrounding-area feature, according to predefined localization criteria, the first highly precise position of the vehicle being more precise than the rough position of the vehicle.

A self-driving semi-truck can include tractor comprising a drive system, a first set of sensors mounted to the tractor, a fifth wheel, and cargo trailer comprising a kingpin coupled to the fifth wheel. The cargo trailer can include a Mansfield bar having a second set of sensors mounted thereto, where the second set of sensors have a rearward field of view from the trailer. The semi-truck can include an autonomous control system that receives sensor data from the first set of sensors and the second set of sensors, and analyzes the live sensor view to autonomously operate the drive system along a current route.

Systems and method are provided for controlling an autonomous vehicle. The systems and methods obtain first and second time spaced point clouds based on three-dimensional position data, of a scene outside of the autonomous vehicle, from sensor of the autonomous vehicle. The systems and methods position align a static aspect of the scene in the first point cloud with a static aspect of the scene in the second point cloud to obtain position aligned first and second point clouds. The systems and methods determine, via a processor, a velocity of a moving object in the position aligned first and second point clouds. The systems and methods perform an autonomous vehicle control function using the velocity of the moving object.

There is provided an estimation device that estimates a living body orientation. The estimation device includes: transceivers that transmit transmission signals using M transmission antenna elements arranged to surround a predetermined range including a living body, and receive reception signals using N receiving antenna elements; and a circuit that, for each of M sets of N reception signals corresponding to transmitted M transmission signals, performs calculation of a characteristic quantity based on the N reception signals included in the set, the characteristic quantity with a greater value indicating a waveform having a larger amplitude and higher regularity, identifies a first transmission antenna element corresponding to a first characteristic quantity having a greatest value among M characteristic quantities by comparing the M characteristic quantities obtained by the calculation with each other, and estimates the living body orientation to indicate a predetermined direction based on the first transmission antenna element identified.

Various aspects of the disclosure relate to millimeter wave ranging with six degrees of freedom. For example, a multi-gigabyte link (e.g., an IEEE 802.11ad link or an 802.11ay link) and RF/Antenna diversity modules can be used to conduct round trip time (RTT) distance measurements between an anchor point and a station. Relative location information (e.g., degrees of freedom) between the wireless devices can then be determined based on the distance measurements.

In accordance with an example implementation of this disclosure, a multifunction radar transceiver comprises a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter is operable to modulate data onto a first radar burst, beamform the first radar burst, and transmit the first radar burst via a plurality of antenna elements. The receiver is operable to receive a reflection of the first radar burst, perform beamforming of the reflection of the first radar burst, demodulate the first radar burst to recover the data modulated on the first radar burst, and determine characteristics of an object off of which the first radar burst reflected based on characteristics of the reflection of the first radar burst.

An aid system for the visually impaired or blind includes a first tag positionable on an object and having a first receiver/transmitter that receives an interrogation and transmits a data signal containing an identification code, a user interface device for a user associated to a second tag having a second receiver/transmitter that transmits a data signal containing an identification code of the user interface device and receives a data signal; a local receiver detecting a location of the first and second tags, and a control unit communicating with the local receiver and storing data, wherein the data signals contain: from the tag to the receiver, the identification code; from the receiver to the control unit, the identification code and the location of the first and second tags; and from the control unit to the user interface device, the location and identification code of the first tag.

Aspects of the present disclosure involve a method for determining a road vehicle velocity and slip angle. The current disclosure presents a technique for identifying a vehicle's velocity and slip angle, in the vehicle's coordinate frame. In one embodiment, two or more sensors are orthogonally located on the underside of the vehicle in order to obtain longitudinal and lateral velocity information for slip angle determination. In another embodiment, the two or more sensors can include an array of elements for beam steering and receiver beamforming. Spatial diversity is leveraged in identifying at least a slip angle and/or velocity of the vehicle. Doppler mapping is used as a means for slip angle determination and the clutter ridge of the Doppler map is embraced for identifying the slip angle.