A position determining device and an operating method thereof are disclosed. According to the present invention, a position of a neighboring vehicle is determined by using the differences of the receiving time and strengths between two sensing signals received from two ultrasound sensors installed in a vehicle. Therefore, it is possible to estimate a position and a moving path for neighboring vehicles while driving a vehicle.

Automotive radar systems may employ a reconfigurable connection of antennas to radar transmitters and/or receivers. An illustrative embodiment of an automotive radar system includes: a radar transmitter; a radar receiver; and a digital signal processor coupled to the radar receiver to detect reflections of a signal transmitted by the radar transmitter and to derive signal measurements therefrom. At least one of the radar transmitter and the radar receiver are switchable to provide the digital signal processor with signals from each of multiple combinations of transmit antenna and receive antenna.

The present invention refers to a system (110) for controlling a sound-based sensing of subjects (120) in a space, wherein the sensing is performed by a network (100) of network devices (102,103,104) distributed in the space. At least one network device comprises a generating unit and a plurality of network devices located differently from the generating unit comprising a detecting unit. The system comprises a controlling unit (111) for controlling the at least one generating unit to generate a predetermined sound and the plurality of detecting units to detect the sound after a multi-channel propagation through at least a portion of the space and to generate a sensing signal indicative of the detected sound, and a determination unit (113) for determining a status and/or position of at least one subject in the space based on the plurality of sensing signals.

An underwater positioning system comprises a plurality of underwater beacons. A beacon, in response to a signal sent by an underwater vehicle, responds with a signal comprising one or more characteristics to identify the beacon. Components of an access algorithm are provided to the underwater vehicle. The access algorithm determines a location of the beacon based on the beacon's identity. A position of the vehicle is determined based at least in part on the location of the beacon.

Disclosed is a LADCP and USBL combined observation device and a use method thereof. The device includes a cable winch system, a mounting frame, a LADCP system, a USBL beacon and a correction system. The LADCP system, the USBL beacon and the correction system can be mounted to the mounting frame by adopting a hardware support platform. The cable winch system can drive the LADCP system to deploy or recover along a vertical section. The LADCP system is used to obtain the current velocity of a single small profile, and the USBL beacon can locate the underwater position information, and the correction system can obtain data information in the seawater where the mounting frame is located, so as to calculate an absolute current velocity according to the velocity obtained by the LADCP system and the current data obtained by the correction system.

Provided are methods for detecting objects within a vehicle. The methods can include emitting at least one auditory signal within the vehicle during at least one first time interval; measuring a second auditory signal emitted by an object within the vehicle during the second time interval subsequent to the at least one first time interval, where the emission of the second auditory signal is caused by the emission of the least one first auditory signal; determining a location of the object within the vehicle based on the measurement of the second auditory signal; and generating an alert to a user indicating the location of that object. Systems and computer program products are also provided.

A contactless detection device, comprising a detection surface; a plurality of actuators acoustically coupled to the detection surface; an ultrasonic acoustic wave detector; an electronic and/or IT computer, the device being configured to detect one or more element(s) by repeating the following steps: focusing ultrasonic acoustic waves emitted by the actuators into a focusing region, obtained from waves emitted by the actuators and to which a first time reversal method has been applied, and measuring a duration between emitting the waves and receiving an echo of these waves by the detector, wherein the computer is configured to calculate the control signals such that the detection waves are focused successively into focusing regions of different shape and/or sizes.

A distance determination system is disclosed. In various embodiments, the system includes a transmitter configured to transmit a first pulse at a first frequency and a second pulse at a second frequency; a receiver configured to receive audio signals; and a processor coupled to the receiver and configured to detect whether an intermodulation product of the first pulse and the second pulse is present and above a threshold amplitude in an audio signal received by the receiver; and determine, based at least in part on whether the intermodulation product of the first pulse and the second pulse is detected to be present and above a threshold amplitude, whether a distance to a surface is greater than a distance corresponding to the first pulse and the second pulse.

A detection system to check the position of a pipeline in a bed of a body of water and extending along a predetermined route; the system comprising a device, which is configured to be moved in a moving direction and along the predetermined route and comprises a support, which mainly extends transversely to the moving direction, a quantity of acoustic wave sources, which are mounted on the support and are configured to transmit acoustic waves through the body of water and the bed of the body of water, and a quantity of acoustic wave receivers, which are located along the support and are configured to receive reflected acoustic waves and emit reception signals related to the reflected acoustic waves; and a processing unit comprising an acquisition unit, which is configured to receive, from the outside, at least one datum selected within a group of known or expected data comprising: the known value of the cross-section of the pipeline, an expected value of the trenching height of the pipeline, the known shape of the pipeline, the expected bathymetric profile of the bed of the body of water, and an expected value of the position of the pipeline; the processing unit being configured to calculate a parameter related to the position of the pipeline in the bed of the body of water on the basis of the reception signals and of said at least one datum selected within the group of data.

A method includes configuring a transmitter to provide at least three output levels used to form an output signal. The method further includes adjusting a duration of at least one of the output levels to control an average value of the output signal independently of an amplitude of a first harmonic of the output signal.