A method for determining soiling of a first ultrasonic sensor of a motor vehicle in which a first ultrasonic signal is emitted by means of the first ultrasonic sensor and the first reflected ultrasonic signal is received by means of the first ultrasonic sensor, and in which a second ultrasonic signal that differs from the first ultrasonic signal is emitted into the environment substantially at the same time as the first ultrasonic signal by a second ultrasonic sensor, wherein the second ultrasonic signal is received by means of the first ultrasonic sensor and the first received ultrasonic signal is compared with the second received ultrasonic signal by an electronic computing device, and the soiling is determined on the basis of the comparison.

A method for detecting a screening of a sensor device of a motor vehicle by an object. The method includes receiving at least one echo signal, captured by the sensor device, that characterizes a spacing between the sensor device and the object, determining a capture region for the sensor device based on the at least one received echo signal, checking whether the capture region is being screened by the object at least in some regions, assigning the at least one echo signal to a discrete spacing value from multiple discrete spacing values, determining, for each discrete spacing value a power value based on the echo signal, and deciding, by a classifier based on the power values, whether a predetermined proportion of the capture region is being screened by the object.

According to an embodiment, an information processing apparatus includes a position acquiring unit, and an occupancy level calculating unit. The position acquiring unit is configured to acquire position information representing a position where a target exists or no target exists, the position being measured by a sensor. The occupancy level calculating unit is configured to calculate an occupancy level distribution representing a level of occupancy, by the target, of each of a plurality of regions existing along a direction from the position of the sensor to the position indicated by the position information, based on the position information and measurement accuracy of the sensor, the occupancy level distribution being based on a non-measurement probability distribution representing a probability that measurement is not performed by the sensor.

A method determines a blockage of a sensor of a plurality of sensors of an ego vehicle. The method determines a prior blockage probability of the sensor of the plurality of sensors; receives sensor data of the sensor of the plurality of sensors; determines a performance of the sensor based on the received sensor data; calculates a posterior blockage probability based on the prior blockage probability of the sensor and the performance of the sensor; and determines the blockage of the sensors using the calculated posterior blockage probability.

A method for detecting a ground echo signal of an ultrasonic sensor of a vehicle. The ultrasonic sensor emits a signal at a first frequency or having a first frequency profile, the signal is reflected by a roadway surface and the reflected signal is received by the ultrasonic sensor and/or by an additional ultrasonic sensor. The received echo signal is filtered with the aid of a matched filter, the matched filter being adapted to the emitted signal and having a characterizing frequency. In this way a ground echo signal is determined from the filtered signal. The instantaneous vehicle speed is determined and an expected Doppler shift of the reflected signal is determined as a function of the instantaneous vehicle speed. The first frequency or the first frequency profile and/or the characterizing frequency of the matched filter is/are adapted as a function of the Doppler shift to be expected.

A shield member electromagnetically shielding at least part of an electric circuit has a first end and a second end. The first end is configured to be constantly connected to a ground wire to electromagnetically shield at least part of the electric circuit; and the second end is configured to be selectively connectable to a power source, the shield member being configured to generate heat when energized while the second end is connected to the power source. Accordingly, the shield member electromagnetically shielding at least the part of the electric circuit can serve as a heater for preventing freezing and snow attachment.

Embodiments of the present invention relates to a self-moving apparatus and a method for controlling same, the self-moving apparatus including: a housing; a movement module for driving the housing to move; an ultrasonic module configured to transmit an ultrasonic signal and receive an echo signal formed through reflection of an obstacle; and a control module installed on the housing and connected to the ultrasonic module, to implement an ultrasonic detection function by processing the echo signal, thereby controlling a movement mode of the movement module. The control module can control disabling of the ultrasonic detection function according to a received preset signal.

Piezoelectric sensor controllers may facilitate detection and identification of various potential fault states including noise-induced sensor blindness. In one illustrative embodiment, a sensor controller includes: a transmitter to drive a piezoelectric element during actuation intervals to generate acoustic bursts; a receiver to sense a response of the piezoelectric element to echoes of each acoustic burst, the receiver including a front-end amplifier; a processing circuit coupled to the transmitter and to the receiver, the processing circuit operable to apply echo-detection processing to said response; and a blindness detector to detect saturation of the front-end amplifier during or prior to the measurement intervals.

Systems and methods for determining degradation in perception sensors of an autonomous vehicle are provided. A method can include obtaining, by a computing system comprising one or more computing devices, first data from a first sensor of an autonomous vehicle and second data from a second sensor of the autonomous vehicle. The first data and the second data can include detection level data. The computer-implemented method can further include obtaining, by the computing system, third data from the first sensor. The third data can include processed data. The computer-implemented method can further include determining, by the computing system, a sensor degradation condition for the first sensor based at least in part on the first data, the second data, and the third data, and implementing, by the computing system, a sensor correction action for the first sensor based at least in part on the sensor degradation condition.

A driving assistance device that detects an object around the own vehicle by using an ultrasonic sensor mounted on the own vehicle and performs driving assistance control of the own vehicle. The driving assistance device drives an oscillator of the ultrasonic sensor so that ultrasonic waves are transmitted from the oscillator. The driving assistance device acquires a duration and a frequency of reverberation occurring in association with driving of the oscillator. The driving assistance device determines, on a basis of the acquired duration and frequency of the reverberation, whether an oscillation characteristic of the reverberation has changed. The driving assistance device changes, on a basis of a result of determination of the oscillation characteristic of the reverberation, at least one execution mode of the driving assistance control and determination of abnormality in the driving assistance control.