Systems and methods for sensing the surroundings of vehicles via vehicle mounted radar sensors. A directional transmitter array transmits radiation into the region surrounding the vehicle and a receiver array receives the radiation reflected back. Controllers may use self-velocity calculation modules, wall detection modules, dynamic range enhancement modules, double reflection detection modules and the like to harvest useful information such as the vehicles relative speed and the identification of hazards in its surroundings.

Provided are a method and apparatus for determining the location of a pedestrian, and the method includes obtaining, from a camera, a plurality of images of an outside of a vehicle and obtaining, from a radar, a plurality of radar measurement values of the outside of the vehicle, determining a pedestrian object included in the plurality of images, setting a plurality of object size candidate values for the pedestrian object, and determining longitudinal location candidate values for the plurality of object size candidate values, respectively, selecting radar measurement values located within a preset distance from the plurality of longitudinal location candidate values, and determining a final longitudinal location value of the pedestrian object, based on the selected radar measurement values.

An illustrative example method is for estimating a friction characteristic of a surface beneath a vehicle that has a plurality of wheels contacting the surface. The method includes determining a wheel speed of at least one of the wheels, determining a velocity of the at least one of the wheels separately from determining the wheel speed, determining a wheel slip of the at least one of the wheels based on the determined wheel speed and the determined velocity, and determining the friction characteristic based on the determined wheel slip. Determining the velocity separately from the wheel speed is accomplished using at least one detector that provides an output corresponding to a range rate, such as a RADAR or LIDAR detector.

Methods and systems for estimating vehicle velocity based on radar data. The methods and systems include receiving a set of range-Doppler-beam, RDB, maps from radars located on a vehicle and performing an optimization process that adjusts an estimate of vehicle velocity so as to optimize a correlation score. The optimization process includes iteratively: spatially registering the set of RDB maps based on the current estimate of vehicle velocity, determining the correlation score based on the spatially registered set of RDB maps, and outputting an optimized estimate of vehicle velocity from the optimization process when the correlation score has been optimized. The methods and systems control the vehicle based at least in part on the optimized estimate of vehicle velocity.

An in-vehicle sensor device has an active sensor, an odometry sensor and a processing part. The processing part calculates estimated detection values of a stationary object by using position information parameters, a mounting angle of the active sensor, and a detection error of the odometry sensor. The position information parameters specify a relative position relationship between the stationary object and the active sensor. The processing part updates the position information parameters, the mounting angle, and the detection error simultaneously on the basis of a difference between the estimated detection value which has been calculated, and the position values of the stationary object detected by the active sensor.

An in-vehicle sensor device has an active sensor, an odometry sensor and a processing part. The processing part calculates estimated detection values of a stationary object by using position information parameters, a mounting angle of the active sensor, and a detection error of the odometry sensor. The position information parameters specify a relative position relationship between the stationary object and the active sensor. The processing part updates the position information parameters, the mounting angle, and the detection error simultaneously on the basis of a difference between the estimated detection value which has been calculated, and the position values of the stationary object detected by the active sensor.

The present technology is directed to identifying road surface features and underground features using a ground-penetrating radar (GPR) sensor. The present technology may include activating the GPR sensor on a vehicle to transmit a pulsed electromagnetic signal toward a ground surface. The present technology may also include receiving the pulsed electromagnetic signal reflected from the road surface features and underground features by the GPR sensor. The present technology may also include filtering the pulsed electromagnetic signal to generate a shallow-GPR data or deep-GPR data, wherein the shallow-GPR data is used to identify the road surface features and the deep-GPR is used to identify the underground features. The present technology may also include adjusting operational parameters based on at least one of the road surface features and the underground features.

The present technology is directed to identifying road surface features and underground features using a ground-penetrating radar (GPR) sensor. The present technology may include activating the GPR sensor on a vehicle to transmit a pulsed electromagnetic signal toward a ground surface. The present technology may also include receiving the pulsed electromagnetic signal reflected from the road surface features and underground features by the GPR sensor. The present technology may also include filtering the pulsed electromagnetic signal to generate a shallow-GPR data or deep-GPR data, wherein the shallow-GPR data is used to identify the road surface features and the deep-GPR is used to identify the underground features. The present technology may also include adjusting operational parameters based on at least one of the road surface features and the underground features.

A method for calibrating a patrol vehicle speed, comprising initiating a calibration cycle at a speed detection radar unit mounted in a vehicle, operating the vehicle to generate a vehicle speed signal using the speed detection radar unit and exiting the calibration cycle if the vehicle speed signal matches an observed speed from an independent source signal.

A method for calibrating a patrol vehicle speed, comprising initiating a calibration cycle at a speed detection radar unit mounted in a vehicle, operating the vehicle to generate a vehicle speed signal using the speed detection radar unit and exiting the calibration cycle if the vehicle speed signal matches an observed speed from an independent source signal.