SYSTEM FOR CONTROLLING A TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AT AN INTERSECTION

Abstract

The invention relates to a system for controlling a traffic management at an intersection of at least two traffic routes, wherein the system comprises first radar sensor, which has a first detection region, for detecting road users on the first traffic route, a second radar sensor, which has a second detection region, for detecting road users on the second traffic route, wherein the first detection region and the second detection region overlap in at least one overlapping region, and and an electronic data processing device, which is configured to at least partially combine the sensor data of the first radar sensor and the sensor data of the second radar sensor into combination signals and to control the traffic management system at the intersection at least also as a function of combination signals.

Claims

1. A system for controlling a traffic management at an intersection of at least two traffic routes, comprising: a first radar sensor which has a first detection region for detecting road users on the first traffic route; a second radar sensor which has a second detection region for detecting road users on the second traffic route, wherein the first detection region and the second detection region overlap in at least one overlapping region; and an electronic data processing device configured to at least partially combine sensor data of the first radar sensor and sensor data of the second radar sensor into combination signals and to control the traffic management at the intersection at least partially as a function of combination signals (44).

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the electronic data processing device is configured to obtain information about road users from the sensor data of the first radar sensor and/or the sensor data of the second radar sensor, wherein information about road users in the overlapping region is obtained from sensor data of the first radar sensor and sensor data of the second radar sensor.

3. The system according to claim 1 wherein at least one of the first radar sensor and the second radar sensor is set up and arranged to detect a road user in an inner intersection region and/or an extended inner intersection region and/or several traffic lanes.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein one or more of the first radar sensor and the second radar sensor is configured to determine a position and a radial velocity of road users in a respective detection region of the one or more of the first radar sensor and the second radar sensor in a measurement cycle from the sensor data of the one or more of the first radar sensor and the second radar sensor.

5. The system according to claim 1 wherein the electronic data processing device is configured to transmit information about detected road users to other detected road users.

6. The system according to claim 1 wherein the electronic data processing device is configured to transmit information about future control measures to detected road users.

7. The system according to claim 1 wherein one or more of the first radar sensor, the second radar sensor, and the electronic data processing device are configured to assign detected road users to one or more of a vehicle class, a traffic lane, and a direction of travel.

8. The system according to claim 7, wherein the one or more of the first radar sensor, the second radar sensor, and the electronic data processing device are configured to provide data for at least one traffic lane or one travel trajectory that is curved.

9. The system according to claim 1 wherein the system is configured for one or more of Stop Bar Detection, Queue Length, Advance Detection, Speed Enforcement, Red Light Enforcement, (Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) applications, and for counting and/or classifying road users.

10. The system according to claim 1 wherein the first radar sensor and the second radar sensor are synchronised in terms of time.

11. The system according to claim 1 wherein the first radar sensor and the second radar sensor are configured to transmit radar signals in a form of frequency ramps (FMCW), wherein the radar signals differ in frequency ramp duration, frequency ramp stroke and/or frequency ramp repetition frequency.

12. The system according to claim 1 wherein the first radar sensor and the second radar sensor are configured to emit frequency modulated radar waves and wherein the first radar sensor and the second radar sensor use different start frequencies and/or centre frequencies.

13. The system according to claim 1 wherein the first radar sensor and the second radar sensor are configured to emit phase modulated radar waves (PMCW), wherein digital codes used for phase modulation for the first radar sensor and for the second radar sensor differ.

14. The system according to claim 1 wherein both the first radar sensor and the second radar sensor are set up and arranged to detect a road user in an inner intersection region and/or an extended inner intersection region and/or several traffic lanes.

15. The system according to claim 10 wherein synchronization is alternate or offset in time.

16. The system according to claim 13 wherein the digital cods for the first radar sensor and the second radar sensor are orthogonal to one another.

Description

[0036] In the following, an example of an embodiment of the invention will be explained in more detail by way of the attached figures:

[0037] They show:

[0038] FIG. 1—the schematic depiction of a traffic intersection,

[0039] FIG. 2—the intersection from FIG. 1 with two schematically depicted radar sensors, and

[0040] FIG. 3—the schematic flowchart of a method for controlling the traffic flow.

[0041] FIG. 1 shows an intersection 1 where four traffic routes 2 meet. Each traffic lane has several lanes 4, which can be provided for different directions of travel. In addition, each traffic route 2 has a cycle path 6 and a footpath 8 on both sides.

[0042] The lanes 4 approaching the intersection have a stop line 10. The outer intersection region is bordered inwards by a black quadrilateral 12 which has been laid through the 4 stop lines 10. Everything outside the quadrilateral 12 is called the outer intersection region. The connecting lines 14 of the intersecting traffic routes 2 define the inner intersection region in the form of an irregular quadrilateral. The connecting lines are shown as bold dashed lines and correspond to the course of the intersecting traffic routes 2 that they would have had without the intersection 1. Trajectories of motorized vehicles may intersect in this area. Some of these trajectories are shown as bold dotted lines. The area between the inner intersection region 16 and the quadrilateral 12 is the extended inner intersection region.

[0043] FIG. 2 shows the same intersection 1 in a top view. In addition, a first radar sensor 18 and a second radar sensor 20 are now drawn. The first radar sensor 18 monitors with its first detection region 22, the boundaries of which are shown schematically by two solid lines, in particular the traffic lane 2 entering from the right. The radar sensor 20 monitors with its second detection region 24, the boundaries of which are shown schematically by two dashed lines, in particular the traffic lane 2 entering from above. An overlapping region 26 is shaded in which the first detection area 20 and the second detection area 24 overlap. Road users located in this overlapping region 26 are consequently detected by both the first radar sensor 18 and the second radar sensor 20. In the application shown, this is in particular a pedestrian crossing 28 and a cyclist crossing 30, i.e. parts of the traffic routes where in particular vulnerable road users, namely cyclists and pedestrians, cross a dangerous area, namely a road.

[0044] FIG. 3 schematically shows the flowchart of a method with which the traffic flow can be controlled. In a first step 32, in the example of an embodiment shown, radar signals and sensor data are recorded by two radar sensors. The two radar sensors emit radar waves that are reflected by the road users. In this case, sensor data from the first radar sensor 34 and sensor data from the second radar sensor 36 are fed to a raw target capture 38, which can also be referred to as raw target detection and in which, in particular, the position and a radial velocity of each individual detected road user are determined by the respective radar sensor, preferably in a single measurement cycle. These are then brought together along the lines 40 and combined in the electronic data processing device in process step 42. The resulting combination signals 44 are fed to a control unit 46, which is responsible for the actual control of the traffic route and traffic flow.

REFERENCE LIST

[0045] 1 intersection [0046] 2 traffic route [0047] 4 traffic lane [0048] 6 cycle lane [0049] 8 footpath [0050] 10 stop line [0051] 12 quadrilateral [0052] 14 connection line [0053] 16 inner intersection region [0054] 18 first radar sensor [0055] 20 second radar sensor [0056] 22 first detection region [0057] 24 second detection region [0058] 26 overlapping region [0059] 28 pedestrian crossing [0060] 30 cyclist crossing [0061] 32 first step [0062] 34 sensor data of the first radar sensor [0063] 36 sensor data of the second radar sensor [0064] 38 raw target detection [0065] 40 line [0066] 42 process step [0067] 44 combination signal [0068] 46 control system