JP-2026074719-A - Orientation estimation device

JP2026074719AJP 2026074719 AJP2026074719 AJP 2026074719AJP-2026074719-A

Abstract

[Problem] To provide a direction estimation device that can suppress the decrease in direction estimation accuracy due to the influence of errors in the position coordinates of antenna elements, etc. [Solution] The direction estimation device 1 comprises a transmitting unit 2, a receiving unit 3 including an array antenna 31 that receives the reflected wave of the transmitted wave from an object, and an estimation unit 52 that estimates the angle of arrival of the reflected wave as the direction of the object. The array antenna has an antenna element group including a plurality of first antenna elements and a plurality of second antenna elements arranged at reference intervals in a predetermined one direction. The estimation unit 52 sets two sub-arrays that overlap when the antenna element group is translated in one direction. The estimation unit 52 determines the amount of phase rotation at which the correlation with the second received vector based on the received signal from the other sub-array is strongest when the first received vector based on the received signal from one sub-array is phase-rotated. Then, the estimation unit 52 determines the direction of the object based on the amount of phase rotation and the reference interval. [Selection Diagram] Figure 1

Inventors

大藪弘和
高畑利彦

Assignees

株式会社デンソー
トヨタ自動車株式会社
株式会社ミライズテクノロジーズ

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20241021

Claims (13)

A compass device, A transmitting unit (2) that transmits radio waves of a predetermined frequency as a transmitted wave, A receiving unit (3) includes an array antenna (31) that receives the reflected wave of the transmitted wave from an object, The system includes an estimation unit (52) that estimates the angle of arrival of the reflected wave as the orientation of the object, The array antenna has a group of antenna elements including a plurality of first antenna elements arranged at predetermined reference intervals in a predetermined direction and a plurality of second antenna elements arranged at different positions from the first antenna elements, at predetermined reference intervals in the same direction. The estimation unit sets two sub-arrays in the antenna element group that overlap when translated in one direction, and determines the amount of phase rotation that maximizes the correlation between the first received vector based on the received signal in one sub-array and the second received vector based on the received signal in the other sub-array when the first received vector based on the received signal in one sub-array is phase-rotated, and determines the orientation of the object based on the determined amount of phase rotation and the reference interval, in an orientation estimation device.
The array antenna is configured to include a plurality of virtual antenna elements generated by MIMO using a plurality of transmitting antenna elements constituting the transmitting unit and a plurality of receiving antenna elements constituting the receiving unit. The orientation estimation device according to claim 1, wherein when one of the sub-arrays is translated in one direction so as to overlap with the other sub-array, the antenna elements that overlap with each other have one of the transmitting antenna elements and the receiving antenna elements in common.
The orientation estimation device according to claim 1, wherein the first antenna element and the second antenna element are arranged in one direction at a distance of 10 times or more the reference interval.
The system includes a plurality of oscillators (51) that generate reference signals used when transmitting the transmitted wave and when receiving the reflected wave, The direction estimation device according to claim 1, wherein when one sub-array is translated in one direction so as to overlap with the other sub-array, the antenna elements that overlap with each other share the same reference signal used when transmitting the transmitted wave and when receiving the reflected wave.
Multiple oscillators are mounted on different sensors (SD1, SD2), The orientation estimation device according to claim 4, wherein when one of the sub-arrays is translated in one direction so that it overlaps with the other sub-array, the antenna elements that overlap each other use a common reference signal.
A compass device, A transmitting unit (2) that transmits radio waves of a predetermined frequency as a transmitted wave, A receiving unit (3) includes an array antenna (31) that receives the reflected wave of the transmitted wave from an object, The system includes an estimation unit (52) that estimates the angle of arrival of the reflected wave as the orientation of the object, The aforementioned array antenna is The first antenna element group includes a plurality of first antenna elements arranged at predetermined first reference intervals in a predetermined one direction, and a plurality of second antenna elements arranged at different positions from the first antenna elements at predetermined first reference intervals in the same direction, The second antenna element group includes a plurality of third antenna elements arranged at predetermined second reference intervals in a direction intersecting the aforementioned one direction, and a plurality of fourth antenna elements arranged at different positions from the third antenna elements at predetermined second reference intervals in the other direction, The estimation unit, Within the array antenna, two sub-arrays that overlap when translated in one direction are set as the first sub-array, and the amount of phase rotation that results in the strongest correlation between the first received vector based on the received signal of one of the first sub-arrays and the second received vector based on the received signal of the other first sub-array is determined as the first phase rotation amount, and the orientation of the object corresponding to the one direction is determined based on the determined first phase rotation amount and the first reference interval. An orientation estimation device that sets two sub-arrays that overlap when translated in the other direction within the array antenna as a second sub-array, determines the amount of phase rotation that results in the strongest correlation between the third received vector based on the received signal of one of the second sub-arrays and the fourth received vector based on the received signal of the other second sub-array when the third received vector based on the received signal of one of the second sub-arrays is phase-rotated, determines the orientation of the object corresponding to the other direction based on the determined second phase rotation amount and the second reference interval.
The direction estimation device according to claim 6, wherein the estimation unit determines a weight vector when determining the first phase rotation amount, reconstructs the received signals of the antenna elements arranged in the other direction based on the weight vector and the received signals of the antenna elements arranged in one direction in the array antenna, and determines the second phase rotation amount based on the reconstructed received signals.
The array antenna is configured to include a plurality of virtual antenna elements generated by MIMO using a plurality of transmitting antenna elements constituting the transmitting unit and a plurality of receiving antenna elements constituting the receiving unit. When one of the first subarrays is translated in one direction so that it overlaps with the other first subarray, the virtual antenna elements that overlap each other have a common transmitting antenna element and a common receiving antenna element. The orientation estimation device according to claim 6 or 7, wherein when one of the second subarrays is translated in the other direction so as to overlap with the other second subarray, the antenna elements that overlap with each other have one of the transmitting antenna elements and the receiving antenna elements in common.
The first antenna element and the second antenna element are arranged in one direction at a distance of 10 times or more the first reference interval. The orientation estimation device according to claim 6 or 7, wherein the third antenna element and the fourth antenna element are arranged at a distance of 10 times or more the second reference interval in the other direction.
The system includes a plurality of oscillators (51A, 51B) that generate reference signals used when transmitting the transmitted wave and when receiving the reflected wave, When one of the first subarrays is translated in one direction so that it overlaps with the other first subarray, the antenna elements that overlap each other share the same reference signal used when transmitting the transmitted wave and when receiving the reflected wave. The direction estimation device according to claim 6 or 7, wherein when one of the second subarrays is translated in the other direction so as to overlap with the other second subarray, the antenna elements that overlap with each other share the same reference signal used when transmitting the transmitted wave and when receiving the reflected wave.
Multiple oscillators are mounted on different sensors (SD1, SD2), When one of the first subarrays is translated in one direction so that it overlaps with the other first subarray, the antenna elements that overlap each other use a common reference signal. The orientation estimation device according to claim 10, wherein when one of the second subarrays is translated in the other direction so as to overlap with the other second subarray, the antenna elements that overlap each other use a common reference signal.
The orientation estimation device according to claim 5 or 11, wherein at least some of the multiple sensors are positioned differently from the others.
The orientation estimation device according to claim 1 or 6, wherein the estimation unit estimates the orientation of the object using the ESPRIT method.

Description

This disclosure relates to an orientation estimation device that estimates the orientation of an object using radio waves. Direction estimation devices utilize array antennas composed of multiple antenna elements. While increasing the antenna aperture length is effective in improving resolution in array antennas, attempting to achieve this by evenly distributing many antenna elements leads to increased costs and power consumption. In contrast, methods for obtaining resolution equivalent to that of a large aperture with a small number of antenna elements arranged at unequal intervals, using MIMO or similar technologies, are disclosed, for example, in Patent Document 1. MIMO is an abbreviation for Multi Input Multi Output. Patent No. 7023565 This is a schematic diagram of the orientation estimation device according to the first embodiment.This is an explanatory diagram illustrating the arrangement of actual antenna elements in the direction estimation device according to the first embodiment.This is an explanatory diagram illustrating the array antenna of the direction estimation device according to the first embodiment.This is an explanatory diagram illustrating the phase of the received signal at each antenna element of the direction estimation device according to the first embodiment.This flowchart shows an example of a control process performed by the control unit of the direction estimation device according to the first embodiment.This is an explanatory diagram illustrating the arrangement of actual antenna elements in the direction estimation device according to the second embodiment.This is an explanatory diagram illustrating the phase of the received signal at each antenna element of the direction estimation device according to the second embodiment.This is an explanatory diagram illustrating the arrangement of actual antenna elements in the direction estimation device according to the third embodiment.This is an explanatory diagram illustrating the array antenna of the direction estimation device according to the third embodiment.This flowchart shows an example of a control process performed by the control unit of the direction estimation device according to the third embodiment.This is an explanatory diagram illustrating the generation of a vertical signal using weight vectors.This is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of target placement.This is an explanatory diagram illustrating the arrangement of actual antenna elements in the direction estimation device according to the fourth embodiment.This is an explanatory diagram illustrating the array antenna of the direction estimation device according to the fourth embodiment.This is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example where the paths of the transmitted and reflected waves coincide.This is an explanatory diagram illustrating the phase of the received signal at each antenna element in the case of path matching.This is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example where the paths of the transmitted wave and the reflected wave do not coincide.This is an explanatory diagram illustrating the phase of the received signal at each antenna element in the case of a mismatch in the signal path.This is an explanatory diagram illustrating the arrangement of actual antenna elements in the direction estimation device according to the fifth embodiment.This is an explanatory diagram illustrating the combination of sub-arrays used to estimate the horizontal direction in the direction estimation device according to the fifth embodiment.This is an explanatory diagram illustrating the combination of sub-arrays used to estimate the vertical direction in the direction estimation device according to the fifth embodiment.This is an explanatory diagram illustrating the arrangement of actual antenna elements in the direction estimation device according to the sixth embodiment.This is an explanatory diagram illustrating the combination of sub-arrays used to estimate the horizontal direction in the direction estimation device according to the sixth embodiment.This is an explanatory diagram illustrating the combination of sub-arrays used to estimate the vertical direction in the direction estimation device according to the sixth embodiment.This is an explanatory diagram illustrating each sensor of the orientation estimation device according to the seventh embodiment.This is an explanatory diagram illustrating the arrangement of each sensor in the orientation estimation device according to the seventh embodiment.This is an explanatory diagram illustrating the combination of sub-arrays used to estimate the horizontal direction in the direction estimation device according to the seventh embodiment.This is an explanatory diagram illustrating the combination of sub-arrays used to estimate the vertical direction in the direction estimation device according to the seventh embodiment.This is an explanatory diagram illustrating the arrangement of actual antenna elemen