US-12618968-B2 - Radar apparatus, control method thereof, and driver assistance system including same

US12618968B2US 12618968 B2US12618968 B2US 12618968B2US-12618968-B2

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a radar apparatus including a transmitter configured to transmit a transmission signal, a receiver configured to receive a reception signal reflected from a target, and a signal processor, wherein the signal processor detects one or more objects corresponding to one or more points reflected from the target, estimates a heading angle of the target based on the one or more detected objects, determines a lane change direction of the target based on the estimated heading angle, and corrects a transverse position of the target based on the determined lane change direction.

Inventors

Junsik SHIN

Assignees

HL KLEMOVE CORP.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20230316
Priority Date: 20220316

Claims (17)

1 . A radar apparatus comprising: a transmitter configured to transmit a transmission signal; a receiver configured to receive a reception signal reflected from a target; and a signal processor electrically connected to the transmitter and the receiver, wherein the signal processor is configured to: detect one or more objects corresponding to one or more points reflected from the target, estimate a heading angle of the target based on the one or more detected objects, determine a lane change direction of the target based on the estimated heading angle, and correct a transverse position of the target based on the determined lane change direction, compare the estimated heading angle with a heading angle threshold for lane change determination and determine the lane change direction of the target, correct the transverse position of the target estimated from the objects so that the transverse position of the target estimated from the objects moves in the determined lane change direction, and selectively assign weight values to a plurality of currently detected objects according to the determined lane change direction and correct the transverse position of the target by applying the objects to which the weight values are assigned.
2 . The radar apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the signal processor is configured to accumulate objects detected during a plurality of scans and estimates the heading angle of the target based on the accumulated objects.
3 . The radar apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the signal processor is configured to: accumulate objects detected during a plurality of scans, estimate a traveling direction of the target based on the accumulated objects, and estimate the heading angle of the target based on the estimated traveling direction.
4 . The radar apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the signal processor is configured to: determine that the target changes a lane to the right when the estimated heading angle is greater than a first heading angle threshold for right lane change determination and determine that the target changes a lane to the left when the estimated heading angle is greater than a second heading angle threshold for left lane change determination.
5 . The radar apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the signal processor is configured to determine the heading angle threshold according to a speed of the target.
6 . The radar apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the signal processor is configured to determine that the heading angle threshold value decreases when the speed of the target increases.
7 . The radar apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the signal processor is configured to determine that the heading angle threshold value increases when the speed of the target decreases.
8 . The radar apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the signal processor is configured to assign the weight values to objects in a right direction among the plurality of currently detected objects when the determined lane change direction is in the right direction.
9 . The radar apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the signal processor is configured to assign the weight values to objects in a left direction among the plurality of currently detected objects when the determined lane change direction is in the left direction.
10 . A method of controlling a radar apparatus, comprising: transmitting a transmission signal; receiving a reception signal reflected from a target; detecting one or more objects corresponding to one or more points reflected from the target; estimating a heading angle of the target based on the one or more detected objects; determining a lane change direction of the target based on the estimated heading angle; and correcting a transverse position of the target based on the determined lane change direction; wherein the determining of the lane change direction includes: comparing the estimated heading angle with a heading angle threshold for lane change determination; and determining the lane change direction of the target, wherein the correcting of the transverse position includes correcting the transverse position of the target estimated from the objects and moving the transverse position of the target estimated from the objects in the determined lane change direction, and selectively assigning weight values to a plurality of currently detected objects according to the determined lane change direction; and correcting the transverse position of the target by applying the objects to which the weight values are assigned.
11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the estimating of the heading angle includes: accumulating objects detected during a plurality of scans; estimating a traveling direction of the target based on the accumulated objects; and estimating the heading angle of the target based on the estimated traveling direction.
12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the determining of the lane change direction includes: determining a heading angle threshold according to a speed of the target; comparing the estimated heading angle with the determined heading angle threshold; and determining the lane change direction of the target.
13 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the correcting of the transverse position includes: assigning the weight values to objects in a right direction among the plurality of currently detected objects when the determined lane change direction is in the right direction; and assigning the weight values to objects in a left direction among the plurality of currently detected objects when the determined lane change direction is in the left direction.
14 . A driver assistance system comprising: a radar apparatus configured to detect objects of a target in front of a vehicle; an actuator configured to perform at least one among steering, deceleration, and acceleration of the vehicle; and a controller electrically connected to the radar apparatus, wherein the controller is configured to: detect one or more objects corresponding to one or more points reflected from the target through the radar apparatus, estimate a heading angle of the target based on the one or more detected objects, determine a lane change direction of the target by comparing the estimated heading angle with a heading angle threshold for a lane change direction, correct a transverse position of the target according to the determined lane change direction, compare the estimated heading angle with a heading angle threshold for lane change determination and determines the lane change direction of the target, correct the transverse position of the target estimated from the objects so that the transverse position of the target estimated from the objects moves in the determined lane change direction, and selectively assign weight values to a plurality of currently detected objects according to the determined lane change direction and correct the transverse position of the target by applying the objects to which the weight values are assigned.
15 . A radar apparatus comprising: a transmitter configured to transmit a transmission signal; a receiver configured to receive a reception signal reflected from a target; and a signal processor electrically connected to the transmitter and the receiver, wherein the signal processor is configured to: detect one or more objects corresponding to one or more points reflected from the target, estimate a heading angle of the target based on the one or more detected objects, compare the estimated heading angle with a heading angle threshold to determine a lane change direction of the target, and correct a transverse position of the target estimated from the objects according to the determined lane change direction, wherein correcting the transverse position includes selectively assigning weight values to one or more of the detected objects according to detection reliability, and correcting the transverse position by applying the objects to which the weight values are assigned.
16 . The radar apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the signal processor is configured to determine the heading angle threshold according to a speed of the target.
17 . The radar apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the signal processor is configured to assign higher weight values to objects located in the determined lane change direction than to objects located in an opposite direction.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2022-0032498, filed on Mar. 16, 2022 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. BACKGROUND 1. Field Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a radar apparatus for detecting a vehicle using radar, a control method thereof, and a driver assistance system including the same. 2. Description of the Related Art Generally, advanced driver assistance systems (ADASs) are being applied to vehicles to provide convenience to drivers and improve driving safety by assisting with vehicle control based on information acquired through sensors installed in the vehicles. For example, ADASs including smart cruise control (SCC) for automatically maintaining a distance with a forward vehicle, a highway driving assist system (HDA) for automatically maintaining a distance with a forward vehicle while traveling on the highway, and a traffic jam assist (TJA) for temporarily supporting autonomous driving in traffic jams are being installed in vehicles. Since these ADASs use radar to detect a position and a speed of a forward vehicle, detection performance of the radar occupies a very important part in an autonomous driving technology. In the currently commercialized technology, deceleration and acceleration control is performed by detecting the rear of a forward vehicle using radar and following a position and a speed of a target through tracking of corresponding information. In the case of the radar, when a forward vehicle is a target which is changing a lane, due to characteristics of the radar using reflection of a radar signal, the performance of estimating a transverse position of the target is lower than that of a camera. For this reason, acceleration and deceleration control may be adversely affected during driver assistance control. SUMMARY Therefore, it is an aspect of the present disclosure to provide a radar apparatus capable of more accurately and reliably determining a transverse position of a target which is changing a lane, a control method thereof, and a driver assistance system including the same. Additional aspects of the present disclosure will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the disclosure. In accordance with one aspect of the present disclosure, a radar apparatus includes a transmitter configured to transmit a transmission signal, a receiver configured to receive a reception signal reflected from a target, and a signal processor electrically connected to the transmitter and the receiver, wherein the signal processor detects one or more objects corresponding to one or more points reflected from the target, estimates a heading angle of the target based on the one or more detected objects, determines a lane change direction of the target based on the estimated heading angle, and corrects a transverse position of the target based on the determined lane change direction. The signal processor may accumulate objects detected during a plurality of scans and estimate the heading angle of the target based on the accumulated objects. The signal processor may accumulate objects detected during a plurality of scans, estimate a traveling direction of the target based on the accumulated objects, and estimate the heading angle of the target based on the estimated traveling direction. The signal processor may compare the estimated heading angle with a heading angle threshold for lane change determination and determine the lane change direction of the target. The signal processor may determine that the target changes a lane to the right when the estimated heading angle is greater than a first heading angle threshold for right lane change determination and determine that the target changes a lane to the left when the estimated heading angle is greater than a second heading angle threshold for left lane change determination. The signal processor may determine the heading angle threshold according to a speed of the target. The signal processor may determine that the heading angle threshold value decreases when the speed of the target increases. The signal processor may determine that the heading angle threshold value increases when the speed of the target decreases. The signal processor may correct the transverse position of the target so that the transverse position of the target moves in the determined lane change direction. The signal processor may selectively assign weight values to a plurality of currently detected objects according to the determined lane change direction and correct the transverse position of the target by applying the objects to which the weight values are assigned. The signal processor may assign the weight values to objects in a right direction among the plurality of currently detected objects when the determined lane change d