Detection of road conditions using a beam from an external system i.e. GPS, DBS

1. A device for recognition of a ground surface condition, comprising:

receivers for receiving at least one scanning radiation component that is reflected from a scanned ground surface region and contains surface condition information characterizing said ground surface region;

evaluation resources for determining the surface condition of the scanned ground surface region by evaluating the at least one scanning radiation component;

wherein, the at least one scanning radiation component comprises useful signal radiation generated from a foreign system.

2. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the scanned ground surface region comprises a road surface.

3. The device according to claim 1 , further comprising at least one satellite for generating the scanning radiation.

4. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the useful signal radiation emanates from a source selected from the group consisting of a locating system, a radio transmitting system, and a television transmitting system.

5. The device according to claim 3 , wherein the useful signal radiation emanates from a source selected from the group consisting of a locating system, a radio transmitting system, and a television transmitting system.

6. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one scanning radiation component further comprises a reference scanning radiation component that is not reflected from the scanned earth surface region.

7. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the evaluation resources evaluate received scanning radiation with respect to at least one of amplitude, polarization and phase.

8. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the evaluation resources comprise a classification stage which classifies the surface condition of the scanned ground surface region, based on a plurality of stored model conditions.

9. A system for determining the condition of a ground surface area, comprising:

a radiation source for irradiating said ground surface area;

at least one receiver for receiving at least radiation that emanates from said radiation source and is reflected from said ground surface area; and

a processor which processes received radiation to determine the condition of the ground surface area;

wherein the radiation source comprises a system that irradiates the ground surface area for a purpose other than determining ground surface conditions.

10. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the radiation source comprises at least one of a position determining system, a radio transmitting system and a television transmitting system.

11. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the radiation source is satellite based.

12. The system according to claim 10 , wherein the radiation source is satellite based.

13. A method for determining the condition of a ground surface area, comprising:

receiving at lest radiation that emanates from a radiation source and is reflected from said ground surface area; and

analyzing received radiation to determine the condition of the ground surface area;

wherein, the radiation source comprises a system that irradiates the ground surface area for a purpose other than determining ground surface conditions.

14. The system according to claim 7 , wherein the radiation source comprises at least one of a position determining system, a radio transmitting system and a television transmitting system.

15. The system according to claim 7 , wherein the radiation source is satellite based.

16. The system according to claim 14 , wherein the radiation source is satellite based.