Position and/or distance measurement, parking and/or vehicle detection, apparatus, networks, operations and/or systems
The following are disclosed: Vehicle parking detection, sensors and an On-Board Device (OBD) to create a parking session. Radars, microwave antennas, rechargeable power supplies and their power management circuits. A localized communications protocol between the wireless nodes and repeaters within a wireless network is disclosed. Wireless sensors and wireline sensors. The networks and/or systems may support parking spot management/monitoring, vehicle traffic analysis and/or management of stationary and/or moving vehicles, monitor storage areas and/or manage production facilities. These networks and/or systems may be operated to generate reports of incorrectly parked vehicles, such as reserved parking spots for other vehicles, vehicles parked in multiple parking spots and/or overstaying the time they are permitted to park.
1. An apparatus, comprising at least one of:
a superheterodyne radar adapted to generate an antenna output and receive a Radio Frequency (RF) reflection off of said antenna output from an object, comprising
a timing generator adapted to generate a transmit signal with a first edge and to generate a reception signal with a second edge, where said second edge has a delay from said first edge that sweeps over time generated in response to at least one external stimulus to said superheterodyne radar; and
said superheterodyne radar adapted to generate a transmit RF burst in response to said first edge of said transmit signal to generate said antenna output, and to mix said RF reflection and said transmit RF burst, in response to said second edge, to generate an Intermediate Frequency (IF) signal at a frequency of one over a compression ratio multiplied by a carrier frequency of said antenna output;
a microwave antenna including a radiator driving a horn antenna to generate an antenna output in response to a tuning bar outside said horn antenna;
an On Board Device (OBD) configured to present a vehicle identification in response to a vehicle containing said OBD parking near a parking spot;
a parking sensor configured to determine a parking position of said vehicle in said parking spot;
a parking processor configured to generate and/or maintain a parking session for said vehicle parked in said parking spot, said parking session including said vehicle identification and an identification of said parking spot;
a parking management configured to respond to said parking session by generating and/or maintaining at least one of a parking permit, a parking payment, a parking reservation, and/or a parking ticket;
a repeater configured to support a wireless communications between an access point and a wireless node, identify said repeater with a repeater identification, receive an uplink message from said wireless node containing a selected repeater identification and a basic payload, and send said basic payload as a second uplink message to said access point in response to said selected repeater identification matching said repeater identification;
said wireless node configured to send said uplink message containing said selected repeater identification and said basic payload; and/or
a Power Control Circuit (PCC) adapted to distribute electrical power from a one-charge battery to a load in response to determining a rechargeable battery unable to drive said load.
2. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising at least one of
said timing generator further adapted to generate said transmit signal with said first edge in response to a first Digital to Analog Converter (DAC) output, and to generate said reception signal with said second edge in response to a second DAC output;
said microwave antenna further comprising a waveguide situated between said radiator and said horn antenna;
said OBD implemented by at least one of a cell phone, a tablet computer, a wearable device, a media player, said vehicle, and/or a vehicle processor;
said parking sensor including at least one of at least part of an infrared sensor, an ultrasonic sensor and/or a radar adapted to at least partly determine said parking position;
said parking processor adapted to access and/or include a parking session memory containing said parking session;
said parking management including at least one management processor configured to generate and/or maintain at least one of said parking permit, said parking payment, said parking reservation, and/or said parking ticket; and
said PCC includes a PCC processor-unit coupled by a one-charge control to a power switch to distribute said electrical power to said load in response to said rechargeable battery being unable to drive said load.
3. The apparatus of claim 2 , further comprising at least one of
said timing generator, comprising at least one of:
a transmit control generator adapted to receive said first DAC output and a first exponentially changing signal to generate a duty cycle of said transmit signal to stimulate a duty cycle estimator to generate said duty cycle signal; and/or
a reception control generator adapted to receive said second DAC output, a second exponentially changing signal and a clock signal to generate said reception signal;
said OBD including at least one of an accelerometer and/or a motion sensor configured to at least partly indicate said vehicle is parked;
said radar implemented as at least one of a micro-radar adapted to output less than or equal to ten milliwatts, a Zero Intermediate Frequency (ZIF) radar, said superheterodyne radar.
4. The apparatus of claim 3 , further comprising at least one of
said superheterodyne radar further comprises at least one of:
a first Analog to Digital Converter (ADC) coupling of said IF signal to generate an IF sample approximating said peak amplitude at a sweep delay; and/or
a second Analog to Digital Converter (ADC) coupling of a duty cycle signal based upon said transmit signal to generate a duty cycle estimate that indicates said compression ratio.
5. The apparatus of claim 3 , further comprising at least one of
said transmit control generator comprising a first analog sum of said first exponentially changing signal and said first DAC output to generate a first analog signal triggering a first sharp threshold device to generate said transmit signal with said duty cycle; and/or
said reception control generator comprising a second analog sum of said second DAC output, said second exponentially changing signal and said clock signal to generate a second analog signal triggering a second sharp threshold device to generate said reception signal.
6. The apparatus of claim 5 , further comprising at least one of
wherein at least one of said first sharp threshold device and said second sharp threshold device includes a logic gate and/or a comparator and/or a level shifter.
7. The apparatus of claim 2 , further comprising at least one of
said superheterodyne radar further implementing a homodyne radar;
said timing generator further adapted to generate said transmit signal with said first edge in response to said first DAC output and a system clock; and/or
said timing generator further adapted to generate said reception signal with a second edge in response to said second DAC and said system clock, where said second edge has a delay from said first edge that sweeps through a short delay to a long delay over a time interval.
8. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising at least one of
said superheterodyne radar is further adapted to mix a received RF reflection of said RF reflection and said transmit RF burst, in response to said second edge of said reception signal, to generate said IF signal with a peak amplitude at a sweep delay Tm for a distance T0 of said object from said antenna.
9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein said antenna output is compliant with an Ultra-Wide Band (UWB) signal protocol.
10. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein said IF signal has a frequency of between 6 Kilo (K) Hertz (Hz) and 7 KHz.
11. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising at least one of:
a wireless sensor node and/or a wireline sensor node, each configured to operate at least one instance of said superheterodyne radar to send a report regarding a sweep delay for said object, wherein said sweep delay indicate when said IF signal has a peak amplitude in said sweep in said time for a distance of said object from said antenna; and/or
a second processor configured to receive and to respond to said report by generating an estimate of said distance of said object from said superheterodyne radar; and/or
an access point configured to wirelessly communicate with said superheterodyne radar via said radio transceiver to send a version said report to said processor; and/or
a server configured to communicate said version of said report from said superheterodyne radar to said processor.
12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein said wireless sensor node and/or said wireline sensor node further comprises said processor coupled to said superheterodyne radar to provide said stimulus.
13. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein at least one of said processor, said access point, said server and/or said sensor processor includes at least one instance of at least one of a finite state machine and a computer accessibly coupled to a memory containing a program system comprised of program steps configured to instruct said computer.
14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein said program system comprises at least one of the program steps of:
operating said superheterodyne radar to control said compression ratio and said IF signal;
receiving an ADC reading based upon said IF signal and/or said sweep delay for said object;
generating said report based upon said ADC reading and/or said sweep delay;
responding to said report by sending said version of said report to said second processor;
second responding to said report and/or said version to generate said distance of said object from said superheterodyne radar;
third responding to said distance of said object from said superheterodyne radar by updating at least one of a traffic monitoring system, a traffic control system, a parking management system, and/or a production management system;
second operating said superheterodyne radar to insure said sweep delay Tm corresponds to a specific distance T0 of said object;
third operating said superheterodyne radar to generate said IF signal dominated by a background noise to create a background noise estimate;
using said background noise estimate to adjust a detect threshold of said object; and/or
detecting said object based upon said ADC reading and said detect threshold.
15. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the program step of operating said superheterodyne radar further comprises at least one of the program steps of
controlling a first DAC output and a second DAC output to generate said sweep delay for said object;
setting said second DAC output to generate said IF signal for said background noise to dominate; and
calibrating said first DAC output to establish said IF frequency.
16. The apparatus of claim 14 , further comprising:
at least one of said traffic monitoring system, said traffic control system, said parking management system, and/or said production management system is adapted to communicate with at least one of said superheterodyne radar, said wireless sensor node, said wireline sensor node, said second processor, said access point and/or said server.
17. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said compression ratio is about one million.
18. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein said compression ratio is one million to within twenty percent.
19. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising an integrated circuit including said superheterodyne radar.
20. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said object includes at least one of a person, a bicycle, a motorcycle, an automobile, a truck, a bus, a trailer, an aircraft and/or a surface of a filling of a chamber.