METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR OBJECT DETECTION WITH INTEGRATED ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION

1 . A radar system, comprising:

a radar detection unit comprising an antenna configured to direct a beamform in a field-of-view (“FoV”) of the vehicle;

a geographical interpretation means adapted to receive GPS data in the FOV; and

an analysis means configured to receive radar information from a detected object and determine interpret the radar information to identify environmental information, wherein the analysis module is a convolutional neural network that predicts a condition using the radar information and identified environmental information.

2 . The radar system of claim 1 , wherein the geographical interpretation means interprets elevation information of the FOV.

3 . The radar system of claim 2 ,

sensor fusion means adapted to determine at least one control action based on the analysis means interpretation.

4 . The radar system of claim 3 , wherein the at least one control action directs the radar detection unit to change a width of the beamform and direct it toward the detected object.

5 . The radar system of claim 1 , wherein the geographical interpretation means is adapted to map environmental features in the FOV.

6 . The radar system of claim 5 , further comprising a library that stores environmental information, object detection information and object detection rules.

7 . The sensor fusion system of claim 6 , wherein the library stores information identifying danger areas and road hazards.

8 . The radar system of claim 7 , wherein the information stored in the library builds a profile of an area.

9 . The radar system of claim 5 , wherein the environmental information comprises topographical information.

10 . The sensor fusion system of claim 5 , wherein the analysis means compares radar information to the profile.

11 . A control method, comprising:

determining a location of an equipment;

receiving sensor information of the location from a scan by a sensor module;

retrieving profile information of the location;

comparing sensor information to the profile information; and

detecting an elevation above an elevation threshold at the location; and

adjusting the sensor module vertically according to the elevation.

12 . The control method of claim 11 , wherein the sensor module is a radar module and adjusting the sensor module further comprises steering an electromagnetic beam.

13 . The control method of claim 12 , where the control method is performed iteratively.

14 . The control method of claim 13 , further comprising:

receiving GPS information identifying the location; and

comparing the GPS information to sensor information.

15 . The control method of claim 14 , wherein detecting the elevation further comprises:

receiving the elevation from the sensor module; and

comparing the elevation to values in a lookup table, wherein each entry in the lookup table corresponds to a different elevation.

16 . The control method of claim 15 , wherein the equipment is a vehicle and the control method is to provide driver assist information.

17 . The control method of claim 16 , further comprising:

gathering environmental information in a path and surrounding environment of the vehicle;

comparing the environmental information at time t 1 to environmental data at time t 0 ;

measuring the time from t 0 to t 1 ;

changing a vertical scan of the sensor module of the vehicle.

18 . The control method of claim 17 , wherein the environmental information comprises topographical information.

19 . The control method of claim 17 , further comprising:

comparing the sensor information to the topographical information.

20 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the control method is for steering a radar beam.