Vehicular radar system

1. A radar system of a vehicle, the radar system having a light emitter for repeatedly emitting laser light so that the laser light is emitted over a predetermined angular range at least along width direction of the vehicle in each light emission, and a photoreceptor for outputting light reception signals, which are output from photoreceptive elements in accordance with intensity of reflected laser light reflected by a reflection object, the photoreceptive elements being arranged at least along the width direction of the vehicle, the radar system comprising:

an integrator having, for each photoreceptive element, a plurality of switches for switching connection with the photoreceptor, and a plurality of capacitors respectively connected to the switches for accumulating electric charges corresponding to intensity of the light reception signals;

a controller for switching the switches to a connected state one after another in a predetermined order at a predetermined time interval until a predetermined time passes after every emission of the laser light, while keeping the switch, which is not switched to the connected state, at a disconnected state, wherein the controller switches the switches to the connected state one after another in a predetermined order at a predetermined time interval if the laser light is emitted predetermined times, in order to make the integrator output integration signals corresponding to the electric charges accumulated in the capacitors; and

a sensor for comparing the integration signals, that correspond to the respective photoreceptive elements and output by the integrator, with a predetermined integration standard value, and for sensing the reflection object based on the integration signals equal to or greater than the integration standard value.

2. The radar system as in claim 1 , further comprising:

a light shield in the photoreceptor for shielding at least one of the photoreceptive elements from the light; and

an eliminator for eliminating a base noise component superimposed on the light reception signal of the photoreceptive element, which is not shielded by the light shield, based on the light reception signal of the photoreceptive element shielded by the light shield.

3. The radar system as in claim 1 , wherein

the sensor senses a distance to the reflection object and an angle of the reflection object along the width direction of the vehicle, the sensor sensing the angle based on a position of the photoreceptive element corresponding to the integration signal equal to or greater than the integration standard value.

4. The radar system as in claim 3 , wherein

the number of the photoreceptive elements is set in accordance with necessary angular resolution of the angle along the width direction of the vehicle.

5. A radar system of a vehicle, the radar system having a light emitter for repeatedly emitting laser light so that the laser light is emitted over a predetermined angular range at least along width direction of the vehicle in each light emission, and a photoreceptor for outputting light reception signals, which are output from photoreceptive elements in accordance with intensity of reflected laser light reflected by a reflection object, the photoreceptive elements being arranged at least along the width direction of the vehicle, the radar system comprising:

an adder for adding the light reception signals output from a predetermined number of adjacent photoreceptive elements and for outputting added signals;

an integrator having, for each adder, a plurality of switches for switching connection with the adder, and a plurality of capacitors respectively connected to the switches for accumulating electric charges corresponding to intensity of the added signals;

a controller for switching the switches to a connected state one after another in a predetermined order at a predetermined time interval until a predetermined time passes after every emission of the laser light, while keeping the switch, which is not switched to the connected state, at a disconnected state, wherein the controller switches the switches to the connected state one after another in a predetermined order at a predetermined time interval if the laser light is emitted predetermined times, in order to make the integrator output integration signals corresponding to the electric charges accumulated in the capacitors; and

a sensor for comparing the integration signals, that correspond to the respective adders and output by the integrator, with a predetermined integration standard value, and for sensing the reflection object based on the integration signals equal to or greater than the integration standard value.

6. The radar system as in claim 5 , further comprising:

a light shield in the photoreceptor for shielding at least one of the photoreceptive elements from the light; and

an eliminator for eliminating a base noise component superimposed on the light reception signal of the photoreceptive element, which is not shielded by the light shield, based on the light reception signal of the photoreceptive element shielded by the light shield.

7. The radar system as in claim 5 , wherein

the sensor senses a distance to the reflection object and an angle of the reflection object along the width direction of the vehicle, the sensor sensing the angle based on a position of the photoreceptive element corresponding to the integration signal equal to or greater than the integration standard value.

8. The radar system as in claim 7 , wherein

the number of the photoreceptive elements is set in accordance with necessary angular resolution of the angle along the width direction of the vehicle.