Granted Patent B2

US 12,578,428 · App. 18/328,569 · Granted Mar 17, 2026

Inventors: Wolfgang Doerr (Wiehl, DE); Jens Westerhoff (Bochum, DE)

Assignee: APTIV TECHNOLOGIES AG

G01S7/4026G01S7/41G01S13/931

Abstract

Claims (64)

1 . A computer implemented method comprising:

receiving radar responses captured by a radar sensor, a field of view of the radar sensor covering at least a predefined area of a ground plane on which a vehicle is currently located;

determining a sequence of characteristics of the radar responses; and

determining a mounting position of the radar sensor at the vehicle, the mounting position defined with respect to the ground plane, the mounting position determined by:

optimizing parameters of a predefined model with respect to the sequence of characteristics of the radar responses; and

determining the mounting position based on the optimized parameters of the predefined model,

wherein the characteristics of the radar responses depend on a range and on a height with respect to the radar sensor,

wherein the predefined model is iteratively adapted to the sequence of characteristics of the radar responses,

wherein a first iteration is performed for adapting the predefined model to the sequence of characteristics of the radar responses,

wherein with respect to a result of the first iteration, a region of ranges and heights is selected with respect to the radar sensor, and

wherein a further iteration of adapting the predefined model to the sequence of characteristics of the radar responses is performed by considering the characteristics within the selected region of ranges and heights only.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the predefined model includes a parametric model function representing a height profile of a road on which the vehicle is currently located.

3 . The method according to claim 2 ,

wherein the mounting position includes a mounting height and a mounting angle of the radar sensor with respect to the ground plane,

wherein the parametric model function is a linear function,

wherein the mounting height is determined from an offset of the linear function, and

wherein the mounting angle is determined from a slope of the linear function.

4 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the predefined model includes a parametric model function representing a height profile of a road on which the vehicle is currently located.

5 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the sequence of characteristics of the radar responses is determined depending from coordinates relative to the ground plane and a height with respect to the radar sensor.

6 . The method according to claim 5 ,

wherein the mounting position includes a mounting height, a mounting angle, and a roll angle of the radar sensor with respect to the ground plane,

wherein the predefined model depends on the coordinates relative to the ground plane and the height with respect to the radar sensor, and

wherein the mounting height, the mounting angle, and the roll angle are determined by adapting the predefined model to the sequence of characteristics.

7 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the sequence of characteristics of the radar responses is determined for a predetermined time period.

8 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the sequence of characteristics of the radar responses is determined for a predetermined motion sequence of the vehicle.

9 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the sequence of characteristics of the radar responses is determined for heights with respect to the radar sensor only which are smaller than a predefined threshold.

10 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein selecting the region of ranges and heights and performing a further iteration of adapting the predefined model to the sequence of characteristics are repeated until a deviation between an actual adaptation and a previous adaptation of the predefined model is below a deviation threshold.

11 . The method according to claim 1 ,

wherein the predefined model includes a parametric model function representing a height profile of a road on which the vehicle is currently located, and

wherein the sequence of characteristics of the radar responses is determined depending from coordinates relative to the ground plane and a height with respect to the radar sensor.

12 . The method according to claim 1 ,

wherein the sequence of characteristics of the radar responses is determined for a predetermined time period, and

wherein the predefined model is iteratively adapted to the sequence of characteristics of the radar responses.

13 . The method according to claim 1 ,

wherein the predefined model includes a parametric model function representing a height profile of a road on which the vehicle is currently located, and

wherein the predefined model is iteratively adapted to the sequence of characteristics of the radar responses.

14 . The method according to claim 1 ,

wherein the sequence of characteristics of the radar responses is determined depending from coordinates relative to the ground plane and a height with respect to the radar sensor, and

wherein the sequence of characteristics of the radar responses is determined for a predetermined time period.

15 . A computer system comprising computer hardware components configured to:

receive radar responses captured by a radar sensor, a field of view of the radar sensor covering at least a predefined area of a ground plane on which a vehicle is currently located;

determine a sequence of characteristics of the radar responses; and

determine a mounting position of the radar sensor at the vehicle, the mounting position defined with respect to the ground plane, the mounting position determined by:

optimizing parameters of a predefined model with respect to the sequence of characteristics of the radar responses; and

determining the mounting position based on the optimized parameters of the predefined model,

wherein the characteristics of the radar responses depend on a range and on a height with respect to the radar sensor,

wherein the predefined model is iteratively adapted to the sequence of characteristics of the radar responses,

wherein a first iteration is performed for adapting the predefined model to the sequence of characteristics of the radar responses,

wherein with respect to a result of the first iteration, a region of ranges and heights is selected with respect to the radar sensor, and

wherein a further iteration of adapting the predefined model to the sequence of characteristics of the radar responses is performed by considering the characteristics within the selected region of ranges and heights only.

16 . The computer system of claim 15 , further comprising:

a vehicle; and

the radar sensor having a mounting position at the vehicle.

17 . A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions that when executed, configure computer hardware components to:

receive radar responses captured by a radar sensor, a field of view of the radar sensor covering at least a predefined area of a ground plane on which a vehicle is currently located;

determine a sequence of characteristics of the radar responses; and

determine a mounting position of the radar sensor at the vehicle, the mounting position defined with respect to the ground plane, the mounting position determined by:

optimizing parameters of a predefined model with respect to the sequence of characteristics of the radar responses; and

determining the mounting position based on the optimized parameters of the predefined model,

wherein the characteristics of the radar responses depend on a range and on a height with respect to the radar sensor,

wherein the predefined model is iteratively adapted to the sequence of characteristics of the radar responses,

wherein a first iteration is performed for adapting the predefined model to the sequence of characteristics of the radar responses,

wherein with respect to a result of the first iteration, a region of ranges and heights is selected with respect to the radar sensor, and

wherein a further iteration of adapting the predefined model to the sequence of characteristics of the radar responses is performed by considering the characteristics within the selected region of ranges and heights only.

Assignments (4)

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (24)