Professional Documents
Culture Documents
There is considerable public and private support for intelligent transport systems
ABSTRACT (ITS), which promise spectacular improvements in road traffic safety and transpor-
tation efficiency. This paper deals with research efforts relating to radar sensors using millimeter-
wave technology, which is fundamental to enabling the all-weather operation of ITS. One of these is
for an automotive radar and is used for forward looking and to detect the distance and relative
velocity of vehicles ahead. The other is a radar for infrastructure (right-of-way installation) and is
used to detect obstructions and vehicles. Both use spread-spectrum (SS) technology, which offers
outstanding performance in separation and detection of multiple vehicles. The automotive radar has
multiple receiving antennas to determine the direction in which the target lies, using a method
whereby the angle is calculated by comparing the power of the signals.
1
formance requirements for a radar for autonomous intelli- Figure 1 shows the hardware configuration of the pro-
gent cruise control (AICC). The main issue is the provi- totype radar. A 1-GHz intermediate frequency band signal
sion of wide-range angle measuring capability. is modulated by a PN sequence in the IF circuit. The spread
signal is up-converted to 76.5 GHz in the RF circuit, and
is then transmitted from the transmitter antenna.
Table 1 Typical AICC Radar Performance Requirements This transmitted signal is then reflected from an object
in front of the radar, and received by the three receiver
Maximum range 100 ~ 120 (m)
Figure 2 Evaluation system Figure 4 Example of angle, distance and relative velocity
measurements
3
angle measurement performance, further consideration, stalled on the road right-of-way, to improve safety by re-
extending to the method adopted here, is an issue remain- ducing accidents and promote economic efficiency and
ing for the future. environmental protection by increasing transportation ef-
ficiency. In the United States, AHS tends to be understood
in the sense of automated cruising, but in Japan it is un-
derstood to comprise three levels of support: "i" for provi-
3. MILLIMETER-WAVE SENSORS FOR ITS
sion of information, "c" for control support, and "a" for au-
INFRASTRUCTURE tomated cruising, so that these may, so to speak "progress"
3.1 ITS and AHS as actual services are made practicable. Automated cruis-
Table 3 shows the 20 user services that are incorporated ing, in particular, places the onus for traffic accidents on
within the overall concept of ITS. Of these, VICS (vehicle the infrastructure (installations on the right-of-way), and
information and communication system) and ETC (elec- thus requires that major legal and societal hurdles be sur-
tronic toll collection) are already largely practicable, and mounted, to say nothing of technical problems, but prior
will be followed by AHS (advanced cruise-assist highway to that, at the "i" and "c" levels, fully practicable systems
system). can be configured. Furthermore studies in Japan are pro-
AHS is the most technologically sophisticated system ceeding with reference not only to limited-access toll roads,
within ITS, and is intended, by means of equipment in- but also to the ordinary highway network.
September 1996 saw the establishment of the Ad-
vanced Cruise-Assist Highway System Research Asso-
Table 3 ITS Development Areas and User Services ciation, of which Furukawa Electric, together with 20 other
major manufacturers, is a member. Under contact with the
Development Areas User Services Provided Public Works Research Institute of the Ministry of Con-
struction, this organization is working on a wide range of
1 Upgrading (1) Provision of route guidance
navigation systems traffic information AHS R & D activities, including establishing the AHS con-
cept, system design, and major factor technologies. The
(2) Provision of destination-related
information developmental effort concentrates on right-of-way infra-
structure, but allocation and coordination between infra-
2 Electronic toll (3) Electronic toll collection
collection systems structure-based functions and vehicle-based functions is
a major issue and is an object of study.
3 Assistance for (4) Provision of driving and
safe driving road conditions information
3.2 Detection of Obstacles on the Road
(5) Danger warnings
Implementation of AHS requires the following broad cat-
(6) Assistance for driving egories of equipment and functions:
(7) Automated highway systems
. Collection and recognition of information by sensors
installed on the right-of-way
4 Optimization of (8) Optimization of traffic flow
traffic management
. Information processing and control by local sensors
(9) Provision of traffic restriction . Transmission of information by road-to-vehicle com
information on accident management
munication equipment
5 Support for (10) Improvement of maintenance . Management of traffic information by wide-area and
road management operations
local centers.
(11) Management of special permitted Among right-of-way sensors, which form a major part
commercial vehicles
of equipment for the implementation of AHS, sensors for
(12) Provision of roadway determining road conditions are fundamental. That is to
hazard information
say they tie in the detection of obstructions--fallen objects
6 Support for (13) Provision of public transport information
public transportation
on the road, stopped vehicles, bicycles, pedestrians and
(14) Assistance for public transport the like--with danger warnings and control assistance, and
operations and operations management
by keeping informed of all moving vehicles, serve to as-
7 Improving operating (15) Assistance for commercial vehicle certain traffic conditions, warn of danger and assist in con-
efficiency of operations management
commercial vehicles
trol. They are required to function in all types of weather,
(16) Automated platooning of including heavy fog and heavy rain. Various types of sen-
commercial vehicles
sors--using visible light, infrared rays, laser light and radio
8 Support for (17) Pedestrian route guidance waves--have all been considered, but object detection
pedestrians
(18) Vehicle-pedestrian accident avoidance
sensors using radio waves have a number of distinct ad-
vantages over those using light in the visible or infrared
9 Support for (19) Automatic emergency notification
emergency vehicle
range, including:
operation (20) Route guidance for emergency vehicles . Very little absorption by fog, snow, rain, etc., making
and support for relief activities
all-weather systems possible;
. Excellent environment resistance with respect to dust
and mud.