Electronic device, electronic device control method, and program

The electronic device with multiple antenna arrays and signal processing capabilities accurately detects object displacement and heartbeat by analyzing radio wave reflections, addressing the limitations of existing technologies.

JP7730967B2Active Publication Date: 2025-08-28KYOCERA CORP
View PDF 8 Cites 0 Cited by

Patent Information

Application Number
JP2024146820
Authority / Receiving Office
JP · JP
Patent Type
Patents
Current Assignee / Owner
Filing Date
2024-08-28
Publication Date
2025-08-28
Estimated Expiration
2041-11-18

AI Technical Summary

Technical Problem

Existing technologies lack the capability to accurately detect the displacement, such as vibrations or heartbeat, of objects using radio waves.

Method used

An electronic device equipped with a transmitting antenna and multiple receiving antenna arrays arranged in different directions, coupled with a signal processing unit to detect the velocity and/or acceleration of an object based on transmitted and received radio waves, enabling three-dimensional displacement measurement.

Benefits of technology

Enables high-accuracy detection of object displacement, including vibrations and heartbeat, using radio waves.

✦ Generated by Eureka AI based on patent content.

Smart Images

  • Figure 0007730967000005
    Figure 0007730967000005
  • Figure 0007730967000006
    Figure 0007730967000006
  • Figure 0007730967000007
    Figure 0007730967000007
Patent Text Reader

Abstract

To provide electronic equipment, a control method for the electronic equipment and a program that can detect displacement of an object with excellent precision through transmission and reception of a radio wave etc.SOLUTION: Electronic equipment comprises a transmission antenna which transmits a transmission wave, a plurality of reception antenna arrays each including a plurality of reception antennas receiving reflected waves of the transmission wave, and a signal processing part which detects displacement of an object which reflects the transmission wave based upon a transmission signal transmitted as the transmission wave and a reception signal received as a reflected wave. The plurality of reception antenna arrays are arranged in mutually different directions. The signal processing part puts together displacements of the object detected by the plurality of reception antenna arrays.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 10
Need to check novelty before this filing date? Find Prior Art

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to an electronic device, a control method for an electronic device, and a program. [Background technology]

[0002] For example, in fields such as the automobile industry, technology for measuring the distance between a vehicle and a predetermined object has become increasingly important. In particular, in recent years, various RADAR (Radio Detecting and Ranging) technologies have been researched, which measure the distance between a vehicle and an object by transmitting radio waves such as millimeter waves and receiving the waves reflected by the object, such as an obstacle. The importance of such technology for measuring distance is expected to increase in the future along with the development of technologies for assisting drivers in driving and technologies related to autonomous driving, which automates driving partially or completely.

[0003] Furthermore, various proposals have been made regarding technologies for detecting the presence of a specific object by receiving a reflected wave of a transmitted radio wave reflected by the object. For example, Patent Document 1 proposes a microwave imaging system that images the condition of the object to be detected and enables evaluation. Furthermore, Patent Document 2 proposes a method for performing medical image processing using a radar signal. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2013-113603 [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 3-73130 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] If vibrations of a device or vibrations such as the heartbeat of a human body can be detected with high accuracy by transmitting and receiving radio waves such as millimeter waves, it is expected that the technology will be useful in a wide variety of fields.

[0006] An object of the present disclosure is to provide an electronic device, a control method for an electronic device, and a program that can detect the displacement of an object with high accuracy by transmitting and receiving radio waves or the like. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] An electronic device according to an embodiment includes: a transmitting antenna for transmitting a transmission wave; a plurality of receiving antenna arrays each including a plurality of receiving antennas for receiving reflected waves of the transmitted waves; a signal processing unit that detects the velocity and / or acceleration of an object that reflects the transmission wave based on a transmission signal that is transmitted as the transmission wave and a reception signal that is received as the reflected wave; Equipped with. The plurality of receiving antenna arrays are arranged in different directions. The signal processing unit receives the signals of the targets detected by the plurality of receiving antenna arrays. Detecting a three-dimensional displacement of the object based on the displacement; and Speed ​​and / or acceleration degree Output.

[0008] A method for controlling an electronic device according to an embodiment includes: transmitting a transmission wave from a transmission antenna; receiving reflected waves of the transmitted waves from a plurality of receiving antenna arrays each including a plurality of receiving antennas and arranged in different directions; detecting a velocity and / or acceleration of an object reflecting the transmission wave based on a transmission signal transmitted as the transmission wave and a reception signal received as the reflection wave; of the targets detected by the plurality of receiving antenna arrays, respectively. Detecting a three-dimensional displacement of the object based on the displacement; and Speed ​​and / or acceleration degree an outputting step; Includes:

[0009] A program according to an embodiment includes: For electronic devices, transmitting a transmission wave from a transmission antenna; receiving reflected waves of the transmitted waves from a plurality of receiving antenna arrays each including a plurality of receiving antennas and arranged in different directions; detecting a velocity and / or acceleration of an object reflecting the transmission wave based on a transmission signal transmitted as the transmission wave and a reception signal received as the reflection wave; of the targets detected by the plurality of receiving antenna arrays, respectively. Detecting a three-dimensional displacement of the object based on the displacement; and Speed ​​and / or acceleration degree an outputting step; Execute the following. [Effects of the Invention]

[0010] According to one embodiment, it is possible to provide an electronic device, a control method for an electronic device, and a program that can detect the displacement of an object with high accuracy by transmitting and receiving radio waves or the like. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0011] [Figure 1] 1A and 1B are diagrams illustrating a usage mode of an electronic device 100 according to an embodiment. [Figure 2] 1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an electronic device 100 according to an embodiment. [Figure 3] 2 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a signal processed by the electronic device 100 according to an embodiment. FIG. [Figure 4] 1 is a diagram illustrating signal processing by an electronic device 100 according to an embodiment. [Figure 5] 1 is a diagram illustrating signal processing by an electronic device 100 according to an embodiment. [Figure 6] 1 is a diagram illustrating signal processing by an electronic device 100 according to an embodiment. [Figure 7]1A and 1B are diagrams illustrating an example of the arrangement of antennas in an antenna array of an electronic device 100 according to an embodiment, and an operation principle thereof. [Figure 8] 2 is a diagram showing an example of an arrangement of antennas in an antenna array of the electronic device 100 according to an embodiment. FIG. [Figure 9] 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of signal processing by the electronic device 100 according to an embodiment. FIG. [Figure 10] 2 is a diagram showing an example of an arrangement of antennas in an electronic device 1 according to an embodiment. FIG. [Figure 11] 2 is a diagram showing an example of signal processing by the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment. FIG. [Figure 12] 2 is a diagram showing an example of signal processing by the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment. FIG. [Figure 13] 2 is a diagram showing an example of signal processing by the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment. FIG. [Figure 14] 2 is a diagram showing an example of signal processing by the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment. FIG. [Figure 15] 1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an electronic device 1 according to an embodiment. [Figure 16] 2 is a diagram showing an example of signal processing by the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment. FIG. [Figure 17] 2 is a diagram showing an example of the arrangement of antennas in an antenna array of the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment. FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0012] Hereinafter, one embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[0013] In the present disclosure, an "electronic device" may refer to a device that is powered by electricity. Furthermore, a "user" may refer to a person (typically a human) or an animal that uses a system and / or electronic device according to an embodiment. A user may include a person who uses an electronic device according to an embodiment to monitor a target such as a human. Furthermore, a "target" may include an object or living organism (e.g., a human or an animal) that is monitored by an electronic device according to an embodiment. Furthermore, a user may be included in the target. The target may be an engine, a machine tool, a lathe, a processing device, a vehicle such as an automobile, or the like, but is not particularly limited thereto and may be any other device.

[0014] Furthermore, an electronic device according to an embodiment may detect a displacement of a device. This displacement may include, for example, vibration of the device. The displacement may include displacement of any combination of periodic motion, non-periodic motion, and / or random motion. Therefore, examples of situations in which an electronic device according to an embodiment may be used include a factory, a workshop, or a parking lot. An electronic device according to an embodiment may detect a vibration velocity of a device, calculated from the displacement of the device per predetermined time. In this case, the electronic device according to an embodiment may detect the vibration velocity instead of or in addition to the displacement in the following description.

[0015] Furthermore, an electronic device according to an embodiment can detect the heartbeat of a target, such as a human, present around the electronic device. Therefore, the electronic device according to an embodiment may be used in specific facilities used by socially active individuals, such as companies, hospitals, nursing homes, schools, sports gyms, and care facilities. For example, in a company, it is extremely important to understand and / or manage the health of employees. Similarly, it is extremely important to understand and / or manage the health of patients and medical professionals in a hospital, and residents and staff in a nursing home. The electronic device according to an embodiment may be used in any facility where it is desirable to understand and / or manage the health of a target, without being limited to the aforementioned facilities such as companies, hospitals, and nursing homes. Such facilities may also include non-commercial facilities, such as a user's home. Furthermore, the electronic device according to an embodiment may be used not only indoors but also outdoors. For example, the electronic device according to an embodiment may be used inside a moving vehicle, such as a train, bus, or airplane, or at a station or platform. Furthermore, the electronic device according to one embodiment may be used in a moving object such as an automobile, an airplane, or a ship, a hotel, a user's home, a living room, a bathroom, a toilet, or a bedroom.

[0016] An electronic device according to an embodiment may be used, for example, in a nursing facility or the like, to detect or monitor the heartbeat of a subject, such as a person requiring nursing care or care. Furthermore, when an abnormality is detected in the heartbeat of a subject, such as a person requiring nursing care or care, the electronic device according to an embodiment may issue a predetermined warning to the subject and / or other persons. Therefore, the electronic device according to an embodiment may allow the subject and / or staff at a nursing facility or the like to recognize that an abnormality is detected in the pulse of a subject, such as a person requiring nursing care or care. On the other hand, when no abnormality is detected in the heartbeat of a subject, such as a person requiring nursing care or care, (e.g., recognized as normal), the electronic device according to an embodiment may notify the subject and / or other persons to that effect. Therefore, the electronic device according to an embodiment may allow the subject and / or staff at a nursing facility or the like to recognize that the pulse of a subject, such as a person requiring nursing care or care, is normal (or not abnormal).

[0017] Furthermore, an electronic device according to an embodiment may detect the pulse of a target animal other than a human. As an example, the electronic device according to the embodiment described below will be described as detecting a human pulse using a sensor based on technology such as millimeter-wave radar. The detection targets of the electronic device according to an embodiment may include biological information associated with the heartbeat, palpitations, heartbeat, pulsation, or other cardiac movements of humans and other non-human animals. The detection targets of the electronic device according to an embodiment may include the movements of humans and other non-human animals.

[0018] An electronic device according to an embodiment may be installed on any stationary object or any mobile object. The electronic device according to an embodiment can transmit a transmission wave to the surroundings of the electronic device from a transmission antenna. The electronic device according to an embodiment can receive a reflected wave of the transmission wave from a reception antenna. At least one of the transmission antenna and the reception antenna may be provided in the electronic device, or may be provided in, for example, a radar sensor.

[0019] Hereinafter, as a typical example, an electronic device according to an embodiment will be described as being stationary. Meanwhile, the subject (human or animal) whose pulse is detected by the electronic device according to an embodiment may be stationary, moving, or moving while stationary. The electronic device according to an embodiment can measure the distance between the electronic device and an object in a situation where the object around the electronic device may move, similar to a normal radar sensor. Furthermore, the electronic device according to an embodiment can measure the distance between the electronic device and an object even when both the electronic device and the object are stationary.

[0020] As will be described later, an electronic device 1 according to an embodiment includes at least one transmitting antenna array and multiple receiving antenna arrays. Therefore, first, as a premise for describing the operating principle of the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment, an electronic device 100 that can be a partial configuration of the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. Hereinafter, the electronic device 100 showing a partial configuration of the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment will also be simply referred to as "electronic device 100." In other words, the electronic device 100 described below may show a configuration in which some functional units and / or components are deleted or omitted from the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment.

[0021] First, an example of detecting vibrations of an object by the electronic device 100 according to an embodiment will be described. In the following description, an example will be described in which the electronic device 100 according to an embodiment detects vibrations of an engine, a machine tool, a lathe, a processing device, or other devices, or a vehicle such as an automobile.

[0022] Fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a usage mode of an electronic device 100 according to an embodiment. Fig. 1 illustrates an example of an electronic device 100 having a sensor function and including a transmitting antenna and a receiving antenna according to an embodiment.

[0023] As shown in FIG. 1, the electronic device 100 may include a transmitter and a receiver, which will be described later. As will be described later, the transmitter may include a transmitter antenna array 24. The receiver may include a receiver antenna array 31. Specific configurations of the electronic device 100, the transmitter, and the receiver will be described later. For ease of viewing, FIG. 1 illustrates the electronic device 100 including the transmitter antenna array 24 and the receiver antenna array 31. The electronic device 100 may also include at least one of the other functional units, such as at least a part of the signal processing unit 10 (FIG. 2) included in the electronic device 100, as appropriate. The electronic device 100 may also include at least one of the other functional units, such as at least a part of the signal processing unit 10 (FIG. 2), external to the electronic device 100. In FIG. 1, the electronic device 100 may be moving or may be stationary.

[0024] In the example shown in FIG. 1 , the electronic device 100 is shown in a simplified form, with a transmitter having a transmitting antenna array 24 and a receiver having a receiving antenna array 31. The electronic device 100 may include, for example, multiple transmitters and / or multiple receivers. The transmitter may include a transmitting antenna array 24 consisting of multiple transmitting antennas. The receiver may include a receiving antenna array 31 consisting of multiple receiving antennas. Here, the locations at which the transmitters and / or receivers are installed in the electronic device 100 are not limited to the locations shown in FIG. 1 , and may be located at other locations as appropriate. The number of transmitters and / or receivers may be any number greater than or equal to one, depending on various conditions (or requirements) such as the range and / or accuracy of heartbeat detection by the electronic device 100.

[0025] As will be described later, the electronic device 100 transmits electromagnetic waves as transmission waves from the transmitting antenna array 24. For example, if a predetermined object (e.g., the target device 200 shown in FIG. 1 ) is present around the electronic device 100, at least a portion of the transmission waves transmitted from the electronic device 100 is reflected by the object and becomes a reflected wave. Then, by receiving such a reflected wave, for example, with the receiving antenna array 31 of the electronic device 100, the electronic device 100 can detect the object as a target.

[0026] The electronic device 100 including the transmitting antenna array 24 may typically be a RADAR (Radio Detecting and Ranging) sensor that transmits and receives radio waves. However, the electronic device 100 is not limited to a radar sensor. The electronic device 100 according to an embodiment may be a sensor based on, for example, a LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging, Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging) technology using light waves. Such sensors may include, for example, a patch antenna. Technologies such as RADAR and LIDAR are already known, so detailed descriptions may be appropriately simplified or omitted. Furthermore, the electronic device 100 according to an embodiment may be a sensor based on, for example, a technology that detects objects by transmitting and receiving sound waves or ultrasonic waves.

[0027] The electronic device 100 shown in FIG. 1 receives, from the receiving antenna array 31, reflected waves of transmitted waves transmitted from the transmitting antenna array 24. In this way, the electronic device 100 can detect a predetermined target device 200 that exists within a predetermined distance from the electronic device 100 as a target. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, the electronic device 100 can measure the distance L between the electronic device 100 and the predetermined target device 200. The electronic device 100 can also measure the relative speed between the electronic device 100 and the predetermined target device 200. Furthermore, the electronic device 100 can also measure the direction (arrival angle θ) in which the reflected wave from the predetermined target device 200 arrives at the electronic device 100.

[0028] In Fig. 1, the XY plane may be, for example, a plane substantially parallel to the ground surface. In this case, the positive direction of the Z axis shown in Fig. 1 may indicate a vertically upward direction. In Fig. 1, the electronic device 100 may be placed on a plane parallel to the XY plane. Also, in Fig. 1, the target device 200 may be, for example, standing on the ground surface substantially parallel to the XY plane.

[0029] Here, the target device 200 may be, for example, a device present around the electronic device 100. As described above, the target device 200 may be moving, stopped, or stationary. The target device 200 may include an engine, a machine tool, a lathe, a processing device, or other device, as well as a vehicle such as an automobile. The electronic device 100 of this embodiment may detect vibrations of the engine, the machine tool, the lathe, and / or the processing device, or other device. The target device 200 may be installed in a factory, a production facility, a laboratory, or the like.

[0030] In the present disclosure, the objects detected by the electronic device 100 include inanimate objects such as any object, as well as living objects such as people, dogs, cats, horses, and other animals. The objects detected by the electronic device 100 of the present disclosure may also include targets including people, things, and animals detected by radar technology. Hereinafter, an object such as the target device 200 present around the electronic device 100 will be described as a device.

[0031] 1, the ratio between the size of the electronic device 100 and the size of the target device 200 does not necessarily represent the actual ratio. Also, in FIG. 1, the transmitting antenna array 24 of the transmitting unit and the receiving antenna array 31 of the receiving unit are shown installed outside the electronic device 100. However, in one embodiment, the transmitting antenna array 24 of the transmitting unit and / or the receiving antenna array 31 of the receiving unit may be installed at various positions on the electronic device 100. For example, in one embodiment, the transmitting antenna array 24 of the transmitting unit and / or the receiving antenna array 31 of the receiving unit may be installed inside the electronic device 100 so as not to be visible from the outside of the electronic device 100.

[0032] In the following, as a typical example, the transmitting antenna of the electronic device 100 will be described as transmitting radio waves in a frequency band such as millimeter waves (30 GHz or higher) or quasi-millimeter waves (for example, around 20 GHz to 30 GHz). On the other hand, the transmitting antenna of the electronic device 100 may transmit radio waves having a frequency bandwidth of 4 GHz, for example, 77 GHz to 81 GHz.

[0033] 2 is a functional block diagram schematically illustrating an example of the configuration of the electronic device 100 according to an embodiment. An example of the configuration of the electronic device 100 according to an embodiment will be described below.

[0034] When measuring distances and the like using millimeter-wave radar, frequency modulated continuous wave radar (hereinafter referred to as FMCW radar) is often used. FMCW radar generates a transmission signal by sweeping the frequency of the radio waves to be transmitted. Therefore, in a millimeter-wave FMCW radar using radio waves in the 79 GHz frequency band, for example, the frequency of the radio waves used has a frequency bandwidth of 4 GHz, such as 77 GHz to 81 GHz. Radar using the 79 GHz frequency band is characterized by a wider usable frequency bandwidth than other millimeter-wave / quasi-millimeter-wave radars, such as those in the 24 GHz, 60 GHz, and 76 GHz frequency bands. Hereinafter, such an embodiment will be described as an example.

[0035] The FMCW radar system used in the present disclosure may include an FCM (Fast-Chirp Modulation) system that transmits chirp signals at a shorter period than normal. The signals generated by the electronic device 100 are not limited to FMCW signals. The signals generated by the electronic device 100 may be signals of various systems other than FMCW. The transmission signal sequence stored in any storage unit may differ depending on these various systems. For example, in the case of the above-mentioned FMCW radar signal, signals whose frequency increases and decreases with each time sample may be used. Since known technologies can be applied as appropriate to the above-mentioned various systems, further detailed description will be omitted.

[0036] As shown in FIG. 2, the electronic device 100 according to an embodiment includes a signal processing unit 10. The signal processing unit 10 may include a signal generation processing unit 11, a received signal processing unit 12, and a vibration displacement extraction processing unit 14. The signal generation processing unit 11 may perform processing related to the generation of a transmission signal. The received signal processing unit 12 may perform processing related to a received signal received as a reflected wave of a transmission signal transmitted by the signal generation processing unit 11. Specifically, the received signal processing unit 12 may measure (estimate) at least one of the distance to the target device 200, the relative speed with respect to the target device 200, and the azimuth angle of the target device 200. The vibration displacement extraction processing unit 14 may perform processing related to the extraction of a vibration displacement.

[0037] Furthermore, the received signal processing unit 12 and / or the vibration displacement extraction processing unit 14 may execute, for example, a process of extracting a micro-Doppler component. The received signal processing unit 12 and / or the vibration displacement extraction processing unit 14 may execute a process of extracting an envelope of the vibration of the target device 200. The received signal processing unit 12 and / or the vibration displacement extraction processing unit 14 may execute a process of calculating the vibration fluctuation of the target device 200 based on a frequency analysis of time-series data of the vibration.

[0038] Furthermore, when the electronic device of the present disclosure detects a living organism, the received signal processing unit 12 and / or the vibration displacement extraction processing unit 14 may, for example, execute a process to extract a micro-Doppler component. When the electronic device of the present disclosure detects a living organism, the received signal processing unit 12 and / or the vibration displacement extraction processing unit 14 may, for example, execute a process to extract an envelope of the target's heart sounds. When the electronic device of the present disclosure detects a living organism, the received signal processing unit 12 and / or the vibration displacement extraction processing unit 14 may, for example, execute a process to extract the target's heart rate interval (RRI). When the electronic device of the present disclosure detects a living organism, the received signal processing unit 12 and / or the vibration displacement extraction processing unit 14 may, for example, execute a process to perform frequency analysis on time series data of the extracted heart rate interval of the target. When the electronic device of the present disclosure detects a living organism, the received signal processing unit 12 and / or the vibration displacement extraction processing unit 14 may, for example, execute a process to calculate the target's heart rate variability based on frequency analysis of time series data of the heart rate interval.

[0039] 2, the electronic device 100 according to an embodiment includes a transmitting unit including a transmitting DAC 21, a transmitting circuit 22, a millimeter-wave transmitting circuit 23, and a transmitting antenna array 24. The electronic device 100 according to an embodiment includes a receiving unit including a receiving antenna array 31, a mixer 32, a receiving circuit 33, and a receiving ADC 34. The electronic device 100 according to an embodiment may not include at least one of the functional units shown in FIG. 2, or may include functional units other than the functional units shown in FIG. 2. The electronic device 100 shown in FIG. 2 may be configured using a circuit configured basically similarly to a general radar using electromagnetic waves in the millimeter-wave band or the like. Meanwhile, in the electronic device 100 according to an embodiment, the signal processing by the signal processing unit 10 may include processing different from that of conventional general radar.

[0040] The signal processing unit 10 included in the electronic device 100 according to an embodiment can control the overall operation of the electronic device 100, as well as the individual functional units constituting the electronic device 100. In particular, the signal processing unit 10 performs various processes on signals handled by the electronic device 100. The signal processing unit 10 may include at least one processor, such as a central processing unit (CPU) or a digital signal processor (DSP), to provide control and processing capabilities for executing various functions. The signal processing unit 10 may be implemented as a single processor, several processors, or individual processors. The processor may be implemented as a single integrated circuit. An integrated circuit is also called an integrated circuit (IC). The processor may be implemented as multiple integrated circuits and discrete circuits connected to each other in a communicative manner. The processor may be implemented based on various other known technologies. In an embodiment, the signal processing unit 10 may be configured as, for example, a CPU (hardware) and a program (software) executed by the CPU. The signal processing unit 10 may also include a storage unit (memory) necessary for the operation of the signal processing unit 10, as appropriate.

[0041] The signal generation processing unit 11 of the signal processing unit 10 generates a signal to be transmitted from the electronic device 100. In the electronic device 100 according to one embodiment, the signal generation processing unit 11 may generate a transmission signal (transmission chirp signal) such as a chirp signal. In particular, the signal generation processing unit 11 may generate a signal whose frequency changes periodically and linearly (linear chirp signal). For example, the signal generation processing unit 11 may generate a chirp signal whose frequency periodically and linearly increases from 77 GHz to 81 GHz over time. Alternatively, the signal generation processing unit 11 may generate a signal whose frequency periodically and linearly increases (up-chirp) and decreases (down-chirp) from 77 GHz to 81 GHz over time. The signal generated by the signal generation processing unit 11 may be preset in the signal processing unit 10, for example. Alternatively, the signal generated by the signal generation processing unit 11 may be stored in advance in a storage unit or the like in the signal processing unit 10, for example. Since chirp signals used in technical fields such as radar are well known, a more detailed description thereof will be simplified or omitted as appropriate. The signal generated by the signal generation processing unit 11 is supplied to the transmit DAC 21. For this purpose, the signal generation processing unit 11 may be connected to the transmit DAC 21.

[0042] The transmission DAC (digital-to-analog converter) 21 has a function of converting the digital signal supplied from the signal generation processing unit 11 into an analog signal. The transmission DAC 21 may be configured to include a general digital-to-analog converter. The signal converted into an analog signal by the transmission DAC 21 is supplied to the transmission circuit 22. For this reason, the transmission DAC 21 may be connected to the transmission circuit 22.

[0043] The transmission circuit 22 has a function of converting the analog signal converted by the transmission DAC 21 into an intermediate frequency (IF) band. The transmission circuit 22 may be configured to include a general IF band transmission circuit. The signal processed by the transmission circuit 22 is supplied to the millimeter wave transmission circuit 23. For this reason, the transmission circuit 22 may be connected to the millimeter wave transmission circuit 23.

[0044] The millimeter-wave transmission circuit 23 has the function of transmitting the signal processed by the transmission circuit 22 as a millimeter wave (RF wave). The millimeter-wave transmission circuit 23 may be configured to include a general millimeter-wave transmission circuit. The signal processed by the millimeter-wave transmission circuit 23 is supplied to the transmission antenna array 24. For this reason, the millimeter-wave transmission circuit 23 may be connected to the transmission antenna array 24. The signal processed by the millimeter-wave transmission circuit 23 is also supplied to the mixer 32. For this reason, the millimeter-wave transmission circuit 23 may also be connected to the mixer 32.

[0045] The transmitting antenna array 24 is an array of multiple transmitting antennas. In Fig. 2, the configuration of the transmitting antenna array 24 is shown in a simplified form. The transmitting antenna array 24 transmits the signal processed by the millimeter-wave transmitting circuit 23 to the outside of the electronic device 100. The transmitting antenna array 24 may be configured to include a transmitting antenna array used in a general millimeter-wave radar.

[0046] In this way, the electronic device 100 according to one embodiment includes a transmitting antenna (transmitting antenna array 24), and can transmit a transmitting signal (for example, a transmitting chirp signal) from the transmitting antenna array 24 as a transmitting wave.

[0047] 2 , assume that an object such as a target device 200 is present around the electronic device 100. In this case, at least a portion of the transmission waves transmitted from the transmitting antenna array 24 is reflected by the object such as the target device 200. Of the transmission waves transmitted from the transmitting antenna array 24, at least a portion of those reflected by the object such as the target device 200 may be reflected toward the receiving antenna array 31.

[0048] The receiving antenna array 31 receives the reflected waves, which may be at least a portion of the transmitted waves transmitted from the transmitting antenna array 24 that are reflected by an object such as the target device 200.

[0049] The receiving antenna array 31 is an array of multiple receiving antennas. In FIG. 2, the configuration of the receiving antenna array 31 is shown in a simplified form. The receiving antenna array 31 receives reflected waves that are the result of reflection of the transmitted waves transmitted from the transmitting antenna array 24. The receiving antenna array 31 may be configured to include a receiving antenna array used in a general millimeter-wave radar. The receiving antenna array 31 supplies the received signals received as reflected waves to the mixer 32. For this reason, the receiving antenna array 31 may be connected to the mixer 32.

[0050] The mixer 32 converts the signal (transmission signal) processed by the millimeter-wave transmission circuit 23 and the reception signal received by the reception antenna array 31 into an intermediate frequency (IF) band. The mixer 32 may be configured to include a mixer used in a general millimeter-wave radar. The mixer 32 supplies the signal generated as a result of the combination to the reception circuit 33. For this reason, the mixer 32 may be connected to the reception circuit 33.

[0051] The receiving circuit 33 has a function of performing analog processing on the signal converted to the IF band by the mixer 32. The receiving circuit 33 may be configured to include a receiving circuit that converts to a general IF band. The signal processed by the receiving circuit 33 is supplied to the receiving ADC 34. For this reason, the receiving circuit 33 may be connected to the receiving ADC 34.

[0052] The receiving ADC (analog-to-digital converter) 34 has a function of converting the analog signal supplied from the receiving circuit 33 into a digital signal. The receiving ADC 34 may be configured to include a general analog-to-digital converter. The signal digitized by the receiving ADC 34 is supplied to the receiving signal processing unit 12 of the signal processing unit 10. For this reason, the receiving ADC 34 may be connected to the signal processing unit 10.

[0053] The reception signal processing unit 12 of the signal processing unit 10 has a function of performing various processes on the digital signal supplied from the reception DAC 34. For example, the reception signal processing unit 12 calculates the distance from the electronic device 100 to an object such as the target device 200 based on the digital signal supplied from the reception DAC 34 (distance measurement). The reception signal processing unit 12 also calculates the relative velocity of the object such as the target device 200 with respect to the electronic device 100 based on the digital signal supplied from the reception DAC 34 (speed measurement). The reception signal processing unit 12 also calculates the azimuth angle of the object such as the target device 200 as seen from the electronic device 100 based on the digital signal supplied from the reception DAC 34 (angle measurement). Specifically, I / Q converted data may be input to the reception signal processing unit 12. By inputting such data, the reception signal processing unit 12 performs fast Fourier transforms (2D-FFT) in the range direction and the velocity direction, respectively. The received signal processing unit 12 may then suppress false alarms and make the probability constant by removing noise points using processing such as CFAR (Constant False Alarm Rate).The received signal processing unit 12 may then obtain the position of an object such as the target device 200 by estimating the angle of arrival for points that satisfy the CFAR criteria.Information generated as a result of measuring the distance, speed, and angle by the received signal processing unit 12 may be supplied to the vibration displacement extraction processing unit 14.

[0054] The vibration displacement extraction processing unit 14 extracts vibration displacement as information related to the heartbeat from the information generated by the received signal processing unit 12. The operation of extracting information related to the heartbeat by the vibration displacement extraction processing unit 14 will be described further below. The information related to the heartbeat extracted by the vibration displacement extraction processing unit 14 may be supplied to the communication interface 50. For this reason, the vibration displacement extraction processing unit 14 and / or the signal processing unit 10 may be connected to the communication interface 50. Various pieces of information processed by the vibration displacement extraction processing unit 14 may be supplied to functional units other than the communication interface 50.

[0055] The communication interface 50 may be configured to include an electrical interface that outputs information supplied from the signal processing unit 10 to, for example, an external device 60. The communication interface 50 may output at least one of information regarding the position, velocity, and angle of an object such as the target device 200 to the external device 60 as a signal such as a CAN (Controller Area Network) or a UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter). For example, at least one of information regarding the position, velocity, and angle of an object such as the target device 200 may be supplied to the external device 60 via the communication interface 50. For this reason, the communication interface 50 may be connected to the external device 60.

[0056] 2, the electronic device 100 according to an embodiment may be connected to an external device 60 via a communication interface 50 in at least one of a wired and wireless manner. In an embodiment, the external device 60 may include any computer and / or any control device. The electronic device 100 according to an embodiment may also include the external device 60. The external device 60 may have various configurations depending on how information on vibrations, heartbeats, and / or heart sounds detected by the electronic device 100 is used. Therefore, a detailed description of the external device 60 will be omitted.

[0057] FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a chirp signal generated by the signal generation processing unit 11 of the signal processing unit 10. In FIG.

[0058] FIG. 3 shows the time structure of one frame when using the FCM (Fast-Chirp Modulation) method. FIG. 3 shows an example of a received signal using the FCM method. FCM is a method in which chirp signals shown as c1, c2, c3, c4, ..., cn in FIG. 3 are repeated at short intervals (for example, equal to or longer than the round-trip time between the electromagnetic wave radar and the target, calculated from the maximum measured distance). In FCM, for convenience of signal processing of the received signal, transmission and reception processing is often performed by dividing the signal into subframe units as shown in FIG. 3.

[0059] In Fig. 3, the horizontal axis represents elapsed time, and the vertical axis represents frequency. In the example shown in Fig. 3, the signal generation processing unit 11 generates linear chirp signals whose frequencies change periodically and linearly. In Fig. 3, each chirp signal is represented as c1, c2, c3, c4, ..., cn. As shown in Fig. 3, the frequency of each chirp signal increases linearly with the passage of time.

[0060] In the example shown in FIG. 3, several chirp signals such as c1, c2, c3, c4, ..., cn are included in one subframe. That is, subframe 1 and subframe 2 shown in FIG. 3 are each configured to include several chirp signals such as c1, c2, c3, c4, ..., cn. Also, in the example shown in FIG. 3, several subframes such as subframe 1, subframe 2, ..., subframe N are included in one frame (1 frame). That is, 1 frame shown in FIG. 3 is configured to include N subframes. Also, 1 frame shown in FIG. 3 may be frame 1, followed by frame 2, frame 3, ..., etc. Each of these frames may be configured to include N subframes, just like frame 1. Also, a frame interval of a predetermined length may be included between frames. One frame shown in FIG. 3 may be, for example, 30 to 50 milliseconds long.

[0061] In the electronic device 100 according to an embodiment, the signal generation processing unit 11 may generate a transmission signal as an arbitrary number of frames. Also, some chirp signals are omitted from the illustration in Fig. 3. In this manner, the relationship between time and frequency of the transmission signal generated by the signal generation processing unit 11 may be stored in, for example, a storage unit of the signal processing unit 10.

[0062] In this way, the electronic device 100 according to an embodiment may transmit a transmission signal configured from subframes including multiple chirp signals. Also, the electronic device 100 according to an embodiment may transmit a transmission signal configured from a frame including a predetermined number of subframes.

[0063] Hereinafter, the electronic device 100 will be described as transmitting a transmission signal having a frame structure as shown in FIG. 3. However, the frame structure as shown in FIG. 3 is merely an example, and for example, the number of chirp signals included in one subframe may be arbitrary. That is, in one embodiment, the signal generation processing unit 11 may generate subframes including any number of chirp signals (for example, any plural number). The subframe structure as shown in FIG. 3 is also merely an example, and for example, the number of subframes included in one frame may be arbitrary. That is, in one embodiment, the signal generation processing unit 11 may generate a frame including any number of subframes (for example, any plural number). The signal generation processing unit 11 may generate signals of different frequencies. The signal generation processing unit 11 may generate multiple discrete signals, each having a frequency f with a different bandwidth.

[0064] Fig. 4 is a diagram showing, in another aspect, part of the subframe shown in Fig. 3. Fig. 4 shows each sample of the received signal obtained by receiving the transmitted signal shown in Fig. 3 as a result of performing 2D-FFT (Two Dimensional Fast Fourier Transform), which is processing performed in the received signal processing unit 12 (Fig. 2) of the signal processing unit 10.

[0065] As shown in Fig. 4, chirp signals c1, c2, c3, c4, ..., cn are stored in each subframe, such as subframe 1, ..., subframe N. In Fig. 4, each chirp signal c1, c2, c3, c4, ..., cn is composed of samples, each represented by a square arranged in the horizontal direction. The received signal shown in Fig. 4 is subjected to 2D-FFT, CFAR, and / or integrated signal processing of each subframe by the received signal processing unit 12 shown in Fig. 2.

[0066] FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a point group calculated on a range-Doppler (distance-velocity) plane as a result of 2D-FFT, CFAR, and integrated signal processing of each subframe being performed in the received signal processing unit 12 shown in FIG. 2.

[0067] In FIG. 5, the horizontal direction represents range (distance), and the vertical direction represents velocity. The filled squares s1 in FIG. 5 represent point clouds indicating signals that exceed the CFAR threshold processing. The unfilled squares s2 in FIG. 5 represent bins (2D-FFT samples) without point clouds that do not exceed the CFAR threshold. The point clouds on the range-Doppler plane calculated in FIG. 5 have their azimuths from the radar calculated by direction estimation, and their position and velocity on a two-dimensional plane are calculated as point clouds indicating an object such as the target device 200. Here, the direction estimation may be calculated using a beamformer and / or a subspace method. Representative subspace method algorithms include MUSIC (Multiple Signal Classification) and ESPRIT (Estimation of Signal Parameters via Rotation Invariance Technique).

[0068] Fig. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the result of the reception signal processing unit 12 converting the point cloud coordinates from the range-Doppler plane shown in Fig. 5 to the XY plane after performing direction estimation. As shown in Fig. 6, the reception signal processing unit 12 can plot the point cloud PG on the XY plane. Here, the point cloud PG is made up of points P. Furthermore, each point P has an angle θ and a radial velocity Vr in polar coordinates.

[0069] The received signal processing unit 12 detects an object present within the range where the transmitted wave T is transmitted, based on at least one of the results of the 2D-FFT and the angle estimation. The received signal processing unit 12 may perform object detection by, for example, clustering processing based on the estimated distance information, speed information, and angle information. Known algorithms used for clustering data include DBSCAN (Density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise). This is an algorithm that performs clustering based on density. In the clustering processing, for example, the average power of points constituting the detected object may be calculated. Information on the distance, speed, angle, and power of the object detected by the received signal processing unit 12 may be supplied to an external device 60, for example, via a communication interface 50.

[0070] As described above, the electronic device 100 may include a transmitting antenna (transmitting antenna array 24), a receiving antenna (receiving antenna array 31), and a signal processing unit 10. The transmitting antenna array 24 transmits a transmission wave T. The receiving antenna array 31 receives a reflected wave R resulting from reflection of the transmission wave T. The signal processing unit 10 then detects an object (such as the target device 200) that reflects the transmission wave T based on the transmission signal transmitted as the transmission wave T and the reception signal received as the reflected wave R.

[0071] Next, estimation of the direction of an incoming wave by the antenna array of the electronic device 100 according to an embodiment will be further described.

[0072] 7 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the receiving antenna array 31 of the electronic device 100 according to an embodiment and the principle of estimating the direction of an incoming wave by the receiving antenna array 31. FIG. 7 shows an example of reception of radio waves by the receiving antenna array 31.

[0073] As shown in Figure 7, the receive antenna array 31 may be a linear arrangement of sensors such as receive antennas. As shown in Figure 7, in one embodiment, the receive antenna array 31 may include multiple receive antennas arranged in a linear arrangement. In Figure 7, the receive antenna array 31 includes antennas x1, x2, x3, ..., x M In the figure, multiple antennas such as those shown in the figure are represented by small circles. The receiving antenna array 31 may be composed of any number of antennas. As shown in FIG. 7, the multiple antennas constituting the receiving antenna array 31 are arranged at an array pitch d. A sensor array in which sensors (antennas, ultrasonic transducers, microphones, etc.) corresponding to various physical waves are arranged in an array is also called a uniform linear array (ULA). As shown in FIG. 7, physical waves (electromagnetic waves, sound waves, etc.) arrive from various directions, such as θ1 and θ2. Here, θ1 and θ2 may be the angles of arrival described above. In this way, a sensor array such as the receiving antenna array 31 can estimate the direction of arrival (angle of arrival) by utilizing the phase difference that occurs in the measurements between sensors depending on the direction of arrival of the physical wave. This method of estimating the direction of arrival of a wave is also referred to as angle of arrival estimation or direction of arrival (DoA).

[0074] In the electronic device 100 according to one embodiment, at least one of the transmitting antenna array 24 and the receiving antenna array 31 may be configured with multiple antennas arranged in a line. This allows, for example, millimeter-wave radar to appropriately narrow the directivity when transmitting and receiving radio waves. When transmitting a transmitted wave, the direction of the transmitted beam is often controlled by a beamformer. On the other hand, when receiving a reflected wave, the direction of arrival of the reflected wave is often estimated by a subspace method (such as the above-mentioned MUSIC and ESPRIT) rather than a beamformer. In the beamformer and subspace method, in a ULA such as that shown in FIG. 7, a phase difference occurs in the measurements between sensors depending on the direction of arrival of electromagnetic waves arriving from various directions. Therefore, the direction of arrival of the reflected wave can be estimated using this phase difference.

[0075] Next, estimation of angles of incoming waves in two directions by the antenna array of the electronic device 100 according to an embodiment will be further described.

[0076] FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of an antenna arrangement for estimating the directions of arrival at two orthogonal angles.

[0077] As shown in FIG. 8, in the electronic device 100 according to one embodiment, the transmitting antenna array 24 and / or the receiving antenna array 31 may include an array of a plurality of patch antenna units.

[0078] In the transmitting antenna array 24 shown in FIG. 8, one patch antenna unit may be configured to include a plurality of elements electrically connected in the direction 1 shown in the figure. In each patch antenna unit, the plurality of elements may be electrically connected by wiring such as a stripline on a substrate. In each patch antenna unit, the plurality of elements are spaced apart at intervals d that are shorter than half the wavelength λ of the transmitting wave. 1,t In Fig. 8, each patch antenna unit may have any number of elements, two or more, electrically connected together. In Fig. 8, some of the electrically connected elements are omitted.

[0079] 8, the transmitting antenna array 24 may be configured by arranging a plurality of patch antenna units in a direction 2 shown in the figure. The patch antenna units are spaced apart at intervals d, which are shorter than half the wavelength λ of the transmitting wave. 2,t In one embodiment, the transmit antenna array 24 may include any number of patch antenna units greater than or equal to two.

[0080] As shown in Fig. 8, in one embodiment, the receiving antenna array 31 may be configured by changing the arrangement of the multiple elements in the transmitting antenna array 24. That is, in the receiving antenna array 31 shown in Fig. 8, one patch antenna unit may be configured to include multiple elements electrically connected in the direction 2 shown in the figure. In each patch antenna unit, the multiple elements may be electrically connected by wiring such as a stripline on a substrate. In each patch antenna unit, the multiple elements are spaced apart at intervals d that are shorter than half the wavelength λ of the transmission wave. 2,s In Fig. 8, each patch antenna unit may have any number of elements, two or more, electrically connected together. In Fig. 8, some of the electrically connected elements are omitted.

[0081] 8, the receiving antenna array 31 may be configured by arraying a plurality of patch antenna units in a direction 1 shown in the figure. The patch antenna units are spaced apart at intervals d, which are shorter than half the wavelength λ of the transmission wave. 1,s In one embodiment, the receive antenna array 31 may include any number of patch antenna units greater than or equal to two.

[0082] The elements included in the transmitting antenna array 24 and the receiving antenna array 31 may all be arranged on the same plane (for example, on the surface layer of the same substrate). The transmitting antenna array 24 and the receiving antenna array 31 may also be arranged close to each other (monostatic). Furthermore, directions 1 and 2 shown in FIG. 8 may be geometrically orthogonal to each other.

[0083] The transmitting antenna array 24 and the receiving antenna array 31 shown in FIG. 8 can appropriately narrow the directivity of each of the transmitting antennas and the receiving antennas. Furthermore, by using the transmitting antenna array 24 shown in FIG. 8 to control the direction of transmission of each transmission wave (transmission signal) at each timing of transmission, a beamformer for direction 2 shown in FIG. 8 can be realized. Furthermore, by using the receiving antenna array 31 shown in FIG. 8, the arrival direction of the reflected wave can be estimated for direction 1 shown in FIG. 8. In this way, it is possible to estimate the arrival direction of the reflected wave for two angles that are substantially orthogonal. Therefore, it is possible to acquire a point cloud representing an object such as the target device 200 in three dimensions.

[0084] Next, a method for detecting vibrations of the target device 200 by the electronic device 100 according to an embodiment will be described.

[0085] An electronic device 100 according to one embodiment transmits a transmission wave, such as a millimeter-wave radar wave, to a target device 200 and detects vibrations of the target device 200 based on the result of receiving the reflected wave reflected by the target device 200. As described above, the target device 200 may be an engine, a machine tool, a lathe, a processing device, or a vehicle such as an automobile, but is not particularly limited thereto and may be any other device. Here, a method for detecting the heartbeat interval of the target device 200 based on the results of the above-described 2D-FFT, CFAR processing, and direction-of-arrival estimation will be considered. First, the manner in which vibrations occur will be described as a result of the 2D-FFT performed in FIGS. 4 and 5 .

[0086] When the electronic device 100 according to an embodiment detects biological information, the electronic device 100 transmits a transmission wave, such as a millimeter wave radar wave, to the target device 200, and detects the heartbeat of the target based on the result of receiving the reflected wave reflected from the chest where the heart of the target is located. As described above, the target may be a human or an animal.

[0087] FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of the results of receiving a reflected wave of a transmission wave transmitted to the target device 200 and performing 2D-FFT processing on the received reflected wave. FIG. 9 shows a spectrum indicating the vibration of the target device 200 as a result of the 2D-FFT. FIG. 9 shows a range-Doppler spectrum corresponding to the vibration of the target device 200. In FIG. 9, the horizontal axis represents distance (range) and the vertical axis represents velocity. The signal processing unit 10 (e.g., the vibration displacement extraction processing unit 14) of the electronic device 100 according to one embodiment may extract, for example, a peak Hm as shown in FIG. 9 as the vibration of the target device 200.

[0088] The peak Hm shown in FIG. 9 has many components in the Doppler direction (velocity direction). This indicates that the detected target device 200 contains many vibration components (rigid body motion and / or micro-vibration). The actual vibration velocity is calculated by adding a part of one chirp signal to a two-dimensional signal s, which is a one-dimensional time series IQ signal s. v The phase of the signal d v is the vibration displacement of the vibrating body. The vibration displacement of the vibrating body that generates the actual vibration velocity is calculated by adding a part of one chirp signal to the two-dimensional signal s, which is a one-dimensional time series IQ signal s. v The phase of the signal d v The above-mentioned two-dimensional signal s is an inverse Fourier transform of the two-dimensional signal S obtained by filtering only the signal component of the peak Hm shown in FIG. 9 on the 2D-FFT plane shown in FIG.

[0089] Here, the above vibration displacement d vcan only detect the radial component from the vibrating body to the radar. Originally, the vibrating body has three-axis vibration displacement, but according to the above method, only the projection in the radial direction is detected. v Therefore, even if an attempt is made to reconstruct the original vibration of an object using radar, there is a risk that sufficient information may not be reconstructed.

[0090] As described above, the receiving antenna array 31 shown in FIG. 8 can realize a beamformer for direction 2 shown in FIG. 8, and can realize estimation of the direction of arrival of reflected waves for direction 1 shown in FIG. 8. Therefore, it is possible to estimate the direction of arrival of reflected waves for two angles that are substantially orthogonal to each other, and it becomes possible to obtain a point cloud representing an object such as the target device 200 in three dimensions. That is, by performing direction estimation using an antenna such as that shown in FIG. 8, it is possible to calculate the distance, azimuth, and elevation angles, and therefore it is possible to obtain a point cloud representing an object in three dimensions. However, the velocity information held by each acquired data point still remains in the above-mentioned d v Only.

[0091] As explained above, when a Doppler radar is used to detect vibrations, such as human body movements, a pair of transmit and receive antenna arrays can be used to measure the distance, angle (direction estimation), and vibration velocity of a specific part of the vibrating object. However, with the above-mentioned method, only the radial velocity from the object toward the radar can be measured using the radar's Doppler shift.

[0092] Therefore, an electronic device 1 according to an embodiment described below is capable of measuring the velocity of a vibrating object, including the velocity in the normal direction relative to the radial direction toward the radar, when extracting the vibration velocity of the vibrating object. That is, the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment is capable of measuring vibrations in two or more dimensions with a single device by combining multiple Doppler radars that use frequencies in the quasi-millimeter wave band or higher (e.g., 20 GHz or higher). The electronic device 1 according to an embodiment is capable of detecting minute vibrations of an object as micro-Doppler waves using a Doppler radar that measures distance (ranging), estimates angle (angle measurement), and detects Doppler velocity (velocity measurement) using, for example, electromagnetic waves or sound waves.

[0093] The electronic device 1 according to the embodiment described above will be described below.

[0094] The electronic device 1 according to an embodiment may have features mainly in the following respects. That is, the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment may have (A) features related to the arrangement and configuration of the antenna, and / or (B) features related to the design of the system. These features will be further described below.

[0095] (A) Antenna placement and configuration characteristics The electronic device 1 according to an embodiment may include at least two, for example, three, receiving antennas (receiving antenna arrays). Furthermore, the multiple receiving antennas in the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment may be arranged so that they do not face the same direction. For example, the multiple receiving antennas in the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment may be arranged so that they face different directions. Furthermore, in the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment, the antennas may be arranged so that the distance between their centers is equal to or less than a predetermined distance. Here, the predetermined distance may be a distance from the center of each antenna to the vibrating body that is equal to or less than the range (distance) resolution of the radar. Furthermore, the distance to the vibrating body may be determined by the minimum installation distance set as a specification of the radar module. Hereinafter, the feature of the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment as described above will also be simply referred to as "Feature A." Feature A will be described in more detail below.

[0096] (B) System design features The electronic device 1 according to an embodiment may store the antenna set described in Feature A above in a single radar module. The electronic device 1 according to an embodiment may integrate multiple receiving systems. Furthermore, the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment may align the angles detected by each antenna by correcting them to angles on a global coordinate system. The integrated receiving system enables three-dimensional detection of the displacement (or velocity or acceleration, etc.) of a vibrating object, for example. Hereinafter, the feature of the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment described above will also be simply referred to as "Feature B." Feature B will be described in more detail below.

[0097] Next, the above-mentioned features A and B will be described in more detail.

[0098] (Details of Feature A) FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of antenna arrangement in an electronic device 1 according to an embodiment. The electronic device 1 according to an embodiment may include at least one transmitting antenna array 24 and multiple receiving antenna arrays 31. The electronic device 1 according to an embodiment shown in FIG. 10 includes one transmitting antenna array 24 and three receiving antenna arrays 31A, 31B, and 31C. Hereinafter, when multiple receiving antenna arrays such as the receiving antenna array 31A, the receiving antenna array 31B, and the receiving antenna array 31C are not particularly distinguished from one another, they may be simply referred to as "receiving antenna array 31."

[0099] Here, the transmitting antenna array 24 may be configured similarly to the transmitting antenna array 24 of the electronic device 100 described with reference to FIG. 2 and the like. Meanwhile, in the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment, the transmitting antenna array 24 does not necessarily have to be an antenna configured as an array, and does not necessarily have to be configured by a plurality of antenna elements. For example, in the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment, a plurality of antenna elements not arranged in an array may be used as the transmitting antenna, instead of the transmitting antenna array 24. Also, in the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment, a single antenna element may be used as the transmitting antenna, instead of the transmitting antenna array 24. Hereinafter, the transmitting antenna in the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment will be described as being a planar transmitting antenna array 24, such as a patch antenna (microstrip antenna), as shown in FIG. 10 .

[0100] 10, in the electronic device 1 according to the embodiment, the transmitting antenna array 24 may be disposed on a plane passing through a point on the x-axis, y-axis, and z-axis that is a distance α from the origin O. That is, the transmitting antenna array 24 may be disposed on a plane x+y+z-α=0 that is a distance α / √3 from the origin O shown in FIG. 10. The center of the transmitting antenna array 24 may be disposed on (or near) a straight line x=y=z in a space defined by the x-axis, y-axis, and z-axis shown in FIG. 10. Here, the center of the transmitting antenna array 24 may be the center of a plurality of antenna elements that constitute the transmitting antenna array 24 (for example, arranged in an array).

[0101] By arranging the transmitting antenna as described above, the center line of the radar module can be aligned with the normal n passing through the center of the transmitting antenna. Here, the radar module may be a module including a transmitting antenna and / or a receiving antenna. Furthermore, by arranging the transmitting antenna in this manner, the energy of the electromagnetic wave can be evenly distributed in each of the x-axis direction, y-axis direction, and z-axis direction.

[0102] Meanwhile, the receiving antenna array 31 may be configured similarly to the receiving antenna array 31 of the electronic device 100 described with reference to Fig. 2 etc. The electronic device 1 according to an embodiment may include two or more transmitting antenna arrays 24, and may include two or four or more receiving antenna arrays 31, as necessary. Hereinafter, in the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment, the receiving antenna array 31 will be described as being a planar antenna array such as a patch antenna (microstrip antenna), as shown in Fig. 10.

[0103] 10, in the electronic device 1 according to one embodiment, the receiving antenna arrays 31 may be arranged in different directions, for example, so that they do not all face the same direction. Here, the "direction" of the antenna may be, for example, in the case of an antenna array, a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the multiple antennas constituting the antenna array are arranged. Also, in the case of a planar antenna, the "direction" of the antenna may be, for example, a direction perpendicular to the plane of the planar antenna. Furthermore, in one embodiment, the "direction" of the antenna may be a direction perpendicular to the receiving surface of a receiving antenna, or, for example, a direction perpendicular to the radiating surface of a planar antenna.

[0104] The receiving antenna array 31A shown in FIG. 10 is arranged on the XY plane. As shown in FIG. 10, the receiving antenna array 31A may be arranged at a position on the XY plane, for example, near the origin O. The receiving antenna array 31A may also be arranged near the XY plane shown in FIG. 10. The receiving antenna array 31B shown in FIG. 10 is arranged on the YZ plane. As shown in FIG. 10, the receiving antenna array 31B may be arranged at a position on the YZ plane, for example, near the origin O. The receiving antenna array 31B may also be arranged near the YZ plane shown in FIG. 10. The receiving antenna array 31C shown in FIG. 10 is arranged on the ZX plane. As shown in FIG. 10, the receiving antenna array 31C may be arranged at a position on the ZX plane, for example, near the origin O. The receiving antenna array 31C may also be arranged near the ZX plane shown in FIG. The arrangement of the receiving antenna array 31 shown in FIG. 10 is just an example. Therefore, the receive antenna array 31 may be arranged differently from that shown in FIG.

[0105] 10, the receiving antenna array 31A is arranged on the XY plane, the receiving antenna array 31B is arranged on the YZ plane, and the receiving antenna array 31C is arranged on the ZX plane. Therefore, the receiving antenna array 31A is oriented parallel to the Z axis shown in Fig. 10, the receiving antenna array 31B is oriented parallel to the X axis shown in Fig. 10, and the receiving antenna array 31C is oriented parallel to the Y axis shown in Fig. 10.

[0106] Next, the multiple receiving antenna arrays 31 may be arranged so that the mutual spacing is within a predetermined distance, such as a short distance. The multiple receiving antenna arrays 31 can each detect the same target object as point cloud coordinates. As described above, by reducing the distance between the centers of the receiving antenna arrays 31, the difference in distance to the target can be ignored. Here, the center of the receiving antenna array 31 may be the center of the multiple antenna elements that make up the receiving antenna array 31 (for example, arranged in an array).

[0107] In one embodiment, the distance between the plurality of receiving antenna arrays 31 may be set to be smaller than the distance (range) resolution of the radar with respect to a predetermined target object (target device 200). For example, the distance between any two receiving antenna arrays i and j among the plurality of receiving antenna arrays 31 may be set to d ij and the distance between the receiving antenna array i and the target is D i and the distance between the receiving antenna array j and the target is D j Here, the positions of the receiving antenna array i, the receiving antenna array j, and the target may be the center position of the receiving antenna array i, the center position of the receiving antenna array j, and the center position of the target, respectively. In this case, the following equation (1) holds.

[0108]

number

[0109] When the inequality sign is established in the above formula (1), the positions of (the center points of) the receiving antenna arrays i and j and the position of (the center point of) the target will be arranged as shown in Fig. 11. In other words, when the inequality sign is established in the above formula (1), the positions of (the center points of) the receiving antenna arrays i and j and the target will not be aligned on a straight line.

[0110] On the other hand, when the equality sign is established in the above formula (1), the positions of (the center points of) the receiving antenna arrays i and j and the position of (the center point of) the target are arranged as shown in FIG. 12. That is, when the equality sign is established in the above formula (1), the receiving antenna arrays i and j and the target are aligned on a straight line. As shown in FIG. 12, the receiving antenna arrays i and j and the target are aligned on a straight line when the target device 200 is located behind one of the receiving antenna arrays 31 in FIG. 10. Therefore, in the configuration of the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment, it is sufficient to consider only the case where the inequality sign is established in the above formula (1). From the above, in the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment, the three receiving antenna arrays 31 may be arranged so that the distance between the centers of any two receiving antenna arrays 31 does not change the range. For this reason, in the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment, the multiple receiving antenna arrays 31 are arranged such that the distance between any two receiving antenna arrays i and j is d ij and the range resolution of the radar is r s and may be arranged so as to satisfy the following formula (2):

[0111]

number

[0112] (Details of Feature B) In the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment, the transmitting antenna array 24 and three receiving antenna arrays 31 as shown in FIG. 10 may be housed inside one radar module. With this configuration, the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment can acquire the vibration displacement obtained for one data point as a three-dimensional vector. Therefore, the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment can three-dimensionally detect the vibration displacement of a predetermined target object (target / target device 200).

[0113] As described above, in the electronic device 1 according to one embodiment, the multiple receiving antenna arrays 31 can detect the same target object as point cloud coordinates. Also, as described above, in the electronic device 1 according to one embodiment, the distance between the centers of the receiving antenna arrays 31 can be made small, making it possible to ignore differences in distance to the target. With this configuration, each of the multiple receiving antenna arrays 31 can calculate the coordinates of the point cloud detected as the target based on two angles, such as azimuth and elevation, obtained by estimating the distance (range) and direction.

[0114] The electronic device 1 according to one embodiment may perform coordinate transformation on the coordinates of the targets detected by the plurality of receiving antenna arrays 31 as described above, using a transformation matrix based on Euler angles, for example.

[0115] Here, the coordinate transformation based on Euler angles can be performed as follows (i) to (iii). (i) By rotating around the z-axis by an angle φ, the coordinates (x, y, z) are transformed into coordinates (x', y', z'). (ii) By rotating the x-axis by an angle θ, the coordinates (x', y', z') are transformed into the coordinates (x”, y”, z”). (iii) After the transformation in (ii) above, the coordinates (x”, y”, z”) are transformed into coordinates (x”', y”', z”') by rotating the coordinates by an angle ψ around the z” axis. The coordinate system can be rotated by the above three-stage transformation. The transformed coordinates (x''', y''', z''') and the original coordinates (x, y, z) can be calculated, for example, as shown in the following equation (3).

[0116]

number

[0117] In one embodiment, a coordinate system based on the transmitting antenna array 24 may be set, as shown in FIG. 13, for example. The coordinate system shown in FIG. 13 is defined by an x''' axis, a y''' axis, and a z''' axis. In the coordinate system shown in FIG. 13, the transmitting antenna array 24 is disposed on the x'''y''' plane. In addition, in the coordinate system shown in FIG. 13, the center of the transmitting antenna array 24 is disposed so as to coincide with the origin of the x'''y''' plane (or its vicinity). The coordinate system based on the transmitting antenna array 24 as shown in FIG. 13 will hereinafter be referred to as a "global coordinate system." The electronic device 1 according to one embodiment may convert a point cloud of an object detected by the receiving antenna array 31 into coordinates in the global coordinate system as shown in FIG. 13.

[0118] For example, when converting a coordinate system based on the receiving antenna array 31A shown in Fig. 10 into a global coordinate system as shown in Fig. 13, the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment may perform the coordinate conversion by setting φ = -45°, θ = -45°, and ψ = -45° in the above equation (3). When converting coordinate systems based on the receiving antenna array 31B and the receiving antenna array 31C into a global coordinate system, the same coordinate conversion may be performed. The electronic device 1 according to an embodiment may superimpose the point clouds of the targets generated in the global coordinate system as described above.

[0119] As described above, the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment can detect weak displacements, such as vibrations of a device. Furthermore, the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment can detect weak vibrations, such as the heartbeat of a human body. The object detected by the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment is not particularly limited. The object detected by the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment may be an engine, a machine tool, a lathe, a processing device, or a vehicle such as an automobile, but is not particularly limited and may be any other device. The operation of the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment when calculating the displacement of a vibrating object will be further described.

[0120] 14 is a diagram conceptually illustrating the combination of displacements detected by the three receiving antenna arrays 31 in the electronic device 1 according to one embodiment. For ease of explanation, only the three receiving antenna arrays 31 of the electronic device 1 according to one embodiment are shown in FIG. 14, and the transmitting antenna array 24 is omitted from the illustration.

[0121] 14, the displacement due to vibration of the target device 200 is calculated as micro-Doppler on a line connecting the point where the target device 200 is detected (one point in the point group) and the center point of each receiving antenna array 31. The vector d shown in FIG. v,1 is a vector calculated as a micro-Doppler caused by displacement due to vibration of the target device 200 on a line passing through the point where the target device 200 is detected and the center point of the receiving antenna array 31A. Also, the vector d v,2 is a vector calculated as a micro-Doppler caused by displacement due to vibration of the target device 200 on a line passing through the point where the target device 200 is detected and the center point of the receiving antenna array 31B. Also, the vector d v,3 is a vector calculated as a micro-Doppler caused by displacement due to vibration of the target device 200 on a line passing through the point where the target device 200 is detected and the center point of the receiving antenna array 31C.

[0122] As shown in Figure 14, the vector d v,1 , vector d v,2 , and vector d v,3 are linearly independent. Therefore, the displacement of the vibration detected as the target device 200 can be calculated based on the vector shown in the following equation (4).

[0123]

number

[0124] As described above, in the electronic device 1 according to one embodiment, the displacement vector of the vibration obtained for one detected object 200 is dv,1 , d v,2 , and d v,3 That is, in the electronic device 1 according to the embodiment, for example, based on the reflected wave received by the transmitting antenna array 24A, the displacement vector d v,1 In the electronic device 1 according to the embodiment, for example, a vibration displacement vector d v,2 Furthermore, in the electronic device 1 according to the embodiment, the displacement vector d of the vibration is calculated based on the reflected wave received by the transmitting antenna array 24C, for example. v,3 Therefore, according to the electronic device 1 of the embodiment, it is possible to three-dimensionally detect vibration displacement or the like of a predetermined object (object / object device 200) that is a target.

[0125] Fig. 15 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of an electronic device 1 according to an embodiment. In the block diagram of the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment shown in Fig. 15, components similar to or corresponding to those components in the block diagram shown in Fig. 2 are indicated with the same reference numerals. The electronic device 1 according to an embodiment shown in Fig. 15 has a configuration that partially overlaps with the electronic device 100 shown in Fig. 2, and therefore, descriptions of the same or similar parts as those of the electronic device 100 shown in Fig. 2 will be appropriately simplified or omitted.

[0126] The electronic device 1 according to an embodiment shown in FIG. 15 includes a plurality of functional units (three in the example shown in FIG. 15 ) related to the reception system, as compared with the electronic device 100 shown in FIG. 2 . That is, the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment shown in FIG. 15 may include receiving antenna arrays 31A, 31B, and 31C instead of the receiving antenna array 31 shown in FIG. 2 . Similarly, the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment shown in FIG. 15 may include mixers 32A, 32B, and 32C instead of the mixer 32 shown in FIG. 2 . The electronic device 1 according to an embodiment shown in FIG. 15 may include a receiving circuit 33A, a receiving circuit 33B, and a receiving circuit 33C instead of the receiving circuit 33 shown in FIG. 2 . The electronic device 1 according to an embodiment shown in FIG. 15 may include a receiving ADC 34A, a receiving ADC 34B, and a receiving ADC 34C instead of the receiving ADC 34 shown in FIG. 2 . Each of these functional units related to the reception system may function in the same manner as the corresponding functional units described with reference to FIG. 2 .

[0127] Furthermore, the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment shown in FIG. 15 may include a signal processing unit 10′ instead of the signal processing unit 10 of the electronic device 100 shown in FIG. 2. As shown in FIG. 15, the signal processing unit 10′ may include a received signal processing unit 12A, a received signal processing unit 12B, and a received signal processing unit 12C instead of the received signal processing unit 12 of the signal processing unit 10 shown in FIG. 2. Also, as shown in FIG. 15, the signal processing unit 10′ may include a vibration displacement extraction processing unit 14A, a vibration displacement extraction processing unit 14B, and a vibration displacement extraction processing unit 14C instead of the vibration displacement extraction processing unit 14 of the signal processing unit 10 shown in FIG. 2. Each of these functional units may function in the same way as the corresponding functional unit described with reference to FIG. 2.

[0128] 15, the signal processing unit 10′ of the electronic device 1 according to one embodiment may include coordinate transformation processing units 13A, 13B, and 13C. Hereinafter, when there is no need to particularly distinguish between the multiple coordinate transformation processing units such as the coordinate transformation processing unit 13A, the coordinate transformation processing unit 13B, and the coordinate transformation processing unit 13C, they may be simply referred to as “coordinate transformation processing unit 13.”

[0129] The coordinate conversion processing units 13 shown in Fig. 15 perform processing to convert coordinate information supplied from the connected received signal processing units 12 into coordinates in different coordinate systems. In one embodiment, the coordinate conversion processing units 13 may perform the coordinate conversion based on the Euler angles described above (see equation (3) above). The coordinate information converted by the coordinate conversion processing units 13 may be supplied to the subsequent vibration displacement extraction processing units 14 shown in Fig. 15. The vibration displacement extraction processing units 14 may extract the displacement of vibration in each direction. good.

[0130] 15, the signal processing unit 10' of the electronic device 1 according to the embodiment may include a vibration displacement synthesis processing unit 15. The vibration displacement synthesis processing unit 15 may perform a process of synthesizing information on coordinates that have been subjected to coordinate transformation and are supplied from the vibration displacement extraction processing units 14 for each direction (see the above formula (4)). That is, the vibration displacement synthesis processing unit 15 may perform projections in the x, y, and z directions based on the angles formed between each receiving antenna array 31 and the detected position of the vibrating target device 200, which are obtained by estimating the direction of arrival of the received wave in each direction. As a result, the vibration displacement synthesis processing unit 15 can perform the above-mentioned d v,x , d v,y , and d v,z Calculate the displacement vector d v,1 , d v,2 , and d v,3 may be processed to compile the data into one piece of data in chronological order.

[0131] As described above, the electronic device 1 according to one embodiment may include at least one transmitting antenna (e.g., transmitting antenna array 24), multiple receiving antenna arrays 31, and a signal processing unit 10′. In one embodiment, each of the multiple receiving antenna arrays 31 may include multiple receiving antennas that receive reflected waves of transmitted waves. Furthermore, as described above, the multiple receiving antenna arrays 31 may be arranged in different orientations. The signal processing unit 10′ detects the displacement of an object that reflects the transmitted wave based on a transmitted signal transmitted as a transmitted wave and a received signal received as a reflected wave. Furthermore, the signal processing unit 10′ may combine the displacements of the objects detected by the multiple receiving antenna arrays 31 in the same multi-dimensional coordinate system.

[0132] The electronic device 1 according to one embodiment may include, for example, three receiving antenna arrays 31 as the multiple receiving antenna arrays 31. In this case, the signal processing unit 10' may combine the displacements of the target detected by the three receiving antenna arrays 31 in the same three-dimensional coordinate system. In addition, in one embodiment, the signal processing unit 10' may combine the displacements of the target detected by the multiple receiving antenna arrays 31 after transforming them into a multi-dimensional coordinate system using, for example, a transformation matrix based on Euler angles.

[0133] Furthermore, in the electronic device 1 according to one embodiment, the signal processing unit 10' may detect vibrations of the target device based on the displacement of the target, or may detect the heartbeat of the target human or animal, based on the transmitted signal and the received signal.

[0134] As described above, the electronic device 1 according to one embodiment can effectively detect, for example, vibrations of a device. Therefore, the electronic device 1 according to one embodiment can detect vibrations of a device by transmitting and receiving radio waves or the like, and use the detected vibrations to estimate the state of the device.

[0135] Furthermore, the electronic device 1 according to the embodiment can detect weak vibrations such as the heartbeat of a human body with good accuracy by transmitting and receiving radio waves.

[0136] (Effect of operation of electronic device 1) The effect of object detection by the electronic device 1 according to the embodiment will be further described below.

[0137] Conventionally, it has been difficult to three-dimensionally detect the displacement (velocity and / or acceleration) of an object's vibration using a normal radar sensor. According to an electronic device 1 of an embodiment, it is possible to three-dimensionally detect the displacement of an object's vibration, as shown in FIG. 16, for example. FIG. 16 is a graph showing an example of the vibration displacements of the same vibrating body, detected as a single point, acquired over one second in the x-axis, y-axis, and z-axis directions by the electronic device 1 of an embodiment. The vibration displacements in each axis direction have correlated frequency components. Therefore, the time-series waveform of the displacement of the object's vibration has similar portions in each axis direction. On the other hand, in the time-series waveform of the displacement of the object vibrating in each axis direction, the frequency structure and / or the overall vibration displacement level are different from each other.

[0138] As described above, the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment can three-dimensionally detect the displacement (speed and / or acceleration) of an object vibrating, for example, using a radar. Therefore, the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment can detect, for example, the vibration of a device with high accuracy. Furthermore, the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment can detect, for example, the heartbeat of a human body with high accuracy by transmitting and receiving radio waves or the like.

[0139] (Other embodiments) Other embodiments will be described below.

[0140] In the example shown in FIG. 10, the orientations of the receiving antenna arrays 31 provided in the electronic device 1 according to the embodiment have been described as being orthogonal to each other. However, in one embodiment, the orientations of the receiving antenna arrays 31 provided in the electronic device 1 may be arranged so that they are not orthogonal to each other. In this way, when the receiving antenna arrays 31 are arranged so that they are not orthogonal to each other, as described above, projections can be performed in the x, y, and z directions based on information about the angles at which the receiving antenna arrays 31 are arranged. By such processing, the electronic device 1 according to the embodiment calculates the vectors d v,x , d v,y , and d v,z can be calculated.

[0141] 10, the transmitting antenna array 24 and each receiving antenna array 31 are described as being stored in one radar module. However, in the electronic device 1 according to one embodiment, the transmitting antenna array 24 and each receiving antenna array 31 may be stored separately in multiple radar modules as appropriate.

[0142] 10, the electronic device 1 according to the embodiment has been described as including three receiving antenna arrays 31. However, the electronic device 1 according to the embodiment may also include, for example, two receiving antenna arrays 31, thereby detecting vibrations of an object two-dimensionally.

[0143] 15, the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment has been described as outputting information relating to the displacement of the object vibrating to the external device 60. However, the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment may output information relating to the velocity and / or acceleration of the object vibrating, etc., calculated based on the displacement of the object vibrating, in the signal processing unit 10′.

[0144] In one embodiment, the transmitting antenna array 24 and / or the receiving antenna array 31 included in the electronic device 1 are not limited to the arrangement shown in Fig. 8. For example, in one embodiment, the receiving antenna array 31 included in the electronic device 1 may have a configuration as shown in Fig. 17. Fig. 17 is a diagram showing an example of a URA (Uniform Rectangular Array) receiving antenna. By employing a URA receiving antenna as shown in Fig. 17, it is possible to estimate the directions of arrival at two angles using only the URA receiving antenna without changing the directivity using a beamformer in the transmitting antenna array 24.

[0145] 2, the signal processing unit 10 has been described as including functional units such as the heartbeat extraction unit 13 and the calculation unit 14. However, in one embodiment, the processing performed by the heartbeat extraction unit 13 and / or the calculation unit 14 may be performed by an external computer or processor.

[0146] While the present disclosure has been described based on various drawings and examples, it should be noted that those skilled in the art would easily be able to make various modifications and alterations based on the present disclosure. Therefore, it should be noted that these modifications and alterations are within the scope of the present disclosure. For example, the functions contained in each functional unit can be rearranged so as not to cause logical inconsistencies. Multiple functional units may be combined into one or divided. The above-described embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to faithful implementation of each of the described embodiments, but may be implemented by combining features or omitting some features as appropriate. In other words, those skilled in the art can make various modifications and alterations based on the present disclosure. Therefore, these modifications and alterations are within the scope of the present disclosure. For example, in each embodiment, each functional unit, means, step, etc. can be added to other embodiments so as not to cause logical inconsistencies, or can be replaced with each functional unit, means, step, etc. of other embodiments. Furthermore, in each embodiment, multiple functional units, means, steps, etc. can be combined into one or divided into two or more. Furthermore, each of the above-described embodiments of the present disclosure is not limited to being implemented faithfully according to each of the described embodiments, but can also be implemented by combining each feature or omitting some of them as appropriate.

[0147] The above-described embodiment is not limited to being implemented only as the electronic device 1. For example, the above-described embodiment may be implemented as a control method for a device such as the electronic device 1. Furthermore, for example, the above-described embodiment may be implemented as a program executed by a device such as the electronic device 1.

[0148] The electronic device 1 according to the above-described embodiment has been described as including components constituting a so-called radar sensor, such as the transmitting antenna array 24 and the receiving antenna array 31. However, the electronic device according to the embodiment may be implemented as, for example, a signal processing unit 10'. In this case, the signal processing unit 10' may be implemented as having a function of processing signals handled by, for example, the transmitting antenna array 24 and the receiving antenna array 31. [Explanation of symbols]

[0149] 1 Electronic equipment 10 Signal Processing Section 11 Signal generation processing section 12 Received signal processing section 13 Coordinate transformation processing section 14 Vibration displacement extraction processing section 15 Vibration change synthesis processing section 21 Transmit DAC 22 Transmitting circuit 23 Millimeter wave transmitter circuit 24 Transmitting Antenna Array 31 Receiving Antenna Array 32 Mixer 33 Receiving circuit 34 Receive ADC 50 Communication Interface 60 External equipment 100 Electronic equipment 200 Target Device

Claims

1. a transmitting antenna for transmitting a transmission wave; a plurality of receiving antenna arrays each including a plurality of receiving antennas for receiving reflected waves of the transmitted waves; a signal processing unit that detects the velocity and / or acceleration of an object that reflects the transmission wave based on a transmission signal that is transmitted as the transmission wave and a reception signal that is received as the reflected wave; Equipped with the plurality of receiving antenna arrays are arranged in different directions, The signal processing unit detects three-dimensional displacement of the object based on the displacements of the object detected by the plurality of receiving antenna arrays, and outputs three-dimensional velocity and / or acceleration of the object based on the displacements.

2. The electronic device according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of receiving antenna arrays are arranged so that the directions orthogonal to the direction in which the plurality of receiving antennas are arranged in the receiving antenna array are different from each other.

3. The electronic device according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of receiving antenna arrays are each configured as a planar antenna, and are arranged such that directions of normals to the planar antennas are different from each other.

4. The electronic device according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of receiving antenna arrays are arranged so that the directions perpendicular to the receiving surfaces of the receiving antenna arrays are different from each other.

5. The electronic device according to claim 1 , wherein the signal processing unit converts the displacements of the object detected by the plurality of receiving antenna arrays into a multi-dimensional coordinate system and then outputs the converted displacements.

6. The electronic device according to claim 5 , wherein the signal processing unit converts the displacement of the object detected by each of the plurality of receiving antenna arrays using Euler angles before outputting the converted displacement.

7. The electronic device according to claim 1 , wherein the signal processing unit detects vibrations of the target based on the transmission signal and the reception signal.

8. The electronic device according to claim 1 , wherein the signal processing unit detects vibration of the target device based on the transmission signal and the reception signal.

9. The electronic device according to claim 1 , wherein the signal processing unit detects a heartbeat and a body movement of the target, that is, a human or animal, based on the transmitted signal and the received signal.

10. the plurality of receive antenna arrays includes three receive antenna arrays; The electronic device according to claim 1 , wherein the signal processing unit outputs the displacements of the object detected by the three receiving antenna arrays in the same three-dimensional coordinate system.

11. The electronic device according to claim 1 , wherein the signal processing unit outputs the displacements of the object detected by the plurality of receiving antenna arrays in the same multi-dimensional coordinate system.

12. transmitting a transmission wave from a transmission antenna; receiving reflected waves of the transmitted waves from a plurality of receiving antenna arrays each including a plurality of receiving antennas and arranged in different directions; detecting a velocity and / or acceleration of an object reflecting the transmission wave based on a transmission signal transmitted as the transmission wave and a reception signal received as the reflection wave; detecting a three-dimensional displacement of the object based on the displacements of the object detected by the plurality of receiving antenna arrays, and outputting a three-dimensional velocity and / or acceleration of the object based on the displacements; A method for controlling an electronic device, including:

13. For electronic devices, transmitting a transmission wave from a transmission antenna; receiving reflected waves of the transmitted waves from a plurality of receiving antenna arrays each including a plurality of receiving antennas and arranged in different directions; detecting a velocity and / or acceleration of an object reflecting the transmission wave based on a transmission signal transmitted as the transmission wave and a reception signal received as the reflection wave; detecting a three-dimensional displacement of the object based on the displacements of the object detected by the plurality of receiving antenna arrays, and outputting a three-dimensional velocity and / or acceleration of the object based on the displacements; A program that executes.

14. The electronic device according to claim 1 , wherein the signal processing unit outputs information about the positions of the targets detected by the plurality of receiving antenna arrays.

Citation Information

Patent Citations

  • Vibration information acquisition method and device and user equipment

    CN104374464A

  • Desulfurization demetallization denitrogenation for coal or coal liquid raw material

    JP1983061178A

  • Radar tomography

    JP1991073130A

  • Microwave imaging system and imaging processing method

    JP2013113603A

  • Injection molding machine

    JP2014041145A