Vehicle Seat Occupancy Radar for Multi-Seat Detection Accuracy
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing occupancy sensors in vehicles often produce false positives due to objects like backpacks or purses and become cost-prohibitive for vehicles with multiple seats, leading manufacturers to omit them, thereby forfeiting associated safety and comfort features.
Innovation Solution
A centralized occupancy detection system using a radar transceiver and antenna array to monitor multiple seats with a single sensor, employing radar-reflective surfaces and phased antenna technology to provide directional sensitivity and separable measurements, allowing for accurate detection of occupants across multiple stations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If weight sensors are installed at each seat to detect occupancy, then occupancy detection accuracy is improved, but system cost increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple occupancy detection functions into a single radar transceiver system. Instead of installing separate weight sensors at each seat, one radar transceiver with antenna array monitors multiple seats through signal reflection analysis, merging detection capabilities while reducing component count and system cost.
Solution Approach 2:
The radar transceiver system performs multiple occupancy detection functions simultaneously across different seats. A single sensor system universally monitors front seats, middle seats, and rear seats, eliminating the need for seat-specific sensors while maintaining detection accuracy across all positions.
2Reliability
If weight sensors are used at each seat, then occupancy detection is reliable, but false positive detections occur when objects like backpacks or purses are placed on seats
Solution Approach 1:
The radar system analyzes local reflection characteristics at different spatial positions around each seat. By examining the specific pattern, strength, and phase of reflected signals from different locations, the system can distinguish between the reflection pattern of a human occupant and that of inanimate objects like backpacks or purses, reducing false positives while maintaining reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The radar system detects changes in signal reflection characteristics analogous to color changes. Different objects (humans vs. backpacks) reflect radar signals with different characteristics (amplitude, phase, frequency modulation), allowing the system to identify and differentiate between them, thereby reducing false positive detections while maintaining reliable occupancy detection.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the number of seats in a vehicle increases, then vehicle capacity is improved, but occupancy sensor coverage becomes cost-prohibitive
Solution Approach 1:
The radar transceiver system is designed to universally monitor multiple seats across different vehicle configurations. Whether the vehicle has front seats only, or includes middle and rear seats, the same single sensor system adapts to monitor all occupied positions, making occupancy detection cost-effective for vehicles with increased capacity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from one-dimensional seat-by-seat monitoring to three-dimensional spatial monitoring. The antenna array scans multiple seats in three-dimensional space simultaneously, allowing the system to cover expanded vehicle capacity with a single sensor system rather than requiring proportional increases in sensor数量.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables reliable and cost-effective monitoring of multiple vehicle seats with reduced false positives, maintaining passenger safety and comfort features even in vehicles with multiple seating rows without the need for individual sensors at each seat.
Implementation Method 1
a radar transceiver configured to use the radar-reflective surface to detect an occupant of at least one of the stations
Implementation Method 2
a radar-reflective surface, and a radar transceiver configured to use the radar-reflective surface
Implementation Method 3
a controller configured to adjust relative phases of the transmit signals and analyze receive signals in accordance with each set of azimuth-elevation-range parameter values
Data Source
AI summary
A centralized occupancy detection system enables monitoring of multiple seats, or more generally, multiple stations, with a single sensor. One illustrative vehicle includes: one or more stations each configured to accommodate an occupant of the vehicle, a radar-reflective surface, and a radar transceiver configured to use the radar-reflective surface to detect an occupant of at least one of the stations. Another illustrative vehicle includes: multiple stations to each accommodate an occupant of the vehicle, and a radar transceiver configured to examine each of the multiple stations to determine whether that station has an occupant.