Method and Arrangement for Determining the Speed of a Vehicle

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This invention describes a method and system for accurately determining the speed of a vehicle—particularly rail vehicles—using a radar with a synthetic aperture (SAR). The system generates high-resolution radar images of the area under the vehicle, analyzes these images using various criteria (like focus measure or image similarity), and selects the best image to calculate the actual speed. The arrangement can be used alone or in combination with other known speed determination systems to improve accuracy and reliability.

Use CasesContent extracted from patent full text and abstract with AI.

• Speed monitoring and control in trains and subways, particularly in environments where satellite navigation (e.g., GPS) is unreliable or unavailable (e.g., tunnels, urban canyons).
• Supplementary or redundant speed measurement for autonomous or driver-assisted vehicles to enhance safety and control systems.
• Speed determination for other ground vehicles, such as trucks or buses, especially where precise and weather-independent measurement is required.
• Integration into braking and traction control systems, ensuring accurate real-time data for safety-critical operations.
• Performance monitoring for high-speed rail or commuter trains, including condition monitoring and incident analysis.

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• Provides highly accurate speed measurement independent of wheel slip, wheel wear, or surface contamination—problems that affect traditional methods based on wheel rotation.
• Functions reliably in adverse weather conditions (rain, fog, snow) and in environments where GPS signals are weak or absent.
• Enables high-resolution, real-time speed determination across a broad range of speeds (from very low up to high-speed trains).
• Enhances redundancy and safety by allowing speed measurement that is independent from existing systems (e.g., odometers, satellite navigation).
• Flexible for integration into various vehicle types and existing control architectures.

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Inventors & Applicants

Patent Abstract

The invention relates to a method for determining the speed of a vehicle, having the steps of receiving raw image data generated from scans of the route of the vehicle using a radar with a synthetic aperture, generating images of the scanned route from the received raw image data, wherein a reference speed is taken into consideration in order to generate a respective image, analyzing at least one generated image with respect to at least one criterion, selecting an image depending on the analysis, and determining the speed of the vehicle on the basis of at least one piece of information assigned to the selected image. The invention additionally relates to an assembly with devices for carrying out the method.