JPH11353596A - Curve mirror with radio wave reflection panel - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make the side of a moving object at a hidden position surely receivable a moving object detection radio wave by providing a curve mirror, which is installed on a road having an obstructed view, with a radio wave reflection panel for receiving the radio wave, which is transmitted from a moving object and received by the other moving object, for detecting the existence of a moving object of the opposite side. SOLUTION: Vehicle A and B are traveling toward the crossing part of T-shaped roads. The moving object detection radio wave transmitted from a transmitter loaded on the vehicle A is propagated while having certain forward directivity but this moving object detection radio wave is obstructed by a building 8 and is not directly propagated to the vehicle B. This moving object detection radio wave is transmitted through a convex mirror surface 3 of a curve mirror 2, reflected on a radio wave reflection panel 5, propagated through a branch path toward the vehicle B and surely received by a receiver loaded on the vehicle B while keeping sufficient electric field strength. On the vehicle B, based on the reception of this moving object detection radio wave, an indicator lamp showing the existence of the vehicle A is turned on or its position or characters are displayed on a navigation screen so as to report it to the driver.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a curved mirror used in a moving object detection system for transmitting and receiving radio waves between a vehicle and a moving object such as a vehicle or a pedestrian to detect a partner.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, various methods have been proposed for detecting other vehicles and other moving objects that are nearby while driving a vehicle.

For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-216600 discloses that a receiving device provided in a vehicle travels while monitoring, and receives a warning radio wave constantly transmitted from a transmitting device provided in another moving body. Is used to detect the presence of the moving object.

In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 7-244800,
Even if an alarm radio wave is received as in the above example, there is also an alarm radio wave that is unnecessary based on the driving state of the vehicle, and this is determined and only the necessary display is performed.

[0005]

However, if the receiving vehicle is in a position hidden by a building or other shielding member with respect to the transmitting vehicle, the warning radio wave is difficult to reach, and even if it reaches, the electric field strength is weakened. May not be detected.

[0006] When the other vehicle is in a hidden position, such as on a road where the line of sight cannot be seen, a curve mirror is usually provided, and the other vehicle can be visually sensed by the reflection of the curve mirror. If you do not, you will not be able to catch it visually, and you may overlook it.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a radio wave reflecting plate which can reliably receive a moving object detected at a hidden position by using a curved mirror. The point is to provide a curved mirror.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention relates to a radio wave transmitted from a mobile body, received by another mobile body, and reflecting a radio wave for detecting the presence of a counterpart mobile body. The reflecting plate is a curved mirror with a radio wave reflecting plate provided on a curved mirror installed on a road where visibility is difficult.

By providing a radio wave reflecting plate on a curved mirror, a sufficient electric field strength can be maintained even for a moving object located at a position where a radio wave detected by a moving object is reflected by the radio wave reflecting plate and hidden by a shielding object such as a building and is hard to receive. As a result, it is possible to reliably detect the presence of a moving object at a position hidden from each other by receiving a moving object detection radio wave in addition to detecting the presence of the moving object by reflection from a curved mirror.

Since the radio wave reflecting plate is provided on the curved mirror, it is located at an optimum position and does not interfere. The radio wave reflection plate is a small and lightweight one made of a metal plate or a film that efficiently reflects radio waves, and can be arranged compactly and at low cost.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the curved mirror with the radio wave reflecting plate according to the first aspect, the radio wave reflecting plate is disposed in a housing behind the mirror surface of the curved mirror, and the mirror surface of the curved mirror is a radio wave reflecting surface. It is characterized by being constituted by a transmissive light reflecting material.

Since the mirror surface of the curved mirror is made of a light reflecting material which is radio wave permeable and a radio wave reflecting plate is disposed behind the mirror surface of the curved mirror, light is reflected by the mirror surface but radio waves are transmitted through the mirror surface. The direction can be changed by being reflected by the radio wave reflection plate, and it can reach the moving body at a position where the line of sight cannot be seen while maintaining a sufficient electric field intensity and can be reliably received.

Since the radio wave reflecting plate is provided in the housing behind the mirror surface of the curved mirror, it can be protected from changes in the natural environment such as wind and rain, and the performance can be easily maintained.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the curved mirror with the radio wave reflecting plate according to the first aspect, the radio wave reflecting plate is supported by a support for supporting the curved mirror alongside the curved mirror. I do.

Since the radio wave reflecting plate is supported by the support of the curved mirror, it can be easily mounted, and can be easily mounted on an existing curved mirror later.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the curved mirror with a radio wave reflecting plate according to any one of the first to third aspects, the reflecting surface of the radio wave reflecting plate is concave.

The radio waves reflected by the concave surface of the radio wave reflector are collected and received with an increased electric field strength, so that the transmission output can be suppressed.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the curved mirror with a radio wave reflecting plate according to any one of the first to third aspects, the reflecting surface of the radio wave reflecting plate is a convex surface.

Since the radio wave reflected by the convex surface of the radio wave reflector spreads, the receivable range is expanded. Therefore, it is suitable for roads that are wide and have many lanes.

[0020]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 1, a straight road has a T-shaped road in which a branch road branches at a right angle, and a curved mirror 2 is attached to and installed on a column 1 standing on a side edge of the straight road corresponding to the branch road. I have.

The curved mirror 2 forms a housing having a cavity between a spherical convex mirror surface 3 and a back plate 4, and a radio wave reflection plate 5 is built in the housing (FIGS. 1 and 1). 2).
The convex mirror surface 3 is formed of a material that transmits radio waves, and the radio wave reflection plate 5 is a metal flat plate that reflects radio waves efficiently.
Each plate is bent obliquely in a plan view and faces obliquely forward. Note that the radio wave reflecting plate 5 may be a metal plate, as long as it reflects radio waves efficiently.

Now, as shown in FIG.
We are traveling toward the intersection of the junction, but the building 8 at the corner
The drivers of the vehicles A and B cannot see each other's vehicles directly.

The mobile object detection radio wave transmitted from the transmitter mounted on the vehicle A propagates forward with a certain degree of directivity, and the mobile object detection radio wave is also impeded by the building 8 and does not directly propagate to the vehicle B. .

The moving object detection radio wave is transmitted to the curve mirror 2.
The reflected light is transmitted through the convex mirror surface 3 and reflected by the radio wave reflector 5 to propagate through the branch road toward the vehicle B, and is reliably received by the receiver mounted on the vehicle B while maintaining a sufficient electric field intensity. The vehicle B notifies the driver of the presence of the vehicle A based on the reception of the moving object detection radio wave by lighting a display lamp indicating the presence of the vehicle A, displaying the position on the navigation screen, or displaying characters.

Therefore, the driver of the vehicle B can confirm that the vehicle A exists at a position hidden by the building 8 on the straight road by this notification. The driver of the vehicle B can see the reflection image of the vehicle A by the curved mirror 2, but if the distance is long, it may be difficult to recognize the vehicle A, and the driver may miss the vehicle A. The vehicle A can be confirmed by reliably receiving the body detection radio wave.

Since the radio wave reflection plate 5 is provided on the curved mirror 2, it is located at an optimum position, and it is possible to avoid a problem that the radio wave reflection plate 5 is obstructed by being installed at another place. The radio wave reflecting plate 5 is a metal flat plate that efficiently reflects radio waves, is small and lightweight, and can be built in the housing of the curved mirror 2 compactly and at low cost.

Since the radio wave reflecting plate 5 is provided in the housing behind the mirror surface of the curved mirror 2, it can be protected from changes in the natural environment such as wind and rain, and the performance can be easily maintained.

The vehicle B also transmits a mobile object detection radio wave, which is reflected by the radio wave reflection plate 5 and received by the vehicle A.
The side can sense the presence of the vehicle B, and the vehicles A and B can confirm each other's existence.

In the above-described embodiment, the radio wave reflecting plate 5 is disposed inside the casing of the curved mirror 2, but as shown in FIG.
May be attached. Since the radio wave reflecting plate 5 is attached separately from the curved mirror 2 in this manner, the radio wave reflecting plate 5 can be easily attached to an existing curve mirror later.

Next, modified examples of the radio wave reflection plate are shown in FIGS.
And will be described. In the example shown in FIG. 4, the reflection surface of the radio wave reflection plate 21 provided behind the convex mirror surface 20 of the curved mirror is concavely curved. The mobile object detection radio waves reflected by the concave surface of the radio wave reflection plate 21 are collected and received with an increased electric field strength, so that the transmission output can be suppressed. It is suitable for narrow roads such as one lane on each side.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a convex mirror surface of a curved mirror.
The reflection surface of a radio wave reflection plate 31 provided behind 30 is curved in a convex shape. Since the mobile object detection radio wave reflected by the convex surface of the radio wave reflection plate 31 spreads, the receivable range is expanded.
Therefore, it is suitable for roads that are wide and have many lanes.

Next, still another embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The curved mirror 40 is also installed at the intersection of the T-shaped intersection, and a radio wave reflecting plate 45 bent in the same planar view as the radio wave reflecting plate 5 is disposed in the housing behind the convex mirror surface. At the same time, a radio wave reflecting plate 46 bent in a U-shape in plan view is provided.

A vehicle A and a vehicle B both having a transmission / reception device are traveling on a T-junction along a building 48 toward an intersection, and both vehicles A and B are visually interrupted by the building 48 directly from each other. I can't confirm. The vehicle A transmits a moving object detection radio wave forward with the identification signal of the vehicle A added thereto.

Then, the mobile object detection radio wave is reflected by the radio wave reflecting plate 45 bent in a rectangular shape, propagates as a mobile object detection radio wave toward the vehicle B in a substantially right angle direction, and is received by the vehicle B. Therefore, if the vehicle B can recognize the presence of the vehicle A, and if it can be visually confirmed even with the curve mirror 40, the building B
It can be seen that the vehicle A exists in a place hidden by 48.

On the other hand, the mobile object detection radio wave is reflected by the radio wave reflection plate 46 bent in a U-shape and returns to the vehicle A as a distance measurement radio wave. In the vehicle A, the distance a from the vehicle A to the curve mirror 40 can be measured based on the time difference between when the mobile object detection radio wave is transmitted and when the distance measurement radio wave is received.

When the vehicle B receives the mobile object detection radio wave, the vehicle B further adds its own vehicle B identification signal to the received mobile object detection signal and transmits it as a response signal radio wave. The response signal radio wave is reflected by the radio wave reflecting plate 45 bent in a V-shape, propagates as a distance measurement radio wave toward the vehicle A in a substantially right angle direction, and is received by the vehicle A.

In the vehicle A, the distance d from the vehicle A to the vehicle B via the curve mirror 40 can be measured based on the time difference between when the mobile object detection radio wave is transmitted and when the distance measurement radio wave is received. Therefore, by subtracting the distance a from the distance d, the distance b from the curve mirror 40 to the vehicle B can be calculated.

As described above, in the vehicle A, by transmitting the mobile object detection radio wave, substantially accurate distance information between the curve mirror 40 and the vehicle B can be obtained. Even if there is another vehicle C running on the same road other than the vehicle B in the same way as the vehicle B, the identification signal is added to the response signal radio wave from the vehicle C. When reflected and received by the vehicle A as a distance measurement radio wave, it can be identified that the radio wave is from the vehicle C.

Therefore, in the vehicle A, the existence of the vehicle B and the vehicle C can be known together with the distance from the respective curve mirrors 40. The invention can be applied not only to the two vehicles B and C but also to a plurality of vehicles.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example in a T-shaped road to which a curved mirror with a radio wave reflecting plate according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the curved mirror with the radio wave reflecting plate.

FIG. 3 is a side view of a curved mirror with a radio wave reflecting plate according to another embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a schematic top view of a curved mirror with a radio wave reflecting plate according to another embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a schematic top view of a curved mirror with a radio wave reflecting plate according to still another embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example in a T-shaped road to which a curved mirror with a radio wave reflecting plate according to still another embodiment is applied.

[Explanation of symbols]

A, B: vehicle, 1 ... pillar, 2 ... curve mirror, 3 ... convex mirror surface, 4 ... back plate, 5 ... radio wave reflector, 8 ... building, 20 ... convex mirror surface, 21 ... radio wave reflector, 30 ... Convex mirror surface, 31 radio wave reflector, 40 curved mirror, 45, 46 radio wave reflector, 48 building.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A radio wave reflecting plate for reflecting a radio wave transmitted from a moving body and received by another moving body to detect the presence of a counterpart moving body is provided on a curved mirror installed on a road with a poor visibility. A curved mirror with a radio wave reflector. 2. The radio wave reflection plate is disposed in a housing behind a mirror surface of the curve mirror, and the mirror surface of the curve mirror is made of a light reflection material that transmits radio waves. Curve mirror with radio wave reflector. 3. The curve mirror with a radio wave reflection plate according to claim 1, wherein the radio wave reflection plate is supported on a support for supporting the curve mirror alongside the curve mirror. 4. The curved mirror with a radio wave reflection plate according to claim 1, wherein the reflection surface of the radio wave reflection plate is a concave surface. 5. The curve mirror with a radio wave reflecting plate according to claim 1, wherein the reflecting surface of the radio wave reflecting plate is a convex surface.