A Headway Control System Concept Using Dual-mode Millimeter-wave Radar

In the future, headway control systems for consumer use must be cheap and capable of operating in all environmental conditions. To enable such systems to be built, a headway control system using dualmode millimeter-wave radar has been proposed. The radar would be able to operate in both radar mode, in which it would measure the distance to be leading vehicle, and in communication mode, in which it would exchange date with a vehicle ahead of it. By operating in two modes alternately, the dual-mode radar can provide the headway control system with all the data needed to control the distances to the leading vehicles, and because the proposed dual-mode radar system can be use the radar sensor as communication equipment, lower costs will result. By steering the radar´s antenna, it can recognize the leading vehicle´s ID code, direction, and distance. This information is very useful for locating the position of the leading vehicles. By using these information, a map is produced which can then be used for stable control of the vehicles. This paper describes the concept of the dual-mode radar system, the headway control system using the radar, and the results of the dual-mode radar experiments undertaken.