Patent ID: 7000476
Filing Date: 2006-02-21
Classification: B60W,G01C,G01S

Abstract:
1. An inclination angle measurement apparatus comprising: a sending/receiving means for sending a wave toward a reflective object and for receiving two waves reflected from said reflective object; and an inclination angle calculating means for calculating an angle of inclination of a moving object with respect to said reflective object based on a phase difference between phases of the two reflected waves, wherein said wave sent by said sending/receiving means is an ultrasonic wave, and said two reflected waves are two ultrasonic waves reflected from said reflective object, and wherein said sending/receiving means includes a first ultrasonic sensor for sending an ultrasonic wave toward said reflective object and then receiving an ultrasonic wave reflected from said reflective object, and a second ultrasonic sensor disposed at a distance from said first ultrasonic sensor that is much smaller than a distance to said reflective object, for sending an ultrasonic wave in phase with the ultrasonic wave sent by said first ultrasonic sensor toward said reflective object and then receiving an ultrasonic wave reflected from said reflective object, and said inclination angle calculating means calculates the angle of inclination of said moving object with respect to said reflective object based on a phase difference between phases of the two reflected ultrasonic waves received by said first and second ultrasonic sensors.