Patent ID: 6862537

Claim:
A method for generating information characterizing the environment around a vehicle comprising the steps of: Designating a plurality of information gathering zones around the vehicle; Selecting a first sensor type from a first hand portion of the electromagnetic spectrum and selecting a second sensor type from a second bank of the electromagnetic spectrum; Deploying at least one A sensor from the first sensor type and one B sensor from the second sensor type in each information gathering zone; Time tagging information generated from the A and B sensors so as to indicate when the information characterizing the ambient was gathered; Selecting information A (t 1 ), characteristic of a time t 1 , from sensor A; Selecting information B (t 2 ), characteristic of a time t 2 , from sensor B which corresponds to substantially the same time as information A (t 1 ); and Fusing information A (t 1 ) and B (t 2 ) so as to characterize a target in the environment of the vehicle.