TDR-BASED SYSTEM FOR DETECTION OF HAND TOUCH POSITIONINGS ON AN OBJECT, PARTICULARLY ON A STEERING WHEEL FOR THE PURPOSE OF HAND GESTURE RECOGNITION

A sensing system and method of recognizing a hand gesture established by a sequence of hand touch positionings on an object. The method includes at least steps of: providing to a signal line a time-dependent measurement signal; receiving the measurement signal after being at least partially reflected by at least one portion of the signal line; determining positions on the object of the portions of the signal line that have reflected the measurement signal; comparing an obtained plurality of stored successively determined positions on the object with at least one predefined pattern of successive positions to derive a measure of similarity; and providing an output signal that is indicative of the predefined pattern of successive positions if the derived measure of similarity is lower than a predefined threshold value.