Antenna validation for vehicle-to-vehicle communication

• US 10,055,989 B2
• Filed: 09/22/2017
• Issued: 08/21/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Murray, Allen R., Lei, Oliver
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham, Toan N
• Application Number:
  US15/713,371
• Publication Number:
  US 20180122236A1
• Time in Patent Office: 333 Days
• Field of Search: 340902, 340505, 340514, 3405391, 34053921, 340 104, 4554561, 370312
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096791 where the origin of the information is another vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/12 of transmit antennas, e.g. of the amplitude or phase
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/318 Received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/46 for vehicle-to-vehicle communication [V2V]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

Systems, methods and apparatus are disclosed for antenna validation for vehicle-to-vehicle communication. An example disclosed vehicle includes a wireless communication module and an antenna calibrator. The example antenna calibrator, for each of a plurality of validation responses received from second vehicles (a) determines an estimated received signal strength based on an estimated open path signal strength loss, and (b) in response to a difference between the estimated received signal strength and an actual received signal strength from the validation response not satisfying a threshold, provides an alert to occupants of the vehicle.

Claims

1. A communication module for a vehicle comprising:

an antenna; and

a processor communicatively coupled to memory, the processor to;

receive, via the antenna, validation responses from each a plurality of remote communication modules, the validation response to include coordinates and an actual received signal strength and the remote communication modules including at least one second vehicle and at least one roadside unit;

for each of the validation responses, determine a delta signal loss between (a) an estimated received signal strength based on an estimated open path signal strength loss and the coordinates and (b) the actual received signal strength; and

provide an alert to occupants of the vehicle when multiple of the delta signal losses do not satisfy a threshold.

2. The communication module of claim 1, wherein the processor is to, for each of the remote communication modules, determine the estimated open path signal strength loss is based on first coordinates of the vehicle and second coordinates of the second vehicle.

3. The communication module of claim 1, wherein the processor is to broadcast, using the antenna, multiple validation request messages with an identifier that identifies the vehicle, each one of the validation request messages having a different transmission power.

4. The communication module of claim 3, wherein to determine the estimated received signal strength for the validation messages, the processor is to subtract a cable loss from and add the estimated open path signal strength loss to the corresponding transmission power.

5. The communication module of claim 1, wherein when the difference between the estimated received signal strength and the actual received signal strength from the validation response satisfies the threshold, the processor is to increment a first counter associated with a number of validation responses indicative of success and a second counter associated with a total number of validation responses.

6. The communication module of claim 5, wherein when the difference between the estimated received signal strength and the actual received signal strength from the validation response does not satisfy the threshold, the processor is to increment the second counter.

7. The communication module of claim 6, wherein after comparing the difference between the estimated received signal strength and the actual received signal strength for each of the validation responses, the processor to determine a success ratio by dividing the number of validation responses indicative of success and the total number of validation responses received.

8. The communication module of claim 7, wherein, in response to the success ratio not satisfying a second threshold, the processor is to provide the alert to occupants of the vehicle.

9. The communication module of claim 7, wherein, in response to the success ratio not satisfying a second threshold, the processor is to increase a transmission power of the wireless communication module if the transmission power is below a maximum allowed power limit.

10. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed cause a communication module of a vehicle to:

receive, via an omni-directional antenna, validation responses from each a plurality of remote communication modules, the validation response to include coordinates and an actual received signal strength and the remote communication modules including at least one second vehicle and at least one roadside unit;

for each of the validation responses, determine a delta signal loss between (a) an estimated received signal strength based on an estimated open path signal strength loss and the coordinates and (b) the actual received signal strength; and

provide an alert to occupants of the vehicle when multiple of the delta signal losses do not satisfy a threshold.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the instructions cause the communication module to, for each of the remote communication modules, determine the estimated open path signal strength loss is based on first coordinates of the vehicle and second coordinates of the second vehicle.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the instructions cause the communication module to broadcast, using the omni-directional antenna, multiple validation request messages with an identifier that identifies the vehicle, each one of the validation request messages having a different transmission power.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein to determine the estimated received signal strength for the validation messages, the instructions cause the communication module to subtract a cable loss from and add the estimated open path signal strength loss to the corresponding transmission power.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein when the difference between the estimated received signal strength and the actual received signal strength from the validation response satisfies the threshold, the instructions cause the communication module to increment a first counter associated with a number of validation responses indicative of success and a second counter associated with a total number of validation responses.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein when the difference between the estimated received signal strength and the actual received signal strength from the validation response does not satisfy the threshold, the instructions cause the communication module to increment the second counter.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein after comparing the difference between the estimated received signal strength and the actual received signal strength for each of the validation responses, the instructions cause the communication module to determine a success ratio by dividing the number of validation responses indicative of success and the total number of validation responses received.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein, in response to the success ratio not satisfying a second threshold, the instructions cause the communication module to provide the alert to occupants of the vehicle.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein, in response to the success ratio not satisfying a second threshold, the instructions cause the communication module to increase a transmission power of the wireless communication module if the transmission power is below a maximum allowed power limit.