WIRELESS VEHICLE CONTROL SYSTEM

• US 20150127192A1
• Filed: 11/06/2013
• Published: 05/07/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/06/2013
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Phatak, Sujit, McCune, Donald J.
• Application Number:
  US14/073,241
• Publication Number:
  US 20150127192A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/2
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/0231 Circuits relating to the driving or the functioning of the vehicle monitoring tyres B60C23/00; indicating overspeed B60K31/00; for dash boards B60K37/00, B60Q3/10; for indicating emergencies B60Q1/52; brake control systems B60T; registering or indicating the working of vehicles G07C5/00; measuring distance G01C, e.g. combinations of speed and distance G01C23/00; engine indicators G01L; measuring speed or acceleration G01P

Abstract

A vehicle control system for a vehicle having a plurality of sensors and a plurality of actuators. The control system includes a sensor-actuator-transceiver (SAT) associated with each sensor and/or actuator to read and transmit and value of the sensor or receive a target value for the actuator and generate a control signal to the actuator. A server executes simulation software for each SAT as a software in the loop simulation which determines the target position of the actuators as the function of at least one sensor. A main transceiver at the server then transmits signals to the SATs to actuate the actuators to achieve a target value.

Claims

1. A vehicle control system for a vehicle having a plurality of sensors and a plurality of actuators, said control system comprising:

a sensor-actuator-transceiver (SAT) associated with each sensor and/or actuator, each SAT being configured to read and transmit the value of its associated sensor and/or change the position of its associated actuator in response to an interrogation signal,

a server configured to execute simulation software for each SAT which determines the target position of the actuators as a function of the value of at least one sensor, and

a main transceiver configured to transmit signals to said SATs to actuate said actuators to move to said target position and receives sensor output data from said SATs.

2. The vehicle control system as defined in claim 1 wherein said SATs transmit said value to said server by wireless transmission.

3. The vehicle control system as defined in claim 1 wherein said main transceiver transmits to said SATs by wireless transmission.

4. The vehicle control system as defined in claim 1 wherein a unique SAT ID is assigned to each SAT and wherein said main transceiver communicates with said SATs by Internet Protocol (IP) packet having a target IP address and a SAT data packet containing the SAT ID, the SAT ID being used to identify the SAT to which the transmission is directed.

5. The vehicle control system as defined in claim 1 wherein said server executes a software-in-the-loop-simulation (SILS) for each SAT.

6. The vehicle control system as defined in claim 5 wherein the SILS for each SAT is assigned a separate memory partition for the server.

7. The vehicle control system as defined in claim 5 wherein each SILS comprises application software for its associated SAT and an input/output gateway to prepare the data for output to its associated SAT or input of data from its associated SAT for use by the application software.

8. The vehicle control system as defined in claim 5 wherein said server executes co-simulation of said simulation software for a plurality of SATs and wherein data for each said SILS is accessible by other SILS.

9. The vehicle control system as defined in claim 8 wherein each co-simulation executes in a separate memory partition accessible to said server.

10. The vehicle control system as defined in claim 1 wherein said server executes a SILS manager program which controls communication between said simulation software for said SATs.

11. The vehicle control system as defined in claim 1 wherein at least one of said SATs generates a data packet containing a SAT identifier and sensor data for transmission to said server.

12. The vehicle control system as defined in claim 11 wherein said data packet comprises a check sum.

13. The vehicle control system as defined in claim 11 wherein said at least one of said SATs initiates generation of said data packet in response to a trigger signal.

14. The vehicle control system as defined in claim 13 wherein said trigger signal is received from said server.

15. The vehicle control system as defined in claim 13 wherein said trigger signal is generated in response to an action of an operator of the vehicle.

16. The vehicle control system as defined in claim 1 wherein each SAT includes a processor which only performs driver input/output, analog/digital conversion and scaling for its associated sensor and/or actuator.