SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR IMPACT DETECTION WITH NOISE ATTENUATION OF A SENSOR SIGNAL

• US 20160362075A1
• Filed: 06/11/2015
• Published: 12/15/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/11/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CalAmp Corporation
• Original Assignee: CalAmp Corporation
• Inventors: Dlagnekov, Alexandre
• Granted Patent: US 10,214,166 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/0232 for measuring vehicle parameters and indicating critical, abnormal or dangerous conditions
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/0132 responsive to vehicle motion parameters , e.g. to vehicle longitudinal or transversal deceleration or speed value
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 15/00 Measuring acceleration; Measuring deceleration; Measuring shock, i.e. sudden change of acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 15/0891 with indication of predetermined acceleration values G01P15/135 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/085 using electronic data carriers

Abstract

Systems and methods for impact detection in accordance with embodiments of the invention are disclosed. In one embodiment, a vehicle impact detection system includes an acceleration sensor, a storage device storing an impact detection application, and a processor, where the impact detection application directs the processor to receive acceleration information using the acceleration sensor, filter the acceleration information to attenuate noise, determine an occurrence of an impact by detecting an acceleration from the acceleration information that exceeds a threshold for a time period, detect an angle of the impact with respect to a forward direction using the acceleration information, and trigger an impact detector signal.

Claims

1. A vehicle impact detection system, comprising:

an acceleration sensor;

a storage device storing an impact detection application; and

a processor;

wherein the impact detection application directs the processor to;

receive acceleration information using the acceleration sensor;

filter the acceleration information to attenuate noise;

determine an occurrence of an impact by detecting an acceleration from the acceleration information that exceeds a threshold for a time period;

detect an angle of the impact with respect to a forward direction using the acceleration information; and

trigger an impact detector signal.

2. The vehicle impact detection system of claim 1, wherein the threshold value is pre-determined.

3. The vehicle impact detection system of claim 1, wherein filtering the acceleration information comprises using a series of accumulators positioned in a circular queue.

4. The vehicle impact detection system of claim 3, wherein each accumulator holds up to 32 samples.

5. The vehicle impact detection system of claim 1, wherein detecting the angle of the impact comprises:

computing a first vector perpendicular to the forward direction; and

computing an angle between the first vector and a vector corresponding to a direction of the acceleration.

6. The vehicle impact detection system of claim 1, wherein the acceleration sensor is a micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS).

7. The vehicle impact detection system of claim 1, wherein filtering the acceleration information comprises using a configurable moving average filter to attenuate acoustic noise.

8. The vehicle impact detection system of claim 1, wherein the acceleration information is a signal comprising a leading edge, a trailing edge, and an amplitude.

9. The vehicle impact detection system of claim 1, wherein the impact detection application further directs the processor to generate impact data based on the detected angle of the impact and the impact detector signal.

10. The vehicle impact detection system of claim 9, wherein:

the vehicle impact detection system further comprises a network interface; and

the impact detection application further directs the processor to transmit the impact data to a remote server system using the network interface.

11. A method for determining an angle of impact of a vehicle, comprising:

receiving acceleration information using a vehicle impact detection system;

filtering the acceleration information to attenuate noise using the vehicle impact detection system;

determining an occurrence of an impact by detecting an acceleration from the acceleration information that exceeds a threshold for a time period using the vehicle impact detection system;

detecting the angle of the impact with respect to a forward direction using the acceleration information; and

triggering an impact detector signal using the vehicle impact detection system.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the threshold value is pre-determined.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein filtering the acceleration information comprises using a series of accumulators positioned in a circular queue.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein each accumulator holds up to 32 samples.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein detecting the angle of the impact comprises:

computing a first vector perpendicular to the forward direction using the vehicle impact detection system; and

computing an angle between the first vector and a vector corresponding to a direction of the acceleration using the vehicle impact detection system.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the using the vehicle impact detection system comprises an acceleration sensor, a processor, and a memory.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein filtering the acceleration information comprises using a configurable moving average filter to attenuate acoustic noise using the vehicle impact detection system.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the acceleration information is a signal comprising a leading edge, a trailing edge, and an amplitude.

19. The method of claim 11, further comprising generating impact data based on the detected angle of the impact and the impact detector signal using the vehicle impact detection system.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising transmitting the impact data to a remote server system using the vehicle impact detection system.