Sensor device and method for detecting the motion of a vehicle

• US 8,363,211 B2
• Filed: 09/17/2008
• Issued: 01/29/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/18/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Continental Teves AG & Co. OHG (Continental AG)
• Original Assignee: Continental Engineering Services GmbH (Continental AG), Continental Teves AG & Co. OHG (Continental AG), ADC GmbH (TE Connectivity Limited)
• Inventors: Groitzsch, Stephan, Mehr, Wilfried, Schmid, Bernhard, Schorn, Matthias, Gutmann, Christian, Steinmeier, Frank, Zuccaro, Thomas, Stzl, Stefan, Otto, Artur
• Primary Examiner(s): RATCLIFFE, LUKE D
• Application Number:
  US12/678,403
• Publication Number:
  US 20100290030A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,595 Days
• Field of Search: 356/5.01, 356 28- 285, 356138-155
• US Class Current: 356/5.01
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/60 wherein the transmitter and receiver are mounted on the moving object, e.g. for determining ground speed, drift angle, ground track G01S13/64 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/62 Sense-of-movement determination G01S13/589 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/34 using transmission of continuous, frequency-modulated waves while heterodyning the received signal, or a signal derived therefrom, with a locally-generated signal related to the contemporaneously transmitted signal
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/58 Velocity or trajectory determination systems; Sense-of-movement determination systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/932 using own vehicle data, e.g. ground speed, steering wheel direction
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/4916 using self-mixing in the laser cavity

Abstract

A sensor device for detecting a motion state of a motor vehicle. The sensor device includes at least one laser unit having a light source for emitting coherent light which is transmitted in the direction of a roadway surface, and an interference detector which is designed to detect at least one measurement variable which characterizes interference between the light scattered at the surface and the light of the light source. The measurement variable represents a speed component of the sensor device and/or a distance between the sensor device and the roadway surface. The laser unit is coupled to an evaluation device which is designed to determine, from the measurement variable, at least one variable which characterizes the motion state of the vehicle, in particular a speed component of the center of gravity of the vehicle, a rotational angle or a rotation rate of the vehicle.

Claims

1. A sensor device arranged on a motor vehicle for detecting a motion state of the motor vehicle comprising:

at least two laser clusters arranged on at least two axes with respect to a longitudinal or transverse axis of the vehicle, each cluster having a plurality of light sources for emitting coherent light which is transmitted in a direction of a roadway surface, and a plurality of respective interference detectors, each respective interference detector detecting a measurement variable based on interference between light scattered at the roadway surface and the light emitted by the respective light sources, and

an evaluation device which is configured to characterize a motion state of the vehicle by computing;

at least two vehicle rotation variables based on each respective measurement variable, the at least two rotation variables indicate a rotation of the vehicle and are selected from the group consisting of yaw rate of the vehicle, roll rate of the vehicle and pitch rate of the vehicle.

2. The sensor device as claimed in claim 1 further comprising at least one sensor cluster having a plurality of laser units which are coupled to the evaluation device, wherein the laser units emit light in various direction.

3. The sensor device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the laser units of the sensor cluster are arranged in a common housing which can be mounted on an underside of a bodywork of a vehicle, which underside faces the roadway surface when the motor vehicle is operating.

4. The sensor device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the evaluation device is configured to obtain a speed component of the sensor cluster from each of the measurement variables detected by the laser units of the sensor cluster, and to determine at least one speed component of the motor vehicle on a basis of obtained speed components.

5. The sensor device as claimed in claim 4, wherein the evaluation device is configured to use at least one rotation rate of the motor vehicle in determining the speed component of the motor vehicle.

6. The sensor device as claimed in claim 1 further comprising two sensor clusters which are coupled to the evaluation device, and at least one device which is coupled to the sensor device and is configured to determine a first rotation rate, wherein the evaluation device is configured to determine at least one speed component of the motor vehicle and/or a second rotation rate from measurement variables detected in the sensor clusters and the first rotation rate detected by the at least one device.

7. The sensor device as claimed in claim 6, wherein the at least one device for determining the first rotation rate is a rotation rate sensor.

8. The sensor device as claimed in claim 7, wherein the at least one device is a yaw rate sensor.

9. The sensor device as claimed in claim 1 further comprising three sensor clusters which are coupled to the evaluation device, wherein the evaluation device is configured to determine, from the measurement variables obtained with the three sensor clusters, at least one speed component of the motor vehicle and/or at least one rotation rate of the vehicle.

10. The sensor device as claimed in claim 1 further comprising a first sensor cluster having a plurality of laser units, wherein frequencies of light emitted by the laser units can be modulated according to a modulation schema in such a way that, in each case, a distance can be obtained from a detected measurement variable in the evaluation device, wherein the evaluation device is configured to determine at least one rotational angle and/or at least one rotation rate of the vehicle from the obtained distances.

11. The sensor device as claimed in claim 10 wherein the first sensor cluster includes three laser units.

12. The sensor device as claimed in claim 10, wherein frequencies of the light emitted by the laser units can be modulated according to a modulation schema in such a way that, in addition to the distance, in each case, a speed component of the first sensor cluster can be obtained from the detected measurement variable.

13. The sensor device as claimed in claim 12, wherein the evaluation device is configured to determine at least one speed component of the motor vehicle from the speed components obtained with the first sensor cluster and the rotation rate.

14. The sensor device as claimed in claim 13, wherein the evaluation device is configured to use, for obtaining the speed component of the motor vehicle, a further rotation rate which is obtained by a rotation rate sensor.

15. The sensor device as claimed in claim 13 further comprising a second sensor cluster which is connected to the evaluation device, wherein speed components of the second sensor cluster can be obtained from the measurement variable detected in the second sensor cluster, wherein the evaluation device is configured to obtain at least one further rotation rate of the vehicle from the obtained speed components of the first and second sensor clusters, and to use the further rotation rate to obtain the speed component of the motor vehicle.

16. A motor vehicle comprising a sensor device as claimed in claim 1.

17. A method for detecting a motion state of a motor vehicle having a sensor device arranged on the motor vehicle, said method comprising the steps of:

transmitting coherent light in a direction of a roadway surface from a plurality of light sources for each of at least two laser clusters arranged on at least two axes with respect to a longitudinal or transverse axis of the vehicle;

detecting, by a plurality of respective interference detectors, a measurement variable based on interference between light scattered at the roadway surface and the light emitted by the respective light sources, and

characterizing, by an evaluation device, a motion state of the vehicle by computing at least two vehicle rotation variables based on each respective measurement variable, the at least two rotation variables indicate a rotation of the vehicle and are selected from the group consisting of yaw rate of the vehicle, roll rate of the vehicle and pitch rate of the vehicle.