Mobile asset data recorder and transmitter

• US 9,285,295 B2
• Filed: 01/29/2015
• Issued: 03/15/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/13/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Wi-Tronix, LLC
• Original Assignee: Wi-Tronix, LLC
• Inventors: Jordan, Lawrence B, Matta, Lisa A
• Primary Examiner(s): Shaawat, Mussa A
• Application Number:
  US14/608,423
• Publication Number:
  US 20150149118A1
• Time in Patent Office: 411 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 21/02 for measuring length, width, or thickness G01B21/10 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 21/22 for measuring angles or tapers; for testing the alignment of axes
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 17/38 Testing, calibrating, or compensating of compasses
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 19/00 Gyroscopes; Turn-sensitive devices using vibrating masses; Turn-sensitive devices without moving masses; Measuring angular rate using gyroscopic effects
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 19/5776 Signal processing not specific to any of the devices covered by groups G01C19/5607 - G01C19/5719
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/188 for accumulated errors, e.g. by coupling inertial systems with absolute positioning systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 25/00 Manufacturing, calibrating, cleaning, or repairing instruments or devices referred to in the other groups of this subclass testing, calibrating or compensating compasses G01C17/38
• CPC Class Codes: G01F 23/28 by measuring the variations of parameters of electromagnetic or acoustic waves applied directly to the liquid or fluent solid material
• CPC Class Codes: G01F 23/2962 Measuring transit time of reflected waves
• CPC Class Codes: G01F 23/804 containing circuits handling parameters other than liquid level
• CPC Class Codes: G01F 9/001 with electric, electro-mechanic or electronic means G01F9/008 and G01F9/02 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01H 1/00 Measuring characteristics of vibrations in solids by using direct conduction to the detector G01H9/00, G01H11/00 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 17/08 Railway vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 15/00 Measuring acceleration; Measuring deceleration; Measuring shock, i.e. sudden change of acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 15/18 in two or more dimensions
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/252 Employing an initial estimate of location in generating assistance data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/00 Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific functions information retrieval, database structures or file system structures therefor G06F16/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/08 Registering or indicating performance data other than driving, working, idle, or waiting time, with or without registering driving, working, idle or waiting time
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/085 using electronic data carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0866 the electronic data carrier being a digital video recorder in combination with video camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/2133 : Recording or reproducing at a specific moment, e.g. time interval or time-lapse
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/77 : between a recording apparatus and a television camera

Abstract

An acceleration-based mobile asset data recorder and transmitter equipped with a wireless processing unit, an event recorder, a digital video recorder, a fuel level sensor, and an inertial navigation sensor board. The inertial navigation sensor board includes a 3-axis gyroscope, a 3-axis accelerometer, a 3-axis magnetometer, and a microcontroller. The data recorder and transmitter allows for automatic orientation, automatic compass calibration, fuel compensation with pitch and roll, emergency brake application with impact detection, rough operating condition detection, engine running detection, and inertial navigation of a mobile asset. Users can use the normal operation of their mobile assets to locate and alert, in real-time, areas where their assets are encountering rough operating environments, to provide for quicker emergency response, and to validate the effectiveness of repairs and rerouting.

Claims

1. A system for recording, processing, and transmitting data from a mobile asset, comprising:

a. a wireless processing unit having at least one axis;

b. at least one digital video recorder, onboard the mobile asset, said at least one digital video recorder performs at least one of recording and transmitting at least one of still image, video and acoustic to a back office in real-time;

c. at least one inertial navigation sensor board onboard the mobile asset, said board comprising a microcontroller communicating with and processing data from a 3-axis accelerometer;

d. firmware, running on the microcontroller, for reading an x-axis raw acceleration value, a y-axis raw acceleration value, and a z-axis raw acceleration value from the 3-axis accelerometer, calculating pitch and roll using at least one of the x-axis raw acceleration value, y-axis raw acceleration value, and z-axis raw acceleration value from the 3-axis accelerometer, determining at least one occurrence of at least one trigger event, sending at least one trigger event message to the wireless processing unit, and sending at least one periodic data message containing a predefined set of values to the wireless processing unit every second; and

e. a software application running on the wireless processing unit for communicating with the inertial navigation sensor board, automatically calibrating a compass of the mobile asset, automatically orienting the at least one axis of the wireless processing unit to at least one corresponding axis of the mobile asset, and gathering data from other software applications running on the wireless processing unit.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the software application

a. sends initialization commands to the firmware to establish an x-axis acceleration duration, a y-axis acceleration duration, and a z-axis acceleration duration in each axis and to establish an x-axis acceleration threshold, a y-axis acceleration threshold, and a z-axis acceleration threshold in each axis;

b. stores the x-axis, y-axis, and z-axis acceleration durations and the x-axis, y-axis, and z-axis acceleration thresholds;

c. determining an x-axis filtered threshold value by adding the x-axis translated filtered acceleration value to the x-axis acceleration threshold;

d. determining a y-axis filtered threshold value by adding the y-axis translated filtered acceleration value to the y-axis acceleration threshold;

e. determining a z-axis filtered threshold value by adding the z-axis translated filtered acceleration value to the z-axis acceleration threshold; and

f. continually comparing the x-axis filtered threshold value to the x-axis translated raw acceleration value, the y-axis filtered threshold value to the y-axis translated raw acceleration value, and the z-axis filtered threshold value to the z-axis translated raw acceleration value.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the software application

a. logs data relating to the mobile asset, said data received from at least one event data recorder onboard the mobile asset;

b. activates a timer when at least one of the x-axis translated raw acceleration value exceeds the x-axis acceleration threshold, the y-axis translated raw acceleration value exceeds the y-axis acceleration threshold, and the z-axis translated raw acceleration value exceeds the z-axis acceleration threshold;

c. determines a timer duration of the timer when at least one of the x-axis translated raw acceleration value does not exceed the x-axis acceleration threshold, the y-axis translated raw acceleration value does not exceed the y-axis acceleration threshold, and the z-axis translated raw acceleration value does not exceed the z-axis acceleration threshold, said timer duration comprising the duration that at least one of the x-axis translated raw acceleration value exceeded the x-axis acceleration threshold, the y-axis translated raw acceleration value exceeded the y-axis acceleration threshold, and the z-axis translated raw acceleration value exceeded the z-axis acceleration threshold;

d. stores a trigger event when the timer duration exceeds at least one of the x-axis acceleration duration, the y-axis acceleration duration, and the z-axis acceleration duration;

e. monitors the event data recorder for at least one periodic data message;

f. receives at least one periodic data message from the event data recorder;

g. detects when at least one periodic data message indicates an emergency brake application discrete signal occurred; and

h. stores at least one of a trigger event time when the trigger event occurred and a brake time and an emergency brake event when the emergency brake application discrete signal occurred.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the software application

a. determines a first event and a first event time stamp and a second event and a second event time stamp, said first event occurring prior to said second event and said second event occurring prior to said at least one of said trigger event and said emergency brake application event;

b. triggers an emergency brake application with an impact alert when the first event time stamp, the second event time stamp, and at least one of the trigger event time and the brake time are in close temporal proximity;

c. requests a download of at least one of a still image file, an acoustic file, and a digital video file from the onboard digital video recorder, said at least one of the still image file, the acoustic file, and the digital video file recorded a predetermined time period prior to and after at least one of the trigger event time and the brake time;

d. receives the at least one of the still image file, the acoustic file, and the digital video file; and

e. sends the at least one of the still image file, the acoustic file, and the digital video file to the back office in real time.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the software application sends at least one alert indicating at least one of a GPS location, digital video, data from the event data recorder, actual force when a collision occurred, and a rollover alert and a derailment alert when at least one of a rollover and a derailment occurred as a result of said collision.

6. The system of claim 3, wherein the trigger event comprises storing specifics on the axes, the timer duration, and the trigger event time.

7. The system of claim 3, wherein the at least one periodic data message comprises at least one real-time status of the at least one input sensor.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the software application

a. measures the amount of fuel inside a fuel tank upon receiving a signal from at least one fuel level sensor;

b. filters the raw acceleration data to filtered acceleration values;

c. translates the filtered acceleration values to filtered asset axes values;

d. calculates the asset'"'"'s pitch, wherein the asset'"'"'s pitch is determined by applying the equation;

9. The system of claim 2, wherein the software application

a. receives global positioning system (GPS) signals from an at least one GPS sensor onboard the mobile asset;

b. logs data relating to the mobile asset, said data received from at least one event data recorder onboard the mobile asset;

c. activates a timer at a start time when the raw asset axes values exceed the added thresholds;

d. determines the timer duration when the raw asset axes values no longer exceed the added threshold in a specific axis;

e. determines whether the timer duration exceeds the specified acceleration duration for that axis;

f. stores a trigger event if the timer duration exceeds the acceleration duration;

g. receives periodic data messages from the at least one of the event data recorder and the GPS sensor; and

h. monitors the asset'"'"'s speed, wherein the asset'"'"'s speed is determined by applying the equation;

∫

asset'"'"'s acceleration_x-axis.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the software application

a. determines which axis the trigger event was triggered in, when the asset'"'"'s speed exceeds a specified value, and a trigger event was stored at the same time;

b. logs a potential track issue alert if the trigger event was triggered in a z-axis; and

c. logs an operator mishandling alert if the trigger event was triggered in one of an x-axis and a y-axis.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the software application

a. sends alerts indicating any rough operating environments, bad tracks and switches, rough seas, poor roads, repaired routes, GPS location, video, and access to event data recorder information.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the trigger event comprises storing specifics on the data from the axes, duration of the event, and time of the trigger event.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the data messages comprise the real-time status of various input sensors on the asset.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the software application

a. establishes at least one of activity and inactivity durations in each axis;

b. stores the at least one of the activity and inactivity durations;

c. establishes at least one of activity and inactivity thresholds in each axis;

d. filters the raw acceleration data to filtered acceleration values;

e. translates the filtered acceleration values to filtered asset axes values;

f. translates the raw acceleration data to raw asset axes values;

g. adds the filtered asset axes values to the established activity and inactivity thresholds for each axis; and

h. continually compares the added thresholds to the raw asset axes values.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the software application

a. activates a timer when the raw asset axes values exceed the added thresholds;

b. determines the timer duration when the raw asset axes values no longer exceed the added threshold in a specified axis;

c. determines whether the timer duration exceeds the specified acceleration duration for that axis; and

d. stores one of a trigger activity event and a trigger inactivity event if the timer duration exceeds the acceleration duration.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the trigger event comprises storing specifics on the data from the axes, the timer duration, and the time of the trigger event.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the software application

a. receives data signals from at least one 3-axis magnetometer communicating with the microcontroller of the inertial navigation sensor board, said microcontroller processing data from said 3-axis magnetometer;

b. filters the raw acceleration data to filtered acceleration values;

c. translates the filtered acceleration values to filtered asset axes values;

d. calculates the asset'"'"'s pitch, wherein the asset'"'"'s pitch is determined by applying the equation;

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the software application

a. receives global positioning system (GPS) signals from at least one GPS sensor onboard the mobile asset;

b. reads the asset'"'"'s GPS data from the GPS sensor; and

c. parses the asset'"'"'s GPS data into speed, heading, latitude, and longitude.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the software application

a. receives data signals from at least one 3-axis gyroscope communicating with the microcontroller of the inertial navigation sensor board, said microcontroller processing data from said 3-axis gyroscope;

b. logs data relating to the mobile asset, said data received from an at least one event data recorder onboard the mobile asset;

c. reads the asset'"'"'s last known latitude and longitude from a GPS sensor onboard the mobile asset;

d. stores the asset'"'"'s last known latitude and longitude;

e. calculates new latitude and longitude using the last known latitude, longitude, asset speed, event data recorder data, tilt compensation heading, and data from the 3-axis gyroscope; and

f. stores the new latitude and longitude.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the software application

a. logs the time of the new latitude and longitude;

and

b. sends asset departure and arrival alerts.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the software application

a. defines departure and arrival virtual trip wires;

b. detects when the asset crosses the departure and arrival virtual trip wires;

c. logs the time the asset crosses the departure and arrival virtual trip wires; and

d. sends an alert when the asset crosses the departure and arrival virtual trip wires.

22. The system of claim 1, wherein

a. at least one fuel level sensor measures the amount of fuel inside a fuel tank using accelerometer-based pitch and roll.

23. The system of claim 1, wherein

a. at least one event data recorder, onboard the mobile asset, logs data relating to the mobile asset'"'"'s performance.

24. The system of claim 1, wherein the software application

a. calibrates a compass on the mobile asset.

25. The system of claim 4, wherein the software application

a. requests a data log file covering at least one of the first event time, the second event time, the trigger event time and the brake time of the event from the event data recorder;

b. receives the data log file; and

c. sends the data log file to the back office in real-time.

26. The system of claim 10, wherein the software application

a. receives at least one signal from at least one digital video recorder onboard the mobile asset, said recorder recording at least one still image, video, and acoustic;

b. requests a digital video download covering the time of the event from the digital video recorder, the digital video recording beginning at the start time;

c. receives the digital video download; and

d. sends the digital video download to the back office in real-time.