Use of Multiple Internal Sensors for Measurement Validation

• US 20120016623A1
• Filed: 07/19/2010
• Published: 01/19/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/19/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NXP USA, Inc. (NXP Semiconductors NV)
• Original Assignee: NXP USA, Inc. (NXP Semiconductors NV)
• Inventors: Hayner, David A.
• Granted Patent: US 10,207,719 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/141
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0031 Mathematical model of the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2420/90 Single sensor for two or more measurements
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2520/105 Longitudinal acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2520/125 Lateral acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2520/14 Yaw
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/0205 Diagnosing or detecting failures; Failure detection models
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 18/00 Testing or calibrating apparatus or arrangements provided for in groups G01D1/00 - G01D15/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 27/4163 checking the operation of, or calibrating, the measuring apparatus G01N27/3274, G01N27/4175 and G01N33/0006 take precedence

Abstract

A microcontroller-based method and apparatus are described for measuring motions signals (301) with a plurality of inertial sensors (302-304) contained within a device package housing and validating (420) a first measured motion signal (e.g., Ω_X) by generating at least a first estimated value Ω_X for the first motion signal (e.g., 419) based on at least a second measured motion signal (e.g., A_Y) and for comparing the first estimated value for the first motion signal (419) to the first measured motion signal Ω_X in order to validate the first measured motion signal Ω_X.

Claims

1. A packaged multi-sensor device for measuring and validating one or more inertial effects, comprising:

a device package housing;

a plurality of sensors contained within the device package housing for measuring at least first and second measured signals; and

a processing unit contained within the device package housing for generating at least a first estimated value for the first signal based on at least the second measured signal and for comparing the first estimated value for the first signal to the first measured signal in order to validate the first measured signal.

2. The packaged multi-sensor device of claim 1, where the plurality of sensors comprises a Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) gyroscope sensor and an MEMS accelerometer sensor.

3. The packaged multi-sensor device of claim 1, where the plurality of sensors comprises two or more sensors selected from a group comprising a gyroscope sensor, an accelerometer sensor, a motion sensor, a mechanical sensor, a pressure sensor, a temperature sensor, a magnetic stress sensor, a magnetic field sensor, an optical sensor, and a chemical sensor, all formed on a common integrated circuit substrate.

4. The packaged multi-sensor device of claim 1, further comprising an interface integrated circuit coupled between the plurality of sensors and the processing unit which serves as an analog/digital interface between the plurality of sensors and the processing unit.

5. The packaged multi-sensor device of claim 1, where the processing unit is configured to generate the first estimated value for the first signal based on the second measured signal and platform dynamics modeling information for a platform on which the packaged multi-sensor device is mounted.

6. The packaged multi-sensor device of claim 1, where the processing unit generates at least the first estimated value by computing an estimated z-axis linear acceleration value and an estimated y-axis linear acceleration value from the second measured signal which comprises a measured roll angular velocity value Ω

_X.

7. The packaged multi-sensor device of claim 1, where the processing unit generates at least the first estimated value by computing an estimated roll angular velocity value Ω

_X and an estimated y-axis linear acceleration value from the second measured signal which comprises a measured z-axis linear acceleration value.

8. The packaged multi-sensor device of claim 1, where the processing unit generates at least the first estimated value by computing an estimated roll angular velocity value Ω

_X and an estimated z-axis linear acceleration value from the second measured signal which comprises a measured y-axis linear acceleration value.

9. The packaged multi-sensor device of claim 1, where the processing unit validates the first measured signal, which comprises a first measured linear acceleration value in a first direction that is transduced by a first inertial sensor, by comparing the first measured linear acceleration value to an estimated linear acceleration value in the first direction which is derived from at least a second inertial sensor.

10. The packaged multi-sensor device of claim 1, where the processing unit validates the first measured signal, which comprises a measured roll angular velocity value Ω

_X that is transduced by a first inertial sensor, by comparing the measured roll angular velocity value Ω

_X to an estimated roll angular velocity value Ω

_X which is derived from at least a second inertial sensor.

11. The packaged multi-sensor device of claim 1, where the processing unit validates a first measured signal x that is transduced by a first inertial sensor by comparing the measured signal x to an estimated signal x′

which is derived from a second measured signal y;

from a third measured signal z;

from a combination of the second measured signal y and the third measured signal z;

from a combination of the measured signal x and the second measured signal y;

from a combination of the measured signal x and the third measured signal z;

or from a combination of the measured signal x, the second measured signal y, and the third measured signal z.

12. The packaged multi-sensor device of claim 1, where the processing unit validates a first measured signal x that is transduced by a first sensor by comparing the measured signal x to one or more estimated signals x′

where each of the one or more estimated signals x′

is derived from at least one or more additional measured signals y transduced from one or more additional sensors.

13. A method for validating a first measured value associated with a platform without using external reference information, comprising:

measuring a plurality of values in a plurality of domains, comprising a first measured value in a first domain and a second measured value in a second different domain;

calculating a first estimated value in the first domain using at least the second measured value in the second different domain; and

comparing the first estimated value to the first measured value to assess a validity measure for the first measured value.

14. The method of claim 13, where measuring the plurality of values comprises:

reading a y-axis acceleration signal value Ay from a first linear accelerometer sensor;

reading a z-axis acceleration signal value Az from a second linear accelerometer sensor; and

reading a roll angular velocity signal value Ω

_X from one or more gyro sensors.

15. The method of claim 13, where comparing the first estimated value to the first measured value comprises generating a first error value E1 using statistical and/or time weighted techniques for comparison with the first estimated value.

16. The method of claim 14, where calculating the first estimated value in the first domain comprises:

applying a dynamic model of the platform to calculate a first estimated y-axis acceleration signal value A_Y1 using the roll angular velocity signal value Ω

_X, and to calculate a second estimated y-axis acceleration signal value A_Y2 using the z-axis acceleration signal value Az.

17. The method of claim 16, where comparing the first estimated value to the first measured value comprises:

generating a first error value E1 by subtracting the first estimated y-axis acceleration signal value A_Y1 from the y-axis acceleration signal value A_Y;

generating a second error value E2 by subtracting the second estimated y-axis acceleration signal value A_Y2 from the y-axis acceleration signal value A_Y; and

generating a third error value E3 by subtracting the second estimated y-axis acceleration signal value A_Y2 from the first estimated y-axis acceleration signal value A_Y1.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising applying decision logic to the first, second, and third error values E1, E2, E3 to assess the validity measure for the y-axis acceleration signal value A_Y.

19. A method for using a plurality of inertial sensors in a packaged multi-sensor device to measure and validate one or more inertial measurements, comprising:

reading a plurality of inertial values in a plurality of domains using the plurality of inertial sensors in a packaged multi-sensor device to obtain at least a first measured inertial value in a first domain and one or more additional measured inertial values in one or more different domains;

applying a dynamic model of the packaged multi-sensor device and a platform carrying the packaged multi-sensor device to calculate a first estimated inertial value in the first domain using at least the one or more additional measured inertial values in one or more different domains; and

comparing the first estimated inertial value to the first measured inertial value to assess a validity measure for the first measured inertial value.

20. The method of claim 19, where comparing the first estimated inertial value to the first measured inertial value comprises:

generating one or more error values by calculating one or more first estimated inertial values in the first domain using at least the one or more additional measured inertial values in one or more different domains and subtracting the one or more first estimated inertial values from the first measured inertial value to assess the validity measure for the first measured inertial value.