APPARATUS AND METHOD OF ESTIMATING ROAD SLOPE BY USING GRAVITATIONAL ACCELERATION SENSOR

• US 20150291176A1
• Filed: 11/14/2014
• Published: 10/15/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/14/2014
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Hyundai Motor Company (Hyundai Motor Group), Kia Motors Corporation (Kia Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Hyundai Motor Company (Hyundai Motor Group), Kia Motors Corporation (Kia Corp.)
• Inventors: JEONG, Donghoon, JEON, Byeongwook
• Application Number:
  US14/542,199
• Publication Number:
  US 20150291176A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2510/1005 Transmission ratio engaged
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2520/10 Longitudinal speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2520/105 Longitudinal acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/18 Steering angle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/50 of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/076 Slope angle of the road
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 9/08 Means for compensating acceleration forces due to movement of instrument

Abstract

An apparatus for estimating road slope by using a gravitational acceleration sensor may include a data detector configured to detect data for estimating road slope, a navigation device configured to output road information according to a location of a vehicle, and a controller configured to correct an error of the gravitational acceleration sensor by using an altitude value detected by the data detector and a current altitude of the vehicle according to the road information received from the navigation device.

Claims

1. An apparatus for estimating road slope by using a gravitational acceleration sensor comprising:

a data detector configured to detect data for estimating road slope;

a navigation device configured to output road information according to a location of a vehicle; and

a controller configured to correct an error of the gravitational acceleration sensor by using an altitude value detected by the data detector and a current altitude of the vehicle according to the road information received from the navigation device.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the data detector comprises:

a gravitational acceleration sensor configured to detect a horizontal acceleration and a longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle; and

a global positioning system (GPS) sensor configured to detect the current altitude value of the vehicle.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the data includes information on at least one of a speed of the vehicle, a shift-speed of the vehicle, and a steering angle of the vehicle.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the navigation device outputs the road information according to the location of the vehicle at predetermined time intervals.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the controller calculates an offset value by using a difference between the altitude value detected by the data detector and the current altitude of the vehicle according to the road information received from the navigation device.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the controller corrects the error of the gravitational acceleration sensor by updating the offset value when the vehicle runs more than a predetermined distance.

7. A method of estimating road slope by using a gravitational acceleration sensor, comprising:

receiving altitude information from a navigation device;

calculating a current altitude of the vehicle based on the received altitude information;

calculating an offset value based on a difference between an altitude value detected by a global positioning system (GPS) sensor and the current altitude of the vehicle; and

correcting an error of the gravitational acceleration sensor by using the offset value.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising updating the offset value when the vehicle runs more than a predetermined distance.