Roadway-induced ride quality reconnaissance and route planning

• US 9,109,913 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2013
• Issued: 08/18/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Lu, Jianbo, Feliv, Dimitar P., Hrovat, Davor, Tseng, Finn, Feldkamp, Timothy M., Michelini, John O., Makki, Imad Hassan
• Primary Examiner(s): Olszewski, John R
• Assistant Examiner(s): CASS, JEAN PAUL
• Application Number:
  US14/041,596
• Publication Number:
  US 20150094948A1
• Time in Patent Office: 687 Days
• Field of Search: 701/410
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 17/0165 to an external condition, e.g. rough road surface, side wind
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 17/018 characterised by the use of a specific signal treatment or control method
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 17/019 characterised by the type of sensor or the arrangement thereof B60G17/01941 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2400/252 vertical
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2400/821 Uneven, rough road sensing affecting vehicle body vibration
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2401/16 GPS track data
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2800/162 Reducing road induced vibrations
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3461 Preferred or disfavoured areas, e.g. dangerous zones, toll or emission zones, intersections, manoeuvre types, segments such as motorways, toll roads, ferries
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0112 from the vehicle, e.g. floating car data [FCD]
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0129 for creating historical data or processing based on historical data
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096816 where the complete route is transmitted to the vehicle at once
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096838 where the user preferences are taken into account or the user selects one route out of a plurality
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/09685 where the complete route is computed only once and not updated

Abstract

Route planning for road vehicles is performed taking into account a ride quality that results from the roadway conditions along road segments on a route. A plurality of vehicles equipped with controlled suspensions calculate ride quality indices as the vehicles move over a plurality of road segments. The plurality of vehicles transmit the ride quality indices tagged with respective geographic coordinates to an aggregating server. The aggregating server determines a composite ride quality index for each road segment. A subscriber generates a route planning request identifying an origin and a destination. At least one potential route is identified between the origin and the destination comprised of selected road segments. A route ride quality index is determined in response to the selected road segments, and the potential route and the route ride quality index are presented to the subscriber for selection.

Claims

1. A method of route planning for road vehicles, comprising the steps of:

a plurality of vehicles equipped with controlled suspensions calculating ride quality indices as the vehicles move over a plurality of road segments, wherein the ride quality indices comprise primary ride quality data and secondary ride quality data, wherein primary ride quality data corresponds to ride quality at a frequency of about 1-2 Hz, and secondary ride quality data corresponds to ride quality at a frequency of about 10 Hz;

the plurality of vehicles transmitting the ride quality indices tagged with respective geographic coordinates to an aggregating server;

the aggregating server determining a composite ride quality index for each road segment;

a subscriber generating a route planning request identifying an origin and a destination;

the subscriber communicating the route planning request to an agent;

the agent accessing the ride quality indices from the aggregating server;

identifying at least one potential route between the origin and the destination comprised of selected road segments;

determining a route ride quality index in response to the selected road segments; and

presenting the potential route and the route ride quality index to the subscriber for selection.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the route planning request identifies a ride quality limit and wherein the selected road segments all satisfy the specified ride quality limit.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein a plurality of potential routes are identified, wherein a respective route ride quality index is determined for each potential route, and wherein each potential route is displayed for selection together with the respective route ride quality index.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the route planning request identifies a primary ride quality limit and a secondary ride quality limit, and wherein the selected road segments all satisfy both the identified primary ride quality limit and the identified secondary ride quality limit.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein a routing request specifies a ride quality limit and wherein the agent responds to the routing request by retrieving road segments satisfying the specified ride quality limit.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein a routing request specifies a ride quality limit for primary ride and wherein the agent responds to the routing request by retrieving road segments satisfying the specified ride quality limit for primary ride.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein a routing request specifies a ride quality limit for secondary ride and wherein the agent responds to the routing request by retrieving road segments satisfying the specified ride quality limit for secondary ride.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein a routing request specifies a ride quality limit and wherein the agent responds to the routing request by retrieving road segments satisfying the specified ride quality limit, and wherein the ride quality limit is a composite index of primary ride and secondary ride.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein a routing request specifies a ride quality limit and wherein the agent responds to the routing request by excluding road segments exceeding the specified ride quality limit, and wherein the ride quality limit is a composite index of primary ride and secondary ride.

5. A route planning system for road vehicles, comprising:

a ride quality database representing a plurality of road segments according to geographic coordinates;

an agent coupled to the ride quality database and adapted to be coupled to a data network,

wherein the agent is configured to receive ride quality data via the data network from a plurality of vehicles traversing the road segments and to determine a composite ride quality index for each road segment according to the received ride quality data,

wherein the ride quality data comprises primary ride and secondary ride,

wherein primary ride corresponds to ride quality at a frequency of about 1-2 Hz, and secondary ride corresponds to ride quality at a frequency of about 10 Hz,

wherein the ride quality data and the composite ride quality indices for each road segment are stored in the ride quality database in association with the respective road segment, and

wherein the agent is configured to receive routing requests specifying a desired ride quality and to respond to the routing requests by retrieving road segments and the corresponding ride quality indices in response to the routing requests; and

a route planner calculating potential routes and respective route indices by combining the ride quality indices of the road segments in each potential route.

11. A route planning method for road vehicles, comprising:

generating a route planning request identifying;

an origin and a destination;

identifying a route between the origin and the destination comprised of selected route road segments;

accessing a ride quality database on a server, the ride quality database representing a plurality of road segments according to geographic coordinates, each segment associated with ride quality indices comprising primary ride quality data having a frequency of about 1-2 Hz and secondary ride having a frequency of about 10 Hz;

determining a composite route ride quality index for the selected route road segments; and

presenting the route and the composite route ride quality index to a road vehicle subscriber for selection.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the route planning request identifies a ride quality limit and wherein the selected road segments all satisfy the specified ride quality limit.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein a plurality of potential routes are identified, wherein a respective composite route ride quality index is determined for each potential route, and wherein each potential route is displayed for selection together with the respective composite route ride quality index.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein the route planning request identifies a primary ride quality limit and a secondary ride quality limit, and wherein the selected road segments all satisfy both the identified primary ride quality limit and the identified secondary ride quality limit.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein a route planning request specifies a ride quality limit for primary ride and wherein the agent responds to the routing request by retrieving road segments satisfying the specified ride quality limit for primary ride.

16. The method of claim 11 wherein a route planning request specifies a ride quality limit for secondary ride and wherein the agent responds to the routing request by retrieving road segments satisfying the specified ride quality limit for secondary ride.

17. The method of claim 11 wherein a route planning request specifies a ride quality limit and wherein the agent responds to the routing request by retrieving road segments satisfying the specified ride quality limit, and wherein the ride quality limit is a composite index of primary ride and secondary ride.

18. The method of claim 11 wherein a route planning request specifies a ride quality limit and wherein the agent responds to the routing request by excluding road segments exceeding the specified ride quality limit, and wherein the ride quality limit is a composite index of primary ride and secondary ride.

19. A vehicle comprising:

an adaptive damping system including a controller for characterizing primary and secondary ride quality as the vehicle moves over a plurality of road segments, wherein the ride quality characterized by the controller is comprised of primary ride having a frequency of about 1-2 Hz and secondary ride having a frequency of about 10 Hz, and wherein the transmitted ride quality data includes primary ride and secondary ride;

a positioning system for monitoring coordinates of the vehicle; and

a modem for transmitting ride quality data tagged with the coordinates of the vehicle to an aggregating server that evaluates a ride quality index for respective road segments to be used for route planning by other vehicles, wherein route planning comprises optimizing ride quality.