Wireless signal testing method and system

Abstract

The invention discloses a wireless signal testing method and system, which can improve the testing efficiency and accuracy. The test system comprises an upper computer, a vehicle and unmanned equipment. The unmanned equipment can automatically drive and is provided with wireless communication equipment, and the vehicle is provided with at least one wireless signal transceiver capable of performing test communication with the wireless communication equipment. During testing, the unmanned equipment automatically runs around a vehicle and reports pose data of the unmanned equipment to an upper computer, and the pose data comprise the position and the course; the vehicle performs test communication with the wireless communication equipment based on the wireless signal transceiver, and reports test data to the upper computer; and the upper computer obtains a test result based on the received pose data and the test data.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to vehicle testing technology, and in particular to a wireless signal testing method and system. Background Art

[0002] In vehicles, UWB (Ultra-Wide Band)-based positioning technology is used to locate and verify smart car keys (such as mobile phones), thereby realizing intelligent functions such as automatic opening / closing of the trunk and automatic unlocking of the vehicle. Therefore, it is particularly necessary to measure UWB signals in the vehicle development stage to understand their coverage and quality. Other signals such as Bluetooth and WIFI also have similar testing requirements. However, the existing test solutions have room for improvement and necessity in terms of test efficiency and test accuracy. Summary of the invention

[0003] In view of this, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method and system for testing a wireless signal, which can improve the test efficiency and the accuracy of the test results.

[0004] The wireless signal testing system of the embodiment of the present invention includes: a host computer; a vehicle having at least one wireless signal transceiver; and an unmanned device on which a wireless communication device is arranged; during testing, the unmanned device automatically runs around the vehicle and reports posture data to the host computer, the posture data including: the position and heading of the unmanned device; the vehicle performs wireless test communication with the wireless communication device through the wireless signal transceiver, and reports the test data obtained from the test to the host computer; and the host computer obtains the test result based on the posture data and the test data.

[0005] In some embodiments, before testing, the unmanned equipment operates around the vehicle to collect environmental information around the vehicle.

[0006] In some implementations, the environmental information is used to construct a map of the environment in which the vehicle is located, and based on the map, a test path for the unmanned equipment to travel during testing is generated.

[0007] In some embodiments, the test path includes: a series of test points; when the unmanned equipment drives to each test point, it stops for a preset time to complete the test at that point.

[0008] In some implementations, the unmanned device is further used to report its status data to the host computer, and the host computer monitors the unmanned device according to the status data.

[0009] In some implementations, the status data includes at least one of the following: remaining power, CPU load rate, and memory occupancy rate.

[0010] In some implementations, at each test position, the posture of the wireless communication device is changed, and testing is performed under different postures; the posture data includes: the posture of the wireless communication device.

[0011] In some embodiments, the test data includes at least one of the following: flight time data, ranging information, magnetic field strength, received signal strength, and various types of radio frequency power data.

[0012] In some implementations, the wireless signal transceiver has multiple antennas. During testing, the multiple antennas in the wireless signal transceiver are controlled to be fully or partially turned on, and the test data further includes: antenna numbers.

[0013] In some embodiments, in a three-dimensional scene, the posture data also includes: a pitch angle, a roll angle, and a height of the unmanned device on a three-dimensional map.

[0014] In some embodiments, the unmanned device is a robot car, and the unmanned device automatically drives around the vehicle from the inside to the outside based on a rectangular path.

[0015] The wireless signal testing method of an embodiment of the present invention is used to measure the coverage quality of the wireless signal of a vehicle, including: collecting environmental information of the vehicle; constructing a map of the environment in which the vehicle is located based on the collected environmental information; generating a test path around the vehicle based on the constructed map; controlling at least one wireless signal transceiver of the vehicle to perform wireless test communication with a wireless communication device, the wireless communication device being mounted on an unmanned device capable of automatic driving; controlling the unmanned device to automatically drive according to the test path to perform a test; obtaining position data and heading data of the unmanned device at each test position, as well as the corresponding test data of the vehicle; and generating a test result based on the position data, heading data and test data.

[0016] Beneficial effects of the embodiments of the present invention:

[0017] In wireless signal testing, using unmanned equipment that can drive automatically can improve the efficiency of the test. At the same time, the heading information of the unmanned equipment is recorded during the test, so the test results will be more accurate. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0018] Other details and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description provided below. It should be understood that the following drawings are merely illustrative and thus cannot be considered as limiting the present invention, and the following will be described in detail with reference to the drawings, wherein:

[0019] Figure 1A is a schematic structural diagram of a wireless signal testing system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0020] Figure 1B yes Figure 1A A physical structure of an embodiment of an unmanned device;

[0021] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the layout of a wireless signal transceiver according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0022] Figure 3A and 3B is a schematic diagram of a test path around a vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0023] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of test results of an embodiment of the present invention;

[0024] Figure 5 It is a flowchart of a method for testing a wireless signal according to an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0025] In order to make the technical problems, technical solutions and beneficial effects to be solved by the present invention clearer and more understandable, the present invention is further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are only for explaining the present invention and are not intended to limit the present invention.

[0026] In the description of the present invention, it is to be understood that the terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the features. Moreover, the terms "first", "second", etc. are applicable to distinguishing similar objects and are not necessarily used to describe a specific order or sequence. It should be understood that the terms used in this way are interchangeable where appropriate so that the embodiments of the present invention described herein can be implemented in an order other than those illustrated or described herein.

[0027] When testing the coverage quality of wireless signals transmitted and / or received by a vehicle, such as UWB signals, Bluetooth signals, low-frequency signals, WIFI signals, etc., one method is to manually select some key points around the vehicle, manually hold the equipment to measure these key points, and collect test data. This method has the problem of low efficiency and incomplete coverage of the test range. Another method is to set up a laser radar at a fixed position, and then have a technician walk around the vehicle with a test device (such as a mobile phone), scan the tester through the laser radar to obtain the real-time coordinates of the tester, and then match the real-time coordinates of the tester with the test data uploaded by the vehicle to complete the test. This test method still requires the participation of the tester, so there is still room for improvement in efficiency. In addition, this test method cannot obtain the orientation information of the test equipment such as the mobile phone, and cannot avoid the influence of the changes in the orientation of the test equipment such as the mobile phone when people walk, so the accuracy of the test cannot be guaranteed.

[0028] Based on this, an embodiment of the present invention provides a test scheme for wireless signals. In this scheme, a wireless communication device (such as a mobile phone) is set on an unmanned device (such as a robot car) that can travel automatically, and the unmanned device is used to measure the coverage quality of the vehicle's wireless signal, thereby reducing manual participation and improving the efficiency of the test. In addition, when the unmanned device is tested, in addition to reporting its position data, it also reports its heading (i.e., direction) data, which is equivalent to the heading of the wireless communication device, so that the test results can reflect the specific position and direction of the test data, so that the test results are more accurate. Therefore, the scheme of the embodiment of the present invention has obvious improvements in efficiency, accuracy, etc. compared with the existing methods.

[0029] The wireless signal testing system and method according to the embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0030] As shown in FIG. 1 , it is a schematic diagram of the structure of an embodiment of a wireless signal testing system of the present invention.

[0031] The wireless signal referred to in this embodiment may be, for example, a UWB (ultra-wideband) signal, a Bluetooth signal, a WIFI signal, a LF (low frequency) signal, etc. In short, all wireless signals that may be used in a vehicle may be within the test scope of this embodiment. By testing the transmission and / or reception of wireless signals, data support can be provided for the development, improvement and verification of keyless entry and other functions of the vehicle.

[0032] The test system of FIG1 includes: a vehicle 10 to be tested, an unmanned device 20, and a host computer 30. The vehicle 10 and the unmanned device 20 can both communicate with the host computer 30. For example, the vehicle 10 can communicate with the host computer 30 via a WIFI network (such as 5G WIFI), and the unmanned device 20 can communicate with the host computer 30 via a network such as WIFI, 4G or 5G. The wireless communication device 201 (such as a mobile phone) in the vehicle 10 and the unmanned device 20 performs the wireless communication required for the test, such as UWB communication or Bluetooth communication.

[0033] In the vehicle 10, at least one wireless signal transceiver is provided. Figure 2 As shown, in the example, 8 UWB signal transceivers for positioning are set from A to G at different positions of the vehicle. Each wireless signal transceiver can transmit and / or receive wireless signals. Each wireless signal transceiver may include: one or more antennas, for example, each wireless signal transceiver may be a dual antenna structure. These wireless signal transceivers communicate with TCU (Telematics Control Unit) through an in-vehicle bus (such as CAN bus), and then send the test data to the host computer 30 via TCU. In other embodiments, the test data is sent to the host computer by other dedicated transceivers, for example, a transceiver with a CAN signal to WIFI signal is used to convert the CAN signal on the in-vehicle bus into a WIFI signal, and then sent to the host computer. During the test, the wireless signal transceiver is configured to continuously perform test communication with the wireless communication device 201 and obtain test data. The test data includes at least one of the following: ToF (time of flight), distance data, various radio frequency power data, magnetic field strength, RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indication). The content of the measurement data is related to the tested signal. For example, taking UWB as an example, the test data generally includes: distance data and various radio frequency power data. Taking Bluetooth as an example, the test data generally includes RSSI.

[0034] The unmanned device 20 may include: a robot car 202 capable of automatically driving and the above-mentioned wireless communication device 201, for example, Figure 1A and 1B In addition, the unmanned device 20 may also be a drone. The wireless communication device 201 may be a mobile phone, for example, Figure 1BThe wireless communication device 201 is fixed to the robot car 201 in the manner shown. Of course, the fixing method of the wireless communication device 201 is not limited to this, and there may be other fixing methods. For example, a rotatable motor may be configured on the support rod of the wireless communication device 201, and the wireless communication device 201 may be fixed to the support rod of the robot car in a rotatable manner, so that the wireless communication device 201 can be controlled to be in various postures such as the screen facing the vehicle, the back of the vehicle, the ground or the sky. In addition, in order to simulate the usage scenarios more realistically, a human model may also be set on the robot car to simulate various actual usage scenarios such as the user holding the wireless communication device or the wireless communication device being in a pocket, so as to test the quality coverage of the vehicle receiving and transmitting signals in various usage scenarios.

[0035] Various types of sensors may be provided in the robot car 202, including at least one of a radar, a camera, a wheel speed sensor, an odometer, and an IMU (Inertial Measuring Unit). It is understood that the number and type of sensors provided in the robot car 202 may be reasonably provided based on actual needs, and are not limited here. These sensors may support the automatic driving of the robot car 202, and collect various data of the robot car 202 during driving.

[0036] During the test, the robot car 202 sends data such as its position and heading to the host computer 30.

[0037] The host computer 30 may be used to control the entire test process and collect data uploaded by the robot car 202 and the vehicle 10 during the test, so as to obtain the test results.

[0038] As shown in FIG1 , the test process of the test system may generally include:

[0039] In step 1, both the wireless communication device 201 and the vehicle 10 are controlled to enter the test mode. In the test mode, the wireless communication device 201 and the wireless signal transceiver in the vehicle 10 continuously perform wireless test communication. In a single test, all wireless signal transceivers can be enabled for testing, or only a single or a part of the wireless signal transceivers can be enabled for testing. In the case where the wireless signal transceiver has a multi-antenna structure, all or part of the antennas can be enabled for testing.

[0040] In step 2, the host computer 30 initializes the robot car 202, and then controls the robot car 202 to enter the test mode to start the test. During the test, the robot car 202 can travel along the test path.

[0041] The test path may be pre-set. For example, the test path may be pre-planned based on a map of the environment in which the vehicle is located. For example, before the test, the robot car 202 may be controlled to travel around the vehicle 10. During the travel, the sensor carried by the robot car 202 may be used to collect environmental information around the vehicle 10. The environmental information may be used to construct a map of the environment in which the vehicle is located, so that a test path may be generated based on the map.

[0042] When planning the test path, the path planning can be performed according to the test requirements. The test requirements can indicate the spatial range to be tested, for example, the test requirements can indicate how large the range around the vehicle is to be tested. In addition, the test requirements can further indicate the resolution of the test, for example, it can indicate that the test data is collected every 20 cm. Therefore, the test path can include: a series of test points, during the test, the robot car 202 stops at each test point to perform the test at the test point. Of course, the test can also be performed continuously, in which case the robot car 202 is controlled to move slowly.

[0043] The test path can refer to Figure 3A and 3B As shown, the driving paths 40 are rectangular and elliptical, respectively. Of course, the shape of the test path is not limited thereto, and may be other shapes, or even irregular shapes. In addition, the test path or range may be set according to the surrounding environment, and the signal coverage performance may be tested when there are obstacles or other vehicles parked around.

[0044] In step 3, the robot car 202 reports data to the host computer 30. The data reported by the robot car 202 may include:

[0045] The position data can be represented by (x, y). For example, the robot car 202 reports its position data at each test point.

[0046] The heading data, for example, can be the heading angle (yaw) of the robot car 202, which is mainly for two-dimensional scenes. For three-dimensional scenes, in addition to the heading data, it can also include: the pitch angle (pitch), roll angle (roll) and height of the robot car 202 on the three-dimensional map. Since the relative position of the wireless communication device 201 and the robot car 202 is fixed, the heading data of the robot car 202 is also the heading data of the wireless communication device 201.

[0047] The status data may be, for example, parameters such as the remaining power, CPU load rate, and memory occupancy rate of the robot car 202. The status of the robot car 202 may be monitored through the status data. For example, it may be possible to evaluate whether the current remaining power can support the completion of the test based on the remaining power. For another example, when the test is paused or terminated, the reason for the pause or termination may be analyzed based on parameters such as the CPU load rate and the memory occupancy rate.

[0048] In some embodiments, the reported data may further include: the posture of the wireless communication device 201, for example, the posture data may indicate whether the wireless communication device is in a vertical or horizontal state, whether the screen is facing the vehicle, facing away from the vehicle, facing the ground or facing the sky, etc. In addition, the posture may also be the angle between the wireless communication device 201 and the horizontal axis or the vertical axis. During testing, the wireless communication device 201 may be controlled to be in different postures to perform tests separately. For example, when the robot car 202 arrives at the test point, the mobile phone may be controlled to be in a horizontal or vertical state to obtain two test results in which the mobile phone is in a horizontal or vertical state.

[0049] In step 4, the vehicle 10 reports the test data to the host computer. The test data may include: the distance information between the wireless signal transceiver and the wireless communication device 201, which can be expressed by the time of flight (ToF); and various power information tested, including: FPP (First Path Power), RxP (Overall Received Power), MTP (Max Tap Power), and NoP (Noise Power). The above test data is mainly for UWB signals. For Bluetooth testing, the test data mainly includes: RSSI. In addition, in a multi-antenna scenario, the test data may include the antenna number.

[0050] In step 5, the host computer 30 obtains the test result according to the received data. Specifically, the host computer 30 can associate the data reported by the robot car 202 and the vehicle 10 based on the time when the test data is received or the timestamp in the test data.

[0051] An example of a test result can be as follows: Figure 4 As shown in Figure 1, it shows the signal coverage of each transceiver. Figure 4 In order to compare and analyze, TRx5 and TRx7 are set to be closed during the test. Figure 4 As shown, TRx1 has good signal coverage in the upper left corner area in front of the vehicle, but basically has no coverage in the lower right corner area behind the vehicle.

[0052] The test system shown in FIG1 can improve the test efficiency, and the test results include the heading data of the unmanned device 20, which can improve the accuracy of the test. And the use of an automated test method helps to ensure the consistency of the test results, thereby facilitating comparative analysis. For example, during the test process, it is generally necessary to use multiple mobile phones for testing. With the solution of this embodiment, only the mobile phone used needs to be replaced each time the test is performed, and other factors such as the test path remain unchanged, so that the data of each test can be tested in a consistent environment, which is helpful for comparative analysis of the test results.

[0053] like Figure 5 FIG. 1 is a flow chart of a wireless signal testing method based on the testing system of FIG. Many details of the testing method have been described in the above embodiments, and the two can be combined, which will not be described here.

[0054] Specifically, the test method includes:

[0055] Step S51: Collecting the vehicle's environment information.

[0056] In this step, a robot car can be used to collect environmental information around the vehicle. Alternatively, other equipment, such as a flying device carrying a laser radar, a camera, etc., can be used to collect environmental information about the vehicle. The environment where the vehicle is located can be, for example, an underground parking lot or an outdoor parking lot.

[0057] Step S52: construct a map of the vehicle's environment based on the collected environmental information.

[0058] In this step, the constructed map generally includes the location and size of the vehicle, the size and location of obstacles in the environment, etc. The operation of constructing the map can be performed in the unmanned device or the host computer.

[0059] Step S53: Generate a test path around the vehicle based on the constructed map.

[0060] In this step, the test path can be designed according to the test requirements such as the test range and the test resolution. In the solution of this embodiment, the test path is preferably a rectangular path that circles around the vehicle.

[0061] Step S54: Control at least one wireless signal transceiver of the vehicle to perform wireless test communication with a wireless communication device, where the wireless communication device is mounted on an unmanned device capable of automatic driving.

[0062] In this step, the wireless signal transceiver and the wireless communication device are controlled to enter a test mode, in which the wireless signal transceiver and the wireless communication device continue to perform wireless communication, for example, the wireless signal transceiver continuously measures the position of the wireless communication device.

[0063] Step S55: According to the test path generated in step S53, the unmanned equipment is controlled to drive automatically to perform the test.

[0064] In this step, the automatic driving function is turned on on the unmanned device, so that the unmanned device will realize the autonomous driving function according to the test path and in conjunction with its own sensors. Generally, the test path may include: multiple test points, when the unmanned device reaches the test point, it stops for a certain time (such as 2 seconds) to complete the test, and then continues to drive along the test path.

[0065] Step S56: Obtain the location data and heading data of the unmanned equipment at each test location, as well as the test data corresponding to the vehicle.

[0066] In this step, the data provided by the unmanned device may be (x, y, yaw), where x and y are position coordinates and yaw is the heading angle, which is the data collected by the unmanned device through sensors such as laser radar and wheel speed sensor (how many times each wheel rotates), and combined with the scanned surrounding conditions (for example, reference objects, etc.) to determine its orientation on the map (similar to the azimuth indicated by a compass). In a three-dimensional scene, the data provided by the unmanned device may be (x, y, h, yaw, pitch, roll), which also includes: height, pitch angle and roll angle.

[0067] In addition, the data provided by the unmanned device may further include: height data of the wireless communication device, and / or, attitude data of the wireless communication device, etc. In some embodiments, at each test point, the attitude or height of the wireless communication device may be changed to obtain measurement results at different attitudes or heights.

[0068] Step S57: Generate test results based on the acquired position data, posture data and test data.

[0069] In this step, the position data, posture data and test data are combined and the original data is saved. Then, based on the analysis of the position data, posture data and test data, the test results are obtained, for example, the test results showing the signal strength of each position are displayed.

[0070] In this embodiment, measurements can be performed for indoor venues, outdoor venues, etc. And unmanned equipment can be used to first drive around the vehicle under test, scan the vehicle and its surrounding environment to create a map, and then collect signal information (useful information such as various signal strengths and ranging) at different positions around the vehicle under test based on the vehicle scanned on the map, thereby completing the measurement. In addition, in the scheme of this embodiment, the orientation relationship between the mobile phone (or other communication equipment) and the vehicle is also considered during the test, and a certain orientation relationship is guaranteed during the test (for example, the mobile phone screen is always facing or facing away from the vehicle) to collect signal information around the vehicle.

[0071] It should be noted that the above description is only for example and not for limitation of the present invention. In other embodiments of the present invention, the method may have more, fewer or different steps, and the order, inclusion and function of the steps may be different from those described and illustrated. For example, generally multiple steps can be combined into a single step, and a single step can also be divided into multiple steps. For those of ordinary skill in the art, without paying creative work, the sequential changes of the steps are also within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0072] Although the present invention has been disclosed as above with preferred embodiments, the present invention is not limited thereto. Any changes and modifications made by any person skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention should be included in the protection scope of the present invention, and therefore the protection scope of the present invention should be subject to the scope defined by the claims.

Claims

1. A wireless signal testing system, characterized in that: include: Host computer; A vehicle having at least one wireless signal transceiver; and Unmanned equipment, on which wireless communication equipment is provided; While testing: The unmanned device automatically runs around the vehicle and reports posture data to the host computer, wherein the posture data includes: the position and heading of the unmanned device; The vehicle performs wireless test communication with the wireless communication device through the wireless signal transceiver, and reports the test data obtained from the test to the host computer; and The host computer obtains the test result according to the posture data and the test data.

2. The wireless signal testing system according to claim 1, characterized in that: Before the test, the unmanned equipment runs around the vehicle to collect environmental information around the vehicle; The environmental information is used to construct a map of the environment in which the vehicle is located, and based on the map, a test path for the unmanned equipment to travel during the test is generated.

3. The wireless signal testing system as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that: The test path includes: a series of test points; when the unmanned equipment drives to each test point, it stops for a preset time to complete the test at that point.

4. The wireless signal testing system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The unmanned device is further used to report its status data to the host computer, and the host computer monitors the unmanned device according to the status data; The status data includes at least one of the following: remaining power, CPU load rate and memory occupancy rate.

5. The wireless signal testing system according to claim 1, characterized in that: At each test position, the posture of the wireless communication device is changed, and testing is performed under different postures; the posture data includes: the posture of the wireless communication device.

6. The wireless signal testing system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The test data includes at least one of the following: flight time data, ranging information, magnetic field strength, received signal strength and various types of radio frequency power data.

7. The wireless signal testing system according to claim 6, characterized in that: The wireless signal transceiver has multiple antennas. During the test, all or part of the multiple antennas in the wireless signal transceiver are controlled to be turned on. The test data also includes: antenna numbers.

8. The wireless signal testing system according to claim 1, characterized in that: In a three-dimensional scene, the posture data also includes: the pitch angle, roll angle and height of the unmanned equipment on the three-dimensional map.

9. The wireless signal measurement system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The unmanned equipment is a robot car, which automatically drives around the vehicle from the inside to the outside based on a rectangular path.

10. A wireless signal testing method for measuring the coverage quality of a vehicle's wireless signal, characterized in that: include: Collecting environmental information of the vehicle; Constructing a map of the environment in which the vehicle is located based on the collected environmental information; generating a test path around the vehicle based on the constructed map; Controlling at least one wireless signal transceiver of the vehicle to perform wireless test communication with a wireless communication device, wherein the wireless communication device is mounted on an unmanned device capable of automatic driving; According to the test path, controlling the unmanned equipment to automatically drive to perform the test; Acquire the position data and heading data of the unmanned equipment at each test location, and the corresponding test data of the vehicle; as well as A test result is generated according to the position data, heading data and test data.

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