Adaptive control system for autonomous control of powered civil engineering vehicles

Abstract

Systems and techniques are described for an application control system for a powered earthmoving and / or mining vehicle. In some situations, the system / technique may receive signals at various high and low voltage levels from various controllers of the powered earthmoving and / or mining vehicle and provide commands to the various controllers by modifying the command signals at various high and low voltage levels. The system / technique employs various modular input / output daughter cards to modify the various signals and commands.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The following disclosure generally relates to systems and techniques of an adaptive control system for use in autonomous control of the operation of powered construction vehicles and / or mining vehicles.

Background Art

[0002] Construction vehicles and / or mining vehicles are used to move soil and other materials (such as gravel, rock, asphalt, etc.) at a site and perform other operations, and each is usually operated by a human operator (for example, a human user in the cab of the vehicle, a human user who is away from the vehicle but performing an interactive remote operation of the vehicle, etc.). Human operators usually use joysticks, pedals, or other control devices to control the movement of various components of the construction vehicle. In construction vehicles where these control devices are electronic, some of the signals used are low-voltage signals for controlling various components of the construction vehicle, and a low-voltage electrical output is required to control these signals.

[0003] Limited autonomous operations of some construction vehicles (for example, operations performed under program control automated without interaction or intervention by a human user) are sometimes used, but existing technologies have many problems, such as the use of limited types of sensing data, the inability to perform full autonomous operations when facing obstacles at the site, the inability to coordinate autonomous operations among multiple construction vehicles at the site, and the need for large and expensive hardware systems to support limited autonomous operations.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0004] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an exemplary embodiment using the systems and techniques described for an adaptive control system of one or more powered construction vehicles and / or mining vehicles at a site. [Figure 2A]Figure 2 shows an example of a powered civil engineering and / or mining vehicle having multiple types of on-board data sensors arranged to support autonomous operation in the field for use in an adaptive control system. [Figure 2B] Figure 2B shows an example of a powered civil engineering and / or mining vehicle having multiple types of on-board data sensors arranged to support autonomous operation in the field for use in an adaptive control system. [Figure 2C] Figure 2C shows an example of a powered civil engineering and / or mining vehicle having multiple types of on-board data sensors arranged to support autonomous operation in the field for use in an adaptive control system. [Figure 3A] Figure 3A shows an example of a level shifter used in a modular daughter card. [Figure 3B] Figure 3B shows an example of a level shifter used in a modular daughter card. [Figure 4] Figure 4 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary embodiment in which inputs and outputs are dynamically changed using modular daughter cards. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0005] Systems and techniques for implementing an adaptive control system used for the autonomous control of the operation of powered civil engineering vehicles and / or mining vehicles, for example, a hardware component architecture used for the autonomous control of the operation of one or more such vehicles on site (e.g., automatically determining and controlling the movement of the boom / arm and attachments of an excavator to move materials or perform other actions). In at least some embodiments, the systems and techniques described are used to recognize the position of one or more joysticks and pedals of a powered civil engineering vehicle and / or mining vehicle (which may be more commonly referred to herein as “civil engineering vehicle”), and implement fully autonomous operation of the civil engineering vehicle by, for example, modifying input signals and transmitting output signals that can be converted into various power levels for different components of one or more such civil engineering vehicles. Such civil engineering vehicles include, for example, one or more tracked or wheeled excavators, bulldozers, front loaders, skip loaders, graders, cranes, backhoes, compactors, conveyors, trucks, deep-sea machines, extraterrestrial machines, mine-clearing plows, etc., each receiving and executing one or more defined operational commands (e.g., digging a hole of a specified size and / or shape and / or location, moving one or more rocks from a specified area, trenching, breaking through, etc.), and / or in at least some embodiments and situations, doing so when faced with obstacles on site (e.g., artificial structures, rocks and other naturally occurring obstacles, other equipment, people or animals, etc.), and / or operating to achieve one or more other objectives, including performing joint actions of multiple such civil engineering vehicles (e.g., multiple excavators, drilling machines, and one or more other construction and / or mining vehicles of one or more types).

[0006] As a non-exclusive example, the systems and technologies described may, in some embodiments, include a hardware architecture that includes multiple types of sensors positioned at various different locations on a powered civil engineering and / or mining vehicle (e.g., an excavator) in the field, and one or more hardware controllers (e.g., microcontrollers) used to acquire and analyze sensor data used in determining operational commands for one or more such vehicles, which are used together with a modular output daughter card to transmit signal outputs to various components of the civil engineering vehicle. Further details regarding the hardware architecture and related technologies for implementing autonomous control of powered civil engineering and / or mining vehicles in a particular manner are described below, in other embodiments, some or all of the described technologies are implemented by a civil engineering vehicle operation control system for controlling one or more such civil engineering vehicles of one or more types. Several exemplary examples of adaptive control systems for controlling one or more excavators are described below, but it will be understood that the same or similar technologies can also be used to control one or more civil engineering and / or mining vehicles other than excavators.

[0007] As described above, in at least some embodiments, as shown in Figure 1, data such as GPS location data, truck and cabin direction of travel data, visual data of captured images, depth data from LiDAR and / or other depth sensing and proximity devices, infrared data, real-time kinematic positioning information based on GPS data and / or other positioning data, and inclinometer data of specific moving parts of the construction vehicle (e.g., the digging boom / arm / attachment of an excavator) may be acquired and used by the adaptive control system (ACS) 100 from multiple types of sensors placed on or near the construction and / or mining vehicle. For example, in at least some embodiments, GPS data may be determined and provided using one or more types of GPS antennas and associated components. Furthermore, in at least some embodiments, depth data regarding the environment surrounding the civil engineering vehicle may be determined and provided using one or more types of LiDAR devices (e.g., determining a 3D model of part or all of the work site where the vehicle is located), and in some embodiments, in addition to or instead of LiDAR, other types of depth sensing and / or 3D modeling techniques may be used, such as other laser ranging techniques, synthetic aperture radar or other types of radar, sonar, image-based analysis (e.g., SLAM, SfM, etc.), structured light, etc. Furthermore, in at least some embodiments, near-field proximity data may be determined and provided using one or more proximity sensor devices. In addition, real-time kinematic positioning information regarding components of the civil engineering vehicle may be determined from a combination of radio receiving GPS data and other positioning data and / or RTK correction data.Other hardware components located on or near the civil engineering vehicle and used to provide data and / or functions used in ACS include: one or more inclinometers (e.g., single-axis and / or dual-axis) or other accelerometers, a CAN bus message transceiver, one or more low-power microcontrollers that execute and use executable software instructions and associated data for ACS100, one or more voltage converters and / or regulators, and a voltage level shifter. Furthermore, in at least some embodiments and situations, one or more types of data from one or more sensors located on the civil engineering vehicle may be combined with one or more types of data (whether the data is of the same type and / or other types of data) acquired from one or more locations away from the civil engineering vehicle (e.g., aerial positions from drone aircraft, airplanes, satellites, etc., locations other than where the civil engineering vehicle is located, e.g., fixed positions and / or other civil engineering vehicles of the same or different type) and a combination of data used in one or more types of autonomous operations as described herein.

[0008] As described above, in at least some embodiments, the automated operation of a construction vehicle by the ACS100 may include determining the current and other positions of the construction vehicle at the site. As a non-exclusive example, such positioning may include using one or more track sensors (or wheel sensors in other embodiments) to monitor whether the tracks or wheels of the construction vehicle are aligned in the same direction as the cabin, and using GPS data (e.g., data from three or more GPS antennas located in the cabin or other locations on the chassis / body of the construction vehicle) in combination with an inertial navigation system to determine the rotation of the cabin chassis (e.g., rotation relative to true north) and the absolute position of the vehicle body and / or other parts. When using data from multiple GPS antennas, the data may be integrated in various ways, such as with a microcontroller mounted on the construction vehicle, or with additional RTK (Real-Time Kinematic) positioning data used to provide an RTK-enabled GPS positioning unit that enhances and provides further accuracy to GPS-based positioning (e.g., accuracy of 1 inch or more in some implementations). Furthermore, in some embodiments and situations, LiDAR data is used to assist in positioning operations, such as surveying the area around a civil engineering vehicle (e.g., the entire work site where the civil engineering vehicle is located) and confirming the current position of the civil engineering vehicle (e.g., relative to a 3D or 3D map of the work site generated from LiDAR data). Additional details regarding such automated operations for determining the current position of a civil engineering vehicle or other positions on site are described below.

[0009] Furthermore, the automated operation by ACS100 further includes receiving commands from AI system 130 that determine at least a portion of action or operation commands to control the operation of some or all of the components of a civil engineering vehicle (e.g., the boom / arm and attachments of an excavator) to move materials or perform other actions for one or more tasks in a site or other geographical area, and ACS100 may be used to transmit the corresponding module output to the components of the civil engineering vehicle. Furthermore, the autonomous operation of the civil engineering vehicle to perform one or more tasks may be initiated in various ways, such as being initiated partially or entirely by the operator component of AI system 130 based on input received from one or more human users or other sources.

[0010] The activities of this non-exclusive embodiment may be further implemented optionally by a system further comprising a civil engineering vehicle, by a system comprising one or more hardware processors, a plurality of sensors mounted on the civil engineering vehicle to acquire vehicle data relating to the civil engineering vehicle, including a real-time kinematic (RTK) positioning unit that uses GPS data from one or more GPS antennas on the cabin of the civil engineering vehicle and one or more inclinometers, a plurality of additional sensors for acquiring environmental data relating to the environment surrounding the civil engineering vehicle, including at least one of one or more LiDAR sensors or one or more image capture devices, and the civil engineering vehicle, by a system comprising one or more storage devices having software instructions that cause at least one processor to perform automated operations to implement any or all of the above activities. The activities of this non-exclusive embodiment may be further implemented using content stored on a non-temporary computer-readable medium that implements any or all of the above activities by causing one or more computing devices to perform automated operations.

[0011] Furthermore, the autonomous operation of the construction vehicle controlled by ACS100 may, in some embodiments, be fully autonomous and performed without input or intervention from any human user using ACS100, but in other embodiments, the autonomous operation of the construction vehicle controlled by ACS100 may include providing information about the operation of ACS100 to one or more human users, such as through one or more GUIs (graphical user interfaces) displayed on one or more computing devices that provide user-selectable controls or other options, allowing the user to interactively request or specify information to display and / or provide information used by ACS100, and optionally receiving information from one or more such human users (whether on-site or remotely) to be used as part of the automated operation of the AI ​​system 130 (e.g., one or more target tasks, high-level work plans, etc.).

[0012] For illustrative purposes, several embodiments are described below that acquire specific types of data, use specific types of automated operations performed on specific types of powered civil engineering and / or mining vehicles, and perform specific types of autonomous operational activities in specific ways. However, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to the illustrative details presented herein, as other embodiments may also use other types of data, vehicles, and associated autonomous operational activities in other ways. Furthermore, the terms “acquire,” “capture,” or “record” as used herein with respect to sensor data may mean recording, storing, or logging medium, sensor data, and / or other information related to civil engineering vehicles, work sites, or other locations, or subsets thereof, by a recording device or another device that receives information from a recording device (unless the context explicitly indicates otherwise). Furthermore, various details are shown in the drawings and text for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. For example, the size and relative position of elements in drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale, and some details are omitted and / or made more prominent (e.g., by size and position) to enhance readability and / or clarity. Furthermore, the same reference numbers in drawings may be used to identify similar elements or actions that may be used to implement at least some of the described systems and technologies for implementing autonomous control of powered civil engineering and / or mining vehicles, such as automatically determining and controlling the movement of hydraulic arms and / or attachments (e.g., digging buckets) of civil engineering vehicles to move materials or perform other actions according to a specified task.

[0013] Figure 1 shows an exemplary embodiment of an Adaptive Control System ("ACS") 100. The ACS 100 may be implemented on one or more network-accessible configured computing devices 190, whether integrated with a specific civil engineering vehicle (e.g., located on a civil engineering vehicle not shown in Figure 1), integrated with multiple civil engineering vehicles (e.g., operating in a distributed manner on multiple vehicles, such as having one computing device on each of multiple vehicles interacting in a peer-to-peer manner), or instead located remotely from one or more such civil engineering vehicles (e.g., communicating with one or more such civil engineering vehicles via one or more networks). In some embodiments, one or more other computing devices or systems may be, for example, one or other computing devices and / or one or more other computing systems (e.g., providing supplemental computing functions, such as storing and providing data) that have one or more associated users and may further interact with the ACS 100 (e.g., retrieving and / or providing information). One or more computing devices may include any computing devices or systems that receive data and / or requests in the manner described herein and take corresponding actions (e.g., storing data, responding to requests, etc.).

[0014] In particular, as shown in this example and also further shown with respect to Figures 2A to 2C, the civil engineering vehicle 170 / 175 (e.g., construction vehicle 170 and / or mining vehicle 175), in this illustrated example, a tracked excavator 170a, includes a variety of sensors, including one or more GPS antennas 220, an RTK-enabled GPS positioning unit (not shown) that receives GPS signals from the GPS antennas and RTK-based correction data from a remote base station (not shown), and optionally other data from one or more other sensors and / or devices (e.g., an inertial navigation system, not shown), one or more inclinometers and / or other position sensors 210, one or more track sensors 240, one or more image sensors (e.g., one or more cameras or parts of other image capture devices, not shown), one or more LiDAR emitters and / or sensors (not shown), one or more infrared sensors (not shown), one or more microcontrollers or other hardware CPUs (not shown), one or more material analysis sensors, etc., for acquiring and determining information about the civil engineering vehicle 170 and its surrounding environment (e.g., a work site where the civil engineering vehicle is located). The ACS100 and / or AI system 130 acquire some or all of the data from sensors on the construction vehicle 170, store that data in a corresponding database or other data storage format on storage (such as sensor data, location information, place information, vehicle information, and environmental information), and use that data together with the AI ​​system 130 to perform automated actions that control the autonomous operation of the construction vehicle.

[0015] One or more other civil engineering vehicles 170x and / or 175x may also exist (e.g., on the same site as the civil engineering vehicles 170 / 175), including some or all of such components and / or ACS100 (not shown here for brevity), and having corresponding autonomous operation controlled by ACS100. The computing device 190 may be part of one or more types of networks (not shown) (e.g., the Internet, one or more cellular networks, etc.) and may be implemented or replaced in some cases by direct wireless communication between two or more devices (e.g., via Bluetooth®, LoRa, or long-range wireless, etc.). Furthermore, other embodiments may similarly collect and use other types of data, including, but not limited to, the types of data shown, one or more optical spectral image data, non-light energy data, position data of a type other than satellite-based navigation systems, depth or distance data to objects, voice data, etc. Furthermore, in some embodiments and situations, different devices and / or sensors may be used to acquire the same or overlapping types of data (e.g., simultaneously or sequentially), and the ACS100 may combine or otherwise use such different types of data, including determining differential information for one type of data.

[0016] It will be understood that the computing devices 190, computing systems, and other equipment (e.g., civil engineering vehicles) included in Figures 1 and 2A to 2C are merely illustrative and do not limit the scope of the present invention. A system and / or device each comprises multiple interacting computing systems or devices and may be connected to other devices not specifically illustrated via the web, one or more networks such as the internet, via Bluetooth communication, mesh networks, or other direct device-to-device communication, or via one or more private networks (e.g., mobile communication networks). More generally, a device or other system may include any combination of hardware that can interact and perform the aforementioned types of functions, provided it is programmed or configured using specific software instructions and / or data structures, including, but not limited to, desktop computers or other computers (e.g., tablets, slates, etc.), database servers, network storage devices and other network devices, smartphones and other mobile phones, consumer electronics, wearable devices, digital music player devices, portable game consoles, PDAs, wireless phones, internet equipment, camera devices and accessories, and various other consumer products with appropriate communication capabilities. Furthermore, the functions provided by the illustrated ACS100 may, in some embodiments, be distributed among various components, some of the aforementioned functions of the ACS100 may not be provided, and / or other additional functions may be provided.

[0017] While various items may be stored in memory 132 or storage 120 during use, it will also be understood that these items or parts thereof may be transferred between memory 132 and other storage devices for memory management, data integrity, and execution / use. Alternatively, in other embodiments, some or all of a software component and / or system may run in the memory of another device and communicate with the illustrated computing system via intercomputer communication. Thus, in some embodiments, if some or all of the described technology is comprised of one or more software programs (e.g., ACS100 running on computing device 190), it may be executed by hardware means including one or more processors and / or memory 132 and / or storage 120, for example, by executing software instructions of one or more software programs and / or by storing such software instructions and / or data structures, and executing the algorithms and other disclosures described herein. Furthermore, in some embodiments, some or all of the system and / or components may be implemented or provided by other means, such as consisting of one or more means partially or completely implemented in firmware and / or hardware (rather than by means of being implemented in whole or in part by software instructions constituting a particular CPU or other processor), including, but not limited to, one or more application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), standard integrated circuits, controllers (including, for example, microcontrollers and / or embedded controllers by executing appropriate instructions), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), composite-programmable logic devices (CPLDs), and the like.Some or all of the components, systems, and data structures may be stored (e.g., as software instructions or structured data) on non-temporary computer-readable storage media such as hard disks, flash drives, other non-volatile storage devices, volatile or non-volatile memory (e.g., RAM or flash RAM), network storage devices, or portable media items (e.g., DVD discs, CD discs, optical discs, flash memory devices, etc.), which can be read via a suitable drive or connection. In some embodiments, the systems, components, and data structures may be transmitted via generated data signals (e.g., as part of a carrier wave or other analog or digitally propagated signal) over a variety of computer-readable transmission media, including wireless-based and wired / cable-based media, and may take various forms (e.g., as part of a single or multiplexed analog signal, or as multiple individual digital packets or frames). Such computer program products may take other forms in other embodiments. Therefore, embodiments of the present disclosure are also implementable in other computer system configurations.

[0018] As shown in Figure 1, the ACS100 operates on one or more computing devices 190 and can communicate with the AI ​​system 130 via Ethernet, a wireless link, a closed-loop communication system, or other means of communication, provide information to the AI ​​system 130, and receive operational commands from the AI ​​system 130. As shown in Figure 1, the ACS100 may include, among other things, a mechanical interface 102, one or more safety shut-off switches 104, a power system 106, a modular input daughter card 108, a modular output daughter card 110, a processor 112, an extension signal 114, storage 120, and / or memory 132.

[0019] The mechanical interface 102 may include software and / or logic for an interface to connect to one or more control devices of the powered civil engineering and / or mining vehicle 170 / 175. The mechanical interface 102 may receive inputs representing various controls from the powered civil engineering and / or mining vehicle 170 / 175 and may transmit outputs to various control devices of the powered civil engineering and / or mining vehicle 170 / 175. In some embodiments, control devices may include power inputs / outputs, one or more joysticks, horns, switches, transmission control devices, one or more pedals, one or more safety levers, etc. The mechanical interface 102 may receive various input signals from the control devices and pass them to other components of the ACS 100 for further processing. The mechanical interface 102 may receive one or more output commands from the modular output daughter card 110 and transmit output commands to the appropriate control devices of the powered civil engineering and / or mining vehicle 170 / 175. In some implementations, the mechanical interface may include software and hardware components for connecting to various control devices of the powered civil engineering and / or mining vehicle 170 / 175. In some implementations, the mechanical interface 102 provides signals to the power system 106, for example, when the power control or transmission control of the powered civil engineering and / or mining vehicle 170 / 175 is activated, and the mechanical interface 102 can send commands to the power system 106 to turn the power of the power system 106 on / off or adjust the power system 106 based on those commands. The mechanical interface 102 may cause the civil engineering vehicle to perform a set of mechanical actions corresponding to a set of action commands.

[0020] The safety cutoff switch 104 may be a hardware switch, a software switch, or a combination of software and hardware switches that can be used to control the power system 106. In some implementations, the safety cutoff switch 104 may be used to cut off the power supply to the ACS 100 in response to the occurrence of a threshold event, such as the detection of a power surge or transient voltage exceeding a threshold. In further implementations, the safety cutoff switch 104 may be used to cut off the power supply to the output driver, which means that the adaptive control system 100 can stop transmitting signals to the construction vehicles and / or mining vehicles 170 / 175, but the adaptive control system 100 itself will be powered and continue to operate. In some implementations, when the safety shutoff switch 104 is operated by the user and activated or actuated, the power system 106 is shut off, and the use of one or more of the following may be stopped: the powered civil engineering and / or mining vehicle 170 / 175, the control device of the powered civil engineering and / or mining vehicle 170 / 175, the components of the powered civil engineering and / or mining vehicle 170 / 175, etc.

[0021] ACS100 may include one or more power systems 106 for operating a powered civil engineering and / or mining vehicle 170 / 175 and / or components of the powered civil engineering and / or mining vehicle 170 / 175. In some implementations, power system 106 may be a power system 106 (e.g., mechanical voltage) already installed in the powered civil engineering and / or mining vehicle 170 / 175. In some implementations, the civil engineering and / or mining vehicle 170 / 175 receives power supplied from the vehicle system (e.g., mechanical voltage) and converts the supplied power for use in ACS100 in a power tree circuit, etc., as described herein. In some implementations, power system 106 may perform ultra-low heat dissipation. In some implementations, power system 106 may be transient protected.

[0022] In some implementations, the power system 106 may include a machine voltage (e.g., 12V / 14V / 24V) as a direct input, and then provide an external safety monitoring module that can monitor using a time constant with, for example, a PMOS gate to cut off or disable the entire power system 106 as needed based on reaching a threshold or manual cutoff. The power system 106 may include overvoltage protection, undervoltage lockout, fault detection, reverse polarity protection, and / or transient protection. In some implementations, the power tree may be split for redundancy and / or power sharing. The split power tree can ensure redundancy in case a failure occurs in one part, and a second split part can intervene to supply power during a failure. In further implementations, power sharing allows various components of the system to use the entire power tree without affecting the supplied voltage.

[0023] The ACS100 may include one or more modular input daughter cards 108. The modular input daughter cards 108 may be removable circuit boards configured to be installed within the ACS100 to further extend adaptive control options. In some implementations, the ACS100 may function as a motherboard or mother card for the modular input daughter cards 108 and / or modular output daughter cards 110. In some implementations, the modular input daughter card 108 is configured to receive various signals from a mechanical interface 102 representing different control signals of powered civil engineering and / or mining vehicles 170 / 175, and the modular input daughter card 108 can convert the input signals into signals that can be processed by the processor 112, such as by converting the signals from mechanical voltages to the native voltages of the ACS100 (e.g., 3.3V or 5V in various embodiments). By using removable and interchangeable modular input daughter cards 108, the ACS100 can be used in a variety of different powered civil engineering and / or mining vehicles 170 / 175, and different modular input daughter cards 108 can be installed without reconfiguring or modifying the entire ACS100, depending on the type of control device that transmits signals to the machine interface 102. In further implementations, if a change in the modular input daughter card 108 becomes necessary due to supply chain issues, the modular input daughter card 108 can be changed without replacing other components of the ACS100 (e.g., motherboard / mothercard). In some implementations, the modular input daughter card 108 can modify the input signal by boosting or lowering the voltage level of the input signal and filtering it. For example, some control devices of the powered civil engineering and / or mining vehicles 170 / 175 provide a low-voltage signal, while other control devices of the powered civil engineering and / or mining vehicles 170 / 175 provide a high-voltage signal, and the modular input daughter card 108 can receive both the low-voltage and high-voltage signals and change their different voltage levels.In some implementations, the modular input daughter card 108 is a modular input. Regular Power Daughter Card 1 1It can also function as 0, modifying the output from ACS100 and shifting the voltage levels from ACS100 back to low-voltage and / or high-voltage signals for controlling the powered civil engineering and / or mining vehicles 170 / 175. Thus, a single physical daughter card functions as both a modular input daughter card 108 that shifts inputs and a modular output daughter card 110 that shifts outputs, eliminating the need for two separate physical daughter cards. In this example, a single modular input daughter card 108 can shift both input voltage levels from the control unit of the powered civil engineering and / or mining vehicles 170 / 175 back to signals that can be processed by the processor 112, and the modular input daughter card 108 can also receive the output from the processor 112 of ACS100 and shift those output voltages back to the appropriate voltages for controlling the powered civil engineering and / or mining vehicles 170 / 175. In some embodiments, when inputs and outputs are modified using a single daughter card, that single daughter card may include the circuitry shown in both Figures 3A and 3B; however, other implementations also consider other types of level shifters for modifying input and / or output voltages, and the circuitry shown in Figures 3A and 3B is merely an example. Furthermore, in some implementations, the modular input daughter card 108 may include one or more bypass circuits that allow signals to be passed from the control unit of the powered civil engineering and / or mining vehicle 170 / 175 to the processor 112 without modification. In some implementations, the bypass option may include non-stuffed resistors to bypass the voltage modification of the input signals by the modular input daughter card 108. Furthermore, in some implementations, the ACS100 may include only a modular input daughter card 108 for modifying inputs and not a modular output daughter card 110, while in other implementations, the ACS100 may include only a modular output daughter card 110 for modifying outputs and not a modular input daughter card 108.

[0024] The ACS100 may include a processor 112 that uses software and / or logic to receive various signals from the modular input daughter card 108 and / or the power system 106, and can provide output commands using the modular output daughter card 110 and / or the extended signal 114. In some implementations, the processor 112 may be configured to transmit and / or receive information from the AI system 130, such as providing control signals received from the machine interface 102 to the AI system 130, or receiving operation commands in the form of output signals that can be transmitted to the modular output daughter card 110 and / or the extended signal 114. In some implementations, the processor 112 may generate a set of operation commands based on input signals from various components of the civil construction vehicle and / or the mining vehicle 170 / 175, and / or any machine learning commands from the AI system 130. The processor 112 can then use the modular output daughter card 110 to supply the generated set of operation commands to the corresponding components of the civil construction vehicle and / or the mining vehicle 170 / 175. In some implementations, the processor 112 can also provide a dynamic voltage change from input to output. For example, when a specific component requires a specific power output such as a 24V output. The processor 112 can include, as one of the commands to the output daughter card 110, the voltage level that levels-shifts / changes the command for that specific component. By using dynamic level shifting, any configuration of input / output can be selected using a group of level shifters on the daughter card, and a specific voltage configuration can be achieved simply by selecting the various sides of each level shifter.

[0025] The ACS100 may include a modular output daughter card 110, which is a removable circuit board configured to be installed within the ACS100, and may further extend the adaptive control options. In some implementations, the modular output daughter card 110 is configured to receive various commands, such as a set of operational instructions from the processor 112, and may convert the input commands from the processor 112 into higher or lower voltage signals for different control of various components of powered civil engineering and / or mining vehicles 170 / 175. In other implementations, the modular output daughter card 110 may convert the input signal into an entirely different signal type. For example, the modular output daughter card 110 may receive a PWM signal and convert it into a static analog output voltage (i.e., 50% PWM = 1.65V output, 25% PWM = 0.825V). By using removable and interchangeable modular output daughter cards 110, the ACS100 can be used with a variety of different powered civil engineering and / or mining vehicles 170 / 175, and different modular output daughter cards 110 can be installed without reconfiguring or modifying the entire ACS100, depending on the type of control to which the modular output daughter card 110 sends commands and the required voltage level. In further implementations, the modular system allows for the redesign of parts of the ACS100 to address supply chain issues, etc., and only updated parts, such as the output daughter cards 110, can be replaced without modifying other components of the ACS100. In some implementations, the modular output daughter cards 110 can change the output commands by boosting or lowering the voltage level of the output signals. For example, some control devices of the powered civil engineering and / or mining vehicles 170 / 175 receive commands as low-voltage signals, while other control devices of the powered civil engineering and / or mining vehicles 170 / 175 receive commands as high-voltage signals, and the modular output daughter card 110 can output both low-voltage and high-voltage signals and change their different voltage levels.In some implementations, the modular output daughter card 110 may amplify various signals using amplifiers. In some implementations, the amplifiers of the modular output daughter card 110 may be configurable in real time or substantially in real time. In some implementations, the amplifiers may be application-specific output-driven amplifiers. In some implementations, the modular output daughter card 110 and modular input daughter card 108 include multiple optically isolated PWM (pulse width modulation) input read amplifiers, one for each PWM mechanical input signal, allowing the ACS100 to read variable voltage PWM inputs in the range of 3.3V to 20V and shift them to the range of 0-5V.

[0026] In some implementations, the modular output daughter card 110 may include one or more bypass circuits, such as a set of physical bypass options (e.g., not-stuffed resistors), which allow signals to be passed from the processor 112 to the control unit of the powered civil engineering and / or mining vehicle 170 / 175 without modification, or alternatively, allow signals to be routed directly to and from the processor 112. In some implementations, the removable output daughter card 110 may take a signal from the processor at some operational logic level (e.g., 3.3V) and modify the set of operational instructions by changing it to a different logic level (e.g., 5V), a static output voltage, a range of analog values, a boosted PWM signal, or an attenuated PWM signal. In some implementations, the ACS 100 may include one or more extension signals 114 that form an extension signal support system. The extension signals 114 allow for further modular configurations by adding extension controls of various configurations to the ACS 100. In some implementations, the extension signal 114 may be configured to connect to one or more digital drives, one or more analog drives, and / or one or more binary switches. In some implementations, the extension signal 114 includes one or more amplifiers, which can be configured substantially in real time.

[0027] In one implementation, extension signal 114 may include a shift register, such as an 8-bit shift register, configured to receive microcontroller signals (e.g., from processor 112), three microcontroller signals in the example of an 8-bit shift register, an optocoupler that receives the shift register input, a configurable drive voltage from either the power system 106 (e.g., a mechanical voltage such as 12V or 24V) or the circuit board power supply (e.g., a native voltage such as 5V), and control of the output connected to opto-isolated driver circuits, which include an output connected to an amplifier (e.g., an NMOS), with the MOSFET drain connected to a jumper, allowing selection of either the power supply voltage or the circuit board power supply in the field. In some implementations, the circuit may include voltage transient protection and a flyback diode for the output. In some implementations, ACS100 may include one or more low-power microcontrollers with signal interconnects, and the microcontrollers may function as part of ACS100 as specific components such as a modular input daughter card 108 and / or a modular output daughter card 110. The ACS100 includes one or more status indicators, such as multi-color LEDs, that indicate various board conditions, including faults and types of faults, thereby providing the user with information about the board condition.

[0028] Figure 2A shows an example of an excavator as one type of powered civil engineering and / or mining vehicle 170 / 175 having multiple types of on-board data position sensors 210 positioned to support autonomous operation in the field. In particular, Figure 2A shows an exemplary excavator 170 / 175 using top front views from the side of the digging boom 206 and arm (or “stick”) 204 and from the opposite side of the cabin 202, the excavator further having a main chassis 201 (e.g., enclosing the engine and counterweights and including the cabin 202), a track 203, and a bucket (or “scoop” or “claw”) attachment 205, although in other embodiments, digging arm attachments other than buckets, such as hydraulic thumbs, couplers, breakers, compactors, digging buckets, grading buckets, hammers, demolition grapples, tilt rotators, etc., may be used. In an exemplary embodiment, four exemplary position sensors (such as inclinometers) 210a–201d are further shown at locations that provide useful position data for calculating the positions of the bucket 205 and other parts of the digging boom 206 / arm 204 relative to the cabin 202 of the excavator 170 / 175. In this example, three position sensors 210a–210c are mounted at their respective positions on the digging boom 206 / arm 204 of the excavator (position 210c near the intersection of the digging boom and the excavator body, position 210b near the intersection of the digging arm and bucket attachment, and position 210a near the intersection of the digging boom and arm), and a fourth position sensor 210d is mounted inside the cabin of the excavator, with approximate positions indicated using dashed lines, for example, by using a two-axis inclinometer that measures pitch and roll, and data from the inclinometer can be used to track the position of the excavator boom / arm / attachment, for example, when it is determined that the direction of travel of the track 207 is different from the direction of travel of the cabin / body 208 (not shown in this example). It will be understood that in other implementations, the quantity, location, and type of the inclinometer may be used.In some implementations, the excavator 170 / 175 may also include GPS antennas 220 in positions that provide useful GPS data to assist in determining the position and orientation of the cabin / body, which may include using data from three GPS antennas to provide higher accuracy than that obtained from a single GPS antenna. In this example, the GPS antennas 220 are positioned on the chassis of the construction vehicle, close to three corners of the chassis (e.g., the front left position of the cabin, the rear left position of the cabin, and the front right position of the cabin, as far apart from each other as possible), so that differential information between the GPS antennas 220 can be obtained to determine the direction of travel of the cabin, and lateral information of approximately 90 degrees from that direction of travel of the cabin.

[0029] Figure 2B is a continuation of the example in Figure 2A, and Figure 2B shows information relating to various non-exclusive exemplary types of powered civil engineering vehicles 170 that can be controlled by embodiments of the ACS100, including two exemplary tracked civil engineering excavators 170a shown with different attachments (excavator 170a1 with a bucket attachment and excavator 170a2 with a grapple attachment) that can be controlled by the ACS100. Other exemplary types of civil engineering vehicles 170 shown include bulldozers 170c, backhoe loaders 170d, wheel loaders 170e, skid steer loaders 170f, dump trucks 170j, forklifts 170g, trenchers 170h, mixer trucks 170i, flatbed trucks 170k, graders 170l, wrecking ball cranes 170m, truck cranes 170n, mobile cranes 170p, heavy lifting vehicles 170q, scrapers 170r, pile drivers 170o, road rollers 170b, and the like. In other embodiments, it will be understood that other types of civil engineering vehicles can also be controlled by the ACS 100. Similarly, Figure 2C shows information relating to various non-exclusive types of exemplary civil engineering excavation vehicles 175 that can be similarly controlled by embodiments of the ACS100, including several exemplary civil engineering tracked excavation vehicles 175a with different attachments that can be controlled by the ACS100 (excavator 175a1 with bucket attachment, excavator 175a3 with dragline attachment, excavator 175a4 with clamshell extractor attachment, excavator 175a5 with front shovel attachment, excavator 175a6 with bucket wheel extractor attachment, excavator 175a7 with power shovel attachment, etc.).Other exemplary types of civil engineering and mining vehicles 175 illustrated include dump truck 175m, articulated dump truck 175n, mining dump truck 175b, bulldozer 175c, scraper 175d, tractor scraper 175g, wheel loader 175e, wheeled skid steer loader 175f, tracked skid steer loader 175i, wheeled excavator 175h, backhoe loader 175k, motor grader 175j, trencher 175l, and the like. In other embodiments, other types of civil engineering and mining vehicles may also be controlled by the ACS 100, and it will be understood that these various vehicles 170 and 175 have the advantage of enabling various different voltage levels for controlling each of the various vehicles 170 and 175 by providing a modular input daughter card 108 and a modular output daughter card 110.

[0030] Figure 3A shows an exemplary embodiment of a level shifter 302 circuit that can be used to change input / output to different voltages. As shown in Figure 3A, the level shifter 302 may include multiple non-isolated optically isolated output driver load switch amplifiers for PWM signals, e.g., 14 level shifters in some implementations. Multiple load switch amplifiers enable the ACS100 to drive both low-current and high-current PWM outputs with variable voltages. In some implementations, the low-current PWM output may be driven by an onboard power system. In some implementations, there may be a selectable voltage rail of 12V-24V to power the high-current PWM channels, which are capable of outputting 1.5A per channel. In some implementations, this implementation of the level shifter 302 may be used in older generation powered civil engineering and / or mining vehicles 170 / 175 that used a hydraulic manifold with solenoid valves to control various components. High-current drive uses a load switch in the level shifter 302 together with a high-current transistor to change the voltage level.

[0031] Figure 3B shows another embodiment of the level shifter 304 circuit that can be used to change the input / output to different voltages. As shown in Figure 3B, the level shifter 304 can be configured as a bidirectional level shifter circuit that can control very fast edges by including multiple level shifter 304 circuits, so that the input reads a 5V input signal and converts it to a 3.3V signal, and the output goes in the reverse direction to receive a 3.3V command and output a 5V command for the component. Multiple level shifters 304 enable the ACS100 to drive both low-current and high-current PWM outputs with variable voltages.

[0032] Figure 4 is an exemplary flowchart 400 illustrating an example of how to adjust voltage input and output using a modular daughter card. As shown in Figure 4, in block 402, the modular input daughter card 108 may receive a mechanical voltage input signal from a component of a powered civil engineering and / or mining vehicle 170 / 175 via the mechanical interface 102. For example, the mechanical voltage often operates at 12V, 14V, or 24V, but other mechanical voltages are also possible. In 404, the modular input daughter card 108 may convert the input signal from the mechanical voltage to the native voltage of the modular system. The native voltage may be a low-power board voltage such as 3.3V or 5V, depending on the configuration of the microcontroller. In some implementations, the modular input daughter card 108 may convert the voltage as needed using various level shifter circuits, as described elsewhere in this specification. In 406, the processor 112 of the ACS 100 of the modular system may generate a set of operation instructions based on the converted input signal. Operational commands are obtained based on input signals representing various positions and configurations of components of the powered civil engineering and / or mining vehicle 170 / 175 detected by various sensors, as well as / or changes in operational commands and controls. For example, input signals may be input from the pedals or joysticks of the civil engineering vehicle and represent changes in the position of components. Using the input signals, other positional information, and / or machine learning information from the AI ​​system 130, the processor 112 generates a set of operational commands as commands that can be sent to one or more components of the powered civil engineering and / or mining vehicle 170 / 175.

[0033] In 408, the processor 112 identifies the corresponding component of the civil engineering vehicle associated with an operation instruction from the set of operation instructions. In some implementations, the processor 112 may perform dynamic voltage shifting based on determining the voltage required for the corresponding component. In yet another implementation, the processor 112 may identify a path to open to set the voltage level via a voltage shifter on the modular output daughter card 110 in order to supply the appropriate voltage to the corresponding component.

[0034] In 410, the removable output daughter card 110 converts the operation commands for the corresponding components of the civil engineering vehicle from a native voltage such as 3.3V or 5V on the ACS100 board to an appropriate mechanical voltage such as 12V or 24V for the corresponding components of the powered civil engineering and / or mining vehicle 170 / 175. In 412, the output of the appropriate mechanical voltage is transmitted, and the operation of the corresponding components of the powered civil engineering and / or mining vehicle 170 / 175 is performed using the operation commands converted to the appropriate mechanical voltage.

[0035] It should be understood that by using modular components such as input daughter card 108 and output daughter card 110, as well as any other daughter card components such as GPS, RTK, and power trees, the ACS100 can be connected to various powered civil engineering and / or mining vehicles 170 / 175 simply by connecting different modular daughter cards without changing the layout of the ACS100. This makes it possible to easily integrate the ACS100 into existing powered civil engineering and / or mining vehicles 170 / 175 without the need for complicated and expensive modifications for each type of powered civil engineering and / or mining vehicle 170 / 175. Furthermore, the ACS100 can be easily adapted to hardware improvements as it can be maintained even if requirements change or improvements are made to the daughter card level shifter configuration.

[0036] Non-exclusive exemplary embodiments described herein are further described in the following sections. A01. A method for controlling the autonomous operation of civil engineering vehicles, A removable input daughter card allows for the modification of input signals from one or more components of a civil engineering vehicle, The processor generates a set of operation instructions based at least partially on the modified input signals, A removable output daughter card allows the set of operation commands to be modified to a format that enables the control of one or more components of the civil engineering vehicle to perform a set of mechanical operations of the civil engineering vehicle. The mechanical interface causes the civil engineering vehicle to execute the set of mechanical actions corresponding to the set of operation commands, Methods that include... A02. A method for controlling the autonomous operation of civil engineering vehicles, Receiving mechanical voltage input signals from components of civil engineering vehicles, The modular system's removable input daughter card converts the input signal from the mechanical voltage to the modular system's native voltage, The processor of the modular system generates a set of operation instructions based on the converted input signals, The processor of the modular system identifies the corresponding component of the civil engineering vehicle associated with the operation instruction from the set of operation instructions, The removable daughter card of the modular system converts the operation commands associated with the corresponding component from the native voltage of the modular system to the mechanical voltage used by the corresponding component of the civil engineering vehicle, Using the operation commands converted with the aforementioned mechanical voltage, the operation of the corresponding component of the civil engineering vehicle is performed, Methods that include... A03. A method for controlling the autonomous operation of civil engineering vehicles, Receiving mechanical voltage input signals from components of civil engineering vehicles, The modular system's removable input daughter card converts the input signal from the mechanical voltage to the modular system's native voltage, The processor of the modular system generates a set of operation instructions based on the converted input signals, The processor of the modular system identifies the corresponding component of the civil engineering vehicle associated with the operation instruction from the set of operation instructions, At least one removable daughter card of the modular system converts the operation commands associated with the corresponding component from the native voltage of the modular system to the mechanical voltage of the output signal used by the corresponding component of the civil engineering vehicle, Using the operation commands converted with the aforementioned mechanical voltage, the operation of the corresponding component of the civil engineering vehicle is performed, Methods that include... A04. A method for controlling the autonomous operation of civil engineering vehicles, A removable input daughter card allows for the conversion of input signals from one or more components of a civil engineering vehicle from mechanical voltage to native voltage. The processor generates a set of operation instructions based on the modified input signal, and determines the output voltage based on the set of operation instructions. A removable output daughter card converts the operation command from the native voltage to the output voltage capable of controlling one or more components of the civil engineering vehicle to perform a set of mechanical operations of the civil engineering vehicle, The mechanical interface causes the civil engineering vehicle to execute the set of mechanical actions corresponding to the set of operation commands, Methods that include... A05. The aforementioned processor is protected by an overvoltage fault protection system. The method described in any one of items A01 to A04. A06. The aforementioned processor is protected by a reverse polarity protection system. The method described in any one of items A01 to A05. A07. The modular system includes one or more transient protection power systems, each configured to provide output signals to corresponding components of the civil engineering vehicle based on a set of operation commands. The method described in any one of items A01 to A06. A08. The civil engineering vehicle further includes a set of safety shut-off switches configured to disable one or more of the transient protection power systems based on a threshold event. The method described in item A07. A09. The aforementioned transient protection power system is capable of performing power conversion at full load with extremely low thermal radiation. The method described in any one of items A07 to A08. A10. The aforementioned civil engineering vehicle further includes an extended signal support system for supporting one or more of the following: a digital drive, an analog drive, and a binary switch. The method described in any one of items A01 to A09. A11. The aforementioned extended signal support system includes an amplifier, The method described in item A10. A12. The aforementioned amplifier can be configured in real time. The method described in item A11. A13. The aforementioned extended signal support system is Multiple drive circuits, An optocoupler that receives a shift register input, A configurable drive voltage configured to receive one or more of the native voltage from the civil engineering vehicle and the power supply voltage of the modular system, The amplifier output connected to the NMOS amplifier, A MOSFET connected to a jumper that allows selection of either the native voltage from the civil engineering vehicle or the power supply voltage of the modular system, The aforementioned jumper provides voltage transient protection, A drive circuit including, Two low-power microcontrollers with signal interconnects, One or more status indicators that show the state of the circuit board, Further including, The method described in any one of items A10 to A12. A14. The removable input daughter card is further configured to raise the level of the input mechanical voltage of the input signal to the modified input signal having a high native voltage. The method described in any one of items A01 to A13. A15. The removable output daughter card further includes an application-specific output drive amplifier, The method described in any one of items A01 to A14. A16. One or more optically isolated pulse-width modulation (PWM) input read amplifiers for receiving the input signals from one or more components of the civil engineering vehicle, wherein the one or more optically isolated PWM input read amplifiers further include one or more optically isolated pulse-width modulation PWM input read amplifiers that enable the removable input daughter card to read input signals in the range of 3.3V to 20V and shift the input signals to the range of 0-5V. The method described in any one of items A01 to A15. A17. The system further includes a set of physical bypass options that allow one or more optically isolated PWM input read amplifiers to be bypassed and the input signal to be routed directly to the processor. The method described in item A16. A18. The aforementioned set of physical bypass options consists of empty resistors. The method described in item A17. A19. The processor is further configured to receive machine learning instructions used to generate the set of operation instructions. The method described in any one of items A01 to A18. A20. The aforementioned removable input daughter - The card and the removable output daughter card are part of a single physical card. The method described in any one of items A01 to A19. A21. The decision of whether to activate the shut-off switch based on threshold events, The transient protection power system is disabled based on the occurrence of the aforementioned threshold event. Further including, The method described in any one of items A01 to A20. A22. To generate a set of operation instructions based on the converted input signal, Receiving machine learning instructions, The processor of the modular system generates the set of operation instructions using the machine learning instructions and the converted input signals, Further including, The method described in any one of items A01 to A21. A23. A computer implementation method comprising several steps of performing automated operations that implement the described technology substantially disclosed herein. B01. A non-temporary computer-readable medium that stores executable software instructions and / or other content that causes one or more computing systems to perform automated actions that implement the methods described in any one of items A01 to A23. C01. One or more computing systems comprising one or more hardware processors and one or more memories that, when executed by at least one of the one or more hardware processors, store instructions causing one or more computing systems to perform automated operations that implement the techniques described herein as substantially disclosed. D01. A computer program, when executed on a computer, adapted to perform the actions described in any one of the items A01 through A23. E01. A civil engineering vehicle having components adapted to perform the method described in any one of items A01 to A23. E02. A civil engineering vehicle having a component described in any one of items A01 through A23.

[0037] Aspects of the present disclosure are described herein with reference to flowcharts and / or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of the present disclosure. It will be understood that each block in a flowchart and / or block diagram, as well as combinations of blocks in a flowchart and / or block diagram, can be implemented by computer-readable program instructions. Furthermore, it will be understood that in some implementations, the functionality provided by the routines described above may be provided in alternative ways, such as by dividing it into more routines or consolidating it into fewer routines. Similarly, in some implementations, illustrated routines may provide more or less functionality than described, for example, by having other illustrated routines that lack or include such functionality, or by changing the amount of functionality provided. Furthermore, various operations may be illustrated to be performed in a particular way (e.g., sequentially, or in parallel, or synchronously or asynchronously) and / or in a particular order, but in other implementations, operations may be performed in other orders and in other ways. The data structures described above may also be structured in different ways, such as by splitting a single data structure into multiple data structures and / or by merging multiple data structures into a single data structure. Similarly, in some implementations, the illustrated data structures may store more or less information than described, for example, by other illustrated data structures containing or not containing such information, or by changing the amount or type of information stored.

[0038] From the foregoing, it will be understood that although specific embodiments have been described herein for illustrative purposes, various modifications are possible without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Therefore, the invention is not limited solely to the corresponding claims and the elements described therein. Furthermore, while specific aspects of the invention may be presented in the form of specific claims at a particular time, the inventors envision various aspects of the invention in any available form of claims. For example, while it has been stated that only some aspects of the invention have been embodied in computer-readable media at a particular time, other aspects may be embodied in the same way.

Claims

1. A modular system for controlling a civil engineering vehicle by controlling the voltage of one or more components of the civil engineering vehicle, A removable input daughter card configured to convert mechanical voltage input signals from one or more components of the civil engineering vehicle to the native voltage of the modular system, A processor configured to generate a set of operation instructions based at least partially on the modified input signals, To enable control of one or more components of the civil engineering vehicle to perform a set of mechanical operations of the civil engineering vehicle, a removable output daughter card configured to convert the set of operation commands from the native voltage to the mechanical voltage, A mechanical interface configured to cause the civil engineering vehicle to execute the set of mechanical actions corresponding to the set of operation commands, A modular system equipped with [a specific feature / feature].

2. The aforementioned processor is protected by an overvoltage fault protection system. The modular system according to claim 1.

3. The aforementioned processor is protected by a reverse polarity protection system. The modular system according to claim 1.

4. The modular system includes one or more transient protection power systems, each configured to provide output signals to corresponding components of the civil engineering vehicle based on a set of operation commands. The modular system according to claim 1.

5. The system further comprises a set of safety cutoff switches configured to disable one or more of the transient protection power systems based on a threshold event. The modular system according to claim 4.

6. The aforementioned transient protection power system is capable of performing power conversion at full load with extremely low thermal radiation. The modular system according to claim 4.

7. Further comprising an extended signal support system for supporting one or more of the following: digital drives, analog drives, and binary switches, The modular system according to claim 1.

8. The aforementioned extended signal support system includes an amplifier, The modular system according to claim 7.

9. The aforementioned amplifier can be configured in real time. The modular system according to claim 8.

10. The aforementioned extended signal support system is Multiple drive circuits, An optocoupler that receives a shift register input, A configurable drive voltage configured to receive one or more of the native voltage from the civil engineering vehicle and the power supply voltage of the modular system, The amplifier output connected to the NMOS amplifier, A MOSFET connected to a jumper that allows selection of either the native voltage from the civil engineering vehicle or the power supply voltage of the modular system, The aforementioned jumper provides voltage transient protection, A drive circuit including, Two low-power microcontrollers with signal interconnects, One or more status indicators that show the state of the circuit board, The modular system according to claim 7, further comprising the above.

11. The removable input daughter card is further configured to raise the level of the input mechanical voltage of the input signal to the modified input signal having a high native voltage. The modular system according to claim 1.

12. The removable output daughter card further includes an application-specific output drive amplifier, The modular system according to claim 1.

13. One or more optically isolated pulse-width modulation (PWM) input read amplifiers for receiving the input signals from one or more components of the civil engineering vehicle, wherein the one or more optically isolated PWM input read amplifiers further comprise one or more optically isolated pulse-width modulation PWM input read amplifiers that enable the removable input daughter card to read input signals in the range of 3.3V to 20V and shift the input signals to the range of 0-5V. The modular system according to claim 1.

14. The system further comprises a set of physical bypass options that allow one or more optically isolated PWM input read amplifiers to be bypassed and the input signal to be routed directly to the processor. The modular system according to claim 13.

15. The aforementioned set of physical bypass options consists of empty resistors. The modular system according to claim 14.

16. The processor is further configured to receive machine learning instructions used to generate the set of operation instructions. The modular system according to claim 1.

17. The removable input daughter card and the removable output daughter card are part of a single physical card. The modular system according to claim 1.

18. A method for controlling a civil engineering vehicle by controlling the voltage of one or more components of the civil engineering vehicle, At least one removable daughter card of the modular system converts the mechanical voltage input signals from one or more components of the civil engineering vehicle into the native voltage of the modular system. The processor of the modular system generates a set of operation instructions based on the converted input signals, The processor of the modular system identifies the corresponding component of the civil engineering vehicle associated with the operation instruction from the set of operation instructions, At least one removable daughter card of the modular system converts the operation commands associated with the corresponding component from the native voltage of the modular system to the mechanical voltage of the output signal used by the corresponding component of the civil engineering vehicle, Using the operation commands converted to the mechanical voltage, the operation of the corresponding component of the civil engineering vehicle is performed, A method that includes this.

19. The decision of whether to activate the shut-off switch based on threshold events, The transient protection power system is disabled based on the occurrence of the aforementioned threshold event. The method according to claim 18, further comprising:

20. To generate a set of operation instructions based on the converted input signal, Receiving machine learning instructions, The processor of the modular system generates the set of operation instructions using the machine learning instructions and the converted input signals, The method according to claim 18, further comprising:

Images