Actuator Failover Control With Priority-Based Command Acceptance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems for controlling vehicle actuators in computer systems fail to ensure consistent acceptance of control commands across non-faulty actuators in the event of component failures, leading to potential unsafe vehicle states due to differing reactions from actuators receiving conflicting commands.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a method where nodes are assigned priorities, and actuators accept the highest priority control commands; if a node does not receive high-priority commands for a configured duration, they switch to accepting lower priority commands, with a fail-over device managing communication to prevent conflicting commands from reaching actuators.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If actuators execute agreement protocols to exchange information and conclude on control commands, then consistent command acceptance is achieved, but coordination overhead and system complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-assigning priorities to nodes before failures occur. Each node is configured with a priority level in advance, so that when failures happen, actuators can immediately accept commands from the highest-priority active node without needing to exchange information or run agreement protocols. This pre-configured priority structure eliminates the need for complex real-time coordination while ensuring consistent command acceptance.
2Reliability
If multiple nodes send control commands to actuators, then system redundancy is improved, but the risk of conflicting commands and unsafe states increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by assigning different priority levels to different nodes based on their specific roles and criticality. Instead of treating all nodes equally, the system gives higher priority to certain nodes (e.g., safety-critical nodes) and lower priority to others. This differentiated priority assignment allows the system to maintain redundancy while preventing harmful conflicts, as actuators will consistently accept commands from the highest-priority node that sends them.
Data Source
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AI summary
A method for transmitting control commands (F-A100, F-A200) in a computer system, wherein said computer system comprises components at least in form of nodes (A100, A200), actuators (ACT1, ACT2, ACT3) and communication systems (COM1, COM2), wherein said control commands (F-A100, F-A200) are communicated over said communication systems (COM1, COM2) from said nodes (A100, A200) to said actuators (ACT1, ACT2, ACT3), and wherein one, two, or more components (A100, A200, IF100, IF200, COM1, COM2, IF11, IF12, IF13, IF21, IF22, IF23, ACT1, ACT2, AT3) of the computer system may fail to operate according their specification, and wherein for consistently accepting control commands (F-A100, F-A200) at said actuators (ACT1, ACT2, ACT3) nodes (A100, A200) and their control commands (F-A100, F-A200) are assigned priorities, wherein a node and its control commands have the same priority, wherein at least two priorities (HIGH, LOW) are used, wherein a high priority node (A100) produces high priority control commands (F-A100) and a low priority node (A200) produces low priority control commands (F-A200), and wherein a high priority node (A100) is configured to communicate its control commands (F-A100) over at least two communication systems (COM1, COM2) to the actuators (ACT1, ACT2, ACT3) and a low priority node (A200) is configured to communicate its low priority control commands (F-A200) over at least one communication system (COM2) to the actuators (ACT1, ACT2, ACT3), and wherein an actuator (ACT1, ACT2, ACT3) accepts the high priority control commands (F-A100) from the high priority node (A100) as long as it receives said high priority control commands (F-A100) on any one of the at least two communication systems (COM1, COM2) and in this first case discards the low priority control commands (F-A200), and stops to accept said high priority control commands (F-A100) in case said actuator (ACT1, ACT2, ACT3) does not receive said high priority control commands (F-A100) from any communication system (COM1, COM2) of the at least two communication systems (COM1, COM2) for a configurable duration, and in which second case the actuator (ACT1, ACT2, ACT3) starts to accept low priority control commands (F-A200).