Vehicle Assistance Sensor Switching for Redundant Trajectory Checks
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing assistance systems in vehicles require redundant sensor sets for safety-critical functions, leading to increased costs due to the need for additional sensors and infrastructure, while ensuring sufficient redundancy for safe driving.
Innovation Solution
A method that dynamically switches sensor signals between a main path and a redundant safety path based on the activated functions and vehicle state, using a mode manager to determine the necessity of redundancy and a plausibility check with a second sensor set, ensuring safe driving without additional costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a static sensor architecture with separate redundant sensor sets is used to ensure safety-critical driving functions, then system reliability is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a dynamic sensor signal path switch that can change the routing of sensor signals between a main path and a safety path based on the activated assistance functions and vehicle state. This dynamic switching mechanism allows the system to provide redundancy only when necessary, rather than maintaining a static redundant architecture at all times, thereby reducing overall system complexity while preserving reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent makes existing sensors multi-functional by enabling them to serve both the main signal path and the safety path depending on the switching configuration. The same sensor set can be routed to different processing paths based on system needs, eliminating the requirement for completely separate redundant sensor sets and reducing device complexity while maintaining the necessary reliability for safety-critical functions.
2Reliability
If separate redundant sensor sets are deployed for safety path validation, then measurement precision and reliability are improved, but manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enables existing sensors to serve dual purposes by implementing a switching mechanism that routes sensor signals to either the main path or the safety path based on the activated assistance functions. This multi-functional usage of existing sensors eliminates the need to manufacture and install separate redundant sensor sets, thereby reducing manufacturing costs while maintaining the reliability necessary for safety-critical validation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the functionality of main path and safety path sensors into a single shared sensor set. By combining the sensor resources and using a switching mechanism to allocate them to different paths as needed, the system achieves the same reliability benefits as separate redundant sets would provide, but with reduced manufacturing and installation costs.
3Device complexity
If a dynamic sensor signal path switch is implemented to provide redundancy only when necessary, then device complexity is reduced, but system reliability may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism through the mode manager that continuously monitors the activated assistance functions and vehicle state to determine when redundancy is necessary. Based on this feedback, the sensor signal path switch dynamically routes signals to the appropriate path, ensuring that safety-critical functions always have access to validated sensor data while maintaining lower overall system complexity during non-critical operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses dynamic switching based on real-time system state to provide redundancy only when needed for safety-critical functions. The sensor signal path switch adapts its configuration according to the activated assistance functions, maintaining simplicity during normal operation while ensuring reliability when safety validation is required, thus resolving the contradiction between complexity and reliability.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a method for operating an assistance system for a vehicle, including a control device for controlling the assistance system, multiple sensors for capturing the environment, a first sensor set which includes at least one sensor of the sensors for capturing the environment, and a second sensor set which includes at least one sensor of the sensors for capturing the environment. The sensor signals of the first sensor set are enlisted in order to create an environmental model, and driving functions of the assistance system are carried out on the basis of the environmental model. A sensor signal path switch is provided which switches the sensor signals of the second sensor set either via a main path to the signal processing of the environmental model or via a safety path to the signal processing of a plausibility check of the planned trajectory.