Decentralized Vehicle Control System with Autonomous Slave Nodes
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current vehicle control systems face challenges in achieving high reliability, real-time processing, and expandability while maintaining a low cost, due to the need for redundant ECU configurations and complex hardware setups, which increase development and operational costs.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle control system is designed with a decentralized architecture, featuring a sensor slave computer, a master computer, and an actuator slave computer that can autonomously operate and share data, with failure detection and notification mechanisms to ensure continuous operation even if individual nodes fail, reducing the need for redundant hardware beyond what is necessary.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a dual-redundant master controller is provided to improve reliability, then the reliability is improved, but the device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the controller into a master controller and multiple slave controllers, each with specific functions. The slave controllers handle sensor data acquisition and actuator control independently, while the master controller focuses on overall coordination. This segmentation allows the system to achieve high reliability without requiring dual-redundant master controllers, as each segment can operate semi-independently.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention introduces a communication network as an intermediary between the master controller and slave controllers. This network-based communication architecture allows for reliable data transmission and coordination without requiring direct physical redundancy of the master controller. The intermediary network enables efficient information exchange and system coordination.
2Reliability
If redundant hardware is provided to ensure high reliability, then the reliability is improved, but the cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the control system into master and slave controllers with distributed functions, the system achieves reliability through functional distribution rather than hardware redundancy. Each slave controller can continue operating independently if the master controller fails, providing fail-operative capability without duplicating the entire master controller hardware.
Solution Approach 2:
The slave controllers are designed with autonomous capabilities to acquire sensor data and control actuators independently. This self-service capability allows them to maintain critical functions even when the master controller is unavailable, ensuring system reliability without requiring redundant master controller hardware.
3Adaptability or versatility
If a decentralized architecture with autonomous slave computers is used, then the expandability and ease of operation are improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The slave controllers are designed with universal interfaces and standardized communication protocols that allow them to perform multiple functions. They can handle both sensor data acquisition and actuator control, and can be configured for different vehicle functions through software rather than hardware changes, enabling easy system expansion.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements comprehensive feedback mechanisms where slave controllers continuously report their status and received data to the master controller through the communication network. This feedback architecture enables the master controller to coordinate system-wide operations while slave controllers maintain autonomous local control, managing complexity through structured information flow.
Data Source
AI summary
A vehicle control system which can ensure high reliability, real-time processing, and expandability with a simplified ECU configuration and a low cost by backing up an error through coordination in the entire system without increasing a degree of redundancy of individual controllers beyond the least necessary level. The vehicle control system comprises a sensor controller for taking in sensor signals indicating a status variable of a vehicle and an operation amount applied from a driver, a command controller for generating a control target value based on the sensor signals taken in by the sensor controller, and an actuator controller for receiving the control target value from the command controller and operating an actuator to control the vehicle, those three controller being interconnected via a network. The actuator controller includes a control target value generating unit for generating a control target value based on the sensor signals taken in by the sensor controller and received by the actuator controller via the network when the control target value generated by the command controller is abnormal, and controls the actuator in accordance with the control target value generated by the control target value generating unit.