Motorcycle Wet Road Detection Using Inertial Yaw Data

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative Solutions
Generate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

Existing motorcycles that determine road surface wetness rely on expensive raindrop sensors, making them costly.

Innovation Solution

A processing device mounted on motorcycles that uses an inertial measurement sensor to acquire traveling characteristics, such as yaw information, and compares these with reference data to determine road surface wetness, reducing the need for expensive sensors.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Measurement precision

If a raindrop sensor is used to directly detect rain and determine road surface wetness, then the measurement precision of road surface wetness is improved, but the manufacturing cost increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveroad surface wetness detection accuracyVSAvoidmotorcycle manufacturing cost
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSEase of manufacture

Solution Approach 1:

The inertial measurement sensor, which is already installed for motorcycle behavior control, is made to serve dual purposes by also detecting road surface wetness through analyzing traveling characteristics such as yaw information. This self-service approach eliminates the need for separate raindrop sensors, thereby reducing manufacturing costs while maintaining detection capability

Inventive Principle:
Principle #25Self-service

Solution Approach 2:

The inertial measurement sensor is transformed from a single-function device (behavior control only) to a multi-functional device that simultaneously performs behavior control and road surface wetness detection. By extracting yaw information and traveling characteristics from the existing sensor, the system achieves universal application without adding extra hardware

Inventive Principle:
Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

2Reliability

If a raindrop sensor is installed to determine road surface wetness, then the reliability of wetness determination is improved, but the device complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvewetness determination reliabilityVSAvoidsensor system complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The existing inertial measurement sensor performs self-service by providing both behavior control data and wetness determination data. The sensor utilizes its own output information (yaw information) to determine road surface conditions, eliminating the need for additional dedicated sensors and simplifying the overall system architecture

Inventive Principle:
Principle #25Self-service

Solution Approach 2:

The functions of behavior control and wetness determination are merged into a single sensor system. The inertial measurement sensor simultaneously supports both motorcycle stability control and road surface wetness detection, reducing the total number of components and simplifying system integration

Inventive Principle:
Principle #5Merging (Combining)

Data Source

PatentEP4108535B1Processing device, motorcycle, and processing method
Publication Date: 2023.12.06 ROBERT BOSCH GMBH
  • EP4108535B1 patent drawingFigure 1~3
  • EP4108535B1 patent drawingFigure 4~6
  • EP4108535B1 patent drawingFigure 7~9

AI summary

To obtain a processing device that is mounted to a motorcycle, can determine wetness of a road surface, and can reduce the cost of the motorcycle. Provided is a processing device according to the invention that is mounted to a motorcycle. The processing device includes an acquisition unit that acquires a traveling characteristic of the motorcycle on the basis of an output from an inertial measurement sensor that is used for control of a behavior of the motorcycle; and a determination unit that compares the traveling characteristic acquired by the acquisition unit and reference data to determine wetness of a road surface.