Redundant Lateral Velocity Sensing for Autonomous Controlled Stops
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Solution Overview
Problem
Autonomous vehicles face challenges in reliably determining lateral velocity, which is crucial for controlled stops, especially in the presence of hardware or software failures in primary vehicle control systems, as existing sensors may fail to accurately sense this velocity, leading to potential deviations from desired paths and safety issues.
Innovation Solution
A secondary vehicle control system is implemented, utilizing redundant lateral velocity determined by different sensors, such as downwardly-directed optical array sensors with overlapping fields of view, to enable controlled stops in case of adverse events, ensuring the vehicle can accurately determine and respond to its position relative to the ground surface.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a primary vehicle control system uses standard sensors to determine lateral velocity, then the system can operate with simpler architecture, but the system becomes vulnerable to sensor failures and cannot reliably execute controlled stops
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a secondary vehicle control system with redundant sensors (optical array sensors, inertial measurement units) that are prepared in advance to take over control functions if the primary system fails. This preliminary preparation ensures that lateral velocity determination capability is maintained even when primary sensors fail, resolving the contradiction between reliability and complexity by pre-configuring backup systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs redundant sensing systems and failover mechanisms that cushion against the harmful effects of sensor failures. By having backup sensors and control systems ready before failures occur, the system maintains reliable lateral velocity determination without requiring complete system redesign, thus managing the complexity-reliability tradeoff.
2Reliability
If the primary vehicle control system fails due to hardware or software adverse events, then the vehicle loses control capability, but implementing redundancy increases system complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The secondary vehicle control system is pre-configured with redundant sensors and control logic ready to activate upon detection of primary system failure. This preliminary setup allows the system to maintain control capability without requiring complex real-time decision-making during failures, thus improving reliability while managing complexity through advance preparation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a secondary control system that copies essential functions of the primary system, including lateral velocity determination and controlled stop execution. This copying approach ensures reliability by having duplicate control capability while managing complexity through functional replication rather than complete system redundancy.
3Measurement precision
If redundant sensors are added to the vehicle, then the system can determine lateral velocity during controlled stops more accurately, but the cost and complexity of the system increases
Solution Approach 1:
Redundant sensors (optical array sensors, inertial measurement units) are pre-installed and configured to provide lateral velocity measurements. These sensors are prepared in advance to activate when needed, ensuring measurement precision during controlled stops without requiring complex real-time sensor management, thus resolving the precision-complexity contradiction.
Solution Approach 2:
The redundant sensors are designed to serve multiple functions: providing lateral velocity data for both normal operation and controlled stop execution. This multi-functionality improves measurement precision when needed while managing complexity by avoiding dedicated single-purpose sensor systems.
Data Source
AI summary
An autonomous vehicle uses a secondary vehicle control system to supplement a primary vehicle control system to perform a controlled stop if an adverse event is detected in the primary vehicle control system. The secondary vehicle control system may use a redundant lateral velocity determined by a different sensor from that used by the primary vehicle control system to determine lateral velocity for use in controlling the autonomous vehicle to perform the controlled stop.