Sensor Array Bus Load Reduction via Merging
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional sensor systems face performance degradation due to high data communication loads on bus systems, limiting the number of sensors that can be connected and causing measurement time shifts, which results in inconsistent timing of measured values across sensors.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a secondary communication bus that allows one sensor to act as a master, managing communication with other sensors using a simpler protocol, enabling simultaneous data collection and processing while ensuring communication security and accuracy through signal combination and plausibility checks.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If sensors communicate individually via a bus system, then each sensor can be queried, but the bus is burdened by high data communication load which reduces system performance
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple sensors are merged into a sensor array where they communicate collectively through a single interface to the control unit. The sensors share common signal lines (data line, clock line, control lines) and work together as an integrated group, reducing the number of individual connections and communication overhead on the bus system.
Solution Approach 2:
The sensor array acts as an intermediary between the control unit and the individual sensors. Instead of the control unit directly communicating with each sensor, the array interface manages and coordinates the communication, buffering and organizing data from multiple sensors before presenting it to the control unit, thereby reducing bus load.
2Quantity of substance
If multiple sensors are connected on a bus branch, then more sensors can be monitored, but the number is limited by the data transmission capacity of the bus
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple sensors are combined into a single sensor array that presents one logical interface to the control unit. This merging allows many physical sensors to be connected without proportionally increasing the bus load, as the array interface aggregates and manages the data from all sensors collectively.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a new dimension of organization by grouping sensors into arrays with hierarchical structure. Instead of a flat one-to-one mapping between sensors and bus interfaces, multiple levels of organization are created (individual sensors within arrays, arrays connected to control unit), allowing exponential scaling of sensor quantity without linear increase in bus communication requirements.
3Device complexity
If a serial bus processes requests sequentially, then communication is simple, but measurement time shifts from sensor to sensor causing inconsistent timing
Solution Approach 1:
The sensor array implements periodic sampling and synchronized measurement cycles. All sensors within the array are triggered simultaneously at regular intervals, ensuring that measurements from different sensors correspond to the same time point. This periodic synchronization eliminates timing shifts while maintaining relatively simple communication protocols.
Solution Approach 2:
The array interface incorporates feedback mechanisms to coordinate measurement timing across all sensors. By monitoring and adjusting the timing signals based on the state of all sensors in the array, the system ensures synchronous measurement cycles, maintaining timing consistency without requiring complex individual sensor control.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a method (200) for coupling a first sensor (104) to at least one second sensor (106), wherein the method (200) comprises a step of a first signal being sent (202) from the first sensor (104) to the at least one second sensor (106). In addition, the method (200) comprises a step of a second signal being provided (204) by the second sensor (106). The second signal is provided in response to the first signal, with the second signal representing a measured value from the second sensor (106). In addition, the method (200) comprises a step of a third signal being output (206) for a controller (108) by the first sensor (104). The third signal is output in response to the second signal, with the third signal representing at least one measured value from the first sensor (104).