Vehicle Sensor Cleaning Control for Overlapping Sensing Regions
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Solution Overview
Problem
The accuracy of external sensors in vehicles is compromised during cleaning due to the influence of cleaning fluids, which can lead to decreased sensing accuracy and autonomous driving performance.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle control system that classifies cleaning nozzles into injected and stopped modes based on sensor stain states and driving conditions, prioritizing non-cleaned sensor data to maintain sensing accuracy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If cleaning nozzles continuously inject cleaning fluid to clean external sensor surfaces, then cleaning effectiveness is improved, but sensing accuracy deteriorates due to fluid interference
Solution Approach 1:
The cleaning nozzle operates periodically rather than continuously. The control unit switches the cleaning nozzle between an injection state (injecting cleaning fluid) and a stop state (not injecting), based on whether cleaning is actually needed. This periodic operation maintains cleaning effectiveness while avoiding continuous fluid interference with sensor detection.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses sensor detection results as feedback to control cleaning operations. The control unit determines whether cleaning is necessary based on detected sensor performance or environmental conditions, and only activates the cleaning nozzle when needed. This feedback mechanism ensures cleaning effectiveness while preventing unnecessary fluid injection that would degrade sensing accuracy.
2Area of stationary object
If multiple cleaning nozzles operate simultaneously on overlapping sensing regions, then cleaning coverage is improved, but sensing accuracy deteriorates in overlapping regions
Solution Approach 1:
When multiple cleaning nozzles serve overlapping sensing regions, the system activates them periodically rather than simultaneously. The control unit manages the timing of each nozzle's injection and stop states to ensure that not all nozzles inject fluid at the same time in overlapping regions, thereby maintaining cleaning coverage while minimizing fluid interference with sensor accuracy.
Data Source
AI summary
External sensors of a vehicle are individually set with sensing regions through external surfaces. Cleaning nozzles of the vehicle inject cleaning fluid to individually clean the external surfaces of the external sensors. An injection control unit performs classification of the cleaning nozzles, which correspond to the external surfaces whose sensing regions of the external sensors overlap with each other, into an injected nozzle, which performs injection of cleaning fluid and a stopped nozzle, which stops injection of cleaning fluid, and controls the classification according to a stain state of the external surface. A priority control unit controls a priority of cleaned sensor data, which is acquired through the external sensor whose external surface corresponds to the injected nozzle, to be lower than a priority of non-cleaned sensor data, which is acquired through the external sensor whose external surface corresponds to the stopped nozzle.