Trailer-Aware ECU Control for Mixed Trailer Sensor Setups
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Solution Overview
Problem
The challenge is to enable an articulated vehicle to efficiently implement autonomous driving and driving assistance functions across various trailer types with different sensor configurations, while maintaining a common towing vehicle, thereby reducing vehicle costs and increasing versatility.
Innovation Solution
An electronic control unit (ECU) is installed on the towing vehicle that identifies the type of trailer connected and adjusts its processing accordingly, using a combination of trailer identification and processing change units to execute optimized arithmetic processing programs specific to each trailer type, allowing for flexible and cost-effective implementation of autonomous driving and driving assistance functions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If an electronic control unit with extremely high performance is installed to commonly process sensor information from multiple trailer types, then the autonomous driving and driving assistance functions can be implemented across all trailer types, but the vehicle cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the control architecture into two segments: a basic ECU with standard processing capabilities and a trailer-specific processing unit (or stored programs) that handles trailer-type-specific sensor configurations. This segmentation allows the basic ECU to remain cost-effective while specialized processing is added only when needed for specific trailer types.
Solution Approach 2:
The ECU is designed with universal basic functionality to handle common autonomous driving and driving assistance tasks across all trailer types. Additionally, it can load or switch to specific processing programs corresponding to different trailer types, enabling it to universally support multiple trailer configurations without requiring extremely high performance for all scenarios simultaneously.
2Measurement precision
If sensor configurations are customized for each trailer type to optimize autonomous driving and driving assistance control, then the control precision is improved, but the device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The sensor configuration is made dynamic rather than static. The system can adaptively select and switch between different sensor configurations based on the detected trailer type. This allows the system to optimize measurement precision for each specific trailer type while maintaining a standardized physical sensor set that can be reconfigured through software control.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes operational parameters (sensor activation, processing algorithms, control strategies) based on the trailer type rather than changing the physical sensor hardware. By storing multiple sets of processing parameters and algorithms in the ECU or external storage, the system achieves trailer-type-specific optimization without adding physical complexity to the sensor infrastructure.
Data Source
AI summary
An electronic control unit that is installed on a vehicle connected to a trailer and capable of towing the trailer changes travel control of the vehicle according to a type of the trailer when the trailer is connected to the vehicle.