Vehicle Impact Sensing for Trailer and Extended Mirror Clearance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Vehicle sensing systems often fail to accurately detect the lateral outermost parts of a vehicle, especially when towing trailers or using extendable mirrors, leading to potential collisions due to misinterpretation of the vehicle's width, resulting in costly damages to side mirrors.
Innovation Solution
A vehicular sensing system equipped with sensors such as radar, lidar, and ultrasonic sensors that process data to determine the closest lateral outermost part of the vehicle to detected objects, adjusting for the presence of trailers or extendable mirrors, and generating collision warnings or controlling steering/braking to avoid impacts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of moving object
If the vehicle uses extendable mirrors or tows trailers, then the sensing coverage area is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts the defined vehicle width based on operational state. When extendable mirrors are deployed or trailers are attached, the ECU automatically updates the lateral outermost part coordinates to reflect the new vehicle boundaries, ensuring accurate collision detection without requiring manual reconfiguration or additional physical sensors.
Solution Approach 2:
The existing sensor system serves multiple functions: it detects both the vehicle's lateral outermost parts and external objects simultaneously. The same radar/lidar sensors used for primary detection tasks are leveraged to monitor mirror extension states and trailer presence, eliminating the need for dedicated sensors for each function and reducing overall system complexity.
2Ease of operation
If the vehicle width is not accurately determined, then the ease of operation is improved, but the reliability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-establishes the lateral outermost part coordinates by combining vehicle specification data with real-time sensor feedback. Before collision detection begins, the ECU defines the accurate vehicle boundary based on mirror position and trailer attachment state, ensuring that subsequent detection operations rely on predetermined, verified geometric parameters rather than calculating boundaries during critical detection moments.
3Loss of information
If the lateral outermost part is not accurately detected, then the loss of information is reduced, but the measurement precision deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system replaces physical measurement devices with electronic data processing. Instead of using additional mechanical sensors to physically measure the distance to lateral outermost parts, the ECU calculates these positions by processing sensor data and comparing it against stored vehicle geometry information, achieving precise measurement through computational methods rather than physical measurement tools.
Data Source
AI summary
A vehicular sensing system includes a sensor disposed at a vehicle and capturing sensor data. The vehicular sensing system, responsive to detecting an object present exterior of the vehicle, and based on a predicted path of travel of the equipped vehicle approaching the detected object, estimates a distance between the detected object and a lateral outermost part of the equipped vehicle at a side of the equipped vehicle that, as the equipped vehicle moves along the predicted path of travel and approaches the detected object, will be closest to the detected object. The vehicular sensing system determines that the distance between the lateral outermost part of the equipped vehicle and the detected object is less than a threshold distance.