Vehicle State Estimation for Robust Road Surface Damage Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for detecting road surface damage are affected by external factors such as visibility changes and accidental vibrations, leading to unsatisfactory detection accuracy.
Innovation Solution
A state estimation device that acquires information on vehicle behavior, specifically the variation in wheel rotation speed, and uses threshold values to determine the presence of road surface damage, ensuring robust detection by considering both front and rear wheels and accounting for different vehicle types and loads.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If image recognition is used to detect road surface damage, then detection can be performed visually, but detection accuracy deteriorates due to changes in visibility from road surface conditions such as nighttime, rain, dust, fallen leaves, or puddles
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the optical/image recognition system with a mechanical sensing system that measures vehicle behavior parameters (acceleration, deceleration, steering angle, rotation speed). This substitution eliminates the dependency on visual conditions while maintaining detection capability, directly resolving the contradiction between ease of visual detection and accuracy under varying visibility conditions
2Measurement precision
If variation in rotation speed or vibration is used to detect road surface damage, then detection can be performed using vehicle dynamics, but accidental variation or vibration may be detected leading to unsatisfactory detection accuracy
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the detection process into multiple independent parameter measurements (acceleration, deceleration, steering angle, rotation speed) rather than relying on a single parameter. By dividing the detection into multiple dimensional assessments, the system can distinguish true road surface damage signals from accidental variations in any single parameter
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges multiple vehicle behavior parameters into a comprehensive detection decision. By combining information from acceleration, deceleration, steering angle, and rotation speed measurements, the system achieves reliable detection that filters out accidental variations present in individual parameters
3Device complexity
If only single wheel or single parameter detection is used, then the detection system is simple, but detection accuracy deteriorates due to inability to distinguish accidental vibration from actual damage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the wheel detection into four independent wheel measurements (front-left, front-right, rear-left, rear-right) rather than treating the vehicle as a single unit. This segmentation allows comparison across multiple wheels to distinguish localized road surface damage from vehicle-wide vibrations or accidents
Solution Approach 2:
The patent adds the spatial dimension of multiple wheel positions to the detection system. By measuring and comparing parameters across four different wheel locations, the system transforms a single-point measurement into a distributed measurement field, enabling accurate localization and verification of road surface damage
Data Source
AI summary
A state estimation device includes: a behavior acquiring unit configured to acquire information on vehicle behavior of front wheels and rear wheels of a vehicle; and an estimation unit configured to estimate that road surface damage is present when a value associated with the front wheels in the information on vehicle behavior is greater than a first threshold value and a value associated with the rear wheels is greater than a second threshold value.