Vehicle Weather Mapping Using Confidence-Weighted Sensor Data
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current weather detection systems lack real-time accuracy and reliability, especially in areas with limited access to advanced weather observation data, making it difficult for drivers to receive timely and precise weather information for safe navigation and route planning.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle-based weather mapping system that utilizes sensors to collect and share real-time weather data, integrating it with location data to generate high-fidelity weather maps, which are then displayed to users, using a processor to determine confidence levels and selectively compile data for accurate visualization.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If vehicle-mounted sensors are used to collect weather data, then real-time weather information accuracy is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes vehicles serve dual purposes: as transportation devices and as mobile weather observation platforms. By equipping vehicles with weather sensors that collect data during normal operation, the system transforms ordinary vehicles into multi-functional units that simultaneously perform transportation and weather monitoring tasks, thereby improving measurement precision without requiring dedicated complex weather observation infrastructure
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables vehicles to autonomously collect, process, and share their own weather data with the network. Each vehicle equipped with sensors independently generates weather observations and contributes them to the collective database, eliminating the need for centralized manual data collection and reducing overall system complexity through decentralized self-service operations
2Reliability
If weather data from multiple sources is integrated, then weather map reliability is improved, but data processing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where weather data from multiple vehicles is continuously collected, processed, and used to generate updated weather maps that are fed back to the network. This closed-loop system allows the network to learn from accumulated data, validate observations through multiple sources, and continuously improve reliability by comparing and reconciling data from different vehicles and sensors
Solution Approach 2:
The system merges weather data from multiple vehicles, traditional weather stations, and satellite sources into a unified weather map. By combining diverse data sources and using processor-based integration algorithms, the system achieves more reliable weather observations than any single source could provide alone, while the merging process itself manages complexity through standardized data fusion protocols
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods disclosed herein include generating weather data and location data using a sensor provided on a vehicle, determining a confidence level of the weather data and the location data, compiling the weather data and the location data into a weather map by selectively integrating the weather data based on the confidence level of the weather data, and transmitting the weather map to the vehicle for display to a user of the vehicle.