초록 ▼

A rollover sensing apparatus and method are provided for predicting rollover or pitchover conditions of a vehicle. The apparatus and method sense angular roll rate, angular pitch rate, longitudinal acceleration, lateral acceleration, and vertical acceleration of the vehicle and produce output signal

A rollover sensing apparatus and method are provided for predicting rollover or pitchover conditions of a vehicle. The apparatus and method sense angular roll rate, angular pitch rate, longitudinal acceleration, lateral acceleration, and vertical acceleration of the vehicle and produce output signals indicative thereof. A non-linear filter, such as an extended Kalman filter, estimates a current roll angle and a current pitch angle as a function of the sensed signals. A predictor predicts a future roll angle as a function of the estimated current roll angle and the sensed roll rate, and further predicts a future pitch angle as a function of the estimated current pitch angle and the sensed pitch rate. The predicted roll and pitch attitude angles are compared to a threshold value and a vehicle overturn condition signal is output to indicate a predicted vehicle rollover or pitchover condition. In addition, the measured pitch rate and roll rate signals are corrected to compensate for yaw-induced error that may be present.

대표청구항 ▼

[ The claimed invention is:] [1.] A rollover sensing apparatus for predicting an overturn condition for a vehicle, comprising:an angular roll rate sensor for sensing roll rate of a vehicle and producing an output signal indicative thereof;an angular pitch rate sensor for sensing pitch rate of the ve

[ The claimed invention is:] [1.] A rollover sensing apparatus for predicting an overturn condition for a vehicle, comprising:an angular roll rate sensor for sensing roll rate of a vehicle and producing an output signal indicative thereof;an angular pitch rate sensor for sensing pitch rate of the vehicle and producing an output signal indicative thereof;a longitudinal accelerometer for measuring longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle and producing an output signal indicative thereof;a lateral accelerometer for measuring lateral acceleration of the vehicle and producing an output signal indicative thereof;a vertical accelerometer for measuring vertical acceleration of the vehicle and producing an output signal indicative thereof;a vehicle speed signal indicative of speed of the vehicle;a processor for receiving said signals and for estimating a roll angle and a pitch angle as a function of said received signals, said processor estimating a yaw rate of the vehicle as a function of lateral acceleration and said vehicle speed signal, and determining a pitch rate correction value as a function of said estimated yaw rate and said estimated roll angle and further correcting said measured pitch rate signal based on said pitch correction value, and said processor predicting a future pitch angle as a function of said estimated pitch angle and said corrected pitch rate and comparing said predicted pitch angle to a threshold value; andan output for deploying a vehicle overturn condition output based on said comparison.