System and method for vehicle control

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11827255-B2
Application number	US-202017116622-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 9, 2020
Priority date	Dec 9, 2019
Publication date	Nov 28, 2023
Grant date	Nov 28, 2023

Abstract

A system for controlling a vehicle includes at least one vehicle network on board the vehicle, first and second controllers coupled to the at least one vehicle network and configured to communicate with each other via the at least one vehicle network, and first and second sensor sets coupled to the at least one vehicle network, and configured to communicate with any of the first and second controllers via the at least one vehicle network. Each of the first and second controllers is configured to, based on data output from any of the first and second sensor sets, control a movement of the vehicle independently of the other of the first and second controllers. The first sensor set is located at a first location on the vehicle, the second sensor set is located at a second location on the vehicle, and the second location is different from the first location.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for controlling a vehicle, comprising:
at least one vehicle network on board the vehicle;
first and second controllers coupled to the at least one vehicle network and configured to communicate with each other via the at least one vehicle network; and
first and second sensor sets coupled to the at least one vehicle network, and configured to communicate with each and any of the first and second controllers via the at least one vehicle network,
wherein
each of the first and second controllers is configured to, based on data output from any of the first and second sensor sets, control a movement of the vehicle independently of the other of the first and second controllers, and
the first sensor set is located at a first location on the vehicle, the second sensor set is located at a second location on the vehicle, and the second location is different from the first location.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein
the vehicle is a railway vehicle,
the first location where the first sensor set is located is at one of a leading end and a trailing end of the railway vehicle, and
the second location where the second sensor set is located is at the other of the leading end and the trailing end of the railway vehicle.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein
each of the first and second controllers comprises first and second replicas, and
the at least one vehicle network comprises
a first network coupled to the first replicas of the first and second controllers, and
a second network coupled to the second replicas of the first and second controllers.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein
each of the first and second sensor sets comprises first and second identical sensor subsets,
the first network is coupled to both the first and second sensor subsets of the second sensor set, and
the second network is coupled to both the first and second sensor subsets of the first sensor set.

5. The system of claim 3 , wherein
each of the first and second sensor sets comprises first and second identical sensor subsets,
the first network is coupled to
one of the first and second sensor subsets of the first sensor set, and
one of the first and second sensor subsets of the second sensor set, and the second network is coupled to
the other of the first and second sensor subsets of the first sensor set, and
the other of the first and second sensor subsets of the second sensor set.

6. The system of claim 3 , wherein, in each of the first and second controllers,
the first replica is configured to receive a first set of inputs from at least one of the first sensor set or the second sensor set via the first network,
the second replica is configured to receive a second set of inputs from at least one of the first sensor set of the second sensor set via the second network,
the first and second replicas are configured to
exchange the first and second sets of inputs to obtain a set of equalized inputs,
perform computation based on the set of equalized inputs to correspondingly generate first and second sets of outputs for controlling the movement of the vehicle,
exchange the first and second sets of outputs, and
in response to a difference between the first and second sets of outputs, generate an indicator of a failure in at least one of the first sensor set or the second sensor set.

7. The system of claim 3 , wherein
each of the first and second sensor sets comprises a first sensor subset and a second sensor subset,
the first sensor subset is configured to output a set of measured values of a plurality of parameters, and
the second sensor subset is configured to output a further set of measured values of the plurality of parameters.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein, in each of the first and second sensor sets,
the second sensor subset is different from the first sensor subset in at least one of
a different sensor type,
a different frequency band,
a different sensing technology, or
a different sensing principle.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein
the first network is coupled to both the first and second sensor subsets of the second sensor set, and
the second network is coupled to both the first and second sensor subsets of the first sensor set.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein
the first network is coupled to
one of the first and second sensor subsets of the first sensor set, and
one of the first and second sensor subsets of the second sensor set, and

the second network is coupled to
the other of the first and second sensor subsets of the first sensor set, and
the other of the first and second sensor subsets of the second sensor set.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein
the first sensor subset of the first sensor set is identical to one of the first sensor subset and the second sensor subset of the second sensor set, and
the second sensor subset of the first sensor set is identical to the other of the first sensor subset and the second sensor subset of the second sensor set.

12. The system of claim 7 , wherein, in each of the first and second sensor sets, each of the first and second sensor sets comprises:
a plurality of sensors configured to detect the plurality of parameters, and
a plurality of micro-controllers each
coupled to a corresponding sensor among the plurality of sensors, without being coupled to another sensor among the plurality of sensors, and
coupled to either the first network or the second network to output a measured value of a parameter, among the plurality of parameters, detected by the corresponding sensor.

13. The system of claim 7 , wherein, in each of the first and second sensor sets, each of the first and second sensor sets comprises:
a plurality of sensors configured to detect the plurality of parameters, and
a plurality of micro-controllers each
coupled to multiple sensors among the plurality of sensors,
configured to cross-check measured values output by the multiple sensors, and
output the cross-check measured values to either the first network or the second network.

14. The system of claim 7 , further comprising:
first and second micro-controllers each comprising first and second replicas,
wherein
the first network is coupled to the first replicas of the first and second micro-controllers,
the second network coupled to the second replicas of the first and second micro-controllers,
the first replica of the first micro-controller is different from the first replica of the first controller in at least one of a processor, a memory or an instruction set, and is configured to execute an algorithm to supervise other algorithms executed in the first replica of the first controller,
the second replica of the first micro-controller is different from the second replica of the first controller in at least one of a processor, a memory or an instruction set, and is configured to execute an algorithm to supervise other algorithms executed in the second replica of the first controller,
the first replica of the second micro-controller is different from the first replica of the second controller in at least one of a processor, a memory or an instruction set, and is configured to execute an algorithm to supervise other algorithms executed in the first replica of the second controller, and
the second replica of the second micro-controller is different from the second replica of the second controller in at least one of a processor, a memory or an instruction set, and is configured to execute an algorithm to supervise other algorithms executed in the second replica of the second controller.

15. The system of c

Assignees

• Thales Canada Inc

Inventors

• Green Alon
• Yazhemsky Dennis
• Tobin James Kevin

Classifications

• B61L15/0063 Primary

  Multiple on-board control systems, e.g. "2 out of 3"-systems · CPC title

• B61L15/0018

  Communication with or on the vehicle or train · CPC title

• B61L15/0072

  On-board train data handling · CPC title

• B61L15/0081

  On-board diagnosis or maintenance · CPC title

• B61L15/0036

  Conductor-based, e.g. using CAN-Bus, train-line or optical fibres · CPC title