Communication system for platooning vehicles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12217609-B2
Application number	US-202117496551-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 7, 2021
Priority date	Dec 4, 2020
Publication date	Feb 4, 2025
Grant date	Feb 4, 2025

Abstract

An embodiment controller for use in a communication system for platooning vehicles that performs Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication through controllers mounted in the platooning vehicles includes a communication unit configured to transmit and receive a message including control and sensor information of the platooning vehicles, a scheduler configured to store message transmission times of the platooning vehicles, and a determiner configured to determine whether a message received through the communication unit corresponds to schedule information stored in the scheduler, wherein the controller is configured to transmit a message in accordance with an order determined based on the schedule information and find out a message transmission order of the platooning vehicles by sharing the schedule information.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A communication system for platooning vehicles that performs Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication through a plurality of controllers mounted in the platooning vehicles, the communication system comprising:
the plurality of controllers, each comprising a respective communication unit configured to transmit and receive platooning vehicle messages comprising control and sensor information of the platooning vehicles, wherein:
each controller of the plurality of controllers is configured to:
obtain and store schedule information comprising a message transmission order and planned message transmission times for the platooning vehicles, and

a first controller of the plurality of controllers that is mounted in a first platooning vehicle of the platooning vehicles is configured to:
transmit first platooning vehicle messages from the first platooning vehicle based on the schedule information;
store received message transmission times of received messages from other platooning vehicles of the platooning vehicles; and
determine whether a particular message of the received messages corresponds to the message transmission order of the schedule information,

wherein when the particular message is received from an N-th vehicle of the platooning vehicles that is not matched with the message transmission order, the first controller is configured to determine that an additional message from an N-1-th vehicle of the platooning vehicles, which was supposed to transmit the additional message before the N-th vehicle, is lost or has an error, and
wherein, when the platooning vehicles do not receive the additional message for a predetermined interval at an order of the message transmission order for the N-1-th vehicle to transmit the additional message, a second controller of the plurality of controllers mounted in the N-th vehicle, which is a next vehicle after the N-1-th vehicle in the message transmission order, is configured to transmit the particular message when the N-1-th vehicle was configured to transmit the additional message according to the message transmission order.

2. The communication system of claim 1 , wherein each controller of the plurality of controllers is further configured to:
measure a current time synchronized among the platooning vehicles based on a time synchronized with a GPS signal.

3. The communication system of claim 2 , wherein:
each of the respective communication units is further configured to sequentially transmit a portion of the platooning vehicle messages by matching the current time measured by the controller with the schedule information; and
each controller of the plurality of controllers is further configured to measure times when the platooning vehicle messages from other platooning vehicles are received.

4. The communication system of claim 1 , wherein each platooning vehicle message of the platooning vehicle messages is transmitted from one platooning vehicle of the platooning vehicles to other platooning vehicles of the platooning vehicles using a broadcast type.

5. The communication system of claim 1 , wherein a message transmission interval of the platooning vehicles is a value obtained by dividing a platooning message period of the platooning vehicles by a number of the platooning vehicles.

6. The communication system of claim 1 , wherein transmission intervals of messages transmitted by the platooning vehicles are different from each other.

7. The communication system of claim 1 , wherein:
the N-1-th vehicle is configured to re-transmit the additional message at a time when the N-th vehicle was supposed to transmit the particular message in accordance with the schedule information after the N-th vehicle transmits the particular message; and
each controller is configured to update the schedule information based on a switch in message transmission orders of the N-th vehicle and the N-1-th vehicle.

8. The communication system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a road side unit configured to store information about the platooning vehicles and determine a change in the platooning vehicles.

9. The communication system of claim 8 , wherein, when a new vehicle joins the platooning vehicles or an existing vehicle of the platooning vehicles separates from the platooning vehicles to form a new platoon, the road side unit is configured to transmit new schedule information including a new message transmission interval and a new message transmission order to vehicles in the new platoon based on the vehicles in the new platoon.

10. The communication system of claim 1 ,
wherein each controller is further configured to store information about the platooning vehicles and determine a change in the platooning vehicles.

11. The communication system of claim 10 , wherein, when a new vehicle joins the platooning vehicles or an existing vehicle separates from the platooning vehicles forming a new platoon, each controller is further configured to store information about vehicles in the new platoon.

12. The communication system of claim 11 , wherein:
a master controller of the plurality of controllers is configured to determine that the change is generated in the platooning vehicles, and
the master controller is mounted in a leader vehicle of the platooning vehicles.

13. The communication system of claim 12 , wherein, when the new vehicle joins the platooning vehicles, the master controller is further configured to set a message transmission order position of the new vehicle as first or last in one period.

14. The communication system of claim 11 , wherein each controller is further configured to determine new schedule information by calculating message transmission intervals of the vehicles in the new platoon based on a platooning message period and a number of the vehicles in the new platoon and by determining a message transmission order based on a time synchronized among the vehicles in the new platoon.

15. The communication system of claim 14 , wherein the platooning message period of the platooning vehicles does not change even if a number of the platooning vehicles changes.

16. A communication system for platooning vehicles that performs Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication through controllers mounted in the platooning vehicles, the communication system comprising:
the controllers, each comprising respective communication units, mounted in the platooning vehicles, wherein:
each of the respective communication units is configured to transmit and receive platooning vehicle messages comprising control and sensor information of the platooning vehicles, and
each of the controllers is configured to:
obtain and store schedule information comprising a message transmission order and planned message transmission times for the platooning vehicles;
transmit first platooning vehicle messages corresponding to a first platooning vehicle based on the schedule information; and
store received message transmission times of received messages from other platooning vehicles of the platooning vehicles; and

a first controller of the controllers is configured to:
determine whether a particular message of the received messages corresponds to the message transmission order of the schedule information;

wherein:
when the platooning vehicles do not receive an additional message for a predetermined interval at an order of an N-1-th vehicle to transmit the additional message, a different vehicle of the platooning vehicles is configured to transmit the particular message when the N-1-th vehicle was supposed to transmit the additional message, and
the diffe

Assignees

• Hyundai Motor Co Ltd
• Kia Corp
• Univ Korea Res & Bus Found
• Hyundai Motor Corp

Inventors

• Jang Hyun Sung
• Pack Sang Heon
• Kim Min Ok
• Kim Joon Woo

Classifications

• G05D1/6985

  using a lead vehicle, e.g. primary-secondary arrangements · CPC title

• G05D1/248

  generated by satellites, e.g. GPS · CPC title

• G05D1/695

  for maintaining a fixed relative position of the vehicles, e.g. for convoy travelling or formation flight · CPC title

• H04L1/0027

  Scheduling of signalling, e.g. occurrence thereof · CPC title

• H04W4/46 Primary

  for vehicle-to-vehicle communication [V2V] · CPC title