Tunable filters for signal integrity in real time diagnostics

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12447978-B2
Application number	US-202318186902-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 20, 2023
Priority date	Mar 20, 2023
Publication date	Oct 21, 2025
Grant date	Oct 21, 2025

Abstract

Systems and methods for real time and predictive diagnostics of vehicle electronic components. Circuit boards and similar vehicle electronic devices have input/output speeds on the order of tens of gigahertz (GHz). Signal integrity can be affected when operating in real time while a high speed signal travels across circuit boards. To maintain signal integrity, hardware around high speed signals is designed to match impedance and transmission lengths. Additionally, differences can occur from circuit board to circuit board due to aging during vehicle operation, and tolerances in the manufacturing process. Systems and methods are provided herein to compensate for the tolerances in the manufacturing process. The real time and predictive diagnostics of vehicle electronic components provided herein can prevent on-road vehicle failures.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for real time, adaptive filtering of signal transmissions in a vehicle, comprising:
transmitting a high-speed transmit signal, the high-speed transmit signal including frequencies on the order of 10 gigahertz and higher, from a first vehicle component;
detecting harmonics in the high-speed transmit signal;
adjusting an active tunable filter electrically disposed between the first vehicle component and a second vehicle component, wherein the adjusting includes modulating a pulse wave signal to modify a duty cycle of a pulse generator to change a filter conductance of the active tunable filter;
filtering the high-speed transmit signal at the active tunable filter to filter out selected detected harmonics, wherein the selected detected harmonics are in a selected frequency range to match the active tunable filter to the first vehicle component and the second vehicle component;
receiving the filtered high-speed transmit signal at the second vehicle component; and
monitoring in real time the filtered high-speed transmit signal at the second vehicle component and when the high-speed transmit signal changes, either repeating the adjusting of the active tunable filter or adjusting an operating behavior of the first vehicle component.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the active tunable filter includes a first conductance and a second conductance, wherein the first and second conductances are in parallel, and wherein adjusting the active tunable filter includes changing the first conductance to zero during an off period of the duty cycle.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising detecting noise and diagnosing harmonics in the transmit signal.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein detecting, diagnosing, adjusting, and filtering the signal occur while the vehicle is driving.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the active tunable filter is one of a fifth order filter, a sixth order filter, and a greater than sixth order filter, and wherein adjusting the active tunable filter includes adjusting the selected frequency range.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein transmitting the transmit signal includes transmitting the transmit signal from an onboard memory to an onboard processor.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising diagnosing and predicting a failure of the first component based on characteristics of the filtered signal.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising modifying an operating behavior of the first vehicle component based on the harmonics detected in the transmit signal.

9. A system for real time filtering of signal transmissions in a vehicle, comprising:
a first vehicle component configured to transmit a high-speed first signal including frequencies on the order of 10 gigahertz and higher;
a signal sensor configured to detect harmonics in the first signal;
an active tunable filter configured to filter out the detected harmonics,
wherein the active tunable filter is adjustable to filter out a selected frequency range, wherein frequencies in the selected frequency range are filtered out of the first signal by the active tunable filter,
wherein the active tunable filter includes a pulse generator having a duty cycle, and modulating a pulse wave signal to modify the duty cycle of the pulse generator causes modification of the selected frequency range, and
wherein the active tunable filter is configured to receive the first signal and filter out selected detected harmonics in the selected frequency range and transmit a filtered signal; and
a second vehicle component having an onboard processor is configured to receive the filtered signal, wherein the onboard processor is further configured to monitor the filtered signal in real time and adjust either the active tunable filter or an operating behavior of the first component during operation of the vehicle.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the active tunable filter has a filter conductance, and wherein modifying the duty cycle of the pulse generator changes the filter conductance.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the filter conductance includes a first conductance and a second conductance, wherein the first and second conductances are in parallel, and wherein during an off period of the duty cycle, the first conductance is zero.

12. The system of claim 9 , wherein the first vehicle component and the active tunable filter are integrated into an integrated circuit onboard the vehicle.

13. The system of claim 9 , wherein the signal sensor is further configured to detect noise in the first signal, and wherein the active tunable filter is further configured to filter out the noise.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the active tunable filter is one of a fifth order filter, a sixth order filter, and a greater than sixth order filter.

15. The system of claim 9 , wherein the first vehicle component is an onboard memory.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the onboard processor is configured to diagnose failure of the onboard memory based on characteristics of the filtered signal.

17. The system of claim 9 , wherein the signal sensor is configured to generate a detection signal, and wherein an operating behavior of the first vehicle component is modified based on the detection signal.

18. A device for real time filtering of high-speed signal transmissions between components in a vehicle comprising:
a first component configured to transmit a first high-speed signal, wherein the first a high-speed transmit signal includes frequencies on the order of 10 gigahertz and higher;
a second component configured to receive the first high-speed signal having an onboard processor;
a signal sensor electrically coupled between the first component and the second component and configured to detect harmonics in the first signal;
an active tunable filter electrically coupled between the signal sensor and the second component, the active tunable filter being configured to filter out the detected harmonics,
wherein the active tunable filter is adjustable to modify a selected frequency range, wherein frequencies in the selected frequency range are filtered out of the first signal by the active tunable filter,
wherein the active tunable filter includes a pulse generator having a duty cycle, and modulating a pulse wave signal to modify the duty cycle of the pulse generator modifies the selected frequency range, and
wherein the active tunable filter is configured to receive the first signal to filter out selected detected harmonics in the selected frequency range and transmit a filtered signal to the second component; and
the onboard processor of the second component to being configured to monitor the filtered signal during vehicle operation and detect a frequency drift over time and modify an operating behavior of the first component when the onboard processor detects the frequency drift.

19. The circuit board of claim 18 , wherein the signal sensor is configured to generate a detection signal.

Assignees

• Gm Cruise Holdings Llc

Inventors

• Dsouza Daniel
• Chen Fen
• Wang Xuefeng

Classifications

• G07C5/0808 Primary

  Diagnosing performance data (testing of vehicles G01M17/00; testing of electrical installation on vehicles G01R31/005) · CPC title

• B60W2050/041

  Built in Test Equipment [BITE] · CPC title

• B60W2050/0052

  Filtering, filters · CPC title

• B60W50/04

  Monitoring the functioning of the control system · CPC title

• B60W2050/0056

  Low-pass filters · CPC title