Surface vehicle vertical trajectory planning
View Patent ↗An active suspension system for a vehicle including elements for developing and executing a trajectory plan responsive to the path on which the vehicle is traveling. The system may include a location system for locating the vehicle, and a system for retrieving a road profile corresponding to the vehicle location.
1. Apparatus for a surface vehicle for operating on a path, said path comprising vertical disturbances, said apparatus comprising:
a controllable suspension for applying a force between a payload compartment and a surface engaging device; and
a trajectory developing system operatively coupled to said controllable suspension, said trajectory developing system for developing a trajectory plan responsive to data specifically representative of said vertical disturbances.
2. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 , wherein said data is expressed as one of force, velocity, and acceleration.
3. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 , said trajectory developing system comprising a device for smoothing said data to develop said trajectory plan.
4. Apparatus in accordance with claim 3 , said smoothing device comprising a low pass filter.
5. Apparatus in accordance with claim 3 said smoothing device comprising a bi-directional low pass filter.
6. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 , said controllable suspension comprising a linear actuator.
7. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 , wherein said data comprises positive and negative values.
8. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 , further comprising:
a profile storage device for storing said data.
9. Apparatus in accordance with claim 8 wherein said profile storage device is located remotely from said surface vehicle.
10. Apparatus in accordance with claim 8 , wherein said trajectory plan developing system is located remotely from said surface vehicle.
11. A method for operating an active vehicle suspension system in a surface vehicle on a surface having vertical disturbances comprising:
determining the location of said surface vehicle; and
determining if there is a vertical trajectory plan corresponding to said location, said trajectory plan corresponding to data specifically representative of said vertical disturbances.
12. A method for operating an active vehicle suspension in accordance with claim 11 and further comprising,
recording input signals from sensors; and
modifying said vertical trajectory plan in response to the performance sensor input signals.
13. A method for operating an active suspension in accordance with claim 11 , wherein said determining the location of said surface vehicle includes using a global positioning satellite.
14. A method for operation an active suspension in accordance with claim 11 , wherein said determining the location of said surface vehicle comprises pattern matching.
15. A method for operating an active suspension in accordance with claim 11 , further comprising:
in the event that there is no vertical trajectory plan corresponding to said location, operating the active vehicle suspension as a reactionary suspension, and
developing a trajectory plan signals responsive to the operating the active vehicle suspension as a reactionary suspension.
16. Apparatus for a surface vehicle comprising:
an active suspension;
a locator system for determining the location of said surface vehicle;
a trajectory plan storage device, for storing trajectory plans corresponding to locations, said trajectory plans corresponding to data specifically representative of vertical disturbances on a surface on which said surface vehicle is traveling; and
a trajectory plan microprocessor for determining if said trajectory plans contain a trajectory plan corresponding to said determined location.
17. An active suspension in accordance with claim 16 , wherein said locator system comprises a global positioning system device.
18. An active suspension in accordance with claim 16 , wherein said locator system comprises a pattern matching system.