Method and system for on-site testing of an off-road vehicle intervention system
An on-site test facility and method for validation of an off-road vehicle intervention system onboard an utility vehicle, for example at a mine, using a testing area in the field with a test lane and a computer unit configured to emulate a virtual test object by generating and transmitting a RF-signal corresponding to RF-signal of a real object being in risk of collision with the oversized vehicle when a driver is driving the utility vehicle on the test lane.
1. An on-site test facility for validation of an off-road vehicle intervention system (VIS), the vehicle intervention system being installed onboard a utility vehicle and being configured to temporally take over from a utility vehicle's driver control of at least a motion function, in particular the propulsion and/or brake, of the utility vehicle in response to RF-signals sent by and received from an object on the site at risk of collision with the utility vehicle, the RF-signals at least transmitting positional data of the respective object, the on-site test facility comprising:
a testing area at a working site with a test lane, and
a computer unit configured to emulate one of said objects by generating and transmitting a RF-signal corresponding to a RF-signal of a real object being in risk of collision with the utility vehicle when a driver is driving the utility vehicle on the test lane.
2. The on-site test facility according to claim 1 , wherein the emulated object is a movable object and the computer unit generates and transmits RF-signals containing positional data, designated heading data and dimensional data of the emulated object.
3. The on-site test facility according to claim 1 , wherein the computer unit creates a virtual dummy object by generating and transmitting RF-signals corresponding to all types of RF-signals of the emulated object.
4. The on-site test facility according to claim 1 , wherein the computer unit is configured to adapt the emulation to the utility vehicle or vehicle intervention system, either according to an individual utility vehicle or to a vehicle class.
5. The on-site test facility according to claim 1 , wherein the computer unit is configured to validate auto brake, launch assistant and override button, in particular in addition to validate one of:
RF-receiver,
GNSS receiver,
user interface,
CAN communication,
status of brake system and propulsion of the utility vehicle,
inertial measurement unit,
ultra-wide band time-of-flight measurement unit.
6. The on-site test facility according to claim 1 , wherein the on-site test facility comprises a mark:
for marking a real position corresponding to an object's emulated position on the test lane visible to the utility vehicle's driver, wherein the position mark is variable as an adaption to the emulated object type and/or position, and/or
for marking an entry and/or exit of the test facility and/or test lane, in particular a geofence.
7. The on-site test facility according to claim 1 , wherein the computer unit is configured to inhibit an exit of the utility vehicle from the test area if there is no positive validation result, in particular wherein the on-site test facility comprises a mechanical barrier at an exit of the test area controlled by the computer unit.
8. The on-site test facility according to claim 1 , wherein the on-site test facility comprises a signal light for signalling a status of the validation to the driver, in particular a final result of the validation.
9. The on-site test facility according to claim 1 , wherein the utility vehicle is an off-road utility vehicle.
10. The on-site test facility according to claim 1 , wherein the utility vehicle is a haul truck, a crane, a dragline, an excavator, a shovel, a grader, a dozer, water truck, dump truck, mining truck, loader, camion or a tractor.
11. A method for on-site validation of an off-road vehicle intervention system (VIS) at an on-site testing area at a working site with a test lane, the vehicle intervention system being installed onboard an utility vehicle, in particular off-road utility vehicle, particularly a haul truck, a crane, a dragline, an excavator, a shovel a grader, a dozer, water truck, dump truck, mining truck, loader, camion or a tractor, and being configured to temporarily take over from the utility vehicle's driver control of at least a motion function, in particular the propulsion and/or brake, of the utility vehicle in response to RF-signals sent by and received from an object on the site at risk of collision with the utility vehicle, the RF-signals at least transmitting positional data of the respective object, the method comprising emulating one of said objects by generating and transmitting a RF-signal corresponding to a RF-signal of a real object being in risk of collision with the utility vehicle when a driver is driving the utility vehicle on the test lane.
12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein verifying if a reaction of the vehicle intervention system, in particular a braking and/or propulsion cut, is triggered by a received RF-signal.
13. The method according to claim 12 , wherein verifying comprises the steps of:
uploading a log file from the vehicle intervention system to a server,
looking for a collision alarm, caused by the emulated object, in the log file, and
looking for an intervention command from the vehicle intervention system to the utility vehicle and for a confirmation of the intervention command by a main unit of the utility vehicle.
14. The method according to claim 13 , wherein additionally verifying a vehicle's reaction in response to the intervention command is based on data from a sensor.
15. The method according to claim 14 , wherein the sensor is a camera.
16. The method according to claim 11 , further comprising displaying a position information and/or time information.
17. The method according to claim 16 , wherein displaying the position information and/or time information includes time-to-impact relating to an expected reaction to be triggered to the utility vehicle's driver.
18. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the method is an integral part of a regular, in particular daily, pre-flight check.
19. A computer program product having computer-executable instructions implemented for executing the method according to claim 11 .
20. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the utility vehicle is an oversized and/or off-road utility vehicle.