Using reference road segments to calibrate the response of vehicle sensor systems
Systems and methods described herein include implementations where performance of systems for measuring aspects of a road surface, such as sensor systems, on board a production vehicle may be improved by using data collected by the production vehicle while traveling on primary and/or secondary reference road segments. Primary reference road segments in a road network may be characterized by specially equipped vehicles.
1 . A method for operating a first production vehicle, the method comprising:
with the first production vehicle, travelling on a primary reference road segment, wherein the primary reference road segment is a part of a road network;
receiving sensor data from a first production sensor on-board the first production vehicle;
receiving road surface data from a data storage, wherein the road surface data is related to road surface characteristics of the primary reference road segment, wherein the road surface data was previously collected using a second vehicle that was equipped with at least one specialized road surface sensor system; and
calibrating the first production sensor using the sensor data and the road surface data.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein calibrating the first production sensor includes modifying at least one parameter of a transfer function that relates an output of the first production sensor to road surface characteristics of a road in the road network.
3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the road surface characteristics of the primary reference road segment in the road network are a road surface profile.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the sensor data is received by a microprocessor on-board the first production vehicle.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the road surface data is received by a microprocessor on-board the first production vehicle.
6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the sensor data is received by a remotely-located cloud-based microprocessor.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the road surface data is received by a remotely-located cloud-based microprocessor.
8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
based on a comparison of the sensor data and the road surface data, determining that one or more sensors in the first production vehicle are sufficiently accurate;
while traveling over a second road segment in the road network with the first production vehicle, collecting additional road surface data;
determining road surface characteristics of the second road segment based on the additional road surface data with the one or more sensors in the first production vehicle; and
using the second road segment as a secondary reference road segment.
9 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
with a second production vehicle, travelling on the secondary reference road segment;
receiving second production sensor data from a second production sensor on-board the second production vehicle, and
using the road surface characteristics of the second road segment and the second production sensor data, calibrating the second production sensor on-board the second production vehicle.
10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the road surface characteristics of the primary reference road segment are a road surface profile.
11 . A method for operating a production vehicle, the method comprising:
with a first production vehicle, travelling on a road segment, wherein the road segment is a part of a road network;
collecting production sensor data about a road surface characteristic of the road segment with a first production sensor on-board the first production vehicle;
receiving information about the road surface characteristic, the information being at least partially based on road surface data collected by a second vehicle, wherein the second vehicle includes at least one specialized road surface sensor system; and
based on the production sensor data about the road surface characteristic and the information about the road surface characteristic, calibrating the first production sensor.
12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein calibrating the first production sensor includes modifying at least one parameter of a transfer function that relates an output of the first production sensor to the road surface characteristic.
13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the road surface characteristic is a road surface profile.
14 . A method for operating a production vehicle, the method comprising:
with the production vehicle, travelling on a road segment, wherein the road segment is a primary or secondary reference road segment, and wherein the road segment has a road surface profile;
while travelling on the road segment, receiving signal data representative of a response of a sensor on-board the production vehicle;
receiving prerecorded information about the road surface profile of the road segment; and
based on the signal data and the prerecorded information about the road surface profile of the road segment, determining a degree of accuracy of the sensor.
15 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising uploading, to a cloud database, the signal data and the degree of accuracy if the degree of accuracy is above a threshold value.
16 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising discounting or ignoring the signal data if the degree of accuracy is below a threshold value.
17 . A method of improving performance of a system on-board a vehicle while traveling on a road segment, the method comprising:
while traveling along the road segment, receiving information about a motion of a portion of the vehicle from an on-board sensor;
receiving previously determined data about an aspect of a surface of the road segment;
based on the information about the motion of the portion of the vehicle and the previously determined data about the aspect of the road segment, adjusting a value of a parameter associated with the system on-board the vehicle; and
as a result of the adjustment of the value of the parameter, improving a performance of the system.
18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the system on-board the vehicle is a sensor.
19 . The method of claim 18 , wherein the sensor is an accelerometer.
20 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the portion of the vehicle is an unsprung mass of the vehicle.
21 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the on-board sensor is attached to the unsprung mass of the vehicle and the motion is a vertical motion of a wheel assembly.
22 . A method of improving performance of at least one sensor system on-board a vehicle while traveling on a road segment, the method comprising:
while traveling along the road segment, receiving information related to a road surface profile of the road segment from the at least one sensor system on-board the vehicle;
based on the information related to the road surface profile of the road segment, adjusting a value of a parameter associated with the at least one sensor system on-board the vehicle; and
as a result of the adjustment, improving a performance of the at least one sensor system.
23 . The method of claim 22 , wherein the at least one sensor system is selected from the group consisting of an accelerometer system, an IMU system, a displacement sensor system, an optical sensor system, and a LIDAR system.
24 . The method of claim 22 , wherein the road segment is a primary reference road segment or a secondary reference road segment.
25 . The method of claim 24 , further comprising adjusting the value of the parameter based on the information related to the road surface profile of the road segment received from the at least one sensor system on-board the vehicle and previously stored information related to the road surface profile of the primary reference road segment or the secondary reference road segment.