Automotive Sensors Research Articles

Research on Application of Nanotechnology Sensor in Automobile

The automotive sensor, as an important constituent part of automotive electronic control system, is used to sense and send to the controller or instrument the states and changes in operation of such physical quantities as temperature, pressure, speed, location, air flow, gas concentration, etc. Such state information provided by the sensor is the basic for automotive electronic control, and plays a role of “eyes and ears”. Nanotechnology is the core technology during automotive development; it can be applied from the body to wheel of automobile, almost covering all aspects of automobile. Automotive performances such as safety, light weight, environmental protection, etc. can be promoted by applying the technology.

Next generation integrated SiGe mm-wave circuits for automotive radar sensors

In this paper, radar transmitter circuits for next generation automotive radar sensors are presented. A 79 GHz radar transmitter with an output power of 14.5 dBm consuming only 165 mA (including frequency dividers) from a 3.3 V supply voltage clearly shows the advantage of using an improved SiGe technology with an fmax of 380 GHz. In addition, two radar transmitters for higher frequencies (around 150 GHz) based on frequency doubler circuits are showing the potential of SiGe technologies. The first transmitter achieves an output power of 3 dBm (single ended) at 144 GHz, whereas the second transmitters delivers a differential output power of 0 dBm at 150 GHz. Both transmitters achieve an ultra-wide tuning range of about 45 GHz.

New Automotive Electronics Technologies [Automotive Electronics

New smaller-size, higher-reliability, and lower-cost automotive sensors are currently widely available. These sensors include the following: front-facing and rear backup imaging cameras; front-facing and rear blind-spot scanning radars; front-facing scanning laser sensors; radar plus camera vision combined via sensor fusion. Enabled by these new sensor technologies and advances in automotive electronics, newly available control systems enhance vehicle safety and ease the driver's workload. The following safety control systems are described in this article: forward collision warning or braking; backup collision intervention (BCI); lane-departure warning (LDW) or prevention; pedestrian detection with full automatic braking; blind-zone alert; vehicle convoy or platooning; autonomous, automated-driving vehicles; rainstorm or snowstorm high visibility smart headlights.

Materials for high temperature electrochemical applications: Automotive sensors, catalysts and traps

Extensive emissions and fuel economy directives are stimulating the development of every more sophisticated sensors, catalyst systems and emissions traps with improved performance and self-evaluation capabilities. For the development of such systems, deeper insights are required to understand the often complex interplay between the chemical state of the material and its electrical, optical, thermal and mechanical properties. Three examples, illustrating how information gained about the defect, electronic and transport structure of oxide materials can be used to optimize sensor and catalyst properties, are presented. Also discussed are means for in situ monitoring of the status of exhaust catalysts and traps.

Room temperature ultra-sensitive resistive humidity sensor based on single zinc oxide nanowire

A highly sensitive relative humidity (RH) sensor is fabricated by a low-cost and scalable dielectrophoresis method that places a single crystalline zinc oxide nanowire (ZnO NWs) between pre-patterned electrodes in a freestanding device structure. The resistive device demonstrates an exponential sensitivity of more than 5 decades to changes from dry air to 60% RH at room temperature, indebted to a subthreshold carrier modulation due to the high surface-to-volume-ratio and completely exposed NW surface that facilitates surface physisorption of water molecules. Transient and temperature-dependence measurements signify a reproducible sensing performance and an Arrhenius behavior with activation energy of 0.6eV, expected for these metal oxide semiconductors. These results demonstrate the potential of such nanoscale devices for accurate monitoring of RH in different applications, including fuel cells and automotive sensors, smart clothing, smart food packaging and sensor networks.

Automotive FDS Resolution Improvement by Using the Principle of Rational Approximation

In this paper, a novel method of frequency counting of signals coming from automotive sensors is presented. The present method helps to improve fast resolution of output parameters of typical automotive frequency-domain sensors (FDS). Controlling the electromechanical systems in today's cars is a task that requires a high processing speed. The method proposed here has been tested under computer experiments, and theoretical results have shown that it meets the requirements of speed of response and offset error of the parameters under measurement. Here, both a principle of rational approximation and its application to fast registration of frequency changes in the signal that is proportional to the physical parameter under measurement are shown. Finally, some experimental results are shown as well.

A Flexible High-Performance Accelerator Platform for Automotive Sensor Applications

A Flexible High-Performance Accelerator Platform for Automotive Sensor Applications

Design of Three Voltage Level Test System for Auto Sensor Based on LabVIEW

A set of data acquisition terminal for automotive sensor three voltage level signal performance testing is designed. It is connected together to form a complete set of automotive sensor performance test monitoring system using NI-6259 data acquisition card and PC data collection terminal. The system can display real-time maximum, minimum and average of high voltage level, middle and low, duty cycle, frequency, and flipping or not. The measured signal frequency range is 1Hz~2.5 KHz. The measured data and the specified range of data interface is contrasted, automatically determined whether it is reasonable, and classified saved.

Monitoring System of Two Levels Non-Continuous Signal of Automotive Camshaft Sensor

A data collection terminal for performance testing of non-continuous signal of the automotive camshaft sensor is designed, Using NI-6259 data acquisition card to connect the data of collection terminal with pc, and composed of a complete monitoring system of performance testing of automotive sensor. The system can display the maximum, minimum, average, duty cycle, frequency and frequency multiplication or not of the high level and low level in real-time. And the frequency range of the measured signal is between 1Hz and 8KHz. Compare measured data with standard data, determine automatically whether it is reasonable and save them according to their classification. The test personnel are avoided to test continuously and monitor in real-time, offsetting the lack of single function of the display of test platform and running short of features of analysis and judgment.

Information fusion for automotive applications – An overview

This article focusses on the fusion of information from various automotive sensors like radar, video, and lidar for enhanced safety and traffic efficiency. Fusion is not restricted to data from sensors onboard the same vehicle but vehicular communication systems allow to propagate and fuse information with sensor data from other vehicles or from the road infrastructure as well. This enables vehicles to perceive information from regions that are hardly accessible otherwise and represents the basis for cooperative driving maneuvers. While the Bayesian framework builds the basis for information fusion, automobile environments are characterized by their a priori unknown topology, i.e., the number, type, and structure of the perceived objects is highly variable. Multi-object detection and tracking methods are a first step to cope with this challenge. Obviously, the existence or non-existence of an object is of paramount importance for safe driving. Such decisions are highly influenced by the association step that assigns sensor measurements to object tracks. Methods that involve multiple sequences of binary assignments are compared with soft-assignment strategies. Finally, fusion based on finite set statistics that (theoretically) avoid an explicit association are discussed.

Vehicular Networks for Collision Avoidance at Intersections

A substantial fraction of automotive collisions occur at intersections. Statistics collected by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) show that more than 2.8 million intersection-related crashes occur in the United States each year, with such crashes constituting more than 44 percent of all reported crashes [12]. In addition, there is a desire to increase throughput at intersections by reducing the delay introduced by stop signs and traffic signals. In the future, when dealing with autonomous vehicles, some form of co-operative driving is also necessary at intersections to address safety and throughput concerns. In this paper, we investigate the use of vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications to enable the navigation of traffic intersections, to mitigate collision risks, and to increase intersection throughput significantly. Specifically, we design a vehicular network protocol that integrates with mobile wireless radio communication standards such as Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) and Wireless Access in a Vehicular Environment (WAVE). This protocol relies primarily on using V2V communications, GPS and other automotive sensors to safely navigate intersections and also to enable autonomous vehicle control. Vehicles use DSRC/WAVE wireless media to periodically broadcast their position information along with the driving intentions as they approach intersections. We used the hybrid simulator called GrooveNet [1, 2] in order to study different driving scenarios at intersections using simulated vehicles interacting with each other. Our simulation results indicate that very reasonable improvements in safe throughput are possible across many practical traffic scenarios.

A SiGe BiCMOS 24-GHz receiver front-end for automotive short-range radar

This paper presents a fully integrated SiGe BiCMOS 24-GHz receiver front-end implemented for a ultra-wideband automotive short-range radar sensor. The circuit consists of a homodyne I/Q down-converter and a 24-GHz synthesizer. The receiver front-end is able to achieve a power conversion gain as high as 30 dB and a 6-dB noise figure, while preserving high linearity performance thanks to a 1-bit gain control. The frequency synthesizer, which also includes an on-chip loop filter, guarantees a phase noise of ?104 dBc/Hz at 1-MHz offset from the 24.125-GHz carrier and a 4.7-GHz tuning range from 20.4 to 25.1 GHz.

Nonlinear adaptive sliding mode control for vehicle handling improvement via steer-by-wire

This paper proposes a nonlinear adaptive sliding mode control that aims to improve vehicle handling through a Steer-By-Wire system. The designed sliding mode control, which is insensitive to system uncertainties, offers an adaptive sliding gain to eliminate the precise determination of the bound of uncertainties. The sliding gain value is calculated using a simple adaptation algorithm that does not require extensive computational load. Achieving the improved handling characteristics requires both accurate state estimation and well-controlled steering inputs from the Steer-By-Wire system. A second order sliding mode observer provides accurate estimation of lateral and longitudinal velocities while the driver steering angle and yaw rate are available from the automotive sensors. A complete stability analysis based on Lyapunov theory has been presented to guarantee closed loop stability. The simulation results confirmed that the proposed adaptive robust controller not only improves vehicle handling performance but also reduces the chattering problem in the presence of uncertainties in tire cornering stiffness.

Sensor Packaging: New Challenges for New Applications

Advantages of silicon-based sensors are compatibility with CMOS, improved robustness and reliability, smaller size and reflow compatibility. Biosensors that use an electrical measurement principle need electrical connections and fluidic access to the die. This only works when the electrical interconnects are kept clean of biofluid and when the package is compatible with the biofluids, receptor chemicals and other sensor elements. In addition, the package needs to be very cheap. A simple plastic overmolded package with a hole in the compound at the sensor location is an effective solution. RFID sensors also need direct die access for gass and pH sensing. They require the integration of processor, memory, clock, battery and antenna. The package format depends on the application. For checking the quality of perishables during transport or in a store, a disposable flexible tag is needed whereas for smart building sensors, a plastic module is more appropriate. For the sensor tag, a flexible substrate and flip chip bare dies are used. Direct die access is realized by an opening in the flex. Battery and antenna are printed on the flex. Automotive sensors that are used under the hood need to cope with very high operating temperatures with peak temperatures of up to 200 °C and they need to be delamination free. The critical points in the standard plastic packages used today are the molding compound and the wire-bonds. Standard packages can be used up to 150 °C. For higher temperatures, the molding compound and the wire-bond interconnect are being improved.

A Mixed-Signal Embedded Platform for Automotive Sensor Conditioning

A mixed-signal embedded system called Intelligent Sensor InterFace (ISIF) suited to fast identify, trim, and verify an architecture to interface a given sensor is presented. This system has been de...

Application of commercial automotive sensor manufacturing methods for NO x/NH 3 mixed potential sensors for on-board emissions control

The article details the application of commercial manufacturing methods towards the development of NO x /NH 3 sensors for vehicle on-board emissions control. These sensors possess a unique mixed potential sensor design. This unique LANL (Los Alamos National Laboratory) design results in improved sensitivity, selectivity and response time over conventional mixed potential sensors incorporating a stable three-phase interface using a porous electrolyte coated over a dense electrode. A prototype gas sensing platform conducive to large-scale manufacturing and commercialization is also been presented. The observed results indicate the possibility of evolution towards a combined NO x /NH 3 sensor on the same platform. Finally, critical challenges towards developing field deployable mixed potential NO x /NH 3 sensors are identified and discussed.

Application of Commercial Automotive Sensor Manufacturing Methods for NOx/NH3 Mixed Potential Sensors for Vehicle On-board Emissions Control

The article describes the application of commercial manufacturing methods to the development of NOx/NH3 sensors for vehicle on-board emissions control. Implementation of devices that respond to NOx/NH3 in real-time with improved sensitivity, selectivity and response time over conventional mixed potential gas sensors is discussed. Leveraging LANL's (Los Alamos National Laboratory) unique mixed potential sensor design, a cost-effective and mass manufacturable prototype gas sensing platform has been developed. Experimental results from these engineered devices indicate the possibility of a combined NOx/NH3 sensor platform. Moreover, the challenges and limitations towards the commercialization of mixed potential NOx/NH3 sensors are summarized.

Application of Commercial Automotive Sensor Manufacturing Methods for NOx/NH3 Mixed Potential Sensors for Vehicle On-board Emissions Control

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Laser Scanners for Driver-Assistance Systems in Intelligent Vehicles [Applications of Control

Laser scanners find potential application in the automotive field for driver assistance and autonomous operation. Laser scanners that are commercially available are expensive compared to the cost of other commercial automotive sensors, limiting their implementation in cars at this time. The development in laser scanner technology and the anticipated reduced prices that will be available after mass production are expected to result in a growing market share in the near future.

Engineering method for adaptive manufacturing systems design

Adaptive manufacturing systems achieve intelligence and adaptation capabilities through the close interaction between mechanics, electronics, control and software engineering. Mechatronic design of intelligent manufacturing behaviours is of paramount importance for the final performances of complex systems and requires deep integration between mechanical and control engineering. Virtual Commissioning environments offer engineers new opportunities for the design of complex intelligent behaviours and for the enhancement of the performance of adaptive manufacturing systems. This paper discloses a systematic design method focused on interdisciplinary behavioural simulations: Virtual Commissioning tools are used to virtually explore new solution spaces for an effective mechatronic optimization. The results, achieved by applying the method in reengineering a module of an automotive sensor manufacturing line, are finally presented.