Detailed Description
Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the present invention will be schematically described with reference to the drawings. Like structures in the various drawings are labeled with like numerals.
Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a UWB vehicle-mounted system according to an embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 1, a vehicle-mounted system 100 includes a vehicle-mounted device 2 mounted on a vehicle 1, and a mobile apparatus 3 that communicates with the vehicle-mounted device 2. The UWB vehicle-mounted system of the present invention can perform UWB-IR (Ultra Wide Band-Impulse Radio) based near-field wireless communication. Hereinafter, near field communication of UWB-IR system is referred to as UWB communication. UWB communications may also be referred to as ultra wideband wireless communications.
The mobile device 3 is an information processing terminal, such as a smart phone, etc., and can be carried by a user. Fig. 2 is a block diagram schematically illustrating the outline structure of a mobile device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 2, the mobile device 3 includes a UWB module 31. In the present embodiment, for convenience, a description of other relevant configurations of the mobile device 3 other than UWB communication with the in-vehicle apparatus 2 is omitted.
The UWB module 31 is a communication module capable of UWB communication with the in-vehicle device 2, and may be composed of, for example, an integrated circuit, an antenna, a communication circuit, and the like. The UWB module 31 performs UWB communication by transmitting and receiving electric waves in the form of pulses (hereinafter referred to as pulse signals). The pulse signal used in UWB communication is a signal having an extremely short pulse width. For example, the pulse width may be 2ns. In addition, the pulse signal used in UWB communication has a bandwidth exceeding 500MHz (i.e., ultra wide bandwidth). The frequency bands usable for UWB communication (hereinafter referred to as UWB bands) include 3.1ghz to 10.6ghz, 3.4ghz to 4.8ghz, 7.25ghz to 10.6ghz, 22ghz to 29ghz, and the like. When the UWB module 31 receives the pulse signal transmitted from the in-vehicle device 2, it will reply with a corresponding response signal.
Fig. 3 is a block diagram schematically showing a schematic configuration of the in-vehicle apparatus 2 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 3, the in-vehicle apparatus 2 includes an ECU module 21 and a plurality of UWB anchor points 22. The UWB anchor points 22 correspond to antennas, and a plurality of UWB anchor points 22 are provided at a plurality of positions inside and outside the vehicle and are connected to the ECU module 21, respectively.
The ECU module 21 includes a processor, a memory, I/O, and a bus connecting these components, and executes control programs stored in the memory to perform various processes. The ECU module 21 performs various processes related to communication control of the UWB anchor point 22, and processes related to judgment of the mobile device 3 with respect to the vehicle position.
UWB anchor 22 is a communication module comprised of, for example, integrated circuits, antennas, communication circuits, and the like. The UWB anchor 22 performs UWB-IR based short-range wireless communication according to the instruction of the ECU module 21. The UWB anchor 22 may include two anchors disposed at least two of the front, near center, and rear of the vehicle, the UWB anchors 22 disposed inside and outside the vehicle corresponding to the inside and outside antennas. Each UWB anchor 22 may be provided with a unique identifier (anchor ID).
Fig. 4 is a schematic view schematically showing a UWB anchor according to an embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 4, the anchor 22 includes a rectangular parallelepiped case 221 and a connector 222 extending in the longitudinal direction from one end of the case 221 in the longitudinal direction. Although not shown in the drawings, the housing 221 houses a UWB antenna, a communication unit, a control unit, a timer, and the like. The antenna is used for transmitting and receiving ultra wideband signals. The communication unit typically includes Radio Frequency (RF) front-end and baseband processor components for processing the received signals and signals to be transmitted. The timer is used to measure the Time (i.e., round Trip Time, RTT) that elapses from the transmission of the pulse signal to the receipt of the response signal of the pulse signal. The UWB anchor 22 measures the round trip time by using the timer, associates the measured round trip time with its anchor ID, and outputs the result to the ECU module 21. Connector 222 interfaces UWB anchor 22 with other devices to connect and exchange data with other devices or networks.
In UWB technology, the distance between two devices can be measured by round trip time RTT, but the position cannot be directly determined by distance alone. To know the position, it is often necessary to use multi-point positioning, i.e. deploying multiple UWB anchors in the vehicle and measuring the distance between the mobile device and each anchor, calculating the position of the mobile device relative to those anchors, and thus determining the position. Although two anchor points are theoretically enough to perform two-dimensional positioning, in practical application, especially in a vehicle environment, factors such as signal shielding, non-ideal signal coverage and the like may be encountered, so that positioning accuracy is affected. Therefore, in practical application, UWB positioning generally uses 3 or more anchor points to provide more measurement data, thereby improving positioning accuracy and reliability.
The choice of the installation location of the UWB anchor is also important, and signal shielding should be avoided as much as possible, and good signal coverage is ensured. In this embodiment, the UMB anchor point arrangement scheme is adopted as follows.
< Configuration of UWB Anchor >
With respect to UWB anchor point installation location, the present embodiment is considered from several points of view as follows.
Front, middle and rear, one anchor point is placed at the front of the vehicle, and the other two anchor points are placed at the middle and rear of the vehicle respectively, so that good signal coverage in the length direction of the vehicle can be ensured.
Height distribution-if possible, it is contemplated to place anchor points at different heights to improve signal coverage in the vertical direction. For example, one anchor point may be placed at a lower location (e.g., near the bumper) and two other anchors may be placed at a higher location (e.g., near the roof or window).
Diagonal layout-if the vehicle structure permits, it is considered to place anchor points in a diagonal layout to increase the degree of spatial separation between them, thereby improving positioning accuracy.
Avoiding metallic shielding, namely installing the anchor point at a position which is a certain distance away from a large-scale metal surface (such as an engine cover or a roof) as far as possible so as to reduce the influence of signal reflection and shielding.
Based on the above-described factors, in the present embodiment, the plurality of UWB anchor point 22 antennas are installed at least two positions in front of the vehicle, near the center of the vehicle, and at positions below the ceiling of the vehicle and above the center of the wheel axle of the vehicle, respectively, in the vertical direction. Fig. 5 is a schematic view of the installation position of the UWB anchor according to an embodiment of the present invention, and fig. 6 is a schematic view of the installation height of the UWB anchor according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 5, in this embodiment, the specific installation positions of UWB anchor points are:
The total of four extra-carriage anchor points (UWB anchor points 22a, 22b, 22c and 22 d) are respectively:
UWB anchor point 22a, near the left corner of the front end of the vehicle;
UWB anchor point 22b, near the right corner of the front end of the vehicle;
UWB anchor point 22c, near the left corner of the rear end of the vehicle;
UWB anchor point 22 d-near the right corner of the rear end of the vehicle.
The in-car anchor points are two in-car anchor points (UWB anchor points 22e and 22 f) respectively:
UWB anchor point 22e, front inside the car;
UWB anchor point 22f, rear of the cabin interior.
In addition, a UWB anchor UWB22g can be arranged at the trunk according to the requirement in the carriage.
As shown in fig. 6, the UWB anchor point 22 is located below the ceiling of the vehicle and above the center of the axle of the vehicle in a vertical direction perpendicular to the chassis of the vehicle, and specifically the mounting location should be selected to be at a height of at least 350mm above the ground to prevent water ingress.
(Configuration of UWB anchor points in front of the outside of the cabin)
In the present embodiment, the specific configuration of the UWB anchors 22a and 22b in front of the vehicle cabin may be:
UWB anchor points 22a, 22b are disposed inside the front bumper of the vehicle, at least 14mm from the bumper surface, to avoid direct contact with the anchor points as a result of the user pushing the bumper. The position of the UWB anchor points 22a, 22b should be selected to be at least 350mm above ground level to prevent water. At the same time, the UWB anchors 22a, 22b should avoid areas where a slight collision may occur, as well as pedestrian protection components to reduce injury to pedestrians.
Inside the front bumper of the vehicle, the positions near the left and right corners of the front end of the vehicle may be selected to provide good signal coverage. Bumpers are typically located at the edges of the vehicle, away from the metal body of the vehicle. Positioning UWB anchor points 22a, 22b inside the bumper and at least 14mm from the bumper surface reduces signal shielding and reflection by metallic structures, thereby reducing multipath effects and signal attenuation.
In order to meet the regulations concerning a slight collision, it is necessary to ensure that the UWB anchors 22a and 22b maintain their correct positions even when a slight collision occurs, that is, the UWB anchors 22a and 22b should not be displaced by contact even if a bumper or the like is pushed in. In the real world, collisions may occur anywhere, but for testing and design, designers will determine the collision point of the test for standardized testing according to regulations and most common collision scenarios, and ensure that a certain strength and safety gap is maintained in this most likely collision zone. In this embodiment, it is necessary to ensure a clearance of at least 3mm or more from the pendulum (vibrator for simulating a collision) to the UWB anchor points 22a, 22b at the time of the standardized collision test, taking the thickness of the bumper into consideration. UWB anchors 22a, 22b should also be installed in locations that are not susceptible to flying rocks and are remote from components that may generate high temperatures, such as CVTF coolers, etc., to ensure proper operation at ambient temperatures of-40 ℃ to 100 ℃.
Fig. 7 is a schematic view of a front UWB anchor mounting bracket according to an embodiment of the present invention, wherein fig. 7 (a) shows a pre-mounting state and fig. 7 (b) shows a post-mounting state. As shown in fig. 7, the UWB anchor 22 and the radar unit 23 for acquiring information outside the vehicle share one bracket 24, and the bracket 24 is made of, for example, resin, and is fixed inside the bumper, and includes a first plug portion 241 for mounting the UWB anchor 22 and a second plug portion 242 for mounting the radar unit 23. That is, the UWB anchor points 22a, 22b are fixed to the brackets 24 provided inside the bumper in a state adjacent to the radar unit 23, respectively, and are at least 14mm from the bumper surface. When the UWB anchors 22a and 22b are mounted, the UWB anchors 22a and 22b are engaged with the first insertion portion 241 of the bracket 24, so that a sufficient hand space, for example, a width of the first insertion portion 241 plus 20mm or more on both sides and a circular area extending 110mm outward from the rear end of the connector are required to ensure convenience in mounting and maintenance.
That is, in the present embodiment, UWB anchors 22a and 22b are provided at both right and left ends of the vehicle front bumper inside at positions where the height is moderate, collision regions and high temperature components are avoided, and the operating space is considered.
Fig. 8 is a schematic view of a preferred installation angle range of the UWB anchor for the front. As shown in fig. 8, in this embodiment, the front UWB anchors 22a and 22b are mounted in a state in which the case 221 is located above and the connector 222 is located below, and the preferred mounting angle is:
In a front view of the vehicle, an angle between a longitudinal direction of the housing 221 and a vertical direction perpendicular to the vehicle chassis (hereinafter, simply referred to as a vertical direction) is between-10 ° and 10 °;
In a side view of the vehicle, the longitudinal direction of the housing 221 is deviated from the vertical direction by an angle of 40 ° ± 10 ° with the upper end toward the rear of the vehicle and the lower end (i.e., the connector end) toward the front of the vehicle. In other words, the lower end of the connector 222 is inclined from the vertical direction toward the front of the vehicle by between 30 ° and 50 °;
in a plan view of the vehicle, an angle between the longitudinal direction of the housing 221 and the front-rear direction of the vehicle is between-10 ° and 10 °.
As shown in the right test result of fig. 8, by adopting the above-mentioned preferable installation angle range, it can be ensured that the signals of the UWB anchor points 22a, 22b can more uniformly cover the front and side front regions of the vehicle, and the consistency and accuracy of positioning can be improved.
(Configuration of UWB anchor points at the rear outside of the cabin)
In the present embodiment, the specific configuration of the outside-cabin rear UWB anchors 22c and 22d may be:
UWB anchors 22c, 22d are provided inside the rear bumper of the vehicle, at positions near the left and right corners of the rear end of the vehicle, to provide good signal coverage. The UWB anchor points 22c, 22d should be at least 14mm from the bumper surface to avoid direct contact with the anchor points as the user pushes against the bumper. The position of the UWB anchors 22c, 22d should be selected to be at least 350mm above ground level to prevent water.
Fig. 9 is a schematic view of a preferred installation angle range for the rear UWB anchor. As shown in fig. 9, in this embodiment, the rear UWB anchors 22c and 22d are mounted in a state in which the case 221 is located above and the connector 222 is located below, and the preferred mounting angle is:
in a front (rear) view of the vehicle, an angle between a longitudinal direction and a vertical direction of the housing 221 is between-10 ° and 10 °;
In a side view of the vehicle, the longitudinal direction of the housing 221 is deviated from the vertical direction by an angle of 40 ° ± 10 ° with the upper end toward the rear of the vehicle and the lower end (i.e., the connector end) toward the front of the vehicle. In other words, the lower end of the connector 222 is inclined from the vertical direction toward the front of the vehicle by between 30 ° and 50 °;
In a plan view of the vehicle, the angle between the long side of the other end in the longitudinal direction of the case 221 and the front-rear direction of the vehicle is 40 ° ± 10 °, that is, 30 ° to 50 °.
As shown in the right test result of fig. 9, by adopting the above-described preferable installation angle range, it is ensured that the signals of the UWB anchors 22c, 22d can more uniformly cover the rear and side rear regions of the vehicle, and the consistency and accuracy of positioning are improved.
(Configuration of UWB anchor points in carriage)
In this embodiment, the specific configuration of the UWB anchors 22e and 22f in the vehicle may be:
The UWB anchors 22e and 22f are disposed apart from each other in the front-rear direction in the vehicle cabin, wherein the UWB anchor 22e is disposed in the vehicle cabin near the boundary between the front windshield and the ceiling of the vehicle, and the UWB anchor 22f is disposed in the rear position of the ceiling.
Fig. 10 is a schematic view of a preferred installation range of UWB anchors in a vehicle cabin. As shown in fig. 10, the preferred installation range of the rear UWB anchors 22e, 22f in this embodiment is:
In a plan view of the vehicle, the UWB anchor point 22e is arranged such that the longitudinal direction is substantially parallel to the vehicle ceiling, the case 221 is substantially toward the front of the vehicle, and the connector 22 is substantially toward the rear of the vehicle, and the longitudinal direction of the case 221 of the UWB anchor point 22e is deviated from a line 0B (the center line of the vehicle, the direction of the line 0B may indicate the longitudinal direction of the vehicle) shown by a chain line in the figure by 30 ° ± 10 ° toward the vehicle side (the direction where the shielding metal or the vehicle pillar is large). The UWB anchor 22f is disposed with the housing 221 facing substantially rearward of the vehicle and the connector 222 facing substantially forward of the vehicle, with the length direction of the housing 221 of the UWB anchor 22f preferably being offset from the vehicle length direction by 30 °, and the length direction of the housing 221 of the UWB anchor 22f may be offset from the vehicle length direction by 90 °. By thus offsetting the UWB anchors 22e, 22f from the 0B line, strong directions of signals can be directed to these areas, thereby improving signal coverage and communication quality.
In the transverse direction of the vehicle, the UWB anchor points 22e and 22f are arranged within the range of +/-150 mm on two sides of the 0B line so as to ensure that the smart phones on the two sides can effectively communicate with the UWB anchor points, and the UWB anchor points are required to be close to the center of the vehicle as much as possible so as to achieve better signal coverage.
The UWB anchors 22e, 22f should be near the window upper edge in the height direction of the vehicle to be able to communicate with smart phones ensuring the interior of the cabin as well as the exterior of the vehicle. In particular, for the UWB anchor point 22e at the front of the vehicle, it is necessary to arrange it at a position below the front roof rail in order to communicate better with the front (outside) of the vehicle.
By distributing two UWB anchors 22e, 22f (or more UWB anchors) in the fore-and-aft direction inside the vehicle cabin as described above, the coverage of the entire area inside the vehicle cabin can be achieved. Therefore, any position in the carriage can be effectively communicated with the UWB anchor point, and the positioning accuracy and reliability are improved. Besides, the UWB anchor points 22e and 22f are arranged near the upper end of the glass in the carriage, so that signals can be helped to penetrate through the glass, shielding of other objects in the carriage on the signals is reduced, and the signal transmission efficiency is improved, so that communication with equipment such as a smart phone and the like outside the carriage can be realized, and the seamless connection and interaction between the vehicle and external equipment are very beneficial.
(Trunk anchor point)
In this embodiment, UWB anchor point 22g may be provided at the trunk as necessary to realize a function of using the vehicle for sharing logistics.
Under the application scenario of sharing logistics, the smart phone establishes a secure connection with the vehicle through the UWB technology and serves as a virtual key of the vehicle, and a vehicle owner can authorize different users to use their smart phones as the vehicle key in a specific time period. In this way, different users can individually open the trunk for the period of time they are authorized to remove or store items. The system may set permissions and restrictions to ensure that only authorized users can open the trunk. In addition, the system can record the time, place and user information of each trunk opening so as to be convenient for the vehicle owner or manager to monitor and manage.
The trunk is a closed space generally, and by arranging a special UWB anchor point 22g at the trunk, signals can be ensured to be uniformly covered in the whole trunk area, inaccurate positioning caused by signal shielding or attenuation is avoided, the position of a user and a vehicle can be accurately determined by combining with the high-precision positioning function of UWB, and the trunk can be opened only when the user approaches the vehicle, so that the safety is improved, the trunk is independently controlled to be opened by a smart phone, and convenience and safety guarantee are provided for vehicle sharing and intelligent management.
The present invention is not limited to the foregoing embodiments, and modifications, improvements, and the like can be made as appropriate. For example, in the above embodiment, the case where 4 extra-cabin anchors (UWB anchors 22a, 22b, 22c, 22 d), 2 intra-cabin anchors (UWB anchors 22e, 22 f), and 1 trunk anchor (UWB anchor 22 g) are provided has been illustrated, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and the number of UWB anchors may be increased or decreased as necessary. For example, additional anchor points can be added at four corners or at the center of the top of the carriage, and the number of anchor points in the carriage can be increased according to the size and shape of the carriage, so as to improve the accuracy and coverage range of positioning in the carriage. The outside anchor point of the carriage can also be offset to the front or rear of the vehicle according to the use environment and the common parking posture of the vehicle.
In the foregoing embodiment, the scenario in which the UWB anchor point is used to implement the car key using the UWB technology has been described, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and the respective advantages of the two may be fully utilized by combining the bluetooth technology, and the bluetooth mode and the UWB mode may be dynamically switched according to the relative distance between the user and the car, so as to implement a more comprehensive car control and positioning solution. In particular, bluetooth technology performs well in long-range communication, and in particular, bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology can perform stable communication in a range of several tens of meters. Therefore, the Bluetooth technology can be utilized to perform preliminary identity verification and vehicle awakening when a user approaches the vehicle, preparation is made for subsequent UWB accurate positioning and control, and the UWB technology provides millimeter-level positioning accuracy in a short distance, so that the Bluetooth vehicle intelligent tracking system is very suitable for accurate positioning in and around the vehicle. For example, when a user approaches the vehicle a distance, the system may switch to UWB mode, utilizing UWB anchors for more accurate distance measurement and positioning, thereby enabling keyless entry, startup, and other location-based control functions. Therefore, a more flexible, efficient and accurate vehicle control and positioning system can be realized, and the requirements under different scenes are met.
Further, the present invention includes at least the following matters, wherein brackets indicate the corresponding members or the like in the above-described embodiments, but is not limited thereto.
< Scheme 1>
An in-vehicle apparatus (in-vehicle apparatus 2) mounted on a vehicle, comprising:
A plurality of antennas (UWB anchor points 22) configured to receive Ultra Wide Band (Ultra Wide Band) signals;
The plurality of antennas are disposed at least two of positions in front of, near the center of, and behind the vehicle;
the plurality of antennas are located below a ceiling of the vehicle and above a center of a vehicle axle in a vertical direction perpendicular to the vehicle chassis.
By adopting the in-vehicle apparatus of claim 1, the antennas are provided at least two of the positions in front of, near the center of, and behind the vehicle, the coverage of the signal can be maximized, ensuring that the mobile device 3 outside the vehicle can receive the signals of at least two anchor points, thereby improving the reliability of positioning. And the antenna is positioned below the ceiling of the vehicle and above the center of the vehicle axle in the vertical direction perpendicular to the vehicle chassis, so that water can be prevented from overflowing the antenna, and damage is caused to internal devices of the antenna.
< Scheme 2>
In the in-vehicle apparatus of claim 1, each of the plurality of antennas has a housing (housing 221) and a connector (connector 222) extending in the longitudinal direction from one end of the housing in the longitudinal direction,
The plurality of antennas includes a pair of front antennas (UWB anchors 22a, 22 b),
The pair of front antennas are located at the left and right ends of the vehicle at positions that are more inward than the bumper surface that constitutes the outer surface of the front portion of the vehicle and that are 14mm or more away from the bumper surface;
The pair of front antennas is mounted to the vehicle in a state where the housing is located above and the connector is located below, and an angle between a longitudinal direction of the housing and the vertical direction is between-10 DEG and 10 DEG in a front view of the vehicle, the connector is inclined between 30 DEG and 50 DEG from the vertical direction downward toward the front of the vehicle in a side view of the vehicle, and an angle between a long side of the other end of the longitudinal direction of the housing and the front-rear direction of the vehicle is between-10 DEG and 10 DEG in a top view of the vehicle.
By adopting the in-vehicle apparatus of claim 2, the left and right ends of the pair of antenna vehicles are mounted further inside the bumper surface, the collision region and the high-temperature component can be avoided, and the operation space is taken into consideration. And the bumper is typically located at the edge of the vehicle, away from the metal body of the vehicle, placing the antenna inside the bumper and above 14mm from the bumper surface can reduce signal shielding and reflection by the metal structure, thereby reducing multipath effects and signal attenuation. In addition, the vehicle-mounted device of the scheme 2 can optimize the propagation direction and the receiving condition of the signal by adjusting the inclination angle of the antenna, and ensure that the signal has better propagation effect in different directions of the vehicle, thereby improving the positioning accuracy.
< Scheme 3>
In the in-vehicle apparatus according to claim 2, the pair of front antennas shares one bracket with a radar unit that acquires information outside the vehicle, and is fixed to a plastic member provided further inside than the bumper surface in a state of being adjacent to the radar unit.
By adopting the vehicle-mounted device of the scheme 3, the UWB antenna and the radar unit share one bracket, so that the sharing of the mounting bracket can be realized, and parts are reduced.
< Scheme 4>
In the in-vehicle apparatus according to claim 2, the plurality of antennas includes a pair of rear antennas (UWB anchor points 22c, 22 d) disposed at both left and right ends of the vehicle rear,
The pair of rear antennas is mounted to the vehicle in a state where the housing is located above and the connector is located below, and an angle between a longitudinal direction of the housing and the vertical direction is between-10 DEG and 10 DEG in a front view of the vehicle, the connector is inclined between 30 DEG and 50 DEG from a lower direction of the vertical direction toward a front of the vehicle in a side view of the vehicle, and a long side of the other end of the longitudinal direction of the housing is close to each other in a manner that an angle between the long side and the front-rear direction is between 30 DEG and 50 DEG in a top view of the vehicle.
By adopting the in-vehicle device of claim 4, it is possible to ensure that the signals of the pair of rear antennas can more uniformly cover the rear and side rear areas of the vehicle, and to improve the consistency and accuracy of positioning.
< Scheme 5>
In the in-vehicle apparatus according to claim 1, the plurality of antennas includes at least two central antennas (UWB anchor points 22e, 22 f) disposed apart from each other in a front-rear direction in a cabin of the vehicle.
By adopting the vehicle-mounted device in the scheme 5, the whole area in the carriage can be covered, and any position in the carriage can be effectively communicated with the antenna, so that the positioning accuracy and reliability are improved.
< Scheme 6>
In the in-vehicle apparatus according to claim 5, at least one of the center antennas is disposed in a vehicle cabin near a boundary between a front windshield and a ceiling of the vehicle.
By adopting the vehicle-mounted device of the scheme 6, the antenna is configured near the front windshield and the ceiling of the vehicle, so that UWB signals can be helped to penetrate through the glass, shielding of other objects in the vehicle on the signals is reduced, the signal propagation efficiency is improved, communication with equipment such as a smart phone and the like outside the vehicle can be realized, and the vehicle-mounted device is very beneficial to realizing seamless connection and interaction between the vehicle and external equipment.