Description:Complete Specification:
The following specification describes and ascertains the nature of this invention and the manner in which it is to be performed

Field of the invention
[0001] The present disclosure relates to wireless data transfer in an autonomous vehicle environment.
Background of the invention
[0002] Autonomous car consists of different types of sensors. Adding additional sensors and systems to an existing vehicle is a hassle. In instances of hardware failures/damages the original equipment manufacturers (OEM) face a lot of difficulty in placing the vehicle sensors with respect to spacing, wiring and changing them or upgrading the vehicle as per customer needs. As a solution to this, sensors and systems should support a plug and play protocol that has efficient wiring and easy maintenance.

[0003] Further, creating wireless environment for autonomous vehicles needs a software system to control data flow through central wireless module. Current software systems are designed with a view of fixed set of sensors and driving levels. No modifications in software can be done when it comes to sensors and SAE driving levels [Society of autonomic engineers (SAE) define six driving levels ranging from no automation to full driving automation]. If one sensor degrades most of the features would be degraded and system wouldn’t work. Addition of more sensors to current system wouldn’t enhance the driving levels.

[0004] The existing in-vehicle data transfer systems are designed with a view of fixed set of sensors and driving levels. No modifications in software can be done when it comes to sensors and SAE driving levels. If one sensor degrades most of the features would be degraded and system wouldn’t work. Addition of more sensors to current system wouldn’t enhance the driving levels. Further, the DSRC (Dedicated Short-Range Communication) or WAVE (Wireless Access in Vehicular Environment) communication used for intra vehicle communication have their own disadvantage. For vehicle data transfer, a wireless environment with vehicle automation concepts are still missing in automotive field and there is scope to enhance the usage of sensors and systems in autonomous vehicle. For data transfer between control units in the vehicle, existing wireless data protocols and modules don’t concentrate on error detection, security, and diagnostics of data.

[0005] Prior art WO0126068A1 discloses a monitoring and control capability for applications in transportation, manufacturing, health care, environmental monitoring, and safety and security. The disclosure combines microsensor technology, low power distributed signal processing, low power computation, and low power, low cost wireless and/or wired networking capability in a compact system. The networks provide sensing, local control, remote reconfigurability, and embedded intelligent systems in structures, materials, and environments.

[0006] The present disclosure creates a wireless environment for any vehicle to make it autonomous along with plug and play sensors using a wireless module to control data transfer across vehicle. Wireless communication protocol for above environment is designed for automotive industrial applications using existing CAN protocol features that will support error detection, security and diagnostics of data in vehicle environment.

Brief description of the accompanying drawings
[0007] Figure 1 is an illustration of the system to implement an autonomous vehicle environment, in accordance with an example implementation of the present subject matter;
[0008] Figure 2 depicts a flowchart to detect the availability of vehicle sensor by the module, in accordance with an example implementation of the present subject matter;

[0009] Figure 3 depicts the architecture of the data transfer protocol used for wireless communication in an autonomous vehicle environment, in accordance with an example implementation of the present subject matter;

[0010] Figure 4 depicts the flowchart of transmission and reception of data for wireless communication in an autonomous vehicle environment, in accordance with an example implementation of the present subject matter;

Detailed description of the drawings

[0011] The present disclosure is further described with reference to Figure 1 to Figure 4. It should be noted that the description and the figures merely illustrate the principles of the present subject matter along with examples described herein and should not be construed as a limitation to the present subject matter. It is thus understood that various arrangements may be devised that, although not explicitly described or shown herein, embody the principles of the present subject matter. Moreover, all statements herein reciting principles, aspects, and implementations of the present subject matter, as well as specific examples thereof, are intended to encompass equivalents thereof.

[0012] Figure 1 is an illustration of the system to implement an autonomous vehicle environment, in accordance with an example implementation of the present subject matter. In an autonomous vehicle environment (17), a module(1) is present to control wireless data transfer across a vehicle. The module(1) may comprise a baseband processor or a network interface controller to manage all the radio functions, an integrated microcontroller with an associated memory. It may further comprise a dedicated computer on chip for carrying out cryptographic functions and other integrated peripherals such as ADC, DAC and transmission and reception switch. In an example, the module may be placed inside the Advanced driver Assistance systems (ADAS) electric control unit (ECU) (15).

[0013] Said module (1) is in communication with at least one vehicle sensor or a central module(2). The central module(2) is in communication with plurality of vehicle sensors. The vehicle sensors (3), for the purpose of this disclosure can be any existing vehicular sensors or plug and play sensors. The said sensor may have an analog to digital (A/D) channel (13) and a finite impulse response FIR (14) filter to respond to inputs.

[0014] In an example, to make the vehicle sensor (3) plug-and play, the electromagnetic charge concept can be used wherein, the covers or bumpers where the sensors are placed consist of charging slots. The charging case(16) for the plug and play sensor may comprise of a charging IC(10), a battery (11) and a USB connector (12) to connect with the central module(2). By using the vehicle sensors as plug and play devices, the system is configured to adapt to an existing vehicle so as to increase the level of automation of the existing vehicle.

[0015] The transfer of data can be through 1:1 communication, wherein, each sensor(3) comprises a wireless module(5) that sends data to the module (1) over wireless network (4).

[0016] Optionally, the transfer of data can be through N:1 communication wherein each sensor(3) maybe integrated with a Micro USB and connected to the central module (2) through a communication channel which in an example may be a USB cable. The central module (2) collects data from different sensors and transmit over wireless network(4). The central module maybe an electronic computing device or a smartphone with its personal wireless hotspot/tethering and a control application software.
[0017] The actuators (9) of the existing vehicle systems can further be in communication with a connector box(8) comprising a wireless module (6) and a transmission/reception module (7) to facilitate data transfer. The transmission/reception module contains the list of data to be exchanged.

[0018] The disclosure further provides a system that allows to combine different sensor systems to increase the driving autonomy. For instance, camera systems when combined with ultrasonic systems can provide features such as automatic parking and back over avoidance. Based on the number of sensor available and the respective feature supported by the sensors, a level of driving autonomy can be adopted. In an example, suppose, 8 ultrasonic sensors (USS) will support a warning system which will alarm for nearby collision relevant objects and 12 USS assist in parking. If in a vehicle only 4 side USS are available out of 12, the software would only assist in showing park slots but not assist them in parking, that is, the system adapts from one SAE level to another based on the sensors available. The factors that decide adaptiveness include- different types of sensor systems, number of sensors required, quality of sensors and degradation factors for sensors.

[0019] Referring to figure 2, The same depicts a flowchart to detect the availability of vehicle sensor by the central module, in accordance with an example implementation of the present subject matter.
[0020] In an example, the sensor 200a 200b 200c 200d are in communication with the central module. The central module is configured to collect sensor data and iterate sensor lists (300). 301 is the sensor connection table which checks the connectivity of the sensor, that is whether the sensors 200a to 200d are in communication with the central module or not.
[0021] It further iterates a sensor failure table 302 which informs about the functioning status of the sensor, that is, whether the sensor is performing its function or failing to perform. The central module further iterates a Sensor degradation table 303 which checks for the degradation that is, the vehicle sensors in communication with the central module but failing to function. Further a sensor data table 304 checks for data availability from the sensor. A map feature (305) of sensor availability is then extracted which tells about the availability of a feature based on the availability of vehicle sensors in the vehicle. In an example, let us assume that a surround view system uses 12 ultrasonic sensor (USS), 4 camera, 0 Radar and 0 Lidar. In accordance with the availability of the USS and camera in the vehicle, the central module detects whether the feature is available in the current vehicle or not and assists the driver adapting accordingly.

[0022] The module (1) transmits the data received from the vehicle sensor or the central module over a wireless network and is configured to adapt based on the number of vehicle sensors functioning in the vehicle. Thus, the module acts as an interface to wireless network and helps in transmission and reception of data. Data from the Sensor is sent to the wireless network through the wireless module.

[0023] In order to establish communication between the sensors and the control unit , an architecture of the data transfer protocol used for wireless communication in an autonomous vehicle environment is disclosed. The same incorporates the features of error detection, security, and diagnostics of data.

[0024] Figure 3 depicts the architecture of the data transfer protocol used for wireless communication in an autonomous vehicle environment, in accordance with an example implementation of the present subject matter.
It is to be noted that the following description presupposes that the person skilled in the art is abreast of network protocol stacks, open systems interconnection (OSI) model, the different abstraction layers -Physical, Data Link, Network, Transport, Session, Presentation, and Application- and their implementation. It is further presupposed that the person skilled in the art is acquainted with Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.15.4 and 802.15.3 standards for Low and high data rate wireless personal area network (WPAN) respectively. The same is verily known in the art. Therefore, the description of the same is not necessitated for the sake of brevity.

[0025] The present disclosure aims to incorporate a Personal area network (PAN) with features of Zigbee network. Zigbee protocol is based on IEEE 802.15.4, a technical standard which defines the operation of a low-rate wireless personal area network (LR-WPAN). It specifies the physical layer and media access control for LR-WPANs, and is maintained by the IEEE 802.15 working group. Zigbee network is also based on 802.15.4. Zigbee is a low-cost and low-power wireless PAN standard, intended to meet the needs of sensors and control devices. Zigbee IP (network layer) routes standard IPv6 (internet protocol version 6) traffic over IEEE 802.15.4 using 6LoWPAN header compression. It is a standards-based wireless technology developed to enable low-cost, low-power wireless machine-to-machine (M2M) and internet of things (IoT) networks. Zigbee is for low-data rate, low-power applications and is an open standard.

[0026] Typically ZigBee applications do not require high bandwidth. This technology can be operated at 868 MHz, 902-928 MHz, and 2.4 GHz frequencies depending upon the requirement of application; whereas, the data rate of 250 Kbps is best suited for two way communication between several sensors nodes and controllers.

[0027] Further, the present disclosure also incorporates IEEE 802.15. 3a Ultra Wideband (UWB) technology in its network architecture. UWB is a fast, secure and low power radio technology used to determine location with precise accuracy unmatched by any other wireless technology. While similar to Bluetooth, it is more precise, reliable and effective. UWB was also standardized by IEEE 802.15 Working Group. The UWB frequency range is between 3.1 and 10.6 GHz. UWB can determine the relative position of other devices in the line of sight up to 200 meters. UWB offers a solution with much higher bandwidth. Network speeds offered initially speeds of up to 100 Mbps are more likely.

[0028] UWB uses very low-powered, short-pulse radio signals to transfer data over a wide spectrum of frequencies. This broad spectrum of frequencies makes it tolerant to disturbances, making it attractive for a noisy automotive environment. In addition,
UWB can also support multiple access. These features make UWB particularly suitable for wireless personal area network (WPAN) applications. In a UWB network, the wireless medium is shared among mobile devices. Therefore, the multiple access to the channel should be coordinated by a medium access control (MAC) mechanism in an effective and orderly manner. Since wireless channel is usually error prone, error control techniques should be applied in MAC to provide a certain level of reliable delivery for the network higher layers.

[0029] The present disclosure, the communication protocol architecture comprises of a network layer that routes standard Internet protocol version 6 traffic over IEEE 802.15.4 (IPV6/Zigbee IP network layer). The Medium Access control (MAC) layer in the present network architecture is a combination of CAN (control area network) MAC layer and IEEE 802.15. 3a MAC layer, in order to incorporate the features of both. The CAN MAC is responsible for Message Framing, Arbitration, Acknowledgment, Error Detection and Signaling. Within the CAN MAC layer it is decided whether the bus is free for starting a new transmission or whether a reception is just starting. The IEEE 802.15.3a medium access control (MAC) assists in short range high data rates applications, to coordinate the access to the wireless medium among the sensor devices. Further, the disclosure comprises IEEE 802.15.3a physical layer (PHY) which includes high bit rates over short ranges with low power consumption and high capacity.

[0030] Referring to Figure 3, depicts the architecture of the data transfer protocol used for wireless communication, wherein, the application layer(20) consists of the Application Support sub-layer (APS) (23), the device objects (22) and user-defined application framework(21) that give the device its specific functionality. Application Support Sub Layer (APS) is responsible for functions such as maintaining binding tables, address definition mapping and management ensuring communication between devices, filtering out packets for non-registered end devices or profiles that don’t match and reassembling of the packets.
[0031] The Application Framework depends on the user who has chosen for specific applications to interact with the protocol. This represents how end points are implemented, how data requests and data confirmation is executed for that particular user.

[0032] Next, a network layer(24) that routes over standard Internet protocol version 6 traffic over IEEE 802.15.4 is present. It is responsible for routing and establishing different network topologies such as mesh topology. A mesh topology is a network setup where each computer and network device is interconnected with one another. This topology setup allows for most transmissions to be distributed even if one of the connections goes down. It is a topology commonly used for wireless networks.
The MAC layer in the present network architecture is a combination of CAN MAC layer (25) and IEEE 802.15. 3a MAC layer (26), in order to incorporate the features of both. The CAN MAC is responsible for Message Framing, Arbitration, Acknowledgment, Error Detection and Signaling. Within the CAN MAC layer it is decided whether the bus is free for starting a new transmission or whether a reception is just starting. The IEEE 802.15.3a medium access control (MAC) assists in short range high data rates applications, to coordinate the access to the wireless medium among the sensor devices. Further, the disclosure comprises IEEE 802.15.3a physical layer (27) which includes high bit rates over short ranges with low power consumption and high capacity.

[0033] This entire architecture Wireless communication protocol for above environment is designed for automotive industrial applications using existing CAN protocol features that will support error detection, security and diagnostics of data in vehicle environment.

[0034] Figure 4 depicts the flowchart of transmission for wireless communication in an autonomous vehicle environment, in accordance with an example implementation of the present subject matter. The disclosure now purports to explain the existing wired CAN arbitration concept merged with wireless communication.

[0035] In order for transmission of Data between the devices (sensors), at the transmission end(400), the first step is to perform an initial check(401) if the module has a transmission request. If yes, then all existing interrupt and error flags are cleared (402) and it is checked if the module is free (403). If not, then it is again made free from existing interrupts (402). This is followed by waiting for transmission of data(405) and parallelly checking for any high priority message to be transmitted (404) (CAN arbitration -which is triggered when two or more nodes transmit data at the same time. The arbitration process prioritizes the data based on which a node transfers the data). This is followed by checking the success of transmission of data with acknowledgement from receiver (406). If data transmission is successful with acknowledgement (407), the global interrupt is turned ON(request line enabled) indicating that the transmitter is free for next transmission and all interrupt and error flags to the existing transmission are cleared (408). This marks the end of transmission of message (412). If data transmission is not successfull (409) then an error is triggered and arbitration request is raised to increase the priority of this message to transmit it again (410), error flags are set for error detection (411) and the current process of transmission ends [end of transmission (412)].

[0036] At the receiving end 500, based on the data frame of incoming data, the reception of message is initiated upon detection of the start message (501). If start data frame is error free, the frame is accepted (502) and the data frame and length is checked (503). Once the data is found valid (504), it is checked for receiver criteria (505) (if the message was intended for the receiver and whether the receiver can accept data). If the data is not found valid, an error is generated (506). If the receiver has empty buffer (507), the data is saved. If not, then error is generated (506). This is followed by transferring the data for processing (508) processing and intializing the receiver process after completion of existing reception (509) (acknowledgement allows a node to confirm that it has received a message from another node) marking the end of the reception process (510).

[0037] Referring to Figure 1-4, disclosed is an autonomous vehicle environment (17) comprising a module(1) to control wireless data transfer across the vehicle. Said module(1) is in communication with at least one vehicle sensor (3) or a central module(2) , characterized in that ,the module transmits the data received from the vehicle sensor (3) or the central module(2) over a wireless network (4); and said module is configured to adapt based on the number of vehicle sensors(3) functioning in the vehicle. The central module(2) is in communication with plurality of vehicle sensors (3). The central module(2) detects the vehicle sensors in communication with the central module (301-sensor connection table); the vehicle sensors not in communication with the central module (301-sensor connection table); the vehicle sensors in communication with the central module and functioning (sensor failure table); the vehicle sensors in communication with the central module but failing to function (303-sensor degradation table); and the availability of a feature based on the availability of vehicle sensors in the vehicle (305). Optionally, the vehicle sensors (3) are plug and play devices in communication with the central module (2) through universal serial bus (USB) connector.

[0038] A data transfer protocol is used for wireless communication across a vehicle, characterized in the data transfer protocol, a network layer that routes standard Internet protocol version 6 traffic over IEEE 802.15.4 (24); a medium access (MAC) layer wherein said MAC layer is a combination of CAN MAC (25) and IEEE.802.15.3a MAC (26); and a Physical layer based on IEEE.802.15.3a (27). The data transfer protocol at least uses the following CAN features: arbitration (404); and error detection (506).

[0039] The present disclosure advantageously provides a system to adapt to different SAE driving level and increases the robustness of vehicle to sensor upgrades/failures. Since the autonomous environment is wireless, over the air upgrades can be done. The plug-and-play sensor systems disclosed reduce the need to modify the vehicle in order to implement the present disclosure. Further, with the Plug-and-play sensors along with central module , existing non autonomous vehicles can turn into autonomous vehicles.

[0040] The present disclosure optionally allows a smartphone to act as the central module, thereby allowing the wireless network of a smartphone to assist in transforming a vehicle into autonomous vehicle. Further, the disclosed data transfer protocol helps in efficient transferring data through mesh networking and using CAN features (amongst the others) of arbitration and built-in error detection.
, Claims:We Claim:
1. An autonomous vehicle environment (17) comprising a module(1) to control wireless data transfer across the vehicle, said module in communication with at least one vehicle sensor (3) or a central module(2) , characterized in that ,
- the module transmits the data received from the vehicle sensor (3) or the central module(2) over a wireless network (4); and
-said module is configured to adapt based on the number of vehicle sensors(3) functioning in the vehicle.

2. The autonomous vehicle environment as claimed in Claim 1, wherein, the central module(2) is in communication with plurality of vehicle sensors (3).

3. The autonomous vehicle environment as claimed in Claim 1, wherein, the central module(2) detects:
-the vehicle sensors in communication with the central module (301);
- the vehicle sensors not in communication with the central module (301);
- the vehicle sensors in communication with the central module and functioning (302);
-the vehicle sensors in communication with the central module but failing to function (303); and
-the availability of a feature based on the availability of vehicle sensors in the vehicle (305).

4. The autonomous vehicle environment as claimed in Claim 1, wherein, the vehicle sensors (3) are plug and play devices in communication with the central module (2) through universal serial bus (USB) connector.

5. The autonomous vehicle environment as claimed in Claim 1, wherein a data transfer protocol is used for wireless communication across a vehicle, characterized in the data transfer protocol:
-a network layer that routes standard Internet protocol version 6 traffic over IEEE 802.15.4 (24);
- a medium access (MAC) layer wherein said MAC layer is a combination of CAN MAC (25) and IEEE.802.15.3a MAC (26); and
-Physical layer based on IEEE.802.15.3a (27)

6. The autonomous vehicle environment as claimed in Claim 5, wherein, the data transfer protocol at least uses the following CAN features:
-arbitration (404); and
- error detection (506).