DE102019216297A1 - Vehicle measuring system with exchangeable final storage units - Google Patents

Abstract

A measurement system (12) for a vehicle (10) comprises a data acquisition unit (24) for receiving measurement data, the measurement data including sensor data recorded by at least one sensor unit (14) installed in the vehicle (10) and / or diagnostic data which have been recorded by at least one diagnostic unit (16) installed in the vehicle (10); an intermediate storage unit (26) in which the measurement data from the data acquisition unit (24) are stored during a recording period for which the measurement data are to be stored; and at least one final storage unit (28) into which the measurement data are transferred from the intermediate storage unit (26) by means of the data acquisition unit (34). A data storage rate of the intermediate storage unit (26) is greater than a data storage rate of the final storage unit (28).

Description

The invention relates to a vehicle measurement system and a method, a computer program and a computer-readable medium for archiving measurement data in a vehicle. The invention also relates to a vehicle with a measuring system.

Nowadays, a large amount of data is usually recorded during test drives in vehicles. This data can be used to check functions of the vehicle, but in particular also to simulate test drives in order to test new software versions for the vehicle. In the vehicle, the data is stored on a hard disk, which is then sent to a server's copier station, for example by post. Since the write rates in the vehicle have to be very high due to the amount of data that accumulates, special high-performance hard drives are used, which are, however, very expensive.

It is the object of the invention to make the recording of data in a vehicle more cost-effective and more robust.

This problem is solved by the subject matter of the independent claims. Further embodiments of the invention emerge from the dependent claims and from the following description.

One aspect of the invention relates to a measurement system for a vehicle, such as a car, truck or bus. The vehicle can be a model of a vehicle type intended for the mass market in which the measurement system was installed for test purposes.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the measurement system includes a data acquisition unit for receiving measurement data, the measurement data including sensor data that was recorded by at least one sensor unit installed in the vehicle and / or diagnostic data that was recorded by at least one diagnostic unit installed in the vehicle . The data acquisition unit can be a PC and / or computer that was built into the vehicle and / or that was connected to the one or more sensor units or the one or more diagnostic units for data communication. The data acquisition unit can, for example, be connected to the sensor unit and / or the diagnostic unit by means of a CAN bus or further data acquisition units.

The one or more sensor units can include a camera, a LIDAR, a radar, etc., the sensor data of which can be further processed by autonomous driving functions in the vehicle. The sensor data can include, for example, image data, video data and / or audio data. The sensor data can be data relating to the surroundings of the vehicle. The at least one sensor unit can be designed to detect and monitor the surroundings of the vehicle.

The one or more diagnostic units can be installed in the vehicle in order to monitor components of the vehicle, such as the drive, the brakes, the transmission, etc. include. The diagnostic data can be data relating to the internal states of the vehicle. The at least one diagnostic unit can be designed to generate diagnostic data from data generated by electronic components of the vehicle.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the measuring system comprises an intermediate storage unit in which the measurement data from the data acquisition unit are stored during a recording period for which the measurement data are to be stored. The measurement data do not have to be recorded for the entire operating time of the vehicle, but only for certain recording periods in which, for example, special events occur, such as an abrupt braking. During a recording period, the resulting measurement data that are received in the data recording unit are stored in the intermediate storage unit.

It is to be understood that the intermediate storage unit can be a non-volatile memory such as a hard disk. A non-volatile memory is a memory that retains its content when it is switched off or disconnected from a power supply. It is also to be understood that the data acquisition unit can have a volatile memory, such as a RAM for example, in which programs for carrying out the method described further below can be stored. The measurement data can also be stored in the volatile memory (usually for a short time) before they are transferred to the intermediate storage unit. The storage capacity of the intermediate storage unit can be a factor of 100 greater than that of the volatile memory of the data acquisition unit. The storage capacity of the intermediate storage unit can be, for example, at least 1 TB, 5 TB, 10 TB (terabytes) or more.

For example, the intermediate storage unit can be an internal hard disk of the data acquisition unit. An internal hard drive can be a hard drive that is in the same enclosure as the Data acquisition unit is installed and / or can only be separated from it by means of a tool.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the measuring system comprises at least one final storage unit into which the measurement data are transferred from the intermediate storage unit by means of the data acquisition unit, a data storage rate of the intermediate storage unit being greater than a data storage rate of the final storage unit. The data temporarily stored in the intermediate storage unit, which were stored at the speed with which they arrived in the data acquisition unit, can be transferred more slowly to the final storage unit. This can take place outside of the recording periods, but also during the recording periods. In this way, final storage units can be used which are less expensive than the intermediate storage unit.

The one or more final storage units can be separated from the data acquisition unit, transported to a server and connected to it again in order to transfer the measurement data to the server. When using commercially available final storage units, no interfaces (USB) that are not standard on the market, such as those used in the intermediate storage units, are necessary in order to be able to copy the data to the server. The measurement data can be processed further with the server. For example, the measurement data can be used to test autonomous driving functions outside of a vehicle.

The data storage rate of the intermediate storage unit can be more than 1 GBit / s. The data storage rate of the final storage unit can be less than 1 GBit / s.

The at least one final storage unit can be an external hard disk of the data acquisition unit, i.e. a hard disk which can be manually separated from the data acquisition unit.

Overall, external standard storage devices can be used as end storage devices in order to save and / or send the measurement data. The intermediate storage unit can only be used to temporarily store the measurement data if they are received at a high data transmission rate in the data acquisition unit.

For example, the measurement data can be stored in several files in the intermediate storage unit. The measurement data can then be copied file by file into the final storage unit. Once a file has been copied to one or more final storage devices, it can be deleted from the staging device. A copy process can be validated by calculating and comparing a checksum (such as MD5, SHA, ...) of the source file and the target file.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the measurement data are transferred from the intermediate storage unit to the at least one final storage unit outside the recording period. It is possible for the data acquisition unit to take idle times and free read / write capacities outside of the acquisition periods into account in order to transmit the measurement data to the final storage units. This can be done by monitoring the current data transmission rate to the intermediate storage unit and / or by the fact that the data acquisition unit knows the start and end of a acquisition period from the data acquisition software.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the at least one final storage unit can be replaced manually. The final storage unit is manually detachably connected to the data acquisition unit, for example a slot. For example, the at least one final storage unit can be coupled to the data acquisition unit in such a way that the at least one final storage unit can only be separated from the vehicle by releasing a plug connection. A user can manually separate the final storage unit from the data acquisition unit and then exchange it with another final storage unit, for example.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the at least one final storage unit can be coupled to the data acquisition unit via a manually detachable USB connection. In particular, the data transmission between the data acquisition unit and the final storage unit can take place by means of a standard protocol, so that standard components can be used.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the acquisition of the measurement data is triggered by a driver of the vehicle in the acquisition period in which the measurement data are stored in the intermediate storage unit. For example, the driver can press a switch or push button in the vehicle that starts the detection. This manual trigger unit can be connected to the data acquisition unit, which then starts storing the measurement data.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the acquisition of the measurement data is triggered by an intelligent event recognition unit of the vehicle in the acquisition period in which the measurement data are stored in the intermediate storage unit. The event detection unit can be a Be the software module of the data acquisition unit. The event recognition unit can search the measurement data for specific events and / or recognize them in the measurement data, such as potential collisions, strong braking maneuvers, evasive actions, change of direction, etc. If a specific event is recognized, the data is saved in the buffer unit.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the start of the acquisition period occurs before the acquisition of the measurement data is triggered and the measurement data received between a trigger time and the start of the acquisition period are stored in advance in the data acquisition unit and / or the buffer unit. If no acquisition of the measurement data is triggered, this measurement data can be deleted again and / or overwritten by new measurement data.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the measuring system comprises at least two final storage units into which the measurement data from the final storage unit are written at the same time. It is possible for the same measurement data to be written into the at least two final storage units. In this way, the measurement data can be stored redundantly, which can increase the reliability and / or the data integrity of the measurement system. It is possible for different measurement data to be written into the at least two final storage units. In this way, the writing speed to the final storage units can be doubled. In this way, the data, which may be necessary for reasons of data protection law, can be encrypted when copied to the final storage units for further transport. For performance reasons, this is not possible when recording.

Another aspect of the invention relates to a vehicle, in particular a road vehicle, such as a car, truck, bus, ship or train. The measuring system can be installed temporarily in the vehicle.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the vehicle comprises at least one sensor unit and / or at least one diagnostic unit, which are designed to generate sensor data and / or diagnostic data, and a measuring system as described above and below.

Another aspect of the invention relates to a method for archiving measurement data in a vehicle. The method can be carried out automatically by the data acquisition unit.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the method comprises: receiving the measurement data, the measurement data including sensor data that was recorded by at least one sensor unit installed in the vehicle and / or diagnostic data that was recorded by at least one diagnostic unit installed in the vehicle; Storing the measurement data received from the data acquisition unit in a buffer unit, the measurement data being stored during a acquisition period; and transferring measurement data stored in the intermediate storage unit to a final storage unit by means of the data acquisition unit, a data storage rate of the intermediate storage unit being greater than a data storage rate of the final storage unit.

Further aspects of the invention relate to a computer program which, when it is executed on a processor, carries out the method as described above and below, and a computer-readable medium on which such a computer program is stored. A computer-readable medium can be a hard disk, a USB storage device, a RAM, a ROM, an EPROM or a FLASH memory. A computer-readable medium can also be a data communication network, such as the Internet, for example, which enables program code to be downloaded. The computer program can be carried out by the data acquisition unit, in which it can also be stored in a non-volatile memory.

It is to be understood that features of the method, as described above and below, can also be features of the measuring system, the computer program and / or the computer-readable medium and vice versa.

• 1 zeigt schematisch ein Fahrzeug gemäß einer Ausführungsform der Erfindung.
• 2 zeigt schematisch ein Messsystem gemäß einer Ausführungsform der Erfindung.

In the following, exemplary embodiments of the invention are described in detail with reference to the accompanying figures.

• 1 shows schematically a vehicle according to an embodiment of the invention.
• 2 shows schematically a measuring system according to an embodiment of the invention.

The reference symbols used in the figures and their meaning are summarized in the list of reference symbols. In principle, identical or similar parts are provided with the same reference symbols.

1 shows a vehicle 10 with a measuring system 12th . The vehicle 10 can be a vehicle that is used for test drives with the measurement system 12th was equipped. The measuring system 12th is for example via a data communication bus with a sensor unit 14th , a diagnostic unit 16 and optional an on-board computer 18th of the vehicle 10 connected.

The sensor unit 14th , for example a camera, is designed to capture the surroundings of the vehicle 10 to monitor. The diagnostic unit 16 is designed to provide diagnostic data, for example from components of a drive 20th of the vehicle 10 to record and / or generate. In the on-board computer 18th that also works with the sensor unit 14th and the diagnostic unit 16 is connected, computer programs can run that provide the vehicle's autonomous driving functions. These computer programs can read the sensor data from the sensor unit 14th and the diagnostic data from the diagnostic unit 16 receive, process and based on this the vehicle 10 Taxes.

The measuring system 12th serves to save the sensor data and the diagnostic data for certain recording periods so that these data can then be examined and evaluated later as measurement data.

For example, a driver of the vehicle 10 a trigger 22nd , such as a button, to trigger the storage. The measuring system 12th then stores the measurement data generated in a detection period determined by the time the trigger was actuated.

The 2 shows the measuring system 12th more precisely, this is a data acquisition unit 24 , a temporary storage unit 26th and multiple final storage units 28 having. The intermediate storage unit 26th can be an internal hard disk with a higher data write rate than the final storage units 28 . The final storage units 28 that can be external hard drives are, for example, via a USB interface with the data acquisition unit 24 connected. For example, by pulling out a plug such as a USB port 32 , can be a final storage unit 28 from the data acquisition unit 24 be separated. The 2 shows more of the data acquisition unit 24 separate final storage units 28 '. The final storage units 28 'can, for example, be sent to a server by post 30th transported and then connected to it in order to read out and further process the measurement data stored on it.

Based on 2 is a method for archiving measurement data from the measurement system 12th can be carried out at least partially, described.

At the beginning in step S10 it is assumed that the measuring system 12th is outside of a recording period. The data acquisition unit 24 receives measurement data from the sensor unit 14th and / or the diagnostic unit 16 . The measurement data from a predetermined period of time, such as the last 10 seconds, can be obtained from the data acquisition unit 24 for example in their non-volatile memory and / or in the intermediate storage unit 26th into which the data acquisition unit 24 writes this measurement data and stores them temporarily. Measurement data that were received and / or generated outside of a recording period and that are older than the predetermined period can be deleted or overwritten.

In step S12, the temporary storage of measurement data to be archived is triggered by an event. The event can, for example, trigger the trip unit 22nd be by the driver. Another possible event can be a specific driving event of the vehicle, which can be determined by the on-board computer and / or the data acquisition unit. The start of the collection period can be before the event, such as 10 seconds before the event. The ones already in the intermediate storage unit 26th In this case, stored measurement data can then become measurement data to be archived. The end of the acquisition period can be its start plus a fixed offset, such as 20 seconds.

During the acquisition period, the data in the data acquisition unit 24 received measurement data from the data acquisition unit 24 into the intermediate storage unit 26th written.

In step S14, when the acquisition period has ended, the measurement data to be archived are saved from the intermediate storage unit 26th into the one or more final storage units 28 transfer. This can already happen during the acquisition period, if this is due to the communication link between the intermediate storage unit 26th and the data acquisition unit 23 is possible.

It is possible for the measurement data to be stored in at least two final storage units at the same time 28 to be written. The same measurement data can be stored in the at least two final storage units 28 written to improve data integrity. It is also possible that different measurement data are stored in the at least two final storage units 28 are written to allow the time required to write to the final storage units 28 To shorten. At the same time, the data can be encrypted for further transport, which may be necessary for data protection reasons.

In step S16, if one of the final storage units 28 is described with measurement data, this can be exchanged manually with a separate final storage unit 28 '. The separate final storage unit 28 'can be connected to the server 30th where the measurement data are read out and stored in the server 30th can be further processed. The final storage unit 28 'can return to the vehicle 10 be sent back to be rewritten with measurement data.

In addition, it should be pointed out that “comprehensive” does not exclude any other elements or steps and “one” or “one” does not exclude a large number. Furthermore, it should be pointed out that features or steps that have been described with reference to one of the above exemplary embodiments can also be used in combination with other features or steps of other exemplary embodiments described above. Reference signs in the claims are not to be regarded as a restriction.

List of reference symbols

10

vehicle

12th

Measuring system

14th

Sensor unit

16

Diagnostic unit

18th

Board computer

20th

drive

22nd

trigger

24

Data acquisition unit

26th

Intermediate storage unit

28

Final storage unit

30th

server

32

USB connection

Claims (13)

Measuring system (12) for a vehicle (10), the measuring system (12) comprising: a data acquisition unit (24) for receiving measurement data, wherein the measurement data include sensor data that was recorded by at least one sensor unit (14) installed in the vehicle (10) and / or include diagnostic data that was received by at least one in the vehicle (10) built-in diagnostic unit (16) were added; an intermediate storage unit (26) in which the measurement data from the data acquisition unit (24) are stored during a acquisition period for which the measurement data are to be stored; at least one final storage unit (28) into which the measurement data are transferred from the intermediate storage unit (26) by means of the data acquisition unit (34); wherein a data storage rate of the intermediate storage unit (26) is greater than a data storage rate of the final storage unit (28). Measuring system (12) Claim 1 , the measurement data being transferred from the intermediate storage unit (26) to the at least one final storage unit outside of the recording period. Measuring system (12) Claim 1 or 2 wherein the at least one final storage unit (28) is manually replaceable; and / or wherein the at least one final storage unit (28) is coupled to the data acquisition unit (24) in such a way that the at least one final storage unit (28) can only be separated from the vehicle (10) by releasing a plug connection. Measuring system (12) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the at least one final storage unit (28) can be coupled to the data acquisition unit (24) via a manually detachable USB connection (32). Measuring system (12) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the acquisition of the measurement data in the acquisition period in which the measurement data is stored in the intermediate storage unit (26) by a driver of the vehicle (10) and / or an event recognition unit (18) of the vehicle (10) is triggered. Measuring system (12) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein a start of the acquisition period is before the acquisition of the measurement data is triggered, and the measurement data received between a trigger time and the start of the acquisition period in the data acquisition unit (24) and / or the buffer unit (26) can be saved. Measuring system (12) according to one of the preceding claims, further comprising: at least two final storage units (28) into which the measurement data from the final storage unit (28) are written simultaneously; and or wherein the same measurement data are written into the at least two final storage units (28) and / or wherein different measurement data are written into the at least two final storage units (28). Measuring system (12) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the intermediate storage unit (26) is an internal hard disk of the data acquisition unit; and / or wherein the at least one final storage unit (28) is an external hard disk of the data acquisition unit. Measuring system (12) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the at least one sensor unit (14) is designed to monitor an environment of the vehicle; and or wherein the at least one diagnostic unit (16) is designed to generate diagnostic data from data generated by electronic components of the vehicle. Vehicle (10), comprising: at least one sensor unit (14) and / or at least one diagnostic unit (16), which are designed to generate sensor data and / or diagnostic data; a measuring system (12) according to one of the Claims 1 to 9 . A method for archiving measurement data in a vehicle (10), the method comprising: Receiving the measurement data, wherein the measurement data includes sensor data that was recorded by at least one sensor unit (14) installed in the vehicle (10) and / or includes diagnostic data that was recorded by at least one diagnostic unit (16) installed in the vehicle (10) were; Storing the measurement data received from the data acquisition unit (24) in a buffer unit (26), the measurement data being stored during a acquisition period; Transfer of measurement data stored in the intermediate storage unit (26) to a final storage unit (28) by means of the data acquisition unit (24), a data storage rate of the intermediate storage unit (26) being greater than a data storage rate of the final storage unit (28). Computer program that, when executed on a processor, the method according to Claim 11 performs. Computer-readable medium on which a computer program is based Claim 12 is stored.

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