Detection system for analyzing crash events and methods of the same

A detection device for a vehicle, comprising:

• a housing rigidly attached to a body of the vehicle, the body having kinetic energy management characteristics;
• a receiver positioned at least partially within the housing and electrically coupled with the vehicle;
• an accelerometer configured to measure acceleration along multiple axes of the vehicle;
• a processing unit operatively coupled with the accelerometer and configured to:
• continuously monitor multi-axis acceleration data from the accelerometer;
• analyze data received using the accelerometer to determine that a crash event has occurred;
• in response to determining that the crash event has occurred, generate a notification, the notification including multi-axis acceleration data corresponding to the crash event;
• and
• a transmitter configured to output the notification for a remote server;
• wherein:
• the remote server is configured to:
• access vehicle-specific information corresponding to the vehicle;
• determine, using the multi-axis acceleration data:
• a crash force received by the vehicle during the crash event;
• and
• a direction of the crash force received by the vehicle;
• and
• compute estimated physical damage of the vehicle using the vehicle-specific information, the determined crash force, and the direction of the crash force.

A method for detecting and characterizing a crash event for a vehicle having energy management characteristics in near real-time, comprising:

• continuously monitoring, using an accelerometer at the vehicle, acceleration data indicating acceleration along multiple axes of the vehicle;
• continuously monitoring, using a gyroscope at the vehicle, angular velocity data indicating an angular velocity of the vehicle;
• continuously monitoring, using a speed sensor at the vehicle, rate of travel data indicating a rate of travel of vehicle;
• determining, using a detection device rigidly secured to the vehicle and the acceleration data, that the vehicle has been involved in a crash event:
• transmitting, using the detection device, a notification to a remote server, the notification including the acceleration data, the angular velocity data, and the rate of travel data;
• and
• determining physical-damage characteristics of the vehicle, using a physical-damage module of the remote server, by:
• accessing vehicle-specific information corresponding to the vehicle using vehicle identification information received from the detection device;
• determining, using the acceleration data, the angular velocity data, and the rate of travel data:
• a crash force received by the vehicle during the crash event;
• and
• a direction of the crash force received by the vehicle;
• and
• computing estimated physical damage of the vehicle using the vehicle-specific information, the determined crash force, and the direction of the crash force.