Method and apparatus for determining ride height of a vehicle

A sensor module for use in a system for determining a ride height dimension of a vehicle based on co-ordinates of points on a vehicle in three-dimensional space, the sensor module comprising:

• a housing defining mutually perpendicular X, Y and Z axes, wherein the Z axis is vertical axis, the X and Y axes are horizontal, and the origin of the X, Y and Z axes defines a datum point for measuring spherical co-ordinates in three-dimensional space;
• a probe supported by the housing for measuring a respective linear radial distance between the datum point and each of the two designated points, one of the designated points being a reference point relative to the vehicle, and the other one of the designated points being a point on the vehicle;
• a first angular encoder, responsive to orientation of the probe, for producing a signal representing a measurement of a respective first angular co-ordinate for each of the two designated points relative to a horizontal reference;
• and
• a second angular encoder, responsive to orientation of the probe, for producing a signal representing a measurement of a respective second angular co-ordinate for each of the two designated points relative to a vertical reference.

A data processor programmed to perform a sequence of steps, the sequence of steps comprising:

• receiving measurement signals relating to a set of spherical co-ordinates in three-dimensional space for a first point, designated as a reference point relative to the vehicle, with respect to a datum point;
• receiving measurement signals relating to a set of spherical co-ordinates in three-dimensional space for a second point, with respect to the datum point, the second point being on the vehicle;
• and
• processing the received measurement signals to compute the ride height dimension of the vehicle from the spherical co-ordinates of the first and second points.

A program product, comprising executable code transportable by at least one machine readable medium, wherein execution of the code by at least one programmable processor causes the at least one programmable processor to perform a sequence of steps, comprising:

• receiving measurement signals relating to a set of spherical co-ordinates in three-dimensional space for a first point, designated as a reference point relative to the vehicle, with respect to a datum point;
• receiving measurement signals relating to a set of spherical co-ordinates in three-dimensional space for a second point, with respect to the datum point, the second point being on the vehicle;
• and
• processing the received measurement signals to compute the ride height dimension of the vehicle from the spherical co-ordinates of the first and second points.