Data fusion system for a vehicle equipped with unsynchronized perception sensors

A controller-circuit for a sensor data fusion system for a vehicle with multiple sensors, said controller-circuit comprising:

• a first-input configured to communicate with a first-sensor mounted on a host-vehicle, said first-sensor configured to output a first-frame of data and a subsequent-frame of data indicative of objects present in a first-field-of-view, said first-frame characterized by a first-time-stamp, said subsequent-frame of data characterized by a subsequent-time-stamp different from the first-time-stamp;
• a second-input configured to communicate with a second-sensor mounted on the host-vehicle, said second-sensor configured to output a second-frame of data indicative of objects present in a second-field-of-view that overlaps the first-field-of-view, said second-frame characterized by a second-time-stamp temporally located between the first-time-stamp and the subsequent-time-stamp;
• and
• a processor in communication with the first-sensor and the second-sensor, said processor configured to synthesize an interpolated-frame from the first-frame and the subsequent-frame, said interpolated-frame characterized by an interpolated-time-stamp that corresponds to the second-time-stamp, said processor further configured to fuse the interpolated-frame with the second-frame to provide a fused-frame of data characterized by the interpolated-time-stamp, and operate the host-vehicle in accordance with the fused-frame.

A method of operating a sensor data fusion system for a vehicle with multiple sensors, said method comprising:

• receiving a first-frame of data and a subsequent-frame of data from a first-sensor mounted on a host-vehicle, said first-frame of data and said subsequent-frame of data indicative of objects present in a first-field-of-view, said first-frame characterized by a first-time-stamp, said subsequent-frame of data characterized by a subsequent-time-stamp different from the first-time-stamp;
• receiving a second-frame of data from a second-sensor mounted on the host-vehicle, said second-frame of data indicative of objects present in a second-field-of-view that overlaps the first-field-of-view, said second-frame characterized by a second-time-stamp temporally located between the first-time-stamp and the subsequent-time-stamp;
• synthesizing an interpolated-frame from the first-frame and the subsequent-frame, said interpolated-frame characterized by an interpolated-time-stamp that corresponds to the second-time-stamp;
• fusing the interpolated-frame with the second-frame to provide a fused-frame of data characterized by the interpolated-time-stamp;
• and
• operating the host-vehicle in accordance with the fused-frame.