US 2025/0030531 A1 · HARDWARE-BASED TIME SYNCHRONIZATION FOR HETEROGENEOUS SENSORS IN AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES

Abstract

Devices, systems, and methods for hardware-based time synchronization for heterogenous sensors are described. An example method includes generating a plurality of input trigger pulses having a nominal pulse-per-second (PPS) rate, generating, based on timing information derived from the plurality of input trigger pulses, a plurality of output trigger pulses, and transmitting the plurality of output trigger pulses to a sensor of a plurality of sensors, wherein a frequency of the plurality of output trigger pulses corresponds to a target operating frequency of the sensor, wherein, in a case that a navigation system coupled to the synchronization unit is functioning correctly, the plurality of input trigger pulses is generated based on a nominal PPS signal from the navigation unit, and wherein, in a case that the navigation system is not functioning correctly, the plurality of input trigger pulses is generated based on a simulated clock source of the synchronization unit.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A system for synchronization in a vehicle, comprising:

a plurality of sensors providing sensing capabilities for navigation of the vehicle;
a top-level synchronization module configured to receive a pulse-per-second (PPS) signal and generate a trigger signal to control the plurality of sensors;
a plurality of sensor synchronization modules in communication with the top-level synchronization module, each of the synchronization modules associated with a sensor in the plurality of sensors and configured to synchronize operations of the sensor based on the trigger signal;
and
a pair of image sensor packages, each image sensor package in the pair comprising,
an image sensor,
a data acquisition interface configured to obtain feedback data related to operations of the image sensor package,
a process trigger module, in communication with the top-level synchronization module, configured to receive the feedback data from the data acquisition interface, and
a data interface configured to exchange pixel and synchronization information between the data interface and the image sensor.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Hardware-based time synchronization for heterogeneous sensors in autonomous vehicles

Life of this patent

Hardware-based time synchronization for heterogeneous sensors in autonomous vehicles

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20