Real-Time On-Board Fuel Classification in Internal Combustion Engines

A method of identifying an unknown fuel used by an internal combustion engine in a vehicle, the vehicle having a number of on-board sensors, comprising:

• developing a set of sensor models, each model representing measurements of an on-board sensor for different known fuels;
• wherein the sensor models are for sensors from the following sensor group:
• crank sensor, NOx sensor, soot sensor, and exhaust temperature sensor;
• while a vehicle is in operation, acquiring measurement data from two or more sensors of the sensor group;
• delivering the measurement data to an on-board fuel identification process that applies statistical analysis to the measurement data;
• and
• using the fuel identification process to identify the unknown fuel as being one of the different known fuels.