Vehicle rollover sensing

A rollover sensing apparatus for predicting an rollover condition for a vehicle, comprising:

• a roll rate sensor for sensing roll rate about a horizontal axis of a vehicle and producing an output signal indicative thereof;
• a first accelerometer for measuring lateral acceleration of the vehicle and producing an output signal indicative thereof;
• a second accelerometer for measuring vertical acceleration of the vehicle and producing an output signal indicative thereof;
• a controller for receiving said signals from said angular roll rate sensor, said first accelerometer, and said second accelerometer and for estimating a current roll angle, said controller further predicting a future roll angle based on said estimated current roll angle and said sensed roll rate, and comparing said predicted future roll angle to a threshold value;
• and
• an output for deploying a vehicle rollover condition output based on said comparison.

A rollover sensing apparatus for predicting a pitchover condition of a vehicle, comprising:

• an angular pitch rate sensor for sensing pitch rate about a lateral axis of a vehicle and producing an output signal indicative thereof;
• a first accelerometer for measuring longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle and producing an output signal indicative thereof;
• a second accelerometer for measuring vertical acceleration of the vehicle and producing an output signal indicative thereof;
• a controller for receiving said signals from said angular pitch rate sensor, said first accelerometer, and said second accelerometer, and for estimating a current pitch angle, said controller further predicting a future pitch angle as a function of said estimated current pitch angle and said sensed pitch rate, and comparing said predicted future pitch angle to a threshold value;
• and
• an output for deploying a vehicle pitchover condition based on said comparison.

An apparatus for estimating a current attitude angle of a vehicle comprising:

• an angular rate sensor for sensing attitude rate of a vehicle and producing an output signal indicative thereof;
• a first accelerometer for measuring horizontal acceleration of the vehicle and producing an output signal indicative thereof;
• a second accelerometer for measuring vertical acceleration of the vehicle and producing an output signal indicative thereof;
• and
• a controller for receiving said signals from said angular rate sensor, said first accelerometer, and said second accelerometer, said controller including a Kalman filter for estimating a current attitude angle.

A method for predicting an overturn condition of a vehicle, said method comprising the steps of:

• sensing attitude rate of a vehicle and producing an output signal indicative thereof;
• sensing horizontal acceleration of the vehicle and producing an output signal indicative thereof;
• sensing vertical acceleration of the vehicle and producing an output signal indicative thereof;
• estimating a current attitude angle;
• predicting a future attitude angle based on said estimated current attitude angle and said sensed attitude rate;
• comparing said predicted future attitude angle to a threshold value;
• and
• deploying a vehicle overturn condition signal based on said comparison.

A method for predicting a rollover condition of a vehicle, said method comprising the steps of:

• sensing roll rate about a horizontal axis of a vehicle and producing an output signal indicative thereof;
• sensing lateral acceleration of said vehicle and producing an output signal indicative thereof;
• sensing vertical acceleration of said vehicle and producing an output signal indicative thereof;
• estimating a current roll angle;
• predicting a future roll angle based on said estimated current roll angle and said sensed roll rate;
• comparing said predicted future roll angle to a threshold value;
• and
• deploying a vehicle overturn condition signal based on said comparison.

A method for predicting a pitchover condition of a vehicle, said method comprising the steps of:

• sensing pitch rate about a lateral axis of a vehicle and producing an output signal indicative thereof;
• sensing longitudinal acceleration of said vehicle and producing an output signal indicative thereof;
• sensing vertical acceleration of said vehicle and producing an output signal indicative thereof;
• estimating a current pitch angle;
• predicting a future pitch angle based on said estimated current pitch angle and said sensed pitch rate;
• comparing said predicted future pitch angle to a threshold value;
• and
• deploying a vehicle pitchover condition signal based on said comparison.

A method of estimating a current attitude angle of a vehicle, said method comprising the steps of:

• sensing attitude rate of a vehicle and producing an output signal indicative thereof;
• sensing horizontal acceleration of the vehicle and producing an output signal indicative thereof;
• sensing vertical acceleration of the vehicle and producing an output signal indicative thereof;
• processing said sensed signals with a Kalman filter so as to estimate a current attitude angle of the vehicle.