Vehicle rollover sensing using short-term integration

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

• an angular rate sensor for sensing attitude rate of a vehicle and producing an output signal indicative thereof;
• an accelerometer for measuring vertical acceleration of said vehicle and producing an output signal indicative thereof;
• a short-term integrator including a finite impulse response filter for integrating said sensed attitude rate signal and producing an estimated current attitude angle;
• a long-term integrator for integrating said sensed attitude rate signal over a delayed period of time, said long-term integrator producing an output which is further used to determine said estimated current attitude angle, said long-term integrator being responsive to said measured vertical acceleration;
• a predictor for predicting a future attitude angle as a function of said estimated current attitude angle and said sensed attitude rate;
• a first comparator for comparing said predicted future attitude angle to a threshold value;
• and
• an output for deploying a vehicle overturn condition based on said comparison of said first comparator.

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;
• integrating said sensed attitude rate signal with a short-term integrator having a finite impulse response filter and producing an estimated current attitude angle as a function of said integration;
• predicting a future attitude angle as a function of 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 based on said comparison.

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 vertical acceleration of the vehicle and producing an output signal indicative thereof;
• integrating said sensed attitude rate signal with a short-term integrator having a finite impulse response filter and producing an estimated current attitude angle further as a function of said short-term integrator;
• integrating said sensed attitude rate signal over a delayed period of time with a long-term integrator and further estimating said current attitude angle further as a function of said long-term integration;
• predicting a future attitude angle as a function of 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 based on said comparison.