Ultrasonic wading detection for a vehicle
AssigneeJaguar Land Rover Limited
InventorsThuy-Yung Tran, Edward Hoare
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A wading sensor for a vehicle comprises an ultrasonic parking distance control. An embodiment detects wading by sensing the difference in the settling time of the diaphragm of a transmitter/receiver, in water and in air. Other embodiments are disclosed.
Claims18
A system for indicating wading of a vehicle comprising an acoustic emitter/receiver sensor having a diaphragm which vibrates in use in response to a drive signal, and a control unit configured to measure the settling time of the diaphragm in a decay period following the drive signal, wherein the acoustic emitter/receiver sensor is a parking sensor, wherein said control unit is configured to recalibrate the output of the parking sensor for operation under water when the settling time of the diaphragm in the decay period following the drive signal indicates wading, so as to determine a distance from the vehicle to an immersed object.
A method of detecting the presence of water comprising:
- (i) driving an acoustic transducer with an oscillating electrical signal;
- (ii) measuring, in a decay period following the oscillating electrical signal, the response of a diaphragm to said oscillating electrical drive signal;
- (iii) determining a settling time of the diaphragm;
- (iv) comparing the measured settling time of the diaphragm with an expected value of settling time of the diaphragm in water and/or in air;
- and
- (v) recalibrating the output of the acoustic transducer for operation under water when the settling time of the diaphragm in the decay period following the drive signal indicates wading, so as to determine a distance from the vehicle to an immersed object.
A non-transient computer readable medium having stored thereon a program executable by a control unit to compare a settling time of a diaphragm of an acoustic emitter/receiver sensor, measured in a decay period following a drive signal applied to the acoustic emitter/receiver sensor, with an expected settling time of the diaphragm of the acoustic emitter/receiver sensor in air and/or with an expected settling time of the diaphragm of the acoustic emitter/receiver sensor in water, to determine whether the acoustic emitter/receiver sensor is disposed in water and to recalibrate the output of the acoustic emitter/receiver sensor for operation under water when the acoustic emitter/receiver sensor is disposed in water, so as to determine a distance from the vehicle to an immersed object.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.