Patent Description:
In recent years, with the development of advanced control and sensor technology, a need for reliable high-bandwidth data communication throughout a vehicle (including a combination vehicle) has emerged. For instance, real-time video data at <NUM> Mbps may be collected from sensors in a trailer and displayed in the driver cab of the tractor vehicle. In other applications, the sensor information is transferred to a networked (cloud) processing resource or a back-office location for further analysis and decision-making.

The use of wireless technology for collecting the sensor information simplifies mounting, may extend the technical lifecycle and involve other practical advantages compared to wired links, not least when the sensors are mounted on moving, heated or vibrating parts, such as tires and engine. For this purpose, the sensors are provided with radio interfaces designed to cooperate with a corresponding radio interface of a wireless sensor gateway (WSGW) connected to a vehicle network that asses the sensor information on to the driver cab, the central vehicle computer, or towards the back-office location. While core parts of the vehicle network are typically based on wired technology, early attempts have been made to use wireless infrastructure. These attempts have faced various difficulties. The variable geometry of vehicles and combination vehicles in particular (e.g., long-haul vehicles, Nordic combinations) may mean that standard network components cannot be used with their factory settings. Additionally, some metallic parts of the chassis and vehicle body may inconveniently shield, reflect or absorb radio-frequency waves.

<CIT> discloses a system for obtaining information about a vehicle or a component therein including sensors, which are fixed to a frame of the vehicle and arranged to transmit a signal upon detection of a radio frequency (RF) signal, and a directional antenna array. Each antenna element is directed toward a respective sensor, and it transmits RF signals toward that sensor and receives return signals therefrom.

<CIT> discloses a system for V2X communications using multiple radio access technologies (RATs). A device includes a transceiver interface with multiple connections to communicate with multiple transceiver chains, which are configured to support multiple RATs. The transceiver chains can be controlled via the multiple connections of the transceiver interface to coordinate the multiple RATs to complete the communication.

<CIT> discloses a vehicle antenna system for V2X communications, which comprises antennas that can be integrated into vehicle components.

<CIT> discloses an external wireless connection which may be provided by external antenna(s) coupled to the exterior of a vehicle, or by internal antennas within the interior of the vehicle. In particular, the external wireless connection may be configured to provide wireless connectivity to various external devices. Further disclosed is an antenna switching network configured to control the antennas of the vehicle to provide both external and internal wireless coverage.

One objective of the present disclosure is to make available wireless vehicle network technology that is less affected by the problems reviewed above. A particular objective is to propose vehicle network infrastructure that lends itself to mounting in a wide range of vehicle geometries. Another objective is to propose vehicle network infrastructure that overcomes the shielding, reflection and/or absorption problem. It is finally an objective to utilize the vehicle network to supply devices in the vehicle's vicinity with Internet connectivity.

These and other objectives are achieved by the invention as defined by the independent claims. The dependent claims relate to advantageous embodiments.

In a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a commercial vehicle with the features according to claim <NUM>.

The vehicle network in the commercial vehicle is formed by mostly surface-mounted infrastructure and thereby evades problems related to electromagnetic shielding, reflection or absorption. The vehicle surface furthermore offers a multitude of potential mounting points, so that near-ideal spacing of the wireless nodes can be achieved relatively easily. Finally, the surface-mounted infrastructure, from which the vehicle network is formed, has an advantageous further use as a wireless access point for the benefit of mobile stations in the vehicle's vicinity. No comparable synergy would have been available in a wireless vehicle network where the radio links extend inside the vehicle body or where the wireless nodes are otherwise out of reach of external transceivers.

The wireless nodes have different spatial transmit/receive patterns. Some wireless nodes may be equipped with directional antennas while others may have wide-angle antennas, as is deemed most suitable in the respective mounting locations. This economizes transmit power and keeps the received signals reasonably free from noise and interference.

In some embodiments, the wireless nodes may operate in the gigahertz range, such as at least <NUM>, at least <NUM>, at least <NUM>, at least <NUM> or at least <NUM>. This frequency range achieves different degrees of intrinsic directivity, and it includes both unlicensed and licensable spectrum.

In some embodiments, at least one of the wireless nodes comprises a so-called intelligent antenna module (or radio-integrated antenna, or antenna-integrated transceiver, or integrated antenna module), which for purposes of the present disclosure signifies that the baseband circuitry is co-located with the antenna element(s), without a wired connection therebetween. The use of smart antenna modules enables a future migration from the low gigahertz frequency range to tens of gigahertz (e.g., <NUM>-<NUM>) without massive energy losses. A carrier signal that travels in a coaxial cable of feasible outer dimensions is known to suffer significant attenuation at high frequency.

In some embodiments, at least one of the wireless nodes is physically integrated into a projecting part of the vehicle body, to be exemplified below. Such integration, whereby the wireless node is surrounded by free space to a greater extent, is likely to improve the transmit and receive angles under which it communicates with adjacent wireless nodes, and it may also be helpful to achieve unobscured lines of sight.

The vehicle network has mesh-like topology. A mesh topology may include that multiple paths exist between a pair of nodes and/or that the nodes are not in a mutually hierarchic relation. The use of a mesh topology may render the vehicle network more robust to temporary breakdown of links and less error-prone on a system level.

In some embodiments, the wireless node acting as an access point is configured to provide Internet connectivity to sensors (including various Internet-of-Things devices with sensing capabilities), other vehicles and/or handheld devices. By sharing its Internet connectivity with these categories of devices, especially if they are located in areas outside cellular coverage, the commercial vehicle supplies a useful commodity that may add mutual value.

A further aspect not covered by the claimed invention relates to a plurality of wireless nodes. The wireless nodes are suitable to be fixed to points on the surface of a vehicle and configured to cooperate to form a vehicle network, wherein lines of sights between adjacent ones of the wireless nodes are sensibly unobstructed and/or sensibly parallel to the surface of the vehicle. The vehicle network to be formed includes a backhaul port configured to provide Internet connectivity, at least intermittently, to the vehicle network. At least one of the wireless nodes is operable to act as wireless access point for mobile stations in the vehicle's vicinity. This further aspect can be embodied with an equal degree of technical variation as discussed earlier in this section.

For purposes of the present disclosure, the fact that a line of sight is "sensibly parallel" to a vehicle's surface may refer to a partially imaginary surface of the vehicle, wherein depressions, recesses, gaps between structural elements and/or minor projecting objects have been disregarded. In other words, for the assessment of "sensibly parallel", the shape of the vehicle may be simplified or idealized, e.g., into a cuboid constituting a bounding box.

The term "Internet connectivity", when used herein, refers to the global Internet. The wireless nodes connecting to the wireless access point on the commercial vehicle shall be able to exchange communications with parties other than processors in the vehicle network itself. Accordingly, the mere ability of a sensor to forward data to a central vehicle computer via a nearby WSGW does not constitute "Internet connectivity" in the intended sense. Importantly, the exchange of communications must not proceed in real time, but the vehicle network may buffer inbound communications until it has regained coverage, and it may buffer outbound communications destined to the mobile stations while these are too distant.

The aspects of the present disclosure will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, on which certain embodiments of the invention are shown.

The upper part of <FIG> is a side view of two vehicle units which can be coupled, e.g., using a drawbar, to form a combination vehicle <NUM>. The vehicle units are equipped with multiple wireless nodes <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> operable to form a vehicle network across the full combination vehicle <NUM>. Each wireless node may be configured to function as a wireless sensor gateway (WSGW) <NUM> for collecting measurement data from sensors in its vicinity, an ad hoc network access point <NUM> operable to serve mobile stations in the vicinity of the vehicle <NUM>, an infrastructure node <NUM> or - as indicated by the use of multiple drawing references in <FIG> - to fulfil a combination of these roles. While a WSGW <NUM> and an access point <NUM> are each configured to interface with external transceivers, the main function of an infrastructure node <NUM> is to maintain data links within the vehicle network, i.e., between itself and adjacent infrastructure nodes <NUM>. The infrastructure nodes <NUM> may engage in multi-hop relaying of payload data between communication endpoints, e.g., to allow a central processor to collect data from distant sensors, but they may also initiate and receive communications of their own motion.

In the vehicle network, there are further provided cellular antennas <NUM> operable to connect to the global Internet. A modulated carrier signal may be supplied to the antennas <NUM> from baseband circuitry in the wireless communication host <NUM>. The wireless communication host <NUM> may operate the antennas <NUM> as a distributed antenna system (DAS). The cellular antennas <NUM> may be mounted on the roof of the tractor unit of the combination vehicle <NUM>. They shall be suitable to provide at least a mobile broadband service and may be compliant with at least one of the 3GPP standards UMTS (<NUM>), LTE (<NUM>) or NR (<NUM>). A millimeter-wave transceiver, a local-area wireless transceiver or a satellite transceiver are alternative means that may deliver similar mobile broadband services. One of the antennas <NUM> may be of this alternative type, or dual transceivers of the same type may be provided for redundancy or spatial diversity. For example, the antennas <NUM> may for an NR-compatible antenna array. The point where the vehicle network interfaces with the cellular antennas <NUM> or their equivalents may be referred to as a backhaul port. For the purposes of the present invention, it is not essential that the backhaul port be connected to the global Internet at all times without interruption. Rather, some embodiments to be disclosed herein relate to vehicles that move between a first area with reliable Internet coverage and a second area where coverage is scarce and mobile stations in need of connectivity are expected to be found. These embodiments achieve their objectives even when the backhaul port experiences temporary interruptions of the connection to the global Internet.

Further connected to the vehicle network are a main processor <NUM> and a wireless communication host (or wireless communication manager) <NUM>. The main processor <NUM> may be a telematic control unit (TCU) or a vehicle unit computer (VUC), which may fulfil coordinating responsibilities in the network and/or may be the initial recipient of sensor data collected by the WSGWs <NUM>. The main processor <NUM> may include a basic software package (BSP) including an operating system, hardware drivers, hypervisor, safety/monitoring loops etc. as well as standardized or proprietary application programming interfaces (APIs). The wireless communication host <NUM> may comprise circuitry for generating and modulating carrier signals to be supplied to antennas, and may further execute software for monitoring and coordinating the ad hoc network wireless access points <NUM>, e.g., by causing them to appear under a common network name, managing encryption and access control vis-à-vis connecting mobile stations, assisting handover between pairs of access points <NUM> and the like. The resulting vehicle ad hoc network may comply with one or more of the standards in the IEEE <NUM> series (Wi-Fi™). During vehicle maneuvering, such as turning, reversing etc., the coverage around the vehicle <NUM> will dynamically change. Since the access points <NUM> are integrated in the vehicle <NUM>, the coverage offered to the external mobile stations will dynamically change as well. Data will be routed through the established vehicle network using antennas that provide best path.

As shown in <FIG>, furthermore, the wireless communication host <NUM>, the cellular antennas <NUM> and the two frontal infrastructure nodes <NUM> - which are all in physical proximity - are interconnected by wired links <NUM>, which may be relatively more reliable than wireless links and achieve a greater throughput for a given power consumption. In the embodiment shown in <FIG>, the frontal access point <NUM> and the wireless communication host <NUM> are physically co-located; these devices may communicate over a wired link (not shown) or even an internal data bus.

The same vehicle <NUM> is shown in <FIG>, here with emphasis on antenna properties. More precisely, the circles and ellipses in dotted line represent approximate radiation patterns of the infrastructure nodes <NUM> and wireless access points <NUM> of the vehicle network. The visualizations of the patterns, which are essentially three-dimensional, may correspond to ground projections or to horizontal sections of the patterns at the height of an antenna center. The position of the dotted line at a given angle may correspond to a distance at which the radiation propagating in this angle has been attenuated down to a threshold intensity. Depending on their role in the network, the wireless nodes <NUM>, <NUM> have different radiation patterns. As illustrated in <FIG>, the infrastructure nodes <NUM> may include directional antennas, and the access nodes <NUM> may have wide-angle antennas. The WSGWs <NUM> may be equipped with wide-angle antennas as well, and the radiation patterns of the WSGWs <NUM> are implicit in <FIG>. The antennas may be intelligent antenna modules in the sense described above. All antennas may operate at frequencies of at least <NUM>, such as at least <NUM>, such as at least <NUM>; the directional antennas and the wide-angle antennas may operate in mutually different frequency ranges. Different type of radio technologies could be integrated, some examples being IEEE <NUM>, LTE, <NUM> NR, IEEE <NUM>. <NUM>, sub-GHz radio (<NUM>/<NUM>), IEEE <NUM>. 11p (ITS-G5 interface), C-V2X (PC5 interface), DSRC, GNSS, mmWave, BLE and Satcom.

A wide-angle antenna in this sense may be implemented as an approximate omnidirectional antenna, for which the radiated power is approximately constant with respect to the azimuthal angle, or as an approximate isotropic antenna. An ideal dipole antenna may be omnidirectional. The <NUM> antenna in IEEE <NUM> or IEEE <NUM>. <NUM> standards maybe isotropic antennas. A directional antenna maybe a single-element antenna or an antenna array with fixed or variable weights. The weights to be applied in the antenna array of an infrastructure node <NUM>, which represent relative transmit powers and/or phase shifts, may be determined by optimizing the radio link to an adjacent infrastructure node <NUM> when the infrastructure nodes <NUM> are in their mounted positions. The optimization may aim to maximize the received fraction of the transmitted radio-frequency power; this may result in a narrow beam (pencil beam), as suggested by <FIG>, which also reduces the vehicle network's exposure to eavesdropping, interception and integrity attacks. For such links that extend between articulated parts of the vehicle <NUM> (e.g., between a tractor and a trailer), however, it may be suitable to widen the beam slightly in the yaw direction.

Each infrastructure node <NUM> may entertain at least an uplink, which connects it to an adjacent infrastructure node <NUM> that is relatively closer to the main processor <NUM>, and a downlink, which connects it to a different adjacent infrastructure node <NUM> which is, in the network topology, relatively more distant from the main processor <NUM>. Each of the dotted ellipses that extends between a pair of adjacent infrastructure nodes <NUM> in <FIG> refers to the beam of the left node's <NUM> downlink and, at the same time, the right node's <NUM> uplink.

The upper part of <FIG> is a side view of a vehicle <NUM> composed of a trailer unit coupled via a fifth wheel and kingpin connection to a tractor unit. The lower part of <FIG> is a view from below of the same vehicle <NUM>, wherein the rectangles refer to the approximate contours of the vehicle's <NUM> lateral surfaces. The vehicle <NUM> is equipped with infrastructure nodes <NUM>, WSGWs <NUM>, ad hoc network access points <NUM>, a cellular antenna <NUM> and a main processor <NUM> with the corresponding functionalities as previously described. It is noted that the frontal access points <NUM> are not roof-mounded, like in <FIG>, but arranged near the road level, in anticipation of intended connecting mobile stations. Antennas with different radiation patterns have been purposefully used for the infrastructure nodes <NUM> and access points <NUM>, as indicated on the drawing.

While both <FIG>, <FIG> and <FIG> occasionally show combination vehicles <NUM>, the present disclosure extends to single-unit vehicles <NUM> as well, whether they include an articulation point or not. The vehicles <NUM> may be passenger vehicles, such as buses, or construction equipment. The vehicles <NUM> may be conventionally operated, semi-autonomous or autonomous.

<FIG> is a functional representation of the vehicle network <NUM> formed by the infrastructure components that were introduced with reference to <FIG> and <FIG>. <FIG> does not show any parts of the vehicle <NUM>, though its vertical direction generally corresponds to the longitudinal (front-rear) axis of the vehicle <NUM>. The infrastructure components, including the infrastructure nodes <NUM>, WSGWs <NUM>, ad hoc network access points <NUM>, cellular antennas <NUM>, main processor <NUM> and wireless communication host <NUM>, reappear in <FIG>. The backhaul port <NUM>, where the vehicle network <NUM> interfaces with the connection towards the global Internet, has been indicated. In <FIG>, furthermore, the network's <NUM> wireless links <NUM> are drawn in dashed line and wired links <NUM> in solid line. The vehicle network <NUM> may execute an Ethernet protocol or a Controller Area Network (CAN) protocol. While <FIG> shows a topology where the main processor <NUM> is connected to the vehicle network <NUM> via the wireless communication host <NUM>, this disclosure also covers embodiments where the main processor <NUM> is directly connected, e.g., at the T-shaped junction point below the wireless communication host <NUM>.

<FIG> moreover shows potential external communication parties, including a cellular base station <NUM> (e.g., an LTE eNodeB or <NUM>-NR gNodeB), with which the cellular antennas <NUM> communicate over cellular links <NUM>. The radio access network (not shown), to which the cellular base station <NUM> belongs, is supported by a core network, which provides access to the global Internet.

The vehicle network <NUM>, via the WSGWs <NUM>, further communicates with sensors <NUM> in the vehicle. Traffic from the sensors <NUM> may include measurement data, and traffic towards the sensors <NUM> may for example carry transmit requests - especially if the sensors <NUM> are of a pollable type - or configuration data.

The mobile stations connecting to those wireless nodes that act as ad hoc network access points <NUM> are exemplified in <FIG> by an external sensor <NUM>, another vehicle <NUM> and a handheld device <NUM>. This disclosure's usage of the terms "mobile station" and "access point" is occasionally aligned with the terminology in IEEE <NUM> specifications, though compliance with any of these standards is by no means an essential feature of the invention. The communication between the access points <NUM> and the mobile stations <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> may be of the machine-to-machine (M2M) type or vehicle-to-anything (V2x) type, including the V2V, V2N and V2I subtypes.

The external sensor <NUM> may be a utility meter, i.e., a device for reporting a customer's consumption of electricity, gas, water or other commodities. Manual reading of utility meters has been largely abandoned but replaced with the relatively onerous practice of having the utility meters report readings over permanent Internet connections, via cellular subscriber modules or the like. A comparable reporting frequency can be achieved by installing a vehicle network <NUM> of the type described herein in a delivery vehicle, garbage collection vehicle, public transport vehicle or another vehicle that circulates periodically in the residential neighborhoods concerned. The wireless access points <NUM> of the vehicle network <NUM> will then provide the utility meters with intermittent connectivity on a periodic basis.

Another advantageous use case is related to mobile stations that are installed or operated in locations without reliable network coverage, including but not limited to subterranean environments (e.g., mines) and tunnels. The mobile stations may be machine-type devices or user equipment. A vehicle <NUM> equipped with the vehicle network <NUM> described herein, which circulates between said location without reliable network coverage and another location where the cellular antennas <NUM> can successfully establish a connection towards the global Internet, may supply these mobile stations with intermittent connectivity. For this purpose, components of the vehicle network <NUM> may buffer inbound communications from the mobile stations and outbound communications towards the mobile stations.

<FIG> shows a vehicle network <NUM> including infrastructure nodes <NUM>, an ad hoc network access point <NUM>, a backhaul port <NUM>, as well as wireless <NUM> and wired <NUM> links among these. The network <NUM> has a mesh topology. More precisely, the top-left and the bottom-right infrastructure nodes <NUM> are connected by one direct wireless link <NUM> and one indirect (two-hop) wireless link <NUM> via the top-right infrastructure node <NUM>. In different embodiments, the mesh topology may be partial, as shown in <FIG>, or complete in the sense that all wireless nodes <NUM> have a direct wireless link <NUM>.

Suitable physical placement of the wireless nodes <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> of the vehicle network <NUM> will now be discussed with reference to <FIG>, a front view of a commercial vehicle, indicates potentially suitable elements in which wireless nodes <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> can be integrated with a view to obtain lines of sights between adjacent ones of the wireless nodes that are sensibly unobstructed and/or sensibly parallel to the surface of the vehicle. These elements include a winglet <NUM> on the trailer, which may be mounted laterally on the driver cab, a side-view mirror <NUM> or a mirror arm of a side-view mirror <NUM>, a bumper <NUM> and an air intake <NUM>. The air intake <NUM> may be located at or above roof height of the trailer. Further suitable elements (not indicated in <FIG>), in which the wireless nodes <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> can be integrated, include: a fin, a fender, a cab shield (i.e., a protective extension of the front edge of a tippable open-box bed), a sun visor above the windscreen and a radiator grille.

<FIG> is a perspective view of a trailer vehicle which shows, similar to <FIG>, elements suitable for fitting network infrastructure components. These include an extender <NUM>, a bumper <NUM>, a front bolster <NUM>, a rear bolster <NUM>, a twistlock beam <NUM> and a mudguard <NUM>. The sidelight <NUM> mounted on the extender <NUM>, like other lighting components which are nowadays typically powered by semiconductor lighting elements (e.g., light-emitting diode, LED), shall be used with some caution, since LEDs and radio equipment may interfere mutually. Passive lighting elements (reflexes) and lighting elements powered by incandescent or other non-interfering technology may successfully absorb by wireless nodes <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, and even retrofitting of complete lighting elements may be an option. To be connected to other components of the vehicle network <NUM>, a wireless node <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> which is physically integrated into an active lighting element may be equipped with a powerline communication interface. The wireless node <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> may then use the electric line which powers the lighting element to exchange data with a corresponding powerline communication interface of another component of the vehicle network <NUM>. The communication may for example adopt elements of networking standards issued by the HomePlug Powerline Alliance.

Claim 1:
A commercial vehicle (<NUM>) comprising:
a plurality of wireless nodes (<NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>) fixed to points on the surface of the vehicle and configured to cooperate to form a vehicle network (<NUM>) having a mesh topology, wherein:
lines of sights between adjacent ones of the wireless nodes are sensibly unobstructed and/or sensibly parallel to the surface of the vehicle;
each wireless node is configured to function as at least one of a wireless sensor gateway for collecting data from sensors, an ad hoc network access point for serving mobile stations (<NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>) in the vicinity of the vehicle, and an infrastructure node maintaining data links within the vehicle network;
wireless nodes with different roles in the vehicle network have antennas with different radiation patterns; and
the vehicle network is configured for routing data when the coverage offered to said mobile stations in the vehicle's vicinity dynamically changes as a result of vehicle maneuvering, wherein the data is routed using antennas that provide the best path; and
a backhaul port (<NUM>) configured to provide Internet connectivity to the vehicle network.