Patent application EP19214115A (EP), filed 2019-12-06
Publication number: EP3757587A1
Title: FLEXIBLE TEST BOARD TO IMPROVE SENSOR I/O COVERAGE FOR AUTONOMOUS DRIVING PLATFORM
Abstract: [0001]    Systems and methods are disclosed for performing manufacturing testing on an autonomous driving vehicle (ADV) sensor board. A sensor unit of the ADV includes a plurality of sensor I/O channels that provide information to the ADV perception and planning module, to navigate the ADV. An array of sensors is emulated on a sensor unit test board. The sensor unit includes a small software that manages the flow of testing the sensor unit. The sensor unit test board provides emulated sensor data for, e.g., GPS, LIDAR, RADAR, inertial measurement, one or more cameras, humidity, temperature, and pressure, and throttle, braking, and steering inputs. Each emulated sensor includes its own data validity checker to ensure that each sensor I/O channel of the sensor unit is tested. The sensor unit test board can include an LED for each I/O channel that indicates a pass/fail status of the test for the I/O channel.
IPC codes: G01R  31/    28            A I
G05D   1/    02            A I
G06K   9/    00            A I
G06K   9/    62            A I
G01D  18/    00            A I
G01D   3/    08            A I
G06V  20/    56            A I
Claims: number: 1
text: A computer-implemented method of verifying functionality of a sensor unit under test, comprising:
number: 2
text: The method of claim 1, wherein detecting one or more errors comprises verifying that the received second emulated data is a transformation from the transmitted first emulated data complying with a predetermined rule.
number: 3
text: The method of claim 1, wherein detecting one or more errors comprises verifying that received second emulated data and the transmitted first emulated data are the same.
number: 4
text: The method of claim 1, wherein detecting one or more errors comprises determining whether the format of the received second emulated data matches a data format for a real first sensor corresponding to the emulated first sensor.
number: 5
text: The method of claim 4, wherein detecting further comprises verifying at least one of:
number: 6
text: The method of claim 1, wherein the first emulated sensor is an emulated global positioning satellite (GPS) sensor.
number: 7
text: The method of claim 6, further comprising:
passing the emulated GPS sensor data and first time value from the emulated GPS sensor to a second emulated sensor.
number: 8
text: The method of claim 7, further comprising:
number: 9
text: A non-transitory machine-readable medium having instructions stored therein, which when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform the method according to any one of claims 1-8.
number: 10
text: A data processing system, comprising:
number: 11
text: The system of claim 10, wherein detecting one or more errors comprises verifying that the received second emulated data is a transformation from the transmitted first emulated data complying with a predetermined rule.
number: 12
text: The system of claim 10, wherein detecting one or more errors comprises verifying that received second emulated data and the transmitted first emulated data are the same.
number: 13
text: The system of claim 10, wherein detecting one or more errors comprises determining whether the format of the received second emulated data matches a data format for a real first sensor corresponding to the emulated first sensor.
number: 14
text: The system of claim 10, wherein detecting further comprises verifying at least one of:
number: 15
text: The system of claim 10, wherein the first emulated sensor is an emulated global positioning satellite (GPS) sensor,
preferably, the operations further comprise:
passing the emulated GPS sensor data from the emulated GPS sensor to a second emulated sensor, preferably, the operations further comprise:
Office action: search_report, dated 2020-12-30
Prior art cited: ref_id: US2020064837A1
ref_type: patent
severity: background
ref_id: US2019004854A1
ref_type: patent
severity: background
ref_id: US2017177954A1
ref_type: patent
severity: background
ref_id: US2017177954
ref_type: patent
severity: background
ref_id: US2019004854
ref_type: patent
severity: background
Final disposition: pending (2020-12-30)