Hardware-based time synchronization for heterogeneous sensors in autonomous vehicles

• Main Authors: Pan, Yue, Day, Jade E, Huang, Zehua, Naizghi, Esayas, Ji, Pingyuan, Zhang, Yu, Gong, Zhiqi, Nie, Lei, Xin, Junjun, Han, Xiaoling
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 08.10.2024
• Subjects: ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE; ELECTRICITY; GYROSCOPIC INSTRUMENTS; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION ORRERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; MEASURING; MEASURING DISTANCES, LEVELS OR BEARINGS; NAVIGATION; PHOTOGRAMMETRY OR VIDEOGRAMMETRY; PHYSICS; RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; SURVEYING; TESTING; TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHICCOMMUNICATION

Devices, systems, and methods for hardware-based time synchronization for heterogenous sensors are described. An example method includes generating a plurality of input trigger pulses having a nominal pulse-per-second (PPS) rate, generating, based on timing information derived from the plurality of input trigger pulses, a plurality of output trigger pulses, and transmitting the plurality of output trigger pulses to a sensor of a plurality of sensors, wherein a frequency of the plurality of output trigger pulses corresponds to a target operating frequency of the sensor, wherein, in a case that a navigation system coupled to the synchronization unit is functioning correctly, the plurality of input trigger pulses is generated based on a nominal PPS signal from the navigation unit, and wherein, in a case that the navigation system is not functioning correctly, the plurality of input trigger pulses is generated based on a simulated clock source of the synchronization unit.