Remotely detected vehicle mass from engine torque-induced frame twisting

Troy R. McKay; Carl Salvaggio; Jason W. Faulring; Glenn D. Sweeney

doi:10.1117/1.OE.56.6.063101

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8 June 2017 Remotely detected vehicle mass from engine torque-induced frame twisting

Troy R. McKay, Carl Salvaggio, Jason W. Faulring, Glenn D. Sweeney

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Optical Engineering, 56(6), 063101 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.OE.56.6.063101

Abstract

Determining the mass of a vehicle from ground-based passive sensor data is important for many traffic safety requirements. This work presents a method for calculating the mass of a vehicle using ground-based video and acoustic measurements. By assuming that no energy is lost in the conversion, the mass of a vehicle can be calculated from the rotational energy generated by the vehicle’s engine and the linear acceleration of the vehicle over a period of time. The amount of rotational energy being output by the vehicle’s engine can be calculated from its torque and angular velocity. This model relates remotely observed, engine torque-induced frame twist to engine torque output using the vehicle’s suspension parameters and engine geometry. The angular velocity of the engine is extracted from the acoustic emission of the engine, and the linear acceleration of the vehicle is calculated by remotely observing the position of the vehicle over time. This method combines these three dynamic signals; engine induced-frame twist, engine angular velocity, and the vehicle’s linear acceleration, and three vehicle specific scalar parameters, into an expression that describes the mass of the vehicle. This method was tested on a semitrailer truck, and the results demonstrate a correlation of 97.7% between calculated and true vehicle mass.

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Troy R. McKay, Carl Salvaggio, Jason W. Faulring, and Glenn D. Sweeney "Remotely detected vehicle mass from engine torque-induced frame twisting," Optical Engineering 56(6), 063101 (8 June 2017). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.OE.56.6.063101

Received: 17 October 2016; Accepted: 23 May 2017; Published: 8 June 2017

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