Project Details
[Return to Previous Page]AI based trailer detection and number of trailers prediction using PLC for HD Trucks
Company: Volvo Group Trucks
Major(s):
Primary: CMPSC
Secondary: EE
Optional: CMPEN, ME
Non-Disclosure Agreement: YES
Intellectual Property: YES
In North America, the communication between tractors and trailers for any heavy duty trucks is via powerline communication (PLC). It is a 12V power line from the tractor to provide power to the trailers. The PLC is used for communicating the Braking system information from the trailer to the tractor (Anti lock braking system signals). Example – If ABS is active or not or has a fault in the trailer braking system, it will be communicated via PLC to the tractor to inform the driver and take necessary steps. At present, a well-known electronic chip Intellon P485, converts the data in the powerline and communicates with the tractor. In this project, the scope would be to use analog input (PLC data) to develop an AI model that should: 1. Detect if there is a trailer or not. (Classification) 2. Estimate the number of trailers (with an accuracy of 85%) Further, in the above process, multiple models should have been developed and compared for performance. It includes, 1. Decision trees 2. KNN 3. Support Vector machines 4. Ensemble learning 5. Deep Neural Networks 6. Recurrent Neural Networks 7. Computer vision-based AI Another aspect of the project is to perform sensitivity analysis and determine the right feature to be used, for example – 1. Time domain signal – Directly from the PLC 2. FFT or Pwelch signal from the PLC – Power of the signal in specific freq 3. Shape based time domian/freq domain The above step would include investigating signal processing techniques. Test data will be provided from Volvo for the following configurations, 1. Tractor 1 with no Trailer 2. Tractor 1 with 1 Trailer 3. Tractor 1 with 2 Trailers 4. Tractor 1 with 3 Trailers 5. Tractor 1 with 4 Trailers (Extended scope) 6. Tractor 1 with 5 trailers (Extended Scope) 7. Tractor 2 same as above (Extended scope)