ON-BOARD PROCESSING FOR TRUCK/BUS FUEL ECONOMY AND OPERATIONAL DATA ACQUISITION

Software specification, system design, and implementation processes for the in-service measurement of truck fuel economy and operating parameters using an on-board microprocessor computing system are addressed. This acquisition of data on truck and bus performance during actual operation enables information transmitted by measurement sensors to be examined, processed, compacted or aggregated, and stored in memory by on-board computer software. System development requires a careful balance of tradeoffs between hardware and software concepts, which is quite different from considerations applied with laboratory-type data acquisition systems. The data acquisition system known as Tripmaster consists of an on-board microprocessor with solid-state memory for software and data storage, an on-board real-time clock for controlling data acquisition, a plug-in data transfer unit to dump memory contents to cassette tape and to reinitialize the system, a data monitor display unit in the vehicle cab, and sensors required to measure vehicle operating parameters associated with fuel economy. The software systems approach is based on such considerations as an available finite power source on the vehicle, fully automatic data acquisition and recovery with no operator intervention, operator interface/data display capability, data access in remote field locations, real-time computation and processing of parameter data, and finite memory capacity. Information collected and summarized from sensor measurements is retained in the form of aggregate parameters and arrays of time spent operating in predefined parameter regions. Examples of accumulations include total distance traveled, fuel consumed while the engine idles, and highway operating time.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/01487191
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Presented at SAE International Fuels and Lubricants Meeting, Toronto, 13-16 November 1978.
• Corporate Authors:

  Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE)

  400 Commonwealth Drive
  Warrendale, PA  United States  15096
• Authors:
  • Hunter, R A
  • Baker, J M
  • Juhasz, J B
• Publication Date: 1978

Media Info

• Pagination: 10 p.
• Serial:
  • SAE Technical Paper
  • Publisher: Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE)
  • ISSN: 0148-7191
  • EISSN: 2688-3627
  • Serial URL: http://papers.sae.org/

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Buses; Data collection; Fuel consumption; Information processing; Instrumentation; Microprocessors; Onboard navigational aids; Software; Trucks
• Old TRIS Terms: On board
• Subject Areas: Energy; Motor Carriers; Public Transportation; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00399218
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
• Report/Paper Numbers: SAE 780960, HS-025 904U
• Files: HSL, USDOT
• Created Date: Oct 31 1985 12:00AM