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Medius is pleased to announce it has been selected as an Industry Partner to Auto21 in support of new initiatives with a focus on Intelligent Systems and Sensors and advanced safety systems for the Global Automotive Industry.  Additional details will be released shortly.

Medius Issued U.S. Patent for Multi-Vehicle Communication

Medius, Inc. of Seattle, Washington has been issued a patent for a fundamental aspect of cooperative vehicle-highway systems. How will this ripple through evolving R&D and product introductions? More info inside…..

The patent, issued September 14, 2004, is titled Method and Apparatus for Multi-Vehicle Communication. The patent number is 6,792,351 B2. It was issued to Robert P. Lutter and assigned to Medius. 

The patent is very comprehensive and could be argued to apply to virtually every application in development based on vehicle-vehicle and vehicle-roadside communications. The patent specifically refers to satellite, roadside, and inter-vehicle communications. 

Applications addressed in the patent are: 
• Probe data
• Emergency messaging (receive the message, compare with heading/route, and notify driver or slow down vehicle as appropriate) 
• Receive traffic info, compare to route, and automatically generate new route as needed to avoid congestion 

Message data items are listed as 
• Road condition 
• Emergency message
• Map route
• Recall notice 
• Personal information 
• Vehicle location 
• Kinematic state
• Sensor data
• Maintenance information 

Claims are fairly comprehensive, including generic actions such as processing messages using an electronic map, exchanging messages with other vehicles, and exchanging recorded data with other vehicles (on road conditions, for instance). 

In general, Medius seeks to apply extensive experience in designing avionics systems to the advanced driver assistance systems arena. 

BAE Systems, Celoxica and Medius unveil automotive sensor fusion technology demonstrator

Novel software approach to sensor integration allows dramatic reduction in cost for cruise control, collision avoidance and other customer-desired features

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  Farnborough, UK – July 2nd, 2004. BAE Systems, Celoxica Ltd and Medius Inc. today announced the successful completion of release 2.0 in their ‘sensor fusion’ technology demonstrator series, aimed at automotive electronics system designers.

This latest demonstration showcases the combined efforts of the three companies in the form of a ‘self-aligning sensor’ that can automatically line up with the frame of reference of the car it is attached to (example sensors include radar, lidar and cameras). This translates to a system that minimises factory alignment issues, avoiding the need for complex, expensive and time consuming manual tasks when the system is first installed. Furthermore, the system stays accurate for the lifetime of the car, since disturbances under normal operating conditions (eg. traffic bumps which may misalign the sensor) are automatically detected and corrected. 

Automotive sensor systems are increasing in complexity as functionality becomes more demanding; radar, lidar, ultrasound and video components are typically used to provide the car with a view of what is happening around it. This ‘situational awareness’ picture needs to be both comprehensive and accurate – take adaptive cruise control (ACC) as an example. Here, forward looking ranging sensors must look ahead up to 200m in order to anticipate the actions of the vehicles in front. At this range, even very small alignment errors can correlate to errors greater then the width of the lane – enough to cause massive confusion as the device may mis-read street furniture, bridges or oncoming traffic as valid signals. 

What is needed is a solution that will allow sensors to align and lock-on to the axes of the vehicle, and maintain lock under software control. However, even such a system will experience a limit – and here the new system really proves its worth. If the system cannot correct the error – because, for example, of a severe knock – it will report that its output is unreliable and the system should not be used. This powerful feature allows new levels of trust in safety systems like collision avoidance and pre-crash. 

All three organisations have come together and contributed complementary skills. BAE Systems brought extensive background in avionics development, where sensor fusion techniques have been used to great effect for many years. Medius brought specific IPR and integration skills in the translation of such techniques into the automotive context, following on from previous successful work in this area. Celoxica provided a rapid prototyping environment in the shape of the DK Design Suite combined with the RC200 development platform. The system was built, tested and installed in a vehicle within 90 days, and now provides a readily reconfigurable engine which can be used by Tier 1s and OEMs to evaluate sensor fusion for themselves.

“This demonstration crystallizes the proposition that solutions developed for aerospace can solve problems that the automotive industry is just starting to experience”, commented Bob Flint, Director of Ventures at BAE Systems. “These software techniques are well-established and proven in avionics. They offer a resilient and cost-effective way of fixing the complexity and cost issues in emergent car sensor systems. I’m really excited about the potential here.”

“A key aspect of this successful partnership is Medius’ role as a bridge from aerospace technologies to automotive applications”, said Dan Preston, Chief Executive of Medius. “The automotive industry is not interested in long term research projects, what they desire are rapid implementations for evaluation, this product underscores that understanding.”

“This application demonstrates the power of the software-compiled system design methodology”, said Bernard Morgan, Chief Financial Officer of Celoxica, Ltd. “As automotive sensor systems increase in complexity, this software-based design flow combined with reconfigurable development platforms will accelerate product innovation.”

About BAE Systems: BAE Systems is an international company engaged in the development, delivery, and support of advanced defence and aerospace systems in the air, on land, at sea, and in space. The company designs, manufactures, and supports military aircraft, surface ships, submarines, radar, avionics, communications, electronics, and guided weapon systems. It is a pioneer in technology with a heritage stretching back hundreds of years. It is at the forefront of innovation, working to develop the next generation of intelligent defence systems.

BAE Systems has major operations across five continents and customers in some 130 countries. The company employs more than 90,000 people and generates annual sales of more than $20 billion through its wholly owned and joint-venture operations.

BAE Systems, innovating for a safer world.


About MEDIUS Inc: Medius, Inc. is a US based firm headquartered in Seattle, Washington, with a support office in Detroit, Michigan. Medius has developed proprietary technology solutions and numerous patents covering sensor fusion applications for the automobile industry. Medius' technology team includes experts in the areas of sensor fusion, navigation, image recognition, communications and automotive systems. In addition to the core team, Medius has assembled a world class Advisory Board that range from top defense members to Senior Executives from Fortune 100 companies.

For more information, visit: www.mediustech.com

About Celoxica: An innovator in system-level electronic design automation (EDA), Celoxica supplies the design technology, IP and services that define Software-Compiled System Design, a methodology that exploits higher levels of design abstraction to dramatically improve silicon design productivity. Celoxica’s products address hardware/software partitioning, co-verification and C-based synthesis to reconfigurable hardware. Established in 1996, Celoxica offers a proven route from complex software algorithms to hardware, and provides an ideal design environment for reconfigurable electronics with significant productivity advantages for digital signal processing applications such as imaging, electronic security and communications.

For more information, visit: www.celoxica.com

Celoxica and the Celoxica logo are trademarks of Celoxica, Ltd. All other brand names and product names are the property of their respective owners.

PARTNERSHIP NEWS:

About BAE SYSTEMS: 

BAE Systems is a systems company, innovating for a safer world. BAE Systems employs nearly 90,000 people including Joint Ventures, and has annual sales of around £12 billion. The company offers a global capability in air, sea, land and space with a world-class prime contracting ability supported by a range of key skills. BAE Systems designs, manufactures and supports military aircraft, surface ships, submarines, radar, avionics, communications, electronics, guided weapon systems and a range of other defense products. BAE Systems is dedicated to making the intelligent connections needed to deliver innovative solutions.  For More information, visit: http://baesystems.com

About Silicon Sensing: 

Silicon Sensing Systems, with its headquarters in Plymouth, England and its main manufacturing facility in Amagasaki, Japan, is a joint venture between BAE SYSTEMS and Sumitomo Precision Products (SPP). SSS, which draws on 90 years motion sensing experience, designed and manufactured the world's first Micromachined Silicon Ring gyroscope, of which over two million have been delivered to date. For additional information, please visit www.siliconsensing.com.

About Celoxica:

An innovator in system-level electronic design automation (EDA), Celoxica supplies the design technology, IP and services that define Software-Compiled System Design, a methodology that exploits higher levels of design abstraction to dramatically improve silicon design productivity. Celoxica’s products address hardware/software partitioning, co-verification and C-based synthesis to reconfigurable hardware. Established in 1996, Celoxica offers a proven route from complex software algorithms to hardware, and provides an ideal design environment for System FPGA with significant productivity advantages for digital signal processing applications such as imaging, electronic security and communications. For more information, visit: http://www.celoxica.com.

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