A novel in-vehicle real-time brake-monitoring system

Abstract The design of vehicle brake systems involves optimizing a large number of competing parameters. In order to find an appropriate balance of properties, it is important to have a good picture of the range of operating conditions that the system will operate under. Obtaining such information for a large range of driving conditions requires recording data over a long period of time from a number of vehicles under various driving conditions. In this paper, a proposed data acquisition system has been designed, constructed, and implemented to measure and to store in real time the performance-related parameters of brake systems. The system proposed here to monitor brake performance employs a small embedded personal computer together with a number of peripheral cards as its basis. As a part of the validation process, recordings have been made of some long-term test sequences during a brake development programme. The results, which would be considered representative of normal confident driving, are given and discussed at the end of the paper. These results are used to monitor brake performance and do offer valuable guidance for future brake design projects.