EP0679975A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Integrated vehicle positioning and navigation system, apparatus and method
Assignee: Caterpillar Inc
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Filing: 1990-12-10
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2010-12-10
Abstract
Abstract Systems and methods for positioning and navigating an autonomous vehicle (102,310) allow the vehicle (102,310) to travel between locations. A first position estimate (112) of the vehicle (102,310) is derived from satellites (132-170,200-206) of a global positioning system (100A) and/or a pseudolite(s) (105). The pseudolite(s) (105) may be used exclusively when the satellites (132-170,200-206) are not in view of the vehicle (102,310). A second position estimate (114) is derived from an inertial reference unit (904) and/or a vehicle odometer (902). The first and second position estimates are combined and filtered to derive a third position estimate (118). Navigation of the vehicle (102,310) is obtained using the position information (414), obstacle detection and avoidance data (416), and on board vehicle data (908,910).
Inventors
- 👤 Christos T. Kyrtsos
- 👤 Adam J. Gudat
- 👤 Dana A. Christensen
- 👤 Douglas W. Friedrich
- 👤 Darrell E. Stafford
- 👤 James W. Sennott
- 👤 Walter J. Bradbury
- 👤 Richard G. Clow
- 👤 Lonnie J. Devier
- 👤 Carl A. Kemner
- 👤 Karl W. Kleimenhagen
- 👤 Craig L. Koehrsen
- 👤 Norman K. Lay
- 👤 Joel L. Peterson
- 👤 Prithvi N. Rao
- 👤 Larry E. Schmidt
- 👤 Gary K. Shaffer
- 👤 Wen Fan Shi
- 👤 Dong Hun Shin
- 👤 Sanjiv J. Singh
- 👤 Louis J. Weinbeck
- 👤 Jay H. West
- 👤 William L. Whittaker
- 👤 Baoxin Wu (Nmi)
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-25 13:29
CPC Classifications
G; G01; G01S; G01S19/00; G01S19/38; G01S19/39; G01S19/42; G01S19/45; G01S19/47; G01S19/01; G01S19/03; G01S19/10; G01S19/11; B; B60; B60K; B60K31/00; B60K31/0008; B60K31/02; B60K31/04; B60W; B60W60/00; B60W60/001; B60W60/0011; G01C; G01C21/00; G01C21/10; G01C21/12; G01C21/16; G01C21/165; G01C21/26; G01C21/28; G01S19/40; G01S19/41; G01S19/46; G01S19/48; G01S19/49; G01S7/00; G01S7/48; G01S7/481; G01S7/4811; G01S7/497; G05; G05D; G05D1/00; G05D1/20; G05D1/22; G05D1/221; G05D1/227; G05D1/24; G05D1/242; G05D1/247; G05D1/248; G05D1/60; G05D1/617; G05D1/622; G05D1/646; G05D1/80; G05D1/81; G08; G08G; G08G1/00; G08G1/20; G11; G11B; G11B5/00; G11B5/10; G11B5/105; B60W2554/00; B60W2554/20; B60W2556/00; B60W2556/45; B60W2556/50; B60Y; B60Y2200/00; B60Y2200/40; B60Y2200/41; G01S17/00; G01S17/02; G01S17/06; G01S17/42; G01S17/86; G01S17/88; G01S17/93; G01S17/931; G01S19/13; G01S19/24; G01S19/27; G01S19/52; G01S5/00; G01S5/0009; G01S5/009; G05D2105/00; G05D2105/20; G05D2105/28; G05D2107/00; G05D2107/70; G05D2107/73; G05D2109/00; G05D2109/10
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 20
Claim 1
Independent Claim
151 words
A system (1000) for estimating the terrestrial position of a vehicle (102) on or near the Earth's surface, comprising: a first positioning system (700) adapted to provide a first position estimate (716) of the vehicle (102) based on first signals (110) from a terrestrial position determination system (132-170, 200-206, 105); a second positioning system (900) adapted to provide a second position estimate (908, 910) of the vehicle (102) based on second signals (908, 910) obtained from an inertial reference device (904) mounted on the vehicle (102) and a vehicle odometer (902); and a processing system (1002, 1004, 1020) adapted to compute a third position estimate of the vehicle (102) from the first position estimate (716) and the second position estimate (908, 910), characterised by the processing system comprising: means for assigning weight to the first and second position estimates, respectively, and means for combining the weighted first and second position estimates.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
73 words
The system of claim 1, wherein the terrestrial position determination system (132-170, 200-206, 105) has at least one source for transmitting the first signals (110), the at least one source comprised of any one of: a global positioning system (100) having at least four orbiting satellites (132-170, 200-206); at least one pseudolite (105); and a global positioning system (100) having at least one orbiting satellite (132-170, 200-206) and at least one pseudolite (105).
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
30 words
The system of claim 1, wherein the first positioning system (700) communicates with a transponder of the terrestrial position determination system (132-170, 200-206, 105) to receive the first signals (110).
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
73 words
The system of claim 1, wherein the processing system (1002, 1004, 1020) comprises a main processor (1002) coupled to the first positioning system (700) and the second positioning system (900), the main processor (1002) adapted to receive the first position estimate (716) and the second position estimate (908, 910) respectively, the main processor (1004) for computing the third position estimate from the first position estimate (716) and the second position estimate (908, 910).
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
55 words
The system of claim 2, wherein the first positioning system (700) further comprises a reference receiver (316) at a known location situated near the vehicle (102), the reference receiver (316) for receiving the first signals (110) from the terrestrial position determination system (132-170, 200-206, 105), and the reference receiver (316) for computing a spatial biases.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
132 words
The system of claim 2, wherein the first positioning system (700) comprises: an antenna (702) for receiving the first signals (110); a preamplifier (704) coupled to the antenna (702), the preamplifier (704) for amplifying the first signals (110); a first receiver (706) coupled to the preamplifier, the first receiver (706) for tracking the sources (105, 132-170, 200-206) currently observed and for measuring actual pseudoranges (R₀, R₂, R₄, R₆) of the sources (105, 132-170, 200-206); an intercommunications processor (708) coupled to the first receiver (706), the intercommunications processor (708) for receiving the actual pseudoranges from the first receiver (706) and distributing the actual pseudoranges and status information; and a GPS processor (710) coupled to the intercommunications processor (708), the GPS processor (710) for computing the first position estimate (716) from the actual pseudoranges.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
27 words
The system of claim 4, wherein the main processor (1002) comprises software including a second Kalman filter (1202) for filtering data from the inertial reference device (904).
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
32 words
The system of claim 5, wherein the spatial biases comprise original biases computed by subtracting estimated pseudoranges (R₀, R₂, R₄, R₆) and base clock biases from actual pseudoranges (R0, R2, R4, R6).
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
73 words
The system of claim 5, wherein the spatial biases comprise parabolic biases computed by subtracting from actual pseudoranges (R0, R2, R4, R6) an associated value on a parabolic model and a clock bias, the parabolic model constructed over a time period from prior actual pseudoranges (R₀, R₂, R₄, R₆), and the clock bias being the difference in clock rates between the circuitry of the first positioning system and the terrestrial position determination system.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
73 words
The system of claim 5, wherein the spatial biases comprise base residuals biases computed by deriving a difference between an estimated location of the reference receiver (316) and the known location of the reference receiver (316), the estimated location derived from a constellation of the sources (132-170, 200-206, 105), the constellation used by the first positioning system (700) of the vehicle (102) to derive the first position estimate (716) of the vehicle (102).
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
57 words
The system of claim 5, wherein the reference receiver (316) further comprises a first transceiver (714) communicating with the vehicle (102), the first transceiver (714) for communicating the spatial bias to the vehicle (102) and wherein the first positioning system (700) further comprises a second transceiver (714) situated at the vehicle (102) for receiving the spatial bias.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
26 words
The system of claim 6 further comprising a first console (712) coupled to the intercommunications processor (708), the first console (712) for displaying the status information.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
36 words
The system of claim 6, wherein the first receiver (706) does not determine the actual pseudoranges (R₀, R₂, R₄, R₆) if less than four the orbiting satellites (132-170, 200-206) are observed by the first receiver (706).
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
22 words
The system of claim 6, wherein the GPS processor (710) comprises a first Kalman filter (802) for filtering the first signals (110).
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
82 words
The system of claim 6 further comprising: (a) a communications interface processor (720) coupled to the GPS processor (710), the communications interface processor (720) for coordinating exchange of the first position estimate; (b) a transceiver (714) coupled to the communication interface processor (720), the transceiver (714) for distributing, via electromagnetic energy, (618) the first position estimate (716); and (c) a data collection device (718) coupled to the communications interface processor (720) for recording the first position estimate (716) over a time period.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
32 words
The system of claim 1, further comprising a data collector (718) coupled to the processing system (1002, 1004, 1020), the data collector (718) for storing third position estimates over a time period.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
22 words
The system of claim 1, further comprising a console (722) for displaying the current status of the processing system (1002, 1004, 1020).
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
27 words
The system of claim 17, wherein the first Kalman filter (802) includes means for modifying its acceptable data perturbations depending on the velocity of the vehicle (102).
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
57 words
The system of claim 17, wherein the processing system (1002, 1004, 1020) continuously communicates vehicle velocity data (1018) to the first Kalman filter (802) of the first positioning system (700), the first Kalman filter (802) using the vehicle velocity data to thereby enhance the accuracy of the first position estimate (716) of the first positioning system (700).
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
20 words
The system of claim 18, wherein the first Kalman filter (802) regulates the threshold of the acceptable data perturbations continuously.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
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