EP0679976A2
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
- 👤 Wenfan 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 22:12
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: 23
Claim 1
Independent Claim
94 words
A computer based method (4150), for use with a vehicle (102), for projecting road edges of a road (3312) ahead of the vehicle (102) in an image plane (3900), which computer based method (4150) comprises the steps of: (1) calculating edge points of the road (3312) from stored road data; (2) projecting the edge points to an image plane (3900); and (3) determining a left edge point (3902) and a right edge point (3902) of a scan line (3904) of range data, which points correspond to left and right edges of the road (3312).
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
30 words
A method (4150) according to claim 1, further comprising the step of: (4) detecting for an obstacle (4002) between the left edge point (3902) and the right edge point (3902).
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
29 words
A method (4150) according to claim 1, further comprising the step of: (4) detecting for a discontinuity between the left edge point (3902) and the right edge point (3902).
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
43 words
A method (4150) according to claim 1, further comprising the step of: (4) fitting scan line data between the left edge point (3902) and the right edge point (3902) with either of a constant or a polynomial of at least a first order.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
75 words
A method (4150) according to claim 4, further comprising the steps of: (5) estimating road crown with a first coefficient of the polynomial, road bank with a second coefficient of the polynomial, and road height with a third coefficient of the polynomial; (6) building an estimated road profile from the estimates of road bank, crown, and height of step (5); and (7) comparing the estimated profile with an actual measured profile to detect obstacles (4002).
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
98 words
A computer based system (4150), for use with a vehicle (102), for projecting road edges of a road (3312) ahead of the vehicle (102) in an image plane (3900), which computer based system (4150) comprises: (1) means for calculating edge points of the road (3312) from stored road data; (2) means for projecting the edge points to an image plane (3900); and (3) means for determining a left edge point (3902) and a right edge point (3902) of a scan line (3904) of range data, which points correspond to left and right edges (3902) of the road (3312).
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
29 words
A system (4150) according to claim 6, further comprising: (4) means for detecting for an obstacle (4002) between the left edge point (3902) and the right edge point (3902).
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
28 words
A system (4150) according to claim 6, further comprising: (4) means for detecting for a discontinuity between the left edge point (3902) and the right edge point (3902).
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
42 words
A system (4150) according to claim 6, further comprising: (4) means for fitting scan line data between the left edge point (3902) and the right edge point (3902) with either of a constant or a polynomial of at least a first order.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
78 words
A system (4150) according to claim 9, further comprising: (5) means for estimating road crown with a first coefficient of the polynomial, road bank with a second coefficient of the polynomial, and road height with a third coefficient of the polynomial; (6) means for building an estimated road profile from the estimates of road bank, crown, and height of step (5); and (7) means for comparing the estimated profile with an actual measured profile to detect obstacles (4002).
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
108 words
A computer based method (4150) of detecting an object (4002), the computer based method (4150) adapted for use with a land based vehicle (102), the computer based method (4150) comprising the steps of: (1) determining a stopping distance of the vehicle (102); (2) selecting one or more scan lines (3904) of an image (3900) composed of multiple scan lines, which are beyond the stopping distance; (3) projecting left and right edge points (3902) of a road (3312) onto the image (3900); and (4) processing range data from scan lines (3904) selected in step (2) above between the left and right edge points (3902) to detect for obstacles (4002).
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
112 words
A computer based system (4150) for detecting an object (4002), the computer based system (4150) adapted for use with a land based vehicle (102), the computer based system (4150) comprising: (1) means for determining a stopping distance of the vehicle (102); (2) means for selecting one or more scan lines (3904) of an image (3900) composed of multiple scan lines, which are beyond the stopping distance (3820); (3) means for projecting left and right edge points (3902)of a road (3312) onto the image (3900); and (4) means for processing range data from scan lines (3904) selected by (2) above between the left and right edge points (3902) to detect for obstacles (4002).
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
119 words
A computer based method (4150) of detecting an object (4002), the computer based method (4150) adapted for use with a land based vehicle (102), the computer based method (4150) comprising the steps of: (1) finding edge points of a road (3312) from stored road data; (2) projecting the edge points onto a road image (3900) made of scan lines (3904); (3) determining a left edge point and a right edge point (3902) of each scan line (3904) in the image; (4) modeling road height by processing scan line data between the left and right edge points (3902); and (5) comparing the modeled road height of step (4) with expected road height to detect deviations indicative of an obstacle (4002).
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
60 words
A method (4150) of detecting an object (4002) according to claim 13, wherein the step of modeling road height comprises the steps of: (a) finding center points of the road (3312) for each scan line; (b) determining the height of the center points; (c) fitting a third order profile to the center points; and (d) performing thresholding on height data.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
127 words
A computer based system (4150) for detecting an object (4002), the computer based system (4150) adapted for use with a land based vehicle (102), the computer based system (4150) comprising: (1) means for finding edge points of a road (3312) from stored road data; (2) means for projecting the edge points onto a road image (3900) made of scan lines (3904); (3) means for determining a left edge point (3902) and a right edge point (3902) of each scan line (3904) in the image (3900); (4) means for modeling road height by processing scan line data between the left and right edge points (3902); and (5) means for comparing the modeled road height from (4) with expected road height to detect deviations indicative of an obstacle (4002).
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
66 words
A system (4150) for detecting an object (4002) according to claim 15, wherein the means for modeling road height comprises: (a) means for finding center points of the road (3312) for each scan line (3904); (b) means for determining the height of the center points; (c) means for fitting a third order profile to the center points; and (d) means for performing thresholding on height data.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
121 words
An obstacle scanning system (4150), for use in a housing (404) on a land based vehicle (102), comprising: a 360 degree rotatable mirror (4222); a motor (4206), connected to the mirror (4222) by a pulley/belt arrangement (4230); a position encoder (4208), operatively connected to the motor; a range finder (4204), oriented so as to output a beam of energy and receive back a portion of the beam of energy by reflection on the mirror; a bus (4226), connecting the motor, the encoder and the range finder to separately housed interface (4214), power (4216, 4218, 4220) and control circuitry (4210, 4212, 4220, 4224, 4230); and means for ensuring that the range finder (4204) is only operative when the mirror (4222) is rotating.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
152 words
An obstacle scanning system (4150), for use in a housing (404) on a land based vehicle (102), comprising: rotatable reflection means (4222), for reflecting a beam of energy through up to a full 360 degrees; rotating means (4206), connected to the reflection means (4222), for rotating the reflection means through 360 degrees; position encoding means (4208), operatively connected to the rotating means (4206), for indicating a position of the rotating means (4206); range finding means (4204), for outputting a beam of energy and receiving back a portion of the beam of energy by reflection on the reflection means (4222); bus means (4226) for connecting the rotating means (4206), the encoding means (4208) and the range finding means (4208) to interface, power (4216, 4218, 4220) and control means (4210, 4212, 4220, 4224, 4230); and means for ensuring that the range finding means (4204) is only operative when the reflection means (4222) is rotating.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
107 words
An obstacle scanning method (4150), for use in a housing (404) on a land based vehicle (102), comprising the steps of: rotatably scanning a beam of energy through up to a full 360 degrees; indicating a position of rotation of the beam of energy; receiving back a portion of the beam of energy reflected from an obstacle (4002) indicative of a range of the obstacle (4002); determining, based on the position of rotation and the portion reflected indicative of range, whether any obstacles are present in a direction of travel of the vehicle (102); and ensuring that beam of energy is only emitted when rotation is occurring.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
101 words
An obstacle scanning system (4150), for use in a housing (404) on a vehicle (102), comprising: a rotatable mirror (4222); a motor (4206), connected to said mirror (4222) by a pulley/belt arrangement (4230); a position encoder (4208), operatively connected to said motor; a range finder (4204), oriented so as to output a beam of energy and receive back a portion of said beam of energy by reflection on said mirror (4222); a bus (4226), connecting said motor (4206), said encoder (4208) and said range finder (4204) to interface (4214), power (4216, 4218, 4220) and control circuitry (4210, 4212, 4220, 4224, 4230).
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
119 words
An obstacle scanning method (4150), for use in a housing (404) on a vehicle (102), comprising the steps of: rotating a mirror (4222) with a motor (4206) connected to said mirror (4222) by a pulley/belt arrangement (4230); encoding rotational position of said motor (4206) using a position encoder (4208), operatively connected to said motor (4206); determining range data using a range finder (4204), oriented so as to output a beam of energy and receive back a portion of said beam of energy by reflection on said mirror (4222); connecting said motor (4206), said encoder (4208) and said range finder (4204) to interface (4214), power (4216, 4218, 4220) and control circuitry (4212, 4230, 4220, 4224, 4210) using a bus (4226).
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
71 words
A system (406) for navigating a vehicle (102) along a route (3312) according to claim 20, wherein said means (5306) for periodically calculating errors in following a generated path comprises: means for determining said vehicle's actual position (3210, 3212, 3218); means for determining said vehicle's desired position (3204); and means for comparing said actual (3210, 3212, 3218) with said desired (3204) position thereby calculating said errors in following said generated path.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
85 words
A system (406) for navigating a vehicle (102) along a route (3312) according to claim 20, wherein said means, responsive to calculated errors, for adjusting the execution of associated vehicle commands to reduce said calculated errors so that said vehicle tracks a generated path with a high degree of accuracy comprises: means (3102, 3104, 3110) for dynamically determining a correcting steering angle so that said correcting steering angle causes said vehicle to steer from an actual position (3210, 3212, 3218) to a desired position (3204).
References Cited (Backward Citations)
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