Cooperative perception and state estimation for vehicles with compromised sensor systems

• US 10,246,180 B2
• Filed: 05/20/2015
• Issued: 04/02/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation (Martin Marietta Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation (Martin Marietta Corporation)
• Inventors: Connor, Michael Aaron, Stathis, Christopher, Leland, Joshua M., Sane, Harshad S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lin, Abby Y
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kim, Kyung J
• Application Number:
  US14/717,765
• Publication Number:
  US 20150338850A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,413 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 19/00 Aircraft control not otherwise provided for
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 39/024 of the remote controlled vehicle type, i.e. RPV
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 45/00 Aircraft indicators or protectors not otherwise provided for camouflage F41H3/00
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2201/102 adapted for flying in formations
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/104 involving a plurality of aircrafts, e.g. formation flying traffic control systems for aircraft G08G5/00

Abstract

A method and system for sharing information between independent agents having a processor and memory having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the processor, cause the system to receive signals indicative of a fault of a sensor system of a first independent agent; transmit signals indicative of a request for sensor information to a second independent agent; receive signals indicative of state information for the second independent agent in response to the receiving of the request for sensor information; and apply the state information to a navigation system of the first independent agent in response to the receiving of the state information.

Claims

1. A method for sharing information between independent agents, comprising:

receiving, with a processor, signals indicative of a fault of a sensor system of a first independent agent, wherein the fault is identified by the first independent agent;

transmitting, with the processor, signals indicative of a request for sensor information to a second independent agent in response to receiving said signals indicative of the fault of the sensor system;

positioning the second independent agent relative to the first independent agent such that a sensor system of the second independent agent can collect information about a relative position and a motion state of the first independent agent;

calculating state information for the first independent agent from the relative position and motion state information collected;

receiving, with the processor, signals indicative of the state information in response to the transmitting of the request for sensor information;

applying, with the processor, the state information to a navigation system of the first independent agent in response to the receiving of the state information; and

operating the first independent agent using the state information provided by the second independent agent.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving of the state information further comprises receiving perception information determined by the second independent agent.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving estimated environment state information determined about the second independent agent.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the local state data includes an inertial measurement system, air data sensor, global positioning system, or radio navigation system of the first independent agent.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising receiving information that is determined based on measured positioning of the second independent agent relative to the first independent agent in response to receiving of the fault in the inertial measurement system.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving estimated state information determined about the first independent agent.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising applying the estimated state information to the navigation system of the first independent agent in response to the receiving of the estimated state information.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising one of replacing compromised state information with the received estimated state information or supplementing the compromised state information with the received estimated state information.

9. A system for sharing information between independent agents, comprising

a processor;

and

memory having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the processor, cause the system to;

receive signals indicative of a fault of a sensor system of a first independent agent, wherein the first independent agent is operable to identify faults of the sensor system;

transmit signals indicative of a request for sensor information to a second independent agent in response to said signals indicative of the fault of the sensor system;

positioning the second independent agent relative to the first independent agent such that a sensor system of the second independent agent can collect information about a relative position and a motion state of the first independent agent;

calculating state information for the first independent agent from the relative position and motion state information collected;

receive signals indicative of the state information in response to the receiving of the request for sensor information;

apply the state information for the second independent agent to a navigation system of the first independent agent in response to the receiving of the state information; and

operate the first independent agent using the state information provided by the second independent agent.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the processor is configured to receive perception information determined by the second independent agent.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the processor is configured to receive estimated environment state information determined about the second independent agent.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the processor is configured to receive information that is determined based on measured positioning of the second independent agent relative to the first independent agent in response to receiving the signals indicative of a fault in the sensor system of the first independent agent.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the processor is configured to receive estimated state information determined about the first independent agent.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the processor is configured to receive information based on at least one of relative state data of the second independent agent and absolute state data of the second independent agent.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the processor is configured to determine an estimate of an absolute state of the first independent agent in response to the receiving at least one of the relative state data or the absolute state data.