Extendable sensor mount

• US 10,495,733 B2
• Filed: 02/26/2018
• Issued: 12/03/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: Bier, Solomon
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Sang H
• Application Number:
  US15/905,337
• Publication Number:
  US 20180180719A1
• Time in Patent Office: 645 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/08 for measuring distance only indirect measurement G01S17/46; active triangulation systems G01S17/48
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/86 Combinations of lidar systems with systems other than lidar, radar or sonar, e.g. with direction finders
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/931 of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2007/4975 of sensor obstruction by, e.g. dirt- or ice-coating, e.g. by reflection measurement on front-screen
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2007/4977 including means to prevent or remove the obstruction
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9323 Alternative operation using light waves
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9324 Alternative operation using ultrasonic waves
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/4043 including means to prevent or remove the obstruction
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/4813 Housing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/4972 Alignment of sensor
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30244 Camera pose
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30261 Obstacle
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/70 Determining position or orientation of objects or cameras camera calibration G06T7/80

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for adjusting a position of a sensing device relative to a vehicle. In one embodiment, a system includes the sensing device configured to provide sensor data associated with an environment of the vehicle. The system further includes an adjustable sensor mount that mounts the sensing device to the vehicle. The system further includes a control module configured to process the sensor data to a representation of the environment of the vehicle, to process the representation to determine an obstruction within a field of view of the sensing device, to determine a location of the obstruction, and to control the adjustable sensor mount to a desired position based on the location.

Claims

1. A system for adjusting a position of a sensing device relative to a vehicle, comprising:

the sensing device configured to provide sensor data associated with an environment of the vehicle;

an adjustable sensor mount that mounts the sensing device to the vehicle and that adjusts at least one of a pitch, yaw, and roll of the sensing device; and

a control module configured to, by a processor, determine a representation of the environment of the vehicle based on the sensor data, process the representation to determine an obstruction within a field of view of the sensing device, determine a location of the obstruction, determine a desired position of the sensing device based on the location of the obstruction, and to control the adjustable sensor mount based on the desired position.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the control module is configured to determine the obstruction within the field of view based on an analysis of free space within an image of the environment.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the control module is further configured to determine the obstruction within the field of view based on an analysis of a minimum height of the freespace within the image of the environment.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the control module is further configured to determine the obstruction within the field of view based on an analysis of a maximum height of the freespace within the image of the environment.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the control module is further configured to determine the obstruction within the field of view based on a translation of values in the free space to values in lidar space.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the control module is configured to determine the obstruction within the field of view based on ray tracing of lidar data.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the control module is further configured to determine the obstruction within the field of view based on a polygon determined from the ray tracing.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the control module is configured to determine the polygon based on a depth-first search method.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the control module is further configured to determine the obstruction within the field of view based on a centroid position of the polygon determined from the ray tracing.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to determine the desired position by setting the desired position to the location of the obstruction plus an offset value.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the offset value includes a predefined.

12. They system of claim 1, wherein the offset value includes a dynamically determined value.

13. A method for adjusting a position of a sensing device relative to a vehicle, comprising:

receiving, by a processor, sensor data sensed from an environment of the vehicle;

processing, by the processor, the sensor data to determine an obstruction within a field of view of the sensing device and a location of the obstruction;

determine a desired position of the sensing device based on the location of the obstruction, and

generating, by the processor, control signals to control a position of an adjustable sensor mount based on the desired position.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising determining, by the processor, the obstruction within the field of view based on an analysis of free space within an image of the environment.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the determining, by the processor, the obstruction within the field of view is based on an analysis of a minimum height of the freespace within the image of the environment.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the determining, by the processor, the obstruction within the field of view is based on an analysis of a maximum height of the freespace within the image of the environment.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the determining, by the processor, the obstruction within the field of view is based on a translation of values in the free space to values in lidar space.

18. The method of claim 13, further comprising determining, by the processor, the obstruction within the field of view based on ray tracing of lidar data.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the determining, by the processor, the obstruction within the field of view is based on a centroid position of a polygon determined from the ray tracing.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising determining, by the processor, the polygon based on a depth-first search method.