WAYPOINT SPLINING FOR AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE FOLLOWING
First Claim
1. A method for defining a following path for a vehicle to autonomously follow a leader, comprising:
- acquiring waypoints, said waypoints associated with a path that said leader traverses;
filtering said acquired waypoints, wherein said filtering comprises identifying a preceding waypoint and a subsequent waypoint and removing waypoints that are one to ten degrees outside of a course heading defined by said preceding waypoint and subsequent waypoint;
generating intermediate waypoints by interpolating between adjacent pairs of said filtered waypoints if said adjacent pairs of said filtered waypoints are separated by a distance that exceeds a threshold distance;
defining a following path through said filtered waypoints and said intermediate waypoints using a least-squares spline fit to calculate said following path; and
providing said following path to a following vehicle, wherein said following vehicle traverses said following path.
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Abstract
A method for defining a following path for a following vehicle to autonomously follow a leader, the method including acquiring waypoints associated with a path that the leader traverses; filtering the acquired waypoints, wherein the filtering removes waypoints located outside an area of interest; generating intermediate waypoints by interpolating between adjacent pairs of the filtered waypoints if the adjacent pairs of the filtered waypoints are separated by a distance that exceeds a threshold distance; and defining a following path through the filtered waypoints and the intermediate waypoints using a least-squares spline fit to calculate the following path.
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Citations
23 Claims
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1. A method for defining a following path for a vehicle to autonomously follow a leader, comprising:
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acquiring waypoints, said waypoints associated with a path that said leader traverses; filtering said acquired waypoints, wherein said filtering comprises identifying a preceding waypoint and a subsequent waypoint and removing waypoints that are one to ten degrees outside of a course heading defined by said preceding waypoint and subsequent waypoint; generating intermediate waypoints by interpolating between adjacent pairs of said filtered waypoints if said adjacent pairs of said filtered waypoints are separated by a distance that exceeds a threshold distance; defining a following path through said filtered waypoints and said intermediate waypoints using a least-squares spline fit to calculate said following path; and providing said following path to a following vehicle, wherein said following vehicle traverses said following path. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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4. (canceled)
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10. A following vehicle configured to autonomously follow a leader, said following vehicle comprising:
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an acquisition module configured to acquire waypoints associated with a path that said leader traverses; a filtering module configured to filter said acquired waypoints, wherein said filtering comprises identifying a preceding waypoint and a subsequent waypoint and removing waypoints that are one to ten degrees outside of a course heading defined by said preceding waypoint and subsequent waypoint; an interpolating module configured to generate intermediate waypoints by interpolating between adjacent pairs of said filtered waypoints if said adjacent pairs of said filtered waypoints are separated by a distance that exceeds a threshold distance; and a curve fitting module configured to define a following path through said filtered waypoints and said intermediate waypoints using a least-squares spline fit to calculate said following path. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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13. (canceled)
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18. An article comprising a non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon instruction that when executed by a machine result in the following operations for defining a following path for a following vehicle to autonomously follow a leader:
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acquiring waypoints, said waypoints associated with a path that a leader traverses; filtering said acquired waypoints, wherein said filtering comprises identifying a preceding waypoint and a subsequent waypoint and removing waypoints that are one to ten degrees outside of a course heading defined by said preceding waypoint and subsequent waypoint; generating intermediate waypoints by interpolating between adjacent pairs of said filtered waypoints if said adjacent pairs of said filtered waypoints are separated by a distance that exceeds a threshold distance; and defining a following path through said filtered waypoints and said intermediate waypoints using a least-squares spline fit to calculate said following path. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 22, 23)
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21. (canceled)
Specification