AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE NAVIGATION SYSTEM AND METHOD

• US 20150260526A1
• Filed: 03/13/2015
• Published: 09/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation (The Boeing Co.)
• Original Assignee: Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation (The Boeing Co.)
• Inventors: PADUANO, JAMES, MCKENNA, TERRENCE
• Granted Patent: US 9,562,773 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/1656 with passive imaging devices, e.g. cameras
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 23/00 Combined instruments indicating more than one navigational value, e.g. for aircraft; Combined measuring devices for measuring two or more variables of movement, e.g. distance, speed or acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/42 Simultaneous measurement of distance and other co-ordinates indirect measurement G01S15/46
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/86 Combinations of sonar systems with lidar systems; Combinations of sonar systems with systems not using wave reflection
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/87 Combinations of sonar systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/89 for mapping or imaging
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/93 for anti-collision purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/13 Receivers
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/52003 Techniques for enhancing spatial resolution of targets G01S7/52046 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/106 Change initiated in response to external conditions, e.g. avoidance of elevated terrain or of no-fly zones
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 9/02 Anti-collision systems

Abstract

An autonomous vehicle is improved with a navigational system having both cameras and echolocation sensors, each including overlapping fields of view. The cameras and echolocation sensors may be part of an optical and echolocation system, respectively, that may work in conjunction with a global positioning system to determine a course for the autonomous vehicle to reach an objective while detecting and avoid obstacles along the course.

Claims

1. A navigation system for a vehicle, the navigation system comprising:

a housing;

an optical system including a number of cameras mounted within the housing with a predetermined overlap in fields of view, the optical system aggregating at least one hundred and eighty degrees of optical field of view about the housing in at least one plane through the housing; and

an echolocation system including an array of echolocation sensors mounted within the housing with a second predetermined overlap in fields of view, the echolocation system aggregating at least ten degrees of acoustic field of view about the housing in at least one plane through the housing.

2. The navigation system of claim 1, further comprising a processor configured to determine a navigational path for the vehicle to a location based upon signals from the optical system and the echolocation system.

3. The navigation system of claim 2 further comprising a global positioning system configured to determine a position of the housing.

4. The navigation system of claim 3, wherein the processor is configured to calculate the navigational path to the location based upon the position determined by the global positioning system.

5. The navigation system of claim 4, wherein the processor is configured to identify a visible obstacle within the field of view of the optical system using optical flow and to preempt the global positioning system to navigate the vehicle around the visible obstacle and toward the location, thereby providing an optical navigation system.

6. The navigation system of claim 5, wherein the processor is configured to identify an obstacle in the second predetermined overlap in fields of view, and wherein the processor is further configured to preempt the global positioning system and the optical navigation system to direct the vehicle around the obstacle in a collision avoidance maneuver that avoids the obstacle and returns to a previous course to the location.

7. The navigation system of claim 2, further comprising a map-based navigation system coupled to the two or more cameras, the map-based navigation system storing a map of an operating environment for the vehicle including one or more objects, and the map-based navigation system configured to determine a position of the vehicle in an absence of data from the global positioning system.

8. The navigation system of claim 2, further comprising a gyroscope within the housing configured to detect rotation of the housing.

9. The navigation system of claim 2, further comprising an accelerometer within the housing configured to detect a linear motion of the housing.

10. The navigation system of claim 2, further comprising an aerial vehicle coupled to the housing, the navigation system further comprising a steering system configured to control the aerial vehicle to follow the navigational path.

11. The navigation system of claim 1, wherein the optical system aggregates three hundred and sixty degrees of field of view in at least one plane.

12. The navigation system of claim 1, wherein the echolocation system aggregates at least twenty degrees of field of view.

13. The navigation system of claim 1, wherein the echolocation system aggregates between ten and forty-five degrees of field of view.

14. A method for navigating a vehicle from a position to an objective, the method comprising:

determining the position with a global positioning system;

determining a course from the position to the objective;

detecting a first obstacle using one or more cameras;

calculating a revised course to the objective that avoids the obstacle;

detecting a second obstacle using an array of echolocation sensors; and

calculating a dodging maneuver that avoids the second obstacle and returns to the revised course.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising navigating the vehicle to follow the course.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising navigating the vehicle to follow the revised course.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising navigating the vehicle to perform the dodging maneuver and return to the revised course.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein navigating the vehicle includes determining the position based upon a previous position from the global positioning system and a source of movement information when position data is not available from the global positioning system.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the source of movement information includes one or more of an analysis of image data from the one or more cameras, data from a gyroscope, and data from an accelerometer.

20. A computer program product embodied in a computer-readable medium that, when executing on one or more computing devices, navigates a vehicle from a position to an objective by performing the steps of:

determining the position with a global positioning system;

determining a course from the position to the objective;

detecting a first obstacle using one or more cameras;

calculating a revised course to the objective that avoids the obstacle;

detecting a second obstacle using an array of echolocation sensors; and

calculating a dodging maneuver that avoids the second obstacle and returns to the revised course.