AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE OPERATION

• US 20160018822A1
• Filed: 08/28/2015
• Published: 01/21/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/18/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Helico Aerospace Industries SIA
• Original Assignee: Helico Aerospace Industries SIA
• Inventors: Nevdahs, Ilja, Spogis, Janis, Trapans, Nils, Rozentals, Edgars, Kipurs, Agris
• Granted Patent: US 9,798,324 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/00 Control of position, course, altitude or attitude of land, water, air or space vehicles, e.g. using automatic pilots drive control systems specially adapted for autonomous road vehicles B60W60/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0094 involving pointing a payload, e.g. camera, weapon, sensor, towards a fixed or moving target
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/08 Control of attitude, i.e. control of roll, pitch, or yaw

Abstract

A method for an autonomous vehicle to follow a target is provided. The method may include obtaining a position and a velocity of a target and obtaining a position of an autonomous vehicle. The method may also include obtaining a path that encloses the position of the target and determining a path rate for the autonomous vehicle to move along the path based on the velocity of the target. The method may also include determining a path position along the path based on the position of the autonomous vehicle and determining a change in the position of the autonomous vehicle based on the path position, the path rate, and the velocity of the target. The method may also include adjusting a velocity and a direction of the autonomous vehicle to achieve the change in the position of the autonomous vehicle.

Claims

1. A method for an autonomous vehicle to follow a target, the method comprising:

obtaining a position and a velocity of a target;

obtaining a position of an autonomous vehicle;

obtaining a path that encloses the position of the target;

determining a path rate for the autonomous vehicle to move along the path based on the velocity of the target;

determining a path position along the path based on the position of the autonomous vehicle;

determining a change in the position of the autonomous vehicle based on the path position, the path rate, and the velocity of the target; and

adjusting a velocity and a direction of the autonomous vehicle to achieve the change in the position of the autonomous vehicle.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the path position is a first path position, the method further comprising

determining whether the position of the autonomous vehicle is along the path;

and

when the position of the autonomous vehicle is not along the path, the method further comprises;

selecting a second path position along the path;

determining a second change in the position of the autonomous vehicle based on the second path position and the velocity of the target; and

adjusting the velocity of the autonomous vehicle to achieve the second change in the position of the autonomous vehicle, wherein after the second change in the position of the autonomous vehicle the first path position is determined based on the second path position of the autonomous vehicle along the path and the position of the target.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the second path position is a closest position along the path with respect to the position of the autonomous vehicle.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the second path position is a closest position along the path with respect to the position of the autonomous vehicle.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the second path position is an intersection of a tangent line from the position of an autonomous vehicle with the path.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the path rate is based on the velocity of the target multiplied by a variable that is reduced as the velocity of the target increases.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the path rate is obtained based on a particular path traversal time and a path radius around the target.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the path position is determined based on the position of the autonomous vehicle, the path rate, and a movement calculation cycle time of the autonomous vehicle, the movement calculation cycle time including a time between calculations of velocity and direction of the autonomous vehicle.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein adjusting the velocity and the direction of the autonomous vehicle results in the autonomous vehicle orbiting the target at an approximately consistent orbit while the target moves.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein adjusting the velocity and the direction of the autonomous vehicle results in the autonomous vehicle maintaining a particular offset between the autonomous vehicle and the target and a particular angle between the autonomous vehicle and a direction of travel of the target.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the velocity and the position of the target are obtained from a motion tracking device associated with the target, wherein the velocity is an estimated velocity and the position is an estimated position.

12. A system for following a target, the system comprising:

a motion tracking device associated with a target, the motion tracking device configured to determine a position and a velocity of the target; and

an autonomous vehicle configured to follow the target, the autonomous vehicle configured to follow the target by;

obtain the position and the velocity of the target from the motion tracking device;

obtain a position of the autonomous vehicle;

obtain a path that encloses the position of the target;

determine a path rate for the autonomous vehicle to move along the path based on the velocity of the target;

determining a path position along the path based on the position of the autonomous vehicle;

determining a change in the position of the autonomous vehicle based on the path position, the path rate, and the velocity of the target; and

adjusting a velocity and a direction of the autonomous vehicle to achieve the change in the position of the autonomous vehicle.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the path position is a first path position, the autonomous vehicle further configured to:

determine whether the position of the autonomous vehicle is along the path; and

when the position of the autonomous vehicle is not along the path, the autonomous vehicle is further configured to;

select a second path position along the path;

determine a second change in the position of the autonomous vehicle based on the second path position and the velocity of the target; and

adjust the velocity of the autonomous vehicle to achieve the second change in the position of the autonomous vehicle, wherein after the second change in the position of the autonomous vehicle the first path position is determined based on the second path position of the autonomous vehicle along the path and the position of the target.

14. The system of claim 12, further comprising an electronic device configured with a user interface, the electronic device configured to obtain a configuration of the path and to provide the configuration for the path to the autonomous vehicle.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the configuration includes a radius between the path and the position of the target.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein to adjust the velocity and the direction of the autonomous vehicle results in the autonomous vehicle maintaining a particular offset between the autonomous vehicle and the target and a particular angle between the autonomous vehicle and a direction of travel of the target.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the electronic device is configured to obtain the particular offset and the particular angle and to provide the particular offset and the particular angle to the autonomous vehicle.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein the path rate is based on the velocity of the target multiplied by a variable that is reduced as the velocity of the target increases.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein the path position is determined based on the position of the autonomous vehicle, the path rate, and a movement calculation cycle time of the autonomous vehicle, the movement calculation cycle time including a time between calculations of velocity and direction of the autonomous vehicle.

20. The system of claim 12, wherein adjusting the velocity and the direction of the autonomous vehicle results in the autonomous vehicle orbiting the target at an approximately consistent orbit while the target moves.