LIDAR SYSTEM FOR AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE

• US 20200132850A1
• Filed: 12/23/2019
• Published: 04/30/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 04/23/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Aurora Operations Incorporated (Aurora Innovation, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Blackmore Sensors & Analytics, LLC (Aurora Innovation, Inc.)
• Inventors: Crouch, Stephen C., Baker, Devlin
• Granted Patent: US 10,914,841 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/34 using transmission of continuous, frequency-modulated waves while heterodyning the received signal, or a signal derived therefrom, with a locally-generated signal related to the contemporaneously transmitted signal
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/58 Velocity or trajectory determination systems; Sense-of-movement determination systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/87 Combinations of systems using electromagnetic waves other than radio waves
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/89 for mapping or imaging
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/894 3D imaging with simultaneous measurement of time-of-flight at a 2D array of receiver pixels, e.g. time-of-flight cameras or flash lidar
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/931 of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/4817 relating to scanning
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 90/10 Information and communication technologies [ICT] supporting adaptation to climate change, e.g. for weather forecasting or climate simulation

Abstract

Techniques for controlling an autonomous vehicle with a processor that controls operation, includes operating a Doppler LIDAR system to collect point cloud data that indicates for each point at least four dimensions including an inclination angle, an azimuthal angle, a range, and relative speed between the point and the LIDAR system. A value of a property of an object in the point cloud is determined based on only three or fewer of the at least four dimensions. In some of embodiments, determining the value of the property of the object includes isolating multiple points in the point cloud data which have high value Doppler components. A moving object within the plurality of points is determined based on a cluster by azimuth and Doppler component values.

Claims

1. A light detection and ranging (LIDAR) system, comprising:

a modulator configured to generate a transmit signal using a laser source;

one or more scanning optics configured to output the transmit signal; and

one or more processors configured to;

determine a three-dimensional (3D) point cloud corresponding to a return signal received responsive to the transmit signal;

determine an object velocity of an object relative to the sensor using the 3D point cloud;

determine a vehicle velocity of an autonomous vehicle coupled to the sensor using the object velocity of the object; and

control operation of the autonomous vehicle using the vehicle velocity of the autonomous vehicle.

2. The LIDAR system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine the vehicle velocity using an inclination angle of the 3D point cloud and a Doppler component of the 3D point cloud.

3. The LIDAR system of claim 2, wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine the vehicle velocity without using (i) an azimuth angle of the 3D point cloud or (ii) a range of the 3D point cloud.

4. The LIDAR system of claim 1, wherein the object is a stationary object, and the one or more processors are configured to:

determine an object location of the stationary object using a database that maps object locations to stationary objects; and

determine a vehicle location of the autonomous vehicle using the object location of the stationary object.

5. The LIDAR system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to:

filter the 3D point cloud based on Doppler speed assigned to one or more data points of the 3D point cloud;

determine a moving object velocity of a moving object represented by the 3D point cloud responsive to filtering the 3D point cloud; and

control operation of the autonomous vehicle using the moving object velocity.

6. The LIDAR system of claim 5, wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine a track for the moving object using the moving object velocity.

7. The LIDAR system of claim 1, wherein the object is a stationary object, and the one or more processors are configured to determine the object velocity of the stationary object by:

identifying a plurality of stationary points of the 3D point cloud using an inclination angle of each stationary point of the plurality of stationary points;

discarding from the plurality of stationary points a particular stationary point having a relative speed that deviates more than a threshold from a statistic to provide a subset of the plurality of stationary points, the statistic determined using a plurality of relative speeds corresponding to the plurality of stationary points; and

determining the object velocity of the stationary object using the subset of the plurality of stationary points.

8. A method, comprising:

generating a transmit signal using a laser source;

outputting the transmit signal;

receiving a return signal responsive to the transmit signal;

determining a 3D point cloud using the return signal;

determining an object velocity of an object using the 3D point cloud;

determining a vehicle velocity of an autonomous vehicle coupled to the sensor using the object velocity of the object; and

controlling operation of the autonomous vehicle using the vehicle velocity of the autonomous vehicle.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein determining the vehicle velocity comprises using an inclination angle of the 3D point cloud and a Doppler component of the 3D point cloud.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein determining the vehicle velocity comprises determining the vehicle velocity without using (i) an azimuth angle of the 3D point cloud or (ii) a range of the 3D point cloud.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the object is a stationary object, the method further comprising:

determining an object location of the stationary object using a database that maps object locations to stationary objects; and

determining a vehicle location of the autonomous vehicle using the object location of the stationary object.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

filtering the 3D point cloud based on Doppler speed assigned to one or more data points of the 3D point cloud; and

determining a moving object velocity of a moving object represented by the 3D point cloud responsive to filtering the 3D point cloud;

wherein controlling operation of the autonomous vehicle comprises using the moving object velocity.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising determining a track for the moving object using the moving object velocity.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the object is a stationary object, the method further comprising determining the object velocity of the stationary object by:

identifying a plurality of stationary points of the 3D point cloud using an inclination angle of each stationary point of the plurality of stationary points;

discarding from the plurality of stationary points a particular stationary point having a relative speed that deviates more than a threshold from a statistic to provide a subset of the plurality of stationary points, the statistic determined using a plurality of relative speeds corresponding to the plurality of stationary points; and

determining the object velocity of the stationary object using the subset of the plurality of stationary points.

15. An autonomous vehicle control system, comprising:

a LIDAR system comprising one or more processors configured to;

determine an object velocity of an object using a 3D point cloud, the 3D point cloud determined using a return signal received responsive to transmission of a transmit signal by one or more scanning optics; and

determine a vehicle velocity of an autonomous vehicle coupled to the sensor using the object velocity of the object; and

a vehicle controller configured to control operation of the autonomous vehicle using the vehicle velocity of the autonomous vehicle.

16. The autonomous vehicle control system of claim 15, wherein the one or more processors of the LIDAR system are configured to determine the vehicle velocity using an inclination angle of the 3D point cloud and a Doppler component of the 3D point cloud.

17. The autonomous vehicle control system of claim 15, wherein the object is a stationary object, and the one or more processors of the LIDAR system are configured to:

determine an object location of the stationary object using a database that maps object locations to stationary objects; and

determine a vehicle location of the autonomous vehicle using the object location of the stationary object.

18. The autonomous vehicle control system of claim 15, wherein:

the one or more processors of the LIDAR system are configured to;

filter the 3D point cloud based on Doppler speed assigned to one or more data points of the 3D point cloud; and

determine a moving object velocity of a moving object represented by the 3D point cloud responsive to filtering the 3D point cloud; and

the vehicle controller is configured to control operation of the autonomous vehicle using the moving object velocity.

19. The autonomous vehicle control system of claim 15, further comprising a sensor comprising at least one of an inertial navigation system (INS), a global positioning system (GPS) receiver, or a gyroscope, wherein the one or more processors of the LIDAR system are configured to determine the vehicle velocity further based on sensor data received from the sensor.

20. The autonomous vehicle control system of claim 15, wherein the object is a stationary object, and the one or more processors of the LIDAR system are configured to determine the object velocity of the stationary object by:

identifying a plurality of stationary points of the 3D point cloud using an inclination angle of each stationary point of the plurality of stationary points;

discarding from the plurality of stationary points a particular stationary point having a relative speed that deviates more than a threshold from a statistic to provide a subset of the plurality of stationary points, the statistic determined using a plurality of relative speeds corresponding to the plurality of stationary points; and

determining the object velocity of the stationary object using the subset of the plurality of stationary points.