Method and apparatus for determining remote object orientation and position
First Claim
1. An apparatus for determining the position and orientation of a remote object relative to a reference coordinate frame comprising:
- a plurality of radiating means for radiating electromagnetic energy, said radiating means having independent components defining a reference coordinate frame;
a transmitter means for applying to said plurality of radiating means electrical signals which generate a plurality of radio frequency electromagnetic fields, said electromagnetic fields being distinguishable from one another;
receiving means for receiving said transmitted electromagnetic fields, said receiving means being disposed on a remote object and said receiving means having a plurality of independent components for detecting each of said transmitted electromagnetic fields; and
analyzing means for receiving the output of said receiving means and converting the components of said transmitted electromagnetic fields received by said receiving means into remote object position and orientation relative to said reference coordinate frame, said analyzing means including means for processing the components of said electromagnetic fields with quaternions.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus is provided for determining remote object orientation and position with an electromagnetic coupling. A plurality of radiating antennas are provided for radiating electromagnetic energy. Each of the radiating antennas have independent components for defining a source reference coordinate frame. A transmitter is provided for applying electrical signals to the radiating antennas for generating a plurality of electromagnetic fields. The signals are multiplexed so that the fields are distinguishable from one another. A plurality of receiving antennas are disposed on a remote object for receiving the transmitted electromagnetic fields. The receiving antennas have a plurality of independent components for detecting the transmitted electromagnetic fields and defining a sensor reference coordinate frame. An analyzer is provided for receiving the output of the receiving antennas and converting the components of the transmitted electromagnetic fields into remote object position and orientation relative to the source reference coordinate frame. The analyzing means includes means for processing the components of the electromagnetic fields in an uncoupled manner into remote object position and remote object orientation. The processing technique provides an uncoupled, noniterative, closed form solution for both position and orientation which is fast and includes no discontinuities. The processing speed is enhanced with a parallel processing technique which provides for simultaneous determination of the position and orientation parameters. The speed of the processing technique is further enhanced by provision of quaternion solutions for position and orientation. A new virtual real-time binocular computer graphics application is provided which is particularly adapted for generating the cockpit view of an aircraft pilot in a flight simulator.
435 Citations
29 Claims
-
1. An apparatus for determining the position and orientation of a remote object relative to a reference coordinate frame comprising:
-
a plurality of radiating means for radiating electromagnetic energy, said radiating means having independent components defining a reference coordinate frame; a transmitter means for applying to said plurality of radiating means electrical signals which generate a plurality of radio frequency electromagnetic fields, said electromagnetic fields being distinguishable from one another; receiving means for receiving said transmitted electromagnetic fields, said receiving means being disposed on a remote object and said receiving means having a plurality of independent components for detecting each of said transmitted electromagnetic fields; and analyzing means for receiving the output of said receiving means and converting the components of said transmitted electromagnetic fields received by said receiving means into remote object position and orientation relative to said reference coordinate frame, said analyzing means including means for processing the components of said electromagnetic fields with quaternions.
-
-
2. An apparatus for determining the position and orientation of a remote object relative to a reference coordinate frame comprising:
-
a plurality of radiating means for radiating electromagnetic energy, said radiating means having independent components defining a reference coordinate frame; a transmitter means for applying to said plurality of radiating means electrical signals which generate a plurality of radio frequency electromagnetic fields, said electromagnetic fields being distinguishable from one another; receiving means for receiving said transmitted electromagnetic fields, said receiving means being disposed on a remote object and said receiving means having a plurality of independent components for detecting each of said transmitted electromagnetic fields; and analyzing means for receiving the output of said receiving means and converting the components of said transmitted electromagnetic fields received by said receiving means into remote object orientation relative to said reference coordinate frame, said analyzing means including means for processing the components of said electromagnetic fields into remote object orientation independently of remote object position.
-
-
3. An apparatus for determining the position and orientation of a remote object relative to a reference coordinate frame comprising:
-
a plurality of radiating means for radiating electromagnetic energy, said radiating means having independent components defining a reference coordinate frame; a transmitter means for applying to said plurality of radiating means electrical signals which generate a plurality of radio frequency electromagnetic fields, said electromagnetic fields being distinguishable from one another; receiving means for receiving said transmitted electromagnetic fields, said receiving means being disposed on a remote object and said receiving means having a plurality of independent components for detecting each of said transmitted electromagnetic fields; and analyzing means for receiving the output of said receiving means and converting the components of said transmitted electromagnetic fields received by said receiving means into remote object position and orientation relative to said reference coordinate frame, said analyzing means including means for processing the components of said electromagnetic fields into at least one of remote object position and orientation with quaternions. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7)
-
-
8. A method for determining the position and orientation of a remote object relative to a reference coordinate frame comprising:
-
providing a source of electromagnetic radiation including a plurality of radiating means for radiating electromagnetic energy, said radiating means having independent components defining a reference coordinate frame; applying multiplexed electrical signals to said radiating means and thus transmitting a set of distinguishable electromagnetic fields; providing a sensor including a plurality of receiving means disposed on a remote object for receiving said electromagnetic fields and generating a set of signals that is representative of the received components of said electromagnetic fields; and processing said set of signals into remote object position and orientation with quaternions.
-
-
9. A method for determining the position and orientation of a remote object relative to a reference coordinate frame comprising:
-
providing a source of electromagnetic radiation including a plurality of radiating means for radiating electromagnetic energy, said radiating means having independent components defining a reference coordinate frame; applying multiplexed electrical signals to said radiating means and thus transmitting a set of distinguishable electromagnetic fields; providing a sensor including a plurality of receiving means disposed on a remote object for receiving said electromagnetic fields and generating a set of signals that is representative of the received components of said electromagnetic fields; and processing said set of signals into remote object orientation independently of remote object position.
-
-
10. A method for determining the position and orientation of a remote object relative to a reference coordinate frame comprising:
-
providing a source of electromagnetic radiation including a plurality of radiating means for radiating electromagnetic energy, said radiating means having independent components defining a reference coordinate frame; applying multiplexed electrical signals to said radiating means and thus transmitting a set of distinguishable electromagnetic fields; providing a sensor including a plurality of receiving means disposed on a remote object for receiving said electromagnetic fields and generating a set of signals that is representative of the received components of said electromagnetic fields; and processing said set of signals into at least one of remote object position and orientation with quaternions. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14)
-
-
15. A method for determining the position and orientation of a remote object relative to a reference coordinate frame comprising:
-
providing a source of electromagnetic radiation including a plurality of radiating means for radiating electromagnetic energy said radiating means having independent components defining a source reference coordinate frame; applying multiplexed electrical signals to said radiating means and thus transmitting a set of distinguishable electromagnetic fields; providing a sensor including a plurality of receiving means disposed on a remote object for defining a sensor reference coordinate frame and for receiving said electromagnetic fields and generating a signal matrix S that is representative of the received components of said electromagnetic fields;
space="preserve" listing-type="equation">normalizing signal matrix S=kAP.sup.t HP;where k=an attenuation factor which is a function of the separation distance between the radiating means and the receiving means; A=an orientation matrix which defines the sensor frame relative to the source frame; p=a tracking matrix; H=a relative electromagnetic field coupling matrix means to give ##EQU15## where k=[trace (St S)/6]1/2 determining a distance R which is the separation distance between the radiating means and the receiving means; where ##EQU16## R o=a reference separation distance k o=a corresponding reference attenuation factor determining X=(Mt M-I)/3; and determining At =Mt -2M-1 where X=Pt E1 P E1 =a zero matrix except for e11 =1 whereby three independent algorithms are provided for the distance R, the orientation matrix A, and a position-related matrix X. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 28, 29)
-
-
18.
-
24. A method for determining the position and orientation of a remote object relative to a reference coordinate frame comprising:
-
providing a source of electromagnetic radiation including a plurality of radiating means for radiating electromagnetic energy said radiating means having independent components defining a source reference coordinate frame; applying multiplexed electrical signals to said radiating means and thus transmitting a set of distinguishable electromagnetic fields; providing a sensor including a plurality of receiving means disposed on a remote object for defining a sensor reference coordinate frame and for receiving said electromagnetic fields and generating a signal matrix S that is representative of the received components of said electromagnetic fields; normalizing said signal matrix S=kAPt HP; where k=an attenuation factor which is a function of the separation distance between the radiating means and the receiving means; A=an orientation matrix which defines the sensor frame relative to the source frame; P=a tracking matrix; H=a relative electromagnetic field coupling matrix means to give M=APt HP=1/kS; determining At =Mt -2M-1 whereby the orientation matrix A is determined independently of position parameters.
-
-
27. A method for determining the position and orientation of a remote object relative to a reference coordinate frame comprising:
-
providing a source of electromagnetic radiation including a plurality of radiating means for radiating electromagnetic energy said radiating means having independent components defining a source reference coordinate frame; applying multiplexed electrical signals to said radiating means and thus transmitting a set of distinguishable electromagnetic fields; providing a sensor including a plurality of receiving means disposed on a remote object for defining a sensor reference coordinate frame and for receiving said electromagnetic fields and generating a signal matrix S that is representative of the received components of said electromagnetic fields; normalizing said signal matrix S=kAPt HP; where k=an attenuation factor which is a function of the separation distance between the radiating means and the receiving means; A=an orientation matrix which defines the sensor frame relative to the source frame; P=a tracking matrix; H=a relative electromagnetic field coupling matrix means; to give M=APt HP=1/kS; determining X=(Mt M-I)/3; where X=Pt E1 P E1 =a zero matrix except for e11 =1 whereby a position-related matrix X is determined independently of orientation parameters.
-
Specification