Apparatus and method for tracking a vehicle

• US 5,902,351 A
• Filed: 08/24/1995
• Issued: 05/11/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 08/24/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Penn State Research Foundation
• Original Assignee: Penn State Research Foundation
• Inventors: Gardner, John F., Brandt, Aleksandr, Streit, Donald A.
• Primary Examiner(s): LOUIS JACQUES, JACQUES H
• Application Number:
  US08/518,764
• Time in Patent Office: 1,356 Days
• Field of Search: 364/424.012, 364/424.027, 364/44.2, 364/449.1, 364/460, 364/461, 364/449.7, 364/450, 364/454, 364/453, 364/459, 73/178 R, 340/994, 340/995, 340/990, 340/988, 342/357, 342/457, 342/455, 342/456, 701/208, 701/207, 701/224
• US Class Current: 701/220
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/165 combined with non-inertial navigation instruments
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/28 with correlation of data from several navigational instruments
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/20 Monitoring the location of vehicles belonging to a group, e.g. fleet of vehicles, countable or determined number of vehicles

Abstract

An apparatus and method for tracking a vehicle is provided. The vehicle tracking system may include an inertial measurement unit for providing inertial vehicle state characteristics of the vehicle. The inertial measurement unit may include at least one gyro and at least one accelerometer. The vehicle tracking system additionally includes an inertial converter for generating vehicle state information from the inertial vehicle state characteristics. Clinometers are utilized within the vehicle tracking system to initialize the gyros and may additionally provide acceleration information. The vehicle tracking system may additionally include one or more redundant sensors for providing redundant state information. The redundant sensors can include an odometer/tachometer, Global Positioning System receiver, tag receiver, and a map matching system. A Kalman filter may be utilized to reduce error within the vehicle tracking system and improve the accuracy thereof.

Claims

1. An apparatus to obtain vehicle state information, comprising:

a. an inertial measurement unit including a plurality of inertial sensors to provide a plurality of vehicle state characteristics;

b. an inertial converter coupled with said inertial measurement unit to derive inertial vehicle state information from the vehicle state characteristics;

c. a filter coupled with said inertial converter to remove error from the inertial vehicle state information and outputting corrected vehicle state information;

d. at least one clinometer coupled with said inertial converter to initialize the vehicle state characteristics,

wherein said at least one clinometer is coupled with the filter to apply dynamic vehicle state information thereto, and

wherein said vehicle state information corresponds to a position of a land based vehicle.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the inertial sensors include at least one gyro and at least one accelerometer.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said at least one clinometer initializes a pitch gyro and a roll gyro when the acceleration of the vehicle is zero.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a plurality of redundant sensors coupled with said filter to provide redundant vehicle state information.

5. An apparatus to obtain vehicle state information, comprising:

a. an inertial measurement unit including a plurality of inertial sensors to provide a plurality of vehicle state characteristics;

b. an inertial converter coupled with said inertial measurement unit to derive inertial vehicle state information from the vehicle state characteristics;

c. a filter coupled with said inertial converter to remove error from the inertial vehicle state information and outputting corrected vehicle state information; and

d. at least one clinometer coupled with said inertial converter to initialize the vehicle state characteristics,

wherein said at least one clinometer is coupled with said filter to apply dynamic vehicle state information thereto,

wherein said inertial sensors include at least one gyro and at least one accelerometer,

wherein said at least one clinometer initializes a pitch gyro and a roll gyro when the acceleration of the vehicle is zero,

wherein said at least one clinometer is coupled with said filter to apply dynamic vehicle state information thereto,

a plurality of redundant sensors coupled with said filter to provide redundant vehicle state information, and

wherein said redundant sensors include a wheel rotation sensor to provide velocity and distance information, a global positioning system to provide position information, a tag receiver and a plurality of physical tags to provide position and velocity information, and a map matching database and a map matching module to provide position and attitude information.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said inertial converter, said filter, and said map matching module are implemented in a processor.

7. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said filter applies corrected vehicle state information to said inertial converter to update the derived vehicle state information therein.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein said filter is a Kalman filter.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein said inertial measurement unit includes three orthogonal gyros and one accelerometer.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 further comprising a user interface to display corrected vehicle state information.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 further comprising a fleet management system to receive and monitoring the corrected vehicle state information.

12. A method to determine vehicle state information, comprising the steps of:

a. initializing at least one inertial sensor using a clinometer;

b. extracting inertial vehicle state information from at least one inertial sensor using said clinometer;

c. obtaining redundant vehicle state information from at least one redundant sensor;

d. filtering the inertial vehicle state information and the redundant vehicle state information to reduce error therein;

e. determining corrected vehicle state information from the inertial vehicle state information and the redundant vehicle state information,

wherein said vehicle state information corresponds to a position of a land based vehicle.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising the step of updating the position and heading of the vehicle in a map matching system.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the at least one inertial sensor includes three orthogonal gyroscopes and an accelerometer.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising the step of updating the position and heading of the vehicle in a map matching system.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein said initializing is performed when the acceleration of the vehicle is zero.

17. A method to determine vehicle state information, comprising the steps of:

a. initializing at least one inertial sensor using a clinometer;

b. extracting inertial vehicle state information from said at least one inertial sensor using said clinometer;

c. obtaining redundant vehicle state information from at least one redundant sensor;

d. filtering the inertial vehicle state information and the redundant vehicle state information to reduce error therein;

e. determining corrected vehicle state information from the inertial vehicle state information and the redundant vehicle state information;

f. updating position and heading of the vehicle in a map matching system; and

wherein said at least one inertial sensor includes three orthogonal gyroscopes and an accelerometer,

wherein said initializing is performed when the acceleration of the vehicle is zero, and

wherein said at least one redundant sensor includes a wheel rotation sensor to provide velocity and distance information, a global positioning system to provide position information, a tag receiver and a plurality of tags to provide position and velocity information, and a map matching system to provide position and attitude information.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the inertial vehicle state information is extracted from the at least one inertial sensor and the filter.