Method and device for locating and guiding a mobile unit equipped with a linear camera
First Claim
1. Method for locating a moving body equipped with a camera of the type comprising a linear array of photosensitive elements (CA), aimed in a known direction with respect to reference axes associated with the moving body, image processing means, and means (ODO) for capturing information relating to the movement of the moving body (M), characterized in that it involves the steps consisting in:
- a) distributing in the zone in which the moving body moves, fixed beacons (B1, B2) which are intermittently illuminated either actively and/or passively, b) at the moving body (M) and at a chosen rate, taking a pair of different linear images (IL1 and IL2) of the same image field, one of the images being one in which the beacon or beacons are illuminated, the other being one in which the beacon or beacons are not illuminated, c) processing the pair of linear images by a point-by-point subtraction of one from the other, d) obtaining at least one bright spot (P1) from the subtraction of the two linear images (IL1 and IL2), this spot representing at least one light beacon in the environment, and e) calculating, on the basis of information relating to the movement of the moving body, the position (e) of the bright spot (P1) on the linear array, and its derivative, a first item of information relating to the distance (D1) separating the beacon thus represented (B1) and a frame of reference (A) associated with the moving body, and a second item of information relating to an angular position of the beacon with respect to said frame of reference associated with the moving body, thus making it possible, as a function of the first and second items of information thus calculated, to locate the moving body in relative terms with respect to said beacon.
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Abstract
The method for locating a mobile unit relatively to an intermittent lighted beacon consists in calculating, on the basis of data concerning the mobile movement, the position of the discrete scatterer on the linear barrette obtained by a point by point subtraction of two linear images of the same image field, one wherein the beacon is alight and one wherein it is not alight, and the derivative of the position. On the basis of said data, the distance separating the beacon thus represented and a mark related to the mobile unit is calculated, and the beacon angular position relative to said mark linked with the mobile.
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Citations
13 Claims
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1. Method for locating a moving body equipped with a camera of the type comprising a linear array of photosensitive elements (CA), aimed in a known direction with respect to reference axes associated with the moving body, image processing means, and means (ODO) for capturing information relating to the movement of the moving body (M), characterized in that it involves the steps consisting in:
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a) distributing in the zone in which the moving body moves, fixed beacons (B1, B2) which are intermittently illuminated either actively and/or passively, b) at the moving body (M) and at a chosen rate, taking a pair of different linear images (IL1 and IL2) of the same image field, one of the images being one in which the beacon or beacons are illuminated, the other being one in which the beacon or beacons are not illuminated, c) processing the pair of linear images by a point-by-point subtraction of one from the other, d) obtaining at least one bright spot (P1) from the subtraction of the two linear images (IL1 and IL2), this spot representing at least one light beacon in the environment, and e) calculating, on the basis of information relating to the movement of the moving body, the position (e) of the bright spot (P1) on the linear array, and its derivative, a first item of information relating to the distance (D1) separating the beacon thus represented (B1) and a frame of reference (A) associated with the moving body, and a second item of information relating to an angular position of the beacon with respect to said frame of reference associated with the moving body, thus making it possible, as a function of the first and second items of information thus calculated, to locate the moving body in relative terms with respect to said beacon. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
f) which consists in determining said reference path using the relative and/or absolute location of the moving body with respect to said beacons, and in guiding the moving body, keeping a certain distance between the moving body and said reference path.
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5. Device for locating a moving body equipped with a camera (CA) of the type comprising a linear array of photosensitive elements aimed in a known direction with respect to reference axes associated with the moving body, image processing means and means (ODO) for capturing information relating to the movement of the moving body,
characterized in that it comprises fixed beacons which are intermittently illuminated either actively and/or passively, and distributed in the zone in which the moving body moves, in that the linear camera (CA) is capable, at a chosen rate, of taking a pair of different linear images (IL1 and IL2) of the same image field, one of the images being one in which the beacon or beacons are illuminated, the other being one in which the beacon or beacons are not illuminated, in that the image processing means are capable of processing the pair of linear images to perform a point-by-point subtraction of one from the other and obtaining at least one bright spot (P1) from the subtraction of the two linear images, this spot representing at least one beacon in the environment, in that the moving body comprises calculation means capable of calculating, on the basis of information relating to the movement of the moving body, the position (e) of the bright spot (P1) on the linear array, and its derivative, a first item of information relating to the distance (D1) separating the beacon thus represented and a frame of reference (A) associated with the moving body, and a second item of information relating to an angular position of the beacon with respect to said frame of reference associated with the moving body, thus making it possible to locate the moving body in relative terms with respect to said beacon.
Specification