Optical sensing system and system for stabilizing machine-controllable vehicles
DCFirst Claim
1. Optical sensing system for measuring the movement and/or the position of a vehicle which is machine-controllable or equipped with a drive mechanism, in at least one of its six spatial degrees of freedom, wherein the system comprises an optical imaging means provided on board with the vehicle and suitable for projecting an image section of a surrounding into an image plane;
- an opto-electronical shift sensor of the type equipped with a plurality of photosensitive partial areas (pixels) and, arranged on a same common substrate, with a digital and clocked electronic evaluation circuit for detecting the shift of a pixel image and for outputting a measurement signal for the shift;
wherein the optical imaging means is adapted and arranged such that infinitely remote structures are projected onto the shift sensor.
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Abstract
In order to measure the movement of a vehicle, especially an aircraft, an imaging optical system 2 which is to be positioned on the vehicle is used to detect an image of the environment 4, and an optoelectronic shift sensor 3 chip of the type comprising an inherent evaluation unit is used to measure any shift of the image from structures thereof. The shift sensor is equal or similar to the sensor used on an optical mouse. The sensor is positioned in such a way that infinite objects are focused. The measuring signal is evaluated to indicate movements and/or the position of the aircraft. The inventive system can also be used to measure distances e.g. in order to control the flight altitude. The invention further relates to methods for automatically controlling particularly a hovering flight by means of a control loop using optical flow measurement.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. Optical sensing system for measuring the movement and/or the position of a vehicle which is machine-controllable or equipped with a drive mechanism, in at least one of its six spatial degrees of freedom, wherein the system comprises an optical imaging means provided on board with the vehicle and suitable for projecting an image section of a surrounding into an image plane;
- an opto-electronical shift sensor of the type equipped with a plurality of photosensitive partial areas (pixels) and, arranged on a same common substrate, with a digital and clocked electronic evaluation circuit for detecting the shift of a pixel image and for outputting a measurement signal for the shift;
wherein the optical imaging means is adapted and arranged such that infinitely remote structures are projected onto the shift sensor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
- an opto-electronical shift sensor of the type equipped with a plurality of photosensitive partial areas (pixels) and, arranged on a same common substrate, with a digital and clocked electronic evaluation circuit for detecting the shift of a pixel image and for outputting a measurement signal for the shift;
- 13. System for controlling at least a roll attitude for stabilizing hovering flight of an airborne object, wherein an opto-electronical sensing means is provided for obtaining an optical flow measurement signal from a section of a ground image, the system comprising an electronic circuit adapted for generating from the optical flow signal of at least a lateral movement direction, at least in part, a control signal in the manner of a negative feedback loop, the generated control signal being adapted for driving an actuating element affecting roll movements of the airborne object.
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19. Method for measuring the movement and/or the position of a vehicle, which is machine-controllable or equipped with a drive mechanism, in at least one of its six spatial degrees of freedom, using optical sensor technology, characterized by the following steps:
- an image section of the surroundings which can be viewed from the actual position is captured by means of an optical imaging means on board with the vehicle and projected onto the photosensitive area of an opto-electronical shift sensor comprising on a common substrate a plurality of photosensitive partial areas and a digital and clocked electronic evaluation circuit for detecting the shift of the image of projected structures and for outputting a measurement signal for the shift and positioned optically behind the optical imaging means at a place where the optical resolution of image structures at infinity is sufficient for the detection of shift;
measurement data of the photosensitive partial areas are supplied to the electronic evaluation circuit;
within the electronic evaluation circuit changes resulting from shifts of the structures are evaluated by continuous comparison with previous measurement data and a measurement signal for the shift is generated, which is output as an output signal and used as measure for at least one position and/or movement quantity of the vehicle.
- an image section of the surroundings which can be viewed from the actual position is captured by means of an optical imaging means on board with the vehicle and projected onto the photosensitive area of an opto-electronical shift sensor comprising on a common substrate a plurality of photosensitive partial areas and a digital and clocked electronic evaluation circuit for detecting the shift of the image of projected structures and for outputting a measurement signal for the shift and positioned optically behind the optical imaging means at a place where the optical resolution of image structures at infinity is sufficient for the detection of shift;
Specification