Automated asset positioning for location and inventory tracking using multiple positioning techniques
First Claim
1. A position tracking system comprising:
- a plurality of position sensor systems on board a mobile object, each position sensor system including at least one sensor that provides signals related to a location of the mobile object and determining position data for the mobile object; and
a fusion and decision-making module configured to receive the position data from each of the position sensor systems, perform an analysis to determine the quality of each said position data by correlating the position data, set a priority for each said position data, select at least one data fusion method from a list of pre-determined data fusion methods each enabling combining the said position data in a different manner based on the determined quality and the set priority, and combine the position data using the selected at least one data fusion method to provide calibrated position data for the mobile object, whereby the calibrated position data is with a higher degree of accuracy than the position data provided by each of the position sensor systems.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method is provided for tracking and maintaining a highly accurate inventory of shipping containers that are stored within container storage facilities. The invention includes using multiple complementary real-time and post-processing positioning techniques associated with various positioning sensors that are associated with inventory pieces or equipment. Examples of such positioning techniques are DGPS, GPS with RTK, DGPS loosely-coupled with INS, DGPS tightly-coupled with INS, and DGPS deeply-coupled with INS. Data correction and fusion techniques are applied to these positioning stages to re-compute a calibrated position with an improved accuracy. An additional trajectory can be iteratively determined using the fusing technique until the position data becomes statistically trustworthy. Further, combinations of multiple real-time positioning techniques combined with past position error correction algorithms provide a high accuracy needed for inventory tracking.
136 Citations
29 Claims
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1. A position tracking system comprising:
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a plurality of position sensor systems on board a mobile object, each position sensor system including at least one sensor that provides signals related to a location of the mobile object and determining position data for the mobile object; and a fusion and decision-making module configured to receive the position data from each of the position sensor systems, perform an analysis to determine the quality of each said position data by correlating the position data, set a priority for each said position data, select at least one data fusion method from a list of pre-determined data fusion methods each enabling combining the said position data in a different manner based on the determined quality and the set priority, and combine the position data using the selected at least one data fusion method to provide calibrated position data for the mobile object, whereby the calibrated position data is with a higher degree of accuracy than the position data provided by each of the position sensor systems. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A position tracking system comprising:
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a plurality of position sensor systems on board a mobile object, each position sensor system including at least one sensor that provides signals related to a location of the mobile object and determining position data for the mobile object; a fusion and decision-making module configured to receive the position data from each of the position sensor systems, perform an analysis to determine the quality of each of the said position data by correlating the position data, set a priority for each of the said position data, select a single data fusion method or a combination of data fusion methods from a list of pre-determined data fusion methods, and combine the position data using the selected at least one data fusion method to provide calibrated position data for the mobile object; a data storage unit for storing the calibrated position data provided by the fusion and decision-making module as past calibrated position data and at least part of the position data from at least one of the position sensor systems as past position data; an error correction module for receiving the past calibrated position data and the past position data from the data storage unit, generating trustworthy past position data, and determining errors in the past calibrated position data by comparing the past calibrated position data with the trustworthy past position data; whereby the calibrated position data is with a higher degree of accuracy than the position data provided by each of the position sensor systems and the errors in the past calibrated position data can be corrected to further improve the position tracking accuracy. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A position tracking system comprising:
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a plurality of position sensor systems on board a mobile object, each sensor system receiving signals from multiple sensors including a Global Positioning System (GPS) sensor and an Inertial Navigation System (INS) sensor that provide signals indicating a location of the mobile object that are used to determine position data for the mobile object, wherein the position sensor systems comprise; a loosely-coupled GPS/INS system receiving signals from at least the GPS and INS sensors, wherein GPS data and INS data are independently provided as an output; and a tightly-coupled GPS/INS system receiving signals from at least the GPS and INS sensors and combining the signals in an integrated manner through a Kalman filter to provide an output; a fusion and decision-making module for receiving the position data output from each of the position sensor systems, performing an analysis to enable combining the position data outputs to provide position solution data with a higher degree of accuracy than the position data provided from a single one of the position sensor systems, and combining the data according to the analysis. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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Specification