Systems and methods for determining heading
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A system for determining heading that is mountable on a traveling vehicle, the system comprising:
- an image system that captures multiple distinctive features in an area of interest at a first point in time and at a second point of time during traveling of the traveling vehicle, matches the multiple distinctive features captured at the first point of time and the second point of time, and determines a first unit-vector associated with a given matched distinctive feature based on the first point in time and a second unit-vector associated with the given matched distinctive feature associated with the second point in time for each of the multiple matched distinctive features;
a global positioning system (GPS) that determines a translation vector based on carrier phase information captured from the first point in time to the second point in time; and
a coupled processor that minimizes the error in an epipolar equation for each of the multiple matched distinctive features based on the respective first and second unit-vectors and the translation vector to determine a corrected heading, wherein the epipolar equation comprises data characterizing a distinctive feature captured at the first point in time and a distinctive feature captured at the second point in time.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Systems and methods for determining heading of a traveling vehicle are provided. The systems and methods employ an image system to capture and match multiple distinctive features of an image area at a first and second point in time and to determine unit-vectors associated with the multiple distinctive features. A global positioning system (GPS) provides a translation vector for the first and second point and time and a coupled processor employs the unit-vectors and the translation vector to provide a corrected heading.
-
Citations
20 Claims
-
1. A system for determining heading that is mountable on a traveling vehicle, the system comprising:
-
an image system that captures multiple distinctive features in an area of interest at a first point in time and at a second point of time during traveling of the traveling vehicle, matches the multiple distinctive features captured at the first point of time and the second point of time, and determines a first unit-vector associated with a given matched distinctive feature based on the first point in time and a second unit-vector associated with the given matched distinctive feature associated with the second point in time for each of the multiple matched distinctive features; a global positioning system (GPS) that determines a translation vector based on carrier phase information captured from the first point in time to the second point in time; and a coupled processor that minimizes the error in an epipolar equation for each of the multiple matched distinctive features based on the respective first and second unit-vectors and the translation vector to determine a corrected heading, wherein the epipolar equation comprises data characterizing a distinctive feature captured at the first point in time and a distinctive feature captured at the second point in time. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 6, 8, 9, 14)
-
-
4. A system for determining heading that is mountable on a traveling vehicle, the system comprising:
-
an image system that captures multiple distinctive features in an area of interest at a first point in time and at a second point of time during traveling of the traveling vehicle, matches the multiple distinctive features captured at the first point of time and the second point of time, and determines a first unit-vector associated with a given matched distinctive feature based on the first point in time and a second unit-vector associated with the given matched distinctive feature associated with the second point in time for each of the multiple matched distinctive features; a global positioning system (GPS) that determines a translation vector based on carrier phase information captured from the first point in time to the second point in time; and a coupled processor that minimizes the error in an epipolar equation for each of the multiple matched distinctive features based on the respective first and second unit-vectors and the translation vector to determine a corrected heading; wherein the epipolar equation is (x1L×
x2L)·
CNLTN=0, where x1L is the first unit-vector, x2L is the second unit-vector, TN is the translation vector and CNL is the transformation matrix from a navigation frame (N) frame to a local frame (L) frame, such that - View Dependent Claims (5)
-
-
7. A system for determining heading that is mountable on a traveling vehicle, the system comprising:
-
an image system that captures multiple distinctive features in an area of interest at a first point in time and at a second point of time during traveling of the traveling vehicle, matches the multiple distinctive features captured at the first point of time and the second point of time, and determines a first unit-vector associated with a given matched distinctive feature based on the first point in time and a second unit-vector associated with the given matched distinctive feature associated with the second point in time for each of the multiple matched distinctive features; a global positioning system (GPS) that determines a translation vector based on carrier phase information captured from the first point in time to the second point in time; and a coupled processor that minimizes the error in an epipolar equation for each of the multiple matched distinctive features based on the respective first and second unit-vectors and the translation vector to determine a corrected heading; wherein the coupled processor is a Kalman filter and the epipolar equation is δ
r=T×
(x1×
x2)·
φ
+(x1×
x2)·
δ
T, where x1 is the first unit-vector, x2 is the second unit-vector, T is the translation vector, where φ
=attitude error and δ
T=translation error, such that the Kalman filter resolves the attitude error φ and
δ
T is measured by the GPS.
-
-
10. A system for determining heading that is mountable on a traveling vehicle, the system comprising:
-
an image system that captures multiple distinctive features in an area of interest at a first point in time and at a second point of time during traveling of the traveling vehicle, matches the multiple distinctive features captured at the first point of time and the second point of time, and determines a first unit-vector associated with a given matched distinctive feature based on the first point in time and a second unit-vector associated with the given matched distinctive feature associated with the second point in time for each of the multiple matched distinctive features; a global positioning system (GPS) that determines a translation vector based on carrier phase information captured from the first point in time to the second point in time; a coupled processor that minimizes the error in an epipolar equation for each of the multiple matched distinctive features based on the first and second unit-vectors and the translation vector to determine a corrected heading; and an inertial measurement system that provides an initial heading to the coupled processor, the coupled processor employing the initial heading at a starting point for minimizing the epipolar equation, wherein the epipolar equation comprises data characterizing a distinctive feature captured at the first point in time and a distinctive feature captured at the second point in time. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13)
-
-
15. A method for determining heading of a traveling vehicle employing an image system, an inertial system and a global positioning system (GPS), the method comprising:
-
capturing imagery, by the image system, in an area of interest and extracting multiple distinctive feature coordinates at a first point in time; capturing imagery, by the image system, in the area of interest and extracting multiple distinctive feature coordinates at a second point in time; matching, by the image system, the multiple distinctive feature coordinates captured at the first point of time and the second point of time to determine multiple matched distinctive features; providing, from the image system, a first unit-vector associated with a given matched distinctive feature based on the first point in time and a second unit-vector associated with the given matched distinctive feature associated with the second point in time for each of the multiple matched distinctive features; computing, by the GPS, a translation vector based on carrier phase information captured from the first point in time to the second point in time; and minimizing, by a coupled processor, an epipolar equation for each of the multiple matched distinctive features based on the first and second unit-vectors and the translation vector to determine a corrected heading, wherein the epipolar equation comprises data characterizing a distinctive feature captured at the first point in time and a distinctive feature captured at the second point in time. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
-
Specification