Autonomous vehicle operation

• US 9,798,324 B2
• Filed: 08/28/2015
• Issued: 10/24/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/18/2014
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Alarm.com Inc. (Alarm.com Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Helico Aerospace Industries SIA
• Inventors: Nevdahs, Ilja, Spogis, Janis, Trapans, Nils, Rozentals, Edgars, Kipurs, Agris
• Primary Examiner(s): Antonucci, Anne M
• Application Number:
  US14/839,174
• Publication Number:
  US 20160018822A1
• Time in Patent Office: 788 Days
• Field of Search: 701 26
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/00 Control of position, course, altitude or attitude of land, water, air or space vehicles, e.g. using automatic pilots drive control systems specially adapted for autonomous road vehicles B60W60/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0094 involving pointing a payload, e.g. camera, weapon, sensor, towards a fixed or moving target
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/08 Control of attitude, i.e. control of roll, pitch, or yaw

Abstract

A method for an autonomous vehicle to follow a target is provided. The method may include obtaining a position and a velocity of a target and obtaining a position of an autonomous vehicle. The method may also include obtaining a path that encloses the position of the target and determining a path rate for the autonomous vehicle to move along the path based on the velocity of the target. The method may also include determining a path position along the path based on the position of the autonomous vehicle and determining a change in the position of the autonomous vehicle based on the path position, the path rate, and the velocity of the target. The method may also include adjusting a velocity and a direction of the autonomous vehicle to achieve the change in the position of the autonomous vehicle.

Claims

1. A method for an autonomous vehicle to follow a target, the method comprising:

obtaining a position and a velocity of a target;

obtaining a first set position and a second set position;

using the first set position and the second set position to determine a fixed particular autonomous vehicle path that includes the first set position and the second set position;

obtaining a position of an autonomous vehicle along the fixed particular autonomous vehicle path;

determining, after determining the fixed particular autonomous vehicle path, a change in the position of the autonomous vehicle along the fixed particular autonomous vehicle path based on the position of an autonomous vehicle and the position of the target, the change maintaining the autonomous vehicle along the fixed particular autonomous vehicle path; and

adjusting a velocity and a direction of the autonomous vehicle to achieve the change in the position of the autonomous vehicle within the fixed particular autonomous vehicle path, the fixed particular autonomous vehicle path being maintained regardless of changes in the position of the target.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the position of the target is a first position, the method further comprising

obtaining a second position of the target that is different from the first position;

determining a second change in the position of the autonomous vehicle along the fixed particular autonomous vehicle path based on the second position of the target and the change in the position of the autonomous vehicle along the fixed particular autonomous vehicle path, the fixed particular autonomous vehicle path maintained with the second position of the target changed from the first position of the target; and

adjusting the velocity of the autonomous vehicle to achieve the second change in the position of the autonomous vehicle along the fixed particular autonomous vehicle path.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining a third set position; and

using the first set position, the second set position, and the third set position, to determine the fixed particular autonomous vehicle path that includes the first set position, the second set position, and the third set position.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the fixed particular autonomous vehicle path includes a straight line between the first set position and the second set position.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the change in the position of the autonomous vehicle is determined based on a path rate of the autonomous vehicle to move along the fixed particular autonomous vehicle path, wherein the path rate is based on the velocity of the target multiplied by a variable that is reduced as the velocity of the target increases.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the position of the autonomous vehicle is determined based on a current position of the autonomous vehicle, the path rate, and a movement calculation cycle time of the autonomous vehicle, the movement calculation cycle time including a time between calculations of velocity and direction of the autonomous vehicle.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the change in the position of the autonomous vehicle along the fixed particular autonomous vehicle path is determined based on a projected target position along a line between and including the first set position and the second set position, the projected target position being a position on the line that is closest to the position of the target.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the velocity and the position of the target are obtained from a motion tracking device associated with the target, wherein the velocity is an estimated velocity and the position is an estimated position.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining a parking area for the autonomous vehicle;

obtaining a status of a condition affecting the autonomous vehicle, the condition selected from a group consisting of;

battery life of the autonomous vehicle, mechanical properties of the autonomous vehicle, weather, and an end-of-following signal; and

in response to the status of the condition, adjusting the velocity and the direction of the autonomous vehicle to cause the autonomous vehicle to arrive at the parking area.

10. A system for following a target, the system comprising:

a motion tracking device associated with a target, the motion tracking device configured to determine a target position and a target velocity of the target; and

an autonomous vehicle configured to follow the target, the autonomous vehicle configured to follow the target by;

obtain the target position and the target velocity of the target from the motion tracking device;

obtain a particular offset from the target position of the target;

obtain a position of the autonomous vehicle;

obtain a substantially circular path that encloses the target position of the target and that maintains the substantially circular path having a radius substantially equal to the particular offset and having the target position of the target at an approximate center of the substantially circular path;

determining a path rate for the autonomous vehicle to move along the substantially circular path, wherein the path rate is based on the target velocity of the target multiplied by a variable that is reduced as the target velocity of the target increases;

determine a change in the position of the autonomous vehicle along the substantially circular path based on the position of the autonomous vehicle within the substantially circular path, the path rate, and the target velocity of the target; and

adjust a vehicle velocity and a vehicle direction of the autonomous vehicle to achieve the change in the position of the autonomous vehicle by following the substantially circular path, the vehicle velocity and the vehicle direction of the autonomous vehicle being adjusted so that the autonomous vehicle follows the substantially circular path around the target while the target moves at the target velocity.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the position of the autonomous vehicle is a first position of the autonomous vehicle, the autonomous vehicle further configured to:

obtain a second position of the autonomous vehicle;

determine whether the second position of the autonomous vehicle is along the substantially circular path; and

in response to the second position of the autonomous vehicle not being along the substantially circular path, the autonomous vehicle is further configured to;

determine a second change in the position of the autonomous vehicle based on the second position, the substantially circular path, and the target velocity of the target; and

adjust the vehicle velocity of the autonomous vehicle to achieve the second change in the position of the autonomous vehicle, wherein after the second change in the position of the autonomous vehicle, the autonomous vehicle is in the first position of the autonomous vehicle.

12. The system of claim 10, further comprising an electronic device configured with a user interface, the electronic device configured to obtain a configuration of the substantially circular path and to provide the configuration for the substantially circular path to the autonomous vehicle.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the configuration includes the particular offset.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein to adjust the vehicle velocity and the vehicle direction of the autonomous vehicle results in the autonomous vehicle maintaining the particular offset between the autonomous vehicle and the target.

15. The system of claim 14, further comprising an electronic device that is configured to obtain the particular offset and to provide the particular offset to the autonomous vehicle.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the change in the position of the autonomous vehicle is further based on a movement calculation cycle time of the autonomous vehicle, the movement calculation cycle time including a time between calculations of vehicle velocity and vehicle direction of the autonomous vehicle.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein adjusting the vehicle velocity and the vehicle direction of the autonomous vehicle results in the autonomous vehicle orbiting the target along the substantially circular path at an approximately consistent orbital velocity while the target moves and the target is maintained at the approximate center of the substantially circular path.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein the autonomous vehicle is further configured to:

obtain a parking area for the autonomous vehicle;

obtain a status of a condition affecting the autonomous vehicle, the condition selected from a group consisting of;

battery life of the autonomous vehicle, mechanical properties of the autonomous vehicle, weather, and an end-of-following signal; and

in response to the status of the condition, adjust the vehicle velocity and the vehicle direction of the autonomous vehicle to cause the autonomous vehicle to arrive at the parking area.

19. A method for an autonomous vehicle to follow a target, the method comprising:

obtaining a particular positional relationship between a target and an autonomous vehicle;

obtaining a target position and a target velocity of the target with respect to a home reference point;

obtaining an autonomous vehicle position of the autonomous vehicle with respect to the home reference point;

determining a current offset vector based on the target position and the autonomous vehicle position;

determining an anticipated target position based on the target velocity and the target position;

determining an anticipated offset vector based on the anticipated target position and the particular positional relationship;

determining a change in a position of the autonomous vehicle based on the anticipated offset vector and the current offset vector; and

adjusting a velocity and a direction of the autonomous vehicle to achieve the change in the position of the autonomous vehicle such that the autonomous vehicle follows the target.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

obtaining a parking area for the autonomous vehicle;

obtaining a status of a condition affecting the autonomous vehicle, the condition selected from a group consisting of;

battery life of the autonomous vehicle, mechanical properties of the autonomous vehicle, weather, and an end-of-following signal; and

in response to the status of the condition, adjusting the velocity and the direction of the autonomous vehicle to cause the autonomous vehicle to arrive at the parking area.