Unit and method for improving positioning accuracy

• US 9,921,065 B2
• Filed: 06/13/2016
• Issued: 03/20/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/23/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Volvo Car Corporation (AB Volvo)
• Original Assignee: Volvo Car Corporation (AB Volvo)
• Inventors: Brannstrom, Mattias Erik, Sorstedt, Joakim Lin, Karlsson, Peter
• Primary Examiner(s): Ramesh, Krishnan
• Application Number:
  US15/180,488
• Publication Number:
  US 20160377437A1
• Time in Patent Office: 645 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/1652 with ranging devices, e.g. LIDAR or RADAR
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/1654 with electromagnetic compass
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/1656 with passive imaging devices, e.g. cameras
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/188 for accumulated errors, e.g. by coupling inertial systems with absolute positioning systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/28 with correlation of data from several navigational instruments
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0274 using mapping information stored in a memory device navigation using map-matching G01C21/30
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0278 using satellite positioning signals, e.g. GPS

Abstract

A unit for improving positioning accuracy of an autonomous vehicle driving on a road includes a first computation unit configured to compute a first position of the vehicle at a time T1 using data from at least an inertial measurement unit (IMU); a second computation unit configured to compute a second position of the vehicle at the time T1 using data from at least one external sensor and a map; a comparison unit configured to compute a position difference between the computed first and second positions; a correction unit configured to correct an error parameter of the IMU, wherein the error parameter is used for correcting a third position of the vehicle computed by the first computation unit at a time T2 with the computed position difference at time T1, if the second computation unit is unable to compute a fourth position of the vehicle at the time T2.

Claims

1. A unit for improving positioning accuracy of an autonomous vehicle driving on a road, the unit comprising:

a first computation unit configured to compute a first position of the vehicle on the road at a time T1 using data from at least an inertial measurement unit (IMU);

a second computation unit configured to compute a second position of the vehicle on the road at the time T1 using data from at least one external sensor and a map;

a comparison unit configured to compute a position difference between the computed first position and the computed second position;

a correction unit configured to correct an error parameter of at least the IMU, wherein if the second computation unit is unable to compute a fourth position of the vehicle at a time T2, then the error parameter is used for correcting a third position of the vehicle computed by the first computation unit at time T2 with the computed position difference at time T1; and

a positioning unit configured to decide the position of the vehicle on the road.

2. The unit according to claim 1 wherein the positioning unit is configured to decide the position of the vehicle to be the corrected third position at time T2.

3. The unit according to claim 1 wherein the positioning unit is configured to decide the position of the vehicle at the time T1 based on both the computed first position from the first computation unit and the computed second position from the second computation unit.

4. The unit according to claim 3 wherein if the second computation unit is able to compute the fourth position of the vehicle at the time T2, then the positioning unit is configured to decide the position of the vehicle at time T2 based on both the corrected third position from the first computation unit and the computed fourth position from the second computation unit.

5. The unit according to claim 4 wherein the second computation unit is configured to compute the second position and the fourth position of the vehicle, when data from the at least one external sensor and/or the map are available.

6. The unit according to claim 3 wherein the first and the second computation units are configured to periodically and/or at predetermined time intervals compute further positions of the vehicle at times T3, T4, . . . , TN.

7. The unit according to claim 3 wherein the at least one external sensor for providing data for use in the second computation unit is one or more of:

a camera, a radar, a lidar, a satellite navigation system.

8. The unit according to claim 1 wherein if the second computation unit is able to compute the fourth position of the vehicle at the time T2, then the positioning unit is configured to decide the position of the vehicle at time T2 based on both the corrected third position from the first computation unit and the computed fourth position from the second computation unit.

9. The unit according to claim 8 wherein the second computation unit is configured to compute the second position and the fourth position of the vehicle, when data from the at least one external sensor and/or the map are available.

10. The unit according to claim 1 wherein the second computation unit is configured to compute the second position and the fourth position of the vehicle, when data from the at least one external sensor and the map are available.

11. The unit according to claim 1 wherein the map is configured to store information associated with locations on the road at which data from the at least one external sensor is available.

12. The unit according to claim 1 wherein data from the at least one external sensor is available when the at least one external sensor is capable of measuring data.

13. The unit according to claim 1 wherein the first and the second computation units are configured to periodically and/or at predetermined time intervals compute further positions of the vehicle at times T3, T4, . . . , TN.

14. The unit according to claim 1 wherein the data from the map usable in the second computation unit comprises one or more of:

maximum speed permitted, lane size, number of lanes, any divider in-between lanes, curvature of lane, road geometry, position of road signs, position of guard rails, position of buildings, and/or position of landmarks.

15. The unit according to claim 1 wherein the at least one external sensor for providing data for use in the second computation unit is one or more of:

a camera, a radar, a lidar, a satellite navigation system.

16. The unit according to claim 1 wherein the first computation unit is configured to use data from an internal sensor in the vehicle, wherein the internal sensor is one or more of a wheel speed sensor, an internal vehicle state sensor, a gyroscope, an accelerometer, a magnetometer.

17. The unit according to claim 1 wherein the second computation unit is configured to compute the positions of the vehicle using data from the IMU usable by the first computation unit or from another IMU.

18. A vehicle comprising a unit according to claim 1.

19. A method for improving positioning accuracy of an autonomous vehicle driving on a road, wherein the method is performed in a unit, the method comprising:

computing a first position of the vehicle on the road at a time T1 in a first computation unit, wherein the computation is performed using data from at least an inertial measurement unit (IMU);

computing a second position of the vehicle on the road at the time T1 in a second computation unit, wherein the computation is performed using data from at least one external sensor and a map;

computing a position difference between the computed first position and the computed second position in a comparison unit;

correcting an error parameter of at least the IMU in a correction unit, wherein if the second computation unit is unable to compute a fourth position of the vehicle at a time T2, then the error parameter is used for correcting a third position of the vehicle computed by the first computation unit at the time T2 with the computed position difference at time T1; and

deciding the position of the vehicle on the road in a positioning unit.

20. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions for improving positioning accuracy of an autonomous vehicle driving on a road, wherein the program instructions are executable by one or more processors of a computer system to:

compute a first position of the vehicle on the road at a time T1 using data from at least an inertial measurement unit (IMU);

compute a second position of the vehicle on the road at the time T1 using data from at least one external sensor and a map;

compute a position difference between the computed first position and the computed second position;

correct an error parameter of at least the IMU, wherein if the second computation unit is unable to compute a fourth position of the vehicle at a time T2, then the error parameter is used for correcting a third position of the vehicle computed by the first computation unit at a time T2 with the computed position difference at time T1; and

decide the position of the vehicle on the road.