Methods and apparatuses for vehicle wading safety

• US 10,452,072 B2
• Filed: 05/25/2017
• Issued: 10/22/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/25/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Myers, Scott Vincent, Banvait, Harpreetsingh, Smith, Joshua Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): Amin, Bhavesh V
• Application Number:
  US15/605,821
• Publication Number:
  US 20180341265A1
• Time in Patent Office: 880 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2420/403 Image sensing, e.g. optical camera
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2420/408 Radar; Laser, e.g. lidar
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2420/54 Audio sensitive means, e.g. ultrasound
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2555/20 Ambient conditions, e.g. wind or rain
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 60/001 Planning or execution of driving tasks
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 60/0016 of the vehicle or its occupants
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 13/008 measuring depth of open water
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3407 specially adapted for specific applications
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0214 in accordance with safety or protection criteria, e.g. avoiding hazardous areas monitoring the location of vehicles within a certain area, e.g. forbidden or allowed areas, in traffic control systems for road vehicles G08G1/13
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 90/30 Assessment of water resources

Abstract

Techniques and examples pertaining to vehicle water wading safety are described. A processor implementable to a vehicle approaching a waterbody may receive data related to the waterbody from one or more above-water or under-water sensors. The processor may determine a top surface and a bottom profile of the waterbody, and calculate one or more critical trajectories of water-sensitive components of the vehicle if the vehicle is to wade through the waterbody by traversing the bottom profile. The processor may then determine the wading safety based on the critical trajectories and the top surface of the waterbody. The processor may further determine a wading route, and autonomously drive the vehicle to wade the waterbody via the optimal wading route.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

determining, by a processor, one or more aspects of a waterbody;

calculating, by the processor, one or more critical trajectories of a vehicle wading the waterbody based at least in part on the one or more aspects;

determining, by the processor, whether it is safe for the vehicle to wade the waterbody based on the one or more critical trajectories and the one or more aspects; and

estimating, by the processor, a speed of a current of the waterbody based on input from one or more above-water sensors disposed on the vehicle, the one or more above-water sensors configured to track a floating object carried by the current,

wherein the determining of whether it is safe for the vehicle to wade the waterbody is further based on the speed of the current and a buoyancy model of the vehicle.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining of the one or more aspects of the waterbody comprises:

receiving, from one or more above-water sensors disposed on the vehicle, data representing one or more edges of the waterbody; and

determining one or more depths and a bottom profile of the waterbody based on the edges and a topographic information of a location related to the waterbody.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more above-water sensors comprise a visible-light camera, an infrared camera, a stereo camera, a time-of-flight (TOF) camera, a light-detection-and-ranging (LIDAR) transceiver, a radio-detection-and-ranging (RADAR) transceiver, an ultrasound transceiver, or a combination thereof.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining of the one or more aspects of the waterbody comprises:

receiving, from one or more above-water sensors disposed on the vehicle, a first reflected signal and a second reflected signal, the first reflected signal being a first portion of a sensing signal reflected by a top surface of the waterbody, the second reflected signal being a second portion of the sensing signal reflected by a ground surface underneath the waterbody; and

calculating, by the processor, one or more depths and a bottom profile of the waterbody based at least in part on the first reflected signal and the second reflected signal.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the one or more above-water sensors comprise a time-of-flight (TOF) camera, a light-detection-and-ranging (LIDAR) transceiver, a radio-detection-and-ranging (RADAR) transceiver, an ultrasound transceiver, or a combination thereof.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

analyzing the first reflected signal and the second reflected signal using one or more statistical filters before the calculating of the one or more depths and the bottom profile of the waterbody.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining of the one or more aspects of the waterbody comprises:

utilizing one or more under-water sensors in the waterbody;

controlling the one or more under-water sensors to transmit a sensing signal toward a top surface of the waterbody and a ground surface underneath the waterbody;

controlling the one or more under-water sensors to receive a first reflected signal and a second reflected signal, the first reflected signal being a first portion of the sensing signal reflected by the top surface of the waterbody, the second reflected signal being a second portion of the sensing signal reflected by the ground surface underneath the waterbody; and

calculating one or more depths and a bottom profile of the waterbody based at least in part on the first reflected signal and the second reflected signal.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the one or more aspects of the waterbody comprise a bottom profile of the waterbody,

the calculating of the one or more critical trajectories is based on the bottom profile and a spatial model of the vehicle,

the spatial model of the vehicle comprises a spatial relationship of each of one or more critical components of the vehicle relative to a fixed reference point of the vehicle, each of the one or more critical components susceptible to water damage, and

each of the one or more critical trajectories comprises a moving trajectory of a corresponding one of the one or more critical components as the vehicle traverses the bottom profile of the waterbody.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more aspects of the waterbody comprise one or more depths of the waterbody that collectively define a top surface of the waterbody, and wherein the determining of whether it is safe for the vehicle to wade the waterbody comprises:

determining it is safe for the vehicle to wade the waterbody in an event that each of the critical trajectories is above the top surface of the waterbody; and

determining it is unsafe for the vehicle to wade the waterbody in an event that at least a portion of one of the critical trajectories is below the top surface of the waterbody.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

determining, by the processor, a wading route via which the vehicle is able to wade through the waterbody safely in response to the determining that it is safe for the vehicle to wade the waterbody; and

determining, by the processor, an alternative route via which the vehicle is able to avoid the waterbody in response to the determining that it is unsafe for the vehicle to wade the waterbody.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

controlling, by the processor, the vehicle to autonomously wade the waterbody via the wading route.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

utilizing, by the processor, one or more under-water sensors in the waterbody to measure the speed of the current of the waterbody,

wherein the determining of whether it is safe for the vehicle to wade the waterbody is further based on the speed of the current and the buoyancy model of the vehicle.

13. An apparatus, comprising:

a memory capable of storing one or more sets of instructions and a spatial model of a vehicle; and

a processor coupled to execute the one or more sets of instructions stored in the memory such that, upon executing the one or more sets of instructions, the processor performs operations comprising;

determining one or more depths and a bottom profile of a waterbody, via a sensor;

calculating one or more critical trajectories of the vehicle based on the bottom profile of the waterbody and the spatial model of the vehicle;

determining whether it is safe for the vehicle to wade the waterbody based on the one or more depths of the waterbody and the one or more critical trajectories; and

performing, via a navigation device either;

determining a wading route via which the vehicle is able to wade through the waterbody safely and a wading speed at which the vehicle is able to wade through the waterbody safely via the wading route;

or

determining an alternative route via which the vehicle is able to avoid the waterbody.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising:

one or more above-water sensors disposed on the vehicle, the one or more above-water sensors capable of sensing one or more edges of the waterbody,

wherein the memory is also capable of storing a topographic information of a location related to the waterbody, and

wherein the processor determines the one or more depths and the bottom profile of the waterbody based on the edges and the topographic information.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising:

one or more above-water sensors disposed on the vehicle to transmit a sensing signal toward the waterbody and receive a first reflected signal and a second reflected signal from the waterbody,

wherein the first reflected signal comprises a first portion of the sensing signal reflected by a top surface of the waterbody,

wherein the second reflected signal comprises a second portion of the sensing signal reflected by a ground surface underneath the waterbody, and

wherein the processor determines the one or more depths and the bottom profile of the waterbody based at least in part on the first reflected signal and the second reflected signal.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising:

one or more above-water sensors disposed on the vehicle to estimate a flowing speed of the waterbody by tracking a floating object carried by the waterbody,

wherein the memory is also capable of storing a buoyancy model of the vehicle, and

wherein the determining of whether it is safe for the vehicle to wade the waterbody is further based on the flowing speed of the waterbody and the buoyancy model of the vehicle.

17. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising:

one or more under-water sensors disposed on the vehicle to measure a flowing speed of the waterbody when submerged within the waterbody,

wherein the memory is also capable of storing a buoyancy model of the vehicle, and

wherein the determining of whether it is safe for the vehicle to wade the waterbody is further based on the flowing speed of the waterbody and the buoyancy model of the vehicle.