METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING ACCURATE LOCALIZATION FOR AN INDUSTRIAL VEHICLE

• US 20120303176A1
• Filed: 11/18/2011
• Published: 11/29/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/26/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Crown Equipment Corporation
• Original Assignee: Inro Technologies Limited
• Inventors: WONG, LISA, GRAHAM, ANDREW EVAN, GOODE, CHRISTOPHER W.
• Granted Patent: US 8,655,588 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/165 combined with non-inertial navigation instruments
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/86 Combinations of lidar systems with systems other than lidar, radar or sonar, e.g. with direction finders
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/89 for mapping or imaging

Abstract

A method and apparatus for providing accurate localization for an industrial vehicle is described; including processing at least one sensor input message from a plurality of sensor devices, wherein the at least one sensor input message includes information regarding observed environmental features; determining position measurements associated with the industrial vehicle in response to at least one sensor input message, wherein the plurality of sensor devices comprises a two-dimensional laser scanner, and at least one other sensor device selected from an odometer, an ultrasonic sensor, a compass, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, an inertial measurement unit, or an imaging sensor; and updating a vehicle state using the position measurements.

Claims

1. A method for accurately localizing an industrial vehicle, comprising:

processing at least one sensor input message from a plurality of sensor devices, wherein the at least one sensor input message comprises information regarding observed environmental features;

determining position measurements associated with the industrial vehicle in response to at least one sensor input message, wherein the plurality of sensor devices comprises a two-dimensional laser scanner, and at least one other sensor device selected from an odometer, an ultrasonic sensor, a compass, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, an inertial measurement unit (IMU), or an imaging sensor; and

updating a vehicle state using the position measurements.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising navigating the industrial vehicle based on the updated vehicle state.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the position measurements further comprises correcting the information regarding the environmental features in response to industrial vehicle movement.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the vehicle position further comprises rearranging the at least one sensor input message according to the each acquisition time.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the vehicle position further comprises examining the at least one sensor input message in order of acquisition time.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the position measurements further comprises in response to a trigger message, integrating vehicle motion data data when determining the position measurements.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein updating the vehicle state further comprises updating a position prediction using the extracted environment features.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein updating the vehicle state further comprises delaying the updating step in response to the at least one sensor input message.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising predicting a current vehicle state using vehicle motion data and the updated vehicle state.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the vehicle motion data corresponds with an acquisition time that is after an acquisition time of a trigger message.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining the uncertainty associated with the vehicle position.

12. An apparatus for providing accurate localization at an industrial vehicle, comprising:

a computer coupled to the industrial vehicle and a plurality of sensors, comprising;

an environment based navigation module for processing at least one sensor input message from a plurality of sensors, wherein the at least one sensor input message comprises information regarding environmental features, determining position measurements associated with the industrial vehicle in response to each acquisition time of the at least one sensor input message and updating a vehicle state using the determined position measurements.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the environment based navigation module rearranges the at least one sensor input message according to the each acquisition time.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the environment based navigation module corrects the information regarding the environmental features in response to industrial vehicle movement.

15. The apparatus of claim 12 further comprising another computer coupled to the computer, wherein the other computer comprises a manager for communicating tasks to the computer.

16. A computer-readable-storage medium comprising one or more processor-executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to:

process at least one sensor input message from a plurality of sensor devices, wherein the at least one sensor input message comprises information regarding environmental features;

determine the position measurements associated with the industrial vehicle in response to each acquisition time of the at least one sensor input message.

17. The computer-readable-storage medium of claim 16 further comprising one or more processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to perform at least one of:

rearrange the at least one sensor input message according to the each acquisition time, correct the information regarding the environmental features in response to industrial vehicle movement, store the at least one sensor input message within a queue according to the each acquisition time, examine the at least one sensor input message in order of acquisition time, or integrate vehicle motion data when determining the position measurements in response to a trigger message.