Track Data Determination System and Method

• US 20140176711A1
• Filed: 12/21/2012
• Published: 06/26/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Wabtec Corporation (Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Wabtec Corporation (Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation)
• Inventors: Kernwein, Jeffrey D., Kirchner, Michael Charles, Diefenderfer, Chad E., Wall, Matthew T.
• Granted Patent: US 9,846,025 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/148
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 2205/04 Satellite based navigation systems, e.g. global positioning system [GPS]
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 23/041 Obstacle detection
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 25/025 Absolute localisation, e.g. providing geodetic coordinates
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 11/00 Measuring arrangements characterised by the use of optical techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/485 whereby the further system is an optical system or imaging system
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/49 whereby the further system is an inertial position system, e.g. loosely-coupled
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/50 whereby the position solution is constrained to lie upon a particular curve or surface, e.g. for locomotives on railway tracks

Abstract

A track data determination system including: a video camera device positioned on a vehicle to capture video data in at least one field-of-view; a geographic positioning unit associated with the vehicle to generate position data and time data; a recording device to store at least one of the following: at least a portion of the video data, at least a portion of the position data, at least a portion of the time data, or any combination thereof; and a controller to: (i) receive the video data, the position data, and/or the time data; and (ii) determine track data based at least in part upon the video data, the position data, and/or the time data. A computer-implemented track data determination method is also disclosed.

Claims

1. A track data determination system for use in connection with at least one vehicle configured to traverse a track, the system comprising:

at least one video camera device positioned on a portion of the at least one vehicle and configured to capture video data in at least one field-of-view;

at least one geographic positioning unit associated with the at least one vehicle and configured to generate position data and time data;

at least one recording device configured to store at least one of the following;

at least a portion of the video data, at least a portion of the position data, at least a portion of the time data, or any combination thereof; and

at least one controller configured to;

(i) receive at least one of the following;

at least a portion of the video data, at least a portion of the position data, at least a portion of the time data, or any combination thereof; and

(ii) determine track data based at least in part upon at least one of the following;

at least a portion of the video data, at least a portion of the position data, at least a portion of the time data, or any combination thereof,

wherein the track data comprises at least one of the following;

track centerline data, feature data, verification data, or any combination thereof.

2. The track data determination system of claim 1, wherein the at least one controller is further configured to synchronize at least a portion of the video data with at least a portion of the position data based at least partially on at least a portion of the time data.

3. The track data determination system of claim 1, wherein the at least one controller is further configured to correlate the positions between at least two of the following:

at least one component of the at least one video camera device, at least one component of the at least one geographic positioning unit, at least a portion of the vehicle, at least a portion of the track, or any combination thereof.

4. The track data determination system of claim 1, wherein, prior to the determination step (ii), the controller is configured to receive camera calibration data, and wherein the camera calibration data includes at least one of the following:

focal length, lens distortion, pose, measured data, position data, orientation data, viewpoint data, camera data, or any combination thereof.

5. The track data determination system of claim 1, wherein the at least one geographic positioning unit is a Global Positioning System device in communication with at least one Global Positioning System satellite, and wherein the position data comprises raw Global Positioning System data.

6. The track data determination system of claim 5, wherein the at least one controller is further configured to process at least a portion of the raw Global Positioning System data by applying at least one processing routine based at least partially on at least one of the following:

pseudo-range data, satellite data, ephemeris data, clock data, ionosphere data, correction data, third-party data, reference data, or any combination thereof.

7. The track data determination system of claim 6, wherein the at least one processing routine comprises a Precise Point Positioning technique.

8. The track data determination system of claim 1, further comprising at least one inertial measurement unit positioned on a portion of the vehicle and configured to generate inertial data.

9. The track data determination system of claim 8, wherein the at least one controller is further configured to process at least a portion of the position data by applying at least one processing routine based at least partially on the inertial data.

10. The track data determination system of claim 9, wherein the at least one processing routine comprises a Kalman filter.

11. The track data determination system of claim 1, wherein the at least one controller is further configured to:

determine camera calibration data comprising at least one of the position of the at least one video camera device and the orientation of the at least one video camera device; and

based at least partially on the time data, correlate at least a portion of the position data and at least a portion of the camera calibration data.

12. The track data determination system of claim 1, wherein the at least one controller is further configured to determine feature data.

13. The track data determination system of claim 12, wherein at least a portion of the feature data is determined by applying at least one object recognition routine to at least a portion of the video data.

14. The track determination system of claim 12, wherein at least a portion of the feature data is determined by applying at least one pose estimation routine to at least a portion of the video data.

15. The track data determination system of claim 14, wherein the at least one pose estimation routine comprises:

(i) identifying at least one point on a surface of at least one feature;

(ii) receiving dimension data directed to the at least one feature;

(iii) determining the relative position of the at least one feature with respect to the at least one video camera device; and

(iv) determining the global position of the at least one feature.

16. The track data determination system of claim 1, wherein the at least a portion of the track data is used to build an initial track database.

17. The track data determination system of claim 1, wherein the at least one controller is configured to:

(i) receive track data from an existing track database;

(ii) compare at least a portion of the track data from the existing track database to at least a portion of the determined track data; and

(iii) based at least partially on the comparison, build a corrected track database.

18. The track data determination system of claim 1, wherein the at least one vehicle comprises a train having at least one locomotive including a wheel assembly kingpin.

19. The track data determination system of claim 18, wherein at least one component of the at least one geographic positioning unit is mounted substantially directly over the wheel assembly kingpin.

20. The track data determination system of claim 18, wherein at least one component of the at least one video camera device is mounted to a front of the at least one locomotive and substantially in line with the centerline of the track.

21. A computer-implemented track data determination method, comprising:

capturing video data in at least one field-of-view by at least one video camera device positioned on a portion of at least one vehicle configured to traverse a track;

generating position data and time data by at least one geographic positioning unit associated with the at least one vehicle;

storing, by at least one recording device, at least one of the following;

at least a portion of the video data, at least a portion of the position data, at least a portion of the time data, or any combination thereof; and

determining track data based at least in part upon at least one of the following;

at least a portion of the video data, at least a portion of the position data, at least a portion of the time data, or any combination thereof,

wherein the track data comprises at least one of the following;

track centerline data, feature data, verification data, or any combination thereof.

22. The track data determination method of claim 21, further comprising synchronizing at least a portion of the video data with at least a portion of the position data based at least partially on at least a portion of the time data.

23. The track data determination method of claim 21, further comprising correlating the positions between at least two of the following:

at least one component of the at least one video camera device, at least one component of the at least one geographic positioning unit, at least a portion of the vehicle, at least a portion of the track, or any combination thereof.

24. The track data determination method of claim 21, wherein, prior to the determination step, the method further comprises generating camera calibration data, and wherein the camera calibration data includes at least one of the following:

focal length, lens distortion, pose, measured data, position data, orientation data, viewpoint data, camera data, or any combination thereof.

25. The track data determination method of claim 21, further comprising applying, to at least a portion of the position data, at least one processing routine based at least partially on at least one of the following:

pseudo-range data, satellite data, ephemeris data, clock data, ionosphere data, correction data, third-party data, reference data, or any combination thereof.

26. The track data determination method of claim 25, wherein the at least one processing routine comprises a Precise Point Positioning technique.

27. The track data determination method of claim 21, further comprising:

generating inertial data by at least one inertial measurement unit positioned on a portion of the vehicle; and

applying, to at least a portion of the position data, at least one processing routine based at least partially on the inertial data.

28. The track data determination method of claim 27, wherein the at least one processing routine comprises a Kalman filter.

29. The track data determination method of claim 21, further comprising:

determining camera calibration data comprising at least one of the position of the at least one video camera device and the orientation of the at least one video camera device; and

based at least partially on the time data, correlating at least a portion of the position data and at least a portion of the camera data.

30. The track data determination method of claim 21, further comprising determining feature data by at least one of the following:

applying at least one object recognition routine to at least a portion of the video data; and

applying at least one pose estimation routine to at least a portion of the video data.

31. The track data determination method of claim 30, wherein the at least one pose estimate routine comprises:

(i) identifying at least one point on a surface of at least one feature;

(ii) receiving dimension data directed to the at least one feature;

(iii) determining the relative position of the at least one feature with respect to the at least one video camera device; and

(iv) determining the global position of the at least one feature.

32. The track data determination method of claim 21, further comprising building an initial track database based at least partially on at least a portion of the track data.

33. The track data determination method of claim 21, further comprising:

receiving track data from an existing track database;

comparing at least a portion of the track data from the existing track database to at least a portion of the determined track data; and

based at least partially on the comparison, building a corrected track database.

34. The track data determination method of claim 21, wherein the at least one vehicle comprises a train having at least one locomotive including a wheel assembly kingpin, the method further comprising mounting at least one component of the at least one geographic positioning unit directly over the wheel assembly kingpin.

35. The track data determination system of claim 21, wherein the at least one vehicle comprises a train having at least one locomotive, the method further comprising mounting at least one component of the at least one video camera device to a front of the at least one locomotive and substantially in line with the centerline of the track.