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Position control system for unmanned automated vehicle

  • US 5,011,288 A
  • Filed: 04/28/1989
  • Issued: 04/30/1991
  • Est. Priority Date: 05/13/1988
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. A position control system for a moving vehicle comprising;

  • light-reflecting means disposed at at least three positions apart from the moving vehicle and reflecting light in the direction of incident light;

    light beam source means mounted on the moving vehicle for emitting a light beam;

    light beam scanning means mounted on the moving vehicle for scanning the light beam in all the different azimuthal directions around the moving vehicle;

    beam receiver means mounted on the moving vehicle for receiving beams of light reflected from the light-reflecting means;

    distance detection means on said vehicle for detecting each distance between the moving vehicle and each of the light-reflecting means on the basis of the output of the beam receiver means;

    angle detection means on said vehicle for detecting differential azimuths between two adjoining light-reflecting means on the basis of the output of the beam receiver means;

    first calculating means on said vehicle for calculating the positions of the respective light-reflecting means on the basis of said detected distances and said detected differential azimuths, said calculation being on a primitive coordinate system wherein the position of the moving vehicle is fixed as the origin;

    coordinate transformation means coupled to said first calculating means for transforming said primitive coordinate system to an execution coordinate system wherein the calculated position of one of the light-reflecting means is defined as the origin; and

    second calculating means coupled to said coordinate transformation means and to said angle detection means for calculating the position of the moving vehicle on said execution coordinate system by use of triangular techniques employing detected differential azimuths provided by said angle detection means and the positions of said light reflecting means calculated by said first calculating means.

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