System for power facility navigation

• US 8,473,203 B2
• Filed: 12/22/2008
• Issued: 06/25/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Korea Electric Power Corporation (Government of South Korea)
• Original Assignee: Korea Electric Power Corporation (Government of South Korea)
• Inventors: Shin, Jin Ho, Kim, Young Il, Lee, Bong Jae, Song, Jae Ju
• Primary Examiner(s): Trammell, James
• Assistant Examiner(s): TESTARDI, DAVID A
• Application Number:
  US12/341,768
• Publication Number:
  US 20100114475A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,646 Days
• Field of Search: 701/420, 701/422, 701445-448, 701/478.5, 701/482, 701/515
• US Class Current: 701/446
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/30 Map- or contour-matching
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3605 Destination input or retrieval
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/047 Optimisation of routes or paths, e.g. travelling salesman problem

Abstract

A system for power facility navigation is disclosed. For rapid dispatch in the field service including power failure recovery and maintenance, the destination location can be set using various items such as pole numbers, computerization codes, customer names, trade names, equipment numbers and GIS coordinates. Destination location setting and path finding can be performed in order of priorities assigned to these items and in consideration of characteristics of field service activities. Location coordinates are received through a GPS receiver, coordinate conversion is performed according to a facility GIS coordinate system, and map matching is processed when GPS coordinates do not match facility GIS coordinates. The road network database is composed of linear array structures and the structure of a link is configured to include information regarding all other links connected to the start node and end node in a manner that link information and node attributes are integrated together.

Claims

1. A system for power facility navigation, comprising:

a processor configured to find a destination location and search for a path;

a mobile GIS engine connected to the processor and configured to perform data processing;

a spatial database connected to the mobile GIS engine and configured to store basic maps and power facility maps;

a non-spatial database connected to the mobile GIS engine and configured to store property information of power facilities and sections; and

a road network database connected to the mobile GIS engine and configured to store information on roads as a road network,

wherein the processor comprises;

a destination setting module configured to find the destination location with a plurality of destination setting items having respective preset priorities assigned thereto, such that the destination setting items are compared with GIS data in order of the preset priorities until a match is found,

a path finding module configured to search the road network database for a path leading to the destination location,

a GPS coordinate processing module configured to receive location coordinates through a GPS receiver and perform coordinate conversion between different coordinate systems, and

a map matching module configured to perform GPS coordinate correction.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the destination setting items include electric pole numbers of power facilities, computerization codes of power facilities, customer names, trade names, addresses, numbers, equipment numbers and GIS coordinates.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the path leading to the destination location includes a set of links, from among a plurality of links, each of the plurality of links connecting two locations, and

the path finding module is configured to;

determine current coordinates and coordinates of the destination location, search the road network database for a shortest link connected from the current coordinates and a shortest link connected to the destination coordinates, and find the path leading to the destination location within a search range.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the path finding module is configured to derive a circle that is centered at the middle point of a straight line connecting the current coordinates and the destination coordinates and has a radius 1.5 times the distance between the middle point and the current coordinates, and set the search range to the inside of the circle.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the path finding module is configured to:

set, when a current link at the current coordinates is within the search range and the current link is not equal to a destination link at the destination coordinates, a traveling direction based on multiple sets of previous coordinates,

find connected links leading to the traveling direction,

compute, for each connected link, a new accumulated sum of weights by summing a weight of the connected link and a currently accumulated sum of weights together,

reset the current link to the connected link, and

perform a next step of path finding.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein weights of the connected links are set differently according to whether the direction from the current link to the next link corresponds to going straight, turning to the right, turning to the left, or making a U-turn.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the path finding module is configured to terminate path finding when the current link is equal to the destination link.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the GPS coordinate processing module is configured to:

receive destination coordinates through the GPS receiver, and

perform a coordinate conversion according to a power facility GIS coordinate system.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the road network database is composed of linear array structures including a plurality of nodes and a plurality of links, each of the plurality of links connecting a start node and an end node, and

the structure of each link includes information regarding all other links, among the plurality of links, that are connected to the start node and end node, in a manner that link information and node attributes are integrated together.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the road network database stores, for each link, at least one of link identifier, start node identifier, start node attribute, end node identifier, end node attribute, link length, link type, road class code, one-way indicator, lane count, road name, coordinate count, x-coordinates, y-coordinates, start link count, start link index, end link count, and end link index.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to display at least one of status of a modem connecting to a digital TRS or CDMA radio network, status of a GPS receiver, setting of the map direction, setting of a path finding scheme, map scale level, setting of system environment, power facility destination, remaining time and distance, site information related to the current location, traversed path, current location of the car, traveling speed, direction indication, car-centered mode, map movement mode, facility selection mode, and facility attribute.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein when a new failure report is received in the car, the processor is configured to:

split the navigation screen into left and right parts, and

display an alert message, a received work list, and details of the failure report.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the processor is configured to display the received work list and a current work list of works in progress, and display, when a failure case is selected from the received work list or current work list, the location associated with the failure case on the map.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the processor is configured to automatically set, when a failure case is moved from the received work list to the current work list, the destination location to the corresponding failure location, and start path finding.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the destination setting items include an address including a parcel number, and

the destination setting module is configured to increase or decrease the parcel number by 1 and compare the parcel number with GIS data, repeatedly, until a match is found.