Method for accelerometer-assisted navigation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10209077-B2
Application number	US-201715652558-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 18, 2017
Priority date	Aug 20, 2015
Publication date	Feb 19, 2019
Grant date	Feb 19, 2019

Abstract

A method for primarily sensor-based navigation includes: in a first time period, collecting geophysical position data using a GPS receiver of a navigation device; in the first time period, collecting a first set of accelerometer data using an accelerometer of the navigation device; analyzing the first set of accelerometer data to produce a first set of vertical vehicular motion data; generating a mapping association between the first set of vertical vehicular motion data and the geophysical position data; in a second time period after the first time period, collecting a second set of accelerometer data using the accelerometer; analyzing the second set of accelerometer data to produce a second set of vertical vehicular motion data; and calculating an estimated location of the vehicle by analyzing the second set of vertical vehicular motion data in light of the mapping association.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method for primarily sensor-based navigation of a vehicle on a road surface, the method comprising:
in a first time period, collecting geophysical position data using a GPS receiver of a navigation device;
in the first time period, collecting a first set of supplementary data using a supplementary sensor of the navigation device;
determining a first set of vertical vehicular motion data based on the first set of supplementary data;
generating a mapping association between the first set of vertical vehicular motion data and the geophysical position data;
in a second time period after the first time period, collecting a second set of supplementary data using the supplementary sensor;
determining a second set of vertical vehicular motion data based on the second set of supplementary data; and
determining an estimated location of the vehicle based on the second set of vertical vehicular motion data and the mapping association.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the supplementary sensor comprises an inertial measurement unit (IMU), wherein the first and second sets of supplementary data are collected by the IMU.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein vertical vehicular motion data describes motion of the vehicle perpendicular the road surface.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a set of previously traveled routes, each previously traveled route of the set of previously traveled routes associated with geophysical positions previously mapped to vertical vehicular motion data;
receiving, at the navigation device, a travel source and a travel destination;
determining that a first previously traveled route from the set of previously traveled routes intersects the travel source, the travel destination, and the estimated location of the vehicle; and
navigating the vehicle according to the first previously traveled route.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising, in response to identifying the first previously traveled route, switching off the GPS receiver; wherein navigating the vehicle according to the first previously traveled route comprises navigating based on vertical vehicular motion data without collecting additional GPS data.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the estimated location of the vehicle comprises:
inferring a GPS-measured initial vehicular location from a second set of geophysical position data collected by the GPS receiver; wherein the geophysical position data is collected at a first time between the first time period and the second time period;
generating a set of potential locations, each potential location of the set of potential locations associated with a vertical vehicular motion profile; and
calculating the estimated location of the vehicle from the set of potential locations based on: proximities of the set of potential locations to the GPS-measured initial vehicular location and correlations of the vertical vehicular motion profiles to the second set of vertical vehicular motion data.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the estimated location of the vehicle comprises:
inferring a GPS-measured initial vehicular location from a second set of geophysical position data collected by the GPS receiver; wherein the geophysical position data is collected at a first time between the first time period and the second time period;
collecting a third set of supplementary data between the first time and a second time in the second time period;
analyzing the third set of supplementary data to produce a first set of horizontal vehicular motion data;
calculating a vehicle position change from the first set of horizontal vehicular motion data;
calculating a GPS-and-supplemental-sensor-derived location by adding the vehicle position change to the GPS-measured initial vehicular location;
generating a set of potential locations, each potential location of the set of potential locations associated with a vertical vehicular motion profile; and
calculating the estimated location of the vehicle from the set of potential locations based on both of proximities of the set of potential locations to the GPS-and-supplemental-sensor-derived location and correlations of the vertical vehicular motion profiles to the second set of vertical vehicular motion data.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
in the first time period, collecting a first vehicle speed;
in the second time period, collecting a second vehicle speed;
wherein determining the estimated location of the vehicle comprises time-scaling the second set of vertical vehicular motion data based on a difference between the first vehicle speed and the second vehicle speed.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
in the first time period, collecting a first vehicle suspension profile;
in the second time period, collecting a second vehicle suspension profile;
wherein determining the estimated location of the vehicle comprises analyzing the second set of vertical vehicular motion data based on: the mapping association, the first vehicle suspension profile, and the second vehicle suspension profile.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second set of vertical vehicular motion data describes motion of the vehicle perpendicular a road surface supporting the vehicle.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, before collecting the set of accelerometer data:
in a time period, collecting the set of geophysical position data using a GPS receiver of a navigation device;
in the time period, collecting a second set of accelerometer data using an accelerometer of the navigation device;
analyzing the second set of accelerometer data to produce the first set of vertical vehicular motion data; and
generating the mapping association based on the first set of vertical vehicular motion data and the set of geophysical position data.

12. A method for navigation of a vehicle, the method comprising:
receiving a mapping association between a first set of vertical vehicular motion data and a set of geophysical position data;
after receiving the mapping association, collecting a set of accelerometer data;
analyzing the set of accelerometer data to produce a second set of vertical vehicular motion data; and
determining an estimated location of the vehicle based on the second set of vertical vehicular motion data and the mapping association.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising determining a set of vehicle suspension calibration data, wherein determining the estimated location comprises analyzing the second set of vertical vehicular motion data in light of: the mapping association and the set of vehicle suspension calibration data.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the set of accelerometer data is collected during a time period, wherein determining the set of vehicle suspension calibration data comprises:
collecting a set of geophysical position data, the set of geophysical position data received by a GPS receiver during the time period;
deriving a GPS-derived location based on the set of geophysical position data;
generating a reference vertical vehicular motion profile from the mapping association and the GPS-derived location;
determining a comparison between the reference vertical vehicular motion profile and the second set of accelerometer data; and
generating the set of vehicle suspension calibration data based on the comparison.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the set of accelerometer data is collected at an accelerometer of a navigation device, the method further comprising, at the navigation device, detecting a vehicle type of the vehicle,

Assignees

• Zendrive Inc

Inventors

• Choudhury Romit Roy
• Pal Jayanta
• Risbood Pankaj
• Matus Jonathan

Classifications

• G01C21/30

  Map- or contour-matching · CPC title

• G01C21/165 Primary

  combined with non-inertial navigation instruments · CPC title