Method for providing a GNSS signal

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10353076-B2
Application number	US-201314650409-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 12, 2013
Priority date	Dec 20, 2012
Publication date	Jul 16, 2019
Grant date	Jul 16, 2019

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for providing a global navigation satellite system signal, referred to as a GNSS signal in the following, for determining a position of a vehicle, the method including: receiving an unfiltered GNSS signal, filtering the unfiltered GNSS signal on the basis of an ambient condition around the vehicle, and emitting the filtered GNSS signal.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for providing a global navigation satellite system signal referred to below as a GNSS signal, for determining a position of a vehicle, comprising the steps of:
receiving, by a receiver in the vehicle, a plurality of GNSS signals from a plurality of respective GNSS satellites,
detecting, by an environment sensor in the vehicle, an object around the vehicle,
prior to the object shadowing a GNSS signal of the plurality of GNSS signals from the vehicle:
determining, by a fusion sensor, a distance from the position of the vehicle to a position of the object,
determining, by the fusion sensor, that upon further travel by the vehicle, the object is expected to shadow the GNSS signal, and
determining, by the fusion sensor based on the distance from the position of the vehicle to a position of the object, when the object is expected to shadow the GNSS signal,

determining, by the fusion sensor, respective error budgets for each of the plurality of GNSS signals, wherein the error budget of the GNSS signal is based on error introduced from the expected shadowing,
determining, by the fusion sensor, respective weighting factors for each of the plurality of GNSS signals based on the respective error budgets,
selecting, by the fusion sensor, a subset of the plurality of GNSS signals based on the respective weighting factors, the subset including the GNSS signal,
successively modifying, by at least one of the receiver and the fusion sensor in the vehicle, the weighting factor of the GNSS signal on the basis of when the object is expected to shadow the GNSS signal and affect the error budget, and
in response to the successively modifying the weighting factor, extracting, by the fusion sensor in the vehicle, the weighted GNSS signal before an error is introduced into the determined position of the vehicle due to shadowing.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the GNSS signal is weighted for filtering on the basis of an output signal of the environment sensor.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the output signal describes an object on a road on which the vehicle is travelling.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3 , further comprising:
detecting, by a reference sensor, reference position data of the vehicle, and
precisely defining the position of the vehicle by a filtering of the detected position of the vehicle on the basis of the reference position data detected by the reference sensor.

5. A method for determining a position of a vehicle on the basis of a GNSS signal, comprising the steps of:
providing the GNSS signal with a method as claimed in claim 1 , and
determining the position of the vehicle on the basis of the provided GNSS signal.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5 , further comprising:
checking the plausibility of the determined position of the vehicle on the basis of an output signal of an environment sensor of the vehicle.

7. The method as claimed in claim 5 , further comprising:
detecting reference position data of the vehicle, and
precisely defining the position of the vehicle by a filtering of the determined position of the vehicle on the basis of the reference position data.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
detecting a comparison sensor signal,
weighting, by the fusion sensor, the GNSS signal on the basis of an estimated error, and
filtering, by the fusion sensor, the sensor signal on the basis of the comparison sensor signal.

9. A system for determining a position of a vehicle, the system including:
a receiver in the vehicle, configured to receive a plurality of GNSS signals from a plurality of respective GNSS satellites;
an environment sensor in the vehicle, configured to detect an object around the vehicle; and
a fusion sensor in the vehicle, the fusion sensor, prior to the object shadowing a GNSS signal of the plurality of GNSS signals from the vehicle, configured to:
determine a distance from the position of the vehicle to a position of the object,
determine that upon further travel by the vehicle, the object is expected to shadow the GNSS signal,
determine based on the distance from the position of the vehicle to a position of the object, when the object is expected to shadow the GNSS signal,
determine respective error budgets for each of the plurality of GNSS signals, wherein the error budget of the GNSS signal is based on error introduced from the expected shadowing,
determine respective weighting factors for each of the plurality of GNSS signals based on the respective error budgets,
determine a subset of the plurality of GNSS signals based on the respective weighting factors, the subset including the GNSS signal,
successively modify the weighting factor of the GNSS signal on the basis of when the object is expected to shadow the GNSS signal and affect the error budget, and
in response to the successive modification of the weighting factor, extract the weighted GNSS signal before an error is introduced into the determined position of the vehicle due to shadowing.

Assignees

• Continental Teves Ag & Co Ohg

Inventors

• Stählin Ulrich
• Rink Klaus
• Menzel Marc
• Zalewski Michael

Classifications

• G01S19/13 Primary

  Receivers · CPC title

• G01S19/49

  whereby the further system is an inertial position system, e.g. loosely-coupled · CPC title

• G01S19/42

  Determining position · CPC title

• G01S19/28

  Satellite selection · CPC title

• G01S19/22 Primary

  Multipath-related issues · CPC title