Method and system for initializing a sensor fusion system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10495483-B2
Application number	US-201615374141-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 9, 2016
Priority date	Jun 11, 2014
Publication date	Dec 3, 2019
Grant date	Dec 3, 2019

Abstract

A method and system for initializing a sensor fusion system is disclosed, wherein the sensor fusion system includes a base system and at least one correction system. Measured values are captured by the base system and by the correction system, and the measured values directly or indirectly describing physical quantities are afflicted with error values. The error values describe deviations of the measured values from the described physical quantities, and at least the physical quantities indirectly described in the measured values of the base system and the error values of the physical quantities cannot be determined during initialization. The measured values are continuously fused into a fusion data set after initialization. For at least one of the physical quantities associated with the measured values of the base system and the error values of the physical quantities, starting values are determined from the measured values of the correction system.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for initializing a sensor fusion system for a vehicle, wherein the sensor fusion system comprises a base system and at least one correction system, the method comprising:
measuring values by the base system and the at least one correction system, wherein the vehicle has a plurality of physical quantities associated therewith, and wherein the measured values directly or indirectly describe the physical quantities, the measured values having error values,
determining with a controller for one of the base system and the at least one corrections system, the error values which describe deviations of the measured values from the described physical quantities, at least the physical quantities indirectly described in the measured values by the base system and the error values of the physical quantities cannot be determined during initialization of the sensor fusion system,
for at least one of the physical quantities indirectly described in the measured values of the base system and the error values of the physical quantities, determining starting values for the sensor fusion system from the measured values of the at least one correction system; and
wherein the base system is an inertial navigation system for the vehicle and the at least one correction system is one of a global satellite navigation system for the vehicle and an odometry navigation system for the vehicle.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one correction system determines the starting values by independently processing the measured values.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein determining starting values for the error values comprise determining variances based on measuring inaccuracies of the at least one correction system.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the physical quantities indirectly described in the measured values of the base system comprise at least one of speed, position, a receiver clock error of the global satellite navigation system and a receiver clock error drift of the global satellite navigation system.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein determining the starting values comprises determining starting values progressively from the measured values of the at least one correction system.

6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein determining the starting values comprise determining starting values from the measured values of the odometry navigation system.

7. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising detecting and correcting the error values using an error state space kalman filter.

8. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising inputting data into the sensor fusion system from at least one vehicle sensor.

9. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the at least one vehicle sensor is at least one of: a wheel speed sensor, an acceleration sensor, a yaw sensor, and a steering angle sensor.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the inertial navigation system is a microelectromechanical system inertial measurement unit.

11. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the satellite navigation system is a receiver for a global positioning system.

12. A system for initializing a sensor fusion system for a vehicle, comprising:
a plurality of physical quantities associated with the vehicle;
a base system wherein the base system is an inertial navigation system for the vehicle;
a base system controller for the base system;
at least one correction system controller of the at least one correction system;
at least one correction system, wherein the at least one correction system is one of a global satellite navigation system for the vehicle and an odometry navigation system for the vehicle;
wherein each of the base system controller and the at least one correction system controller is configured to capture measured values, the measured values directly or indirectly describe the physical quantities and include error values, the error values describe deviations of the measured values from the described physical quantities
wherein at least the physical quantities indirectly described in the measured values of the base system and the error values of the physical quantities cannot be determined during initialization of the sensor fusion system, and
wherein the sensor fusion system is configured to continuously fuse the measured values after a conclusion of the initialization into a fusion data set, and the sensor fusion system is configured to, for at least one of the physical quantities indirectly described in the measured values of the base system and the error values of the physical quantities, and determine starting values from the measured values of the at least one correction system.

13. The system according to claim 12 , wherein the physical quantities indirectly described in the measured values of the base system comprise at least one of speed, position, a receiver clock error of the global satellite navigation system and a receiver clock error drift of the global satellite navigation system.

14. The system according to claim 12 , wherein the starting values are based on the measured values of the odometry navigation system.

15. The system according to claim 12 , further comprising at least one vehicle sensor for inputting data into the sensor fusion system.

16. The system according to claim 15 , wherein the at least one vehicle sensor is at least one of: a wheel speed sensor, an acceleration sensor, a yaw sensor, and a steering angle sensor.

17. The system according to claim 12 , wherein the base system controller and the at least one navigation system controller is configured to determine the starting values for the fusion system.

Assignees

• Continental Teves Ag & Co Ohg
• Continental automotive systems inc

Inventors

• Steinhardt Nico

Classifications

• G01C21/20

  Instruments for performing navigational calculations (G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence) · CPC title

• G01C25/005 Primary

  initial alignment, calibration or starting-up of inertial devices · CPC title

• G01C21/165 Primary

  combined with non-inertial navigation instruments · CPC title

• G01C21/16 Primary

  by integrating acceleration or speed, i.e. inertial navigation · CPC title