Method and system for determining the pointing angle of a moving object

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10775494-B2
Application number	US-201815914219-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 7, 2018
Priority date	Mar 7, 2018
Publication date	Sep 15, 2020
Grant date	Sep 15, 2020

Abstract

An illustrative example method of tracking a moving object includes determining a heading angle of a centroid of the object from a tracking sensor, determining a raw difference value corresponding to a difference between a pointing angle of a selected feature on the object and the heading angle, wherein the raw difference is based on a trajectory curvature of the centroid from the tracking sensor and a distance between the centroid and the selected feature, determining a filtered difference between the pointing angle and the heading angle using a low pass filter, and determining the pointing angle by subtracting the filtered difference from the heading angle.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method of tracking a moving object, the method comprising:
determining a heading angle of a centroid of the object from a tracking sensor;
determining a raw difference value corresponding to a difference between a pointing angle of a selected feature on the object and the heading angle, wherein the raw difference is based on a trajectory curvature of the centroid from the tracking sensor and a distance between the centroid and the selected feature;
determining a filtered difference between the pointing angle and the heading angle using a low pass filter; and
determining the pointing angle by subtracting the filtered difference from the heading angle.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the raw difference comprises determining a product of the curvature and the distance.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the filtered difference comprises
determining a plurality of the raw difference values; and
filtering the plurality of raw difference values to remove noise from the raw difference values.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the low pass filter is time-based.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the low pass filter is distance-based.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein
the object is a vehicle having a front wheel axle and a rear wheel axle;
the selected feature is a center of the rear wheel axle; and
the center of the rear wheel axle is assumed to be located at a center of a rear of the object.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein
a sideslip angle of the center of the rear wheel axle is assumed to be zero.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the trajectory curvature is constant over the entire vehicle.

9. A system for tracking a moving object, the system comprising:
a tracking sensor configured to detect the moving object; and
a processor configured to:
determine a heading angle of a centroid of the object based on information from the tracking sensor;
determine a raw difference value corresponding to a difference between a pointing angle of a selected feature on the object and the heading angle, wherein
the raw difference is based on a trajectory curvature of the centroid and a distance between the centroid and the selected feature, and
the trajectory curvature is based on information from the tracking sensor;

determine a filtered difference between the pointing angle and the heading angle using a low pass filter; and
determine the pointing angle by subtracting the filtered difference from the heading angle.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the processor is configured to determine the raw difference by determining a product of the curvature and the distance.

11. The system of claim 9 , wherein the processor is configured to determine the filtered difference by
determining a plurality of the raw difference values; and
filtering the plurality of raw difference values to remove noise from the raw difference values.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the low pass filter is time-based.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the low pass filter is distance-based.

14. The system of claim 9 , wherein
the object is a vehicle having a front wheel axle and a rear wheel axle;
the selected feature is a center of the rear wheel axle; and
the center of the rear wheel axle is assumed to be located at a center of a rear of the object.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein
a sideslip angle of the center of the rear wheel axle is assumed to be zero.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the trajectory curvature is constant over the entire vehicle.

Assignees

• Aptiv Tech Ltd

Inventors

• Schiffmann Jan K
• Dang Wenbing
• Vishwajeet Kumar
• Nagaraja Keerthi Raj
• Schiffmann Franz P

Classifications

• G01S13/723 Primary

  by using numerical data · CPC title

• G01S2013/9324

  Alternative operation using ultrasonic waves · CPC title

• G01S13/72

  for two-dimensional [2D] tracking, e.g. combination of angle and range tracking, track-while-scan radar · CPC title

• G01S17/66

  Tracking systems using electromagnetic waves other than radio waves · CPC title

• G01S2013/93271

  in the front of the vehicles · CPC title