Systems and methods for increasing the accuracy of vehicle positioning

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11293758-B2
Application number	US-201916420029-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 22, 2019
Priority date	May 22, 2019
Publication date	Apr 5, 2022
Grant date	Apr 5, 2022

Abstract

Systems, methods, and computer-readable media are directed to increasing the accuracy of vehicle positioning. Example methods may include transmitting, by an on-board unit, a message including a motion information associated with the vehicle; determining, by a processor, a signal comprising modulating radiation, the signal identifying the vehicle; receiving, by the on-board unit, an additional message, the additional message including location information and a timestamp; and determining a location of the vehicle based on the location information.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for locating a vehicle, comprising:
obtaining a timestamped video of the vehicle;
transmitting, by an on-board unit comprising a controller, a first message including a motion information associated with the vehicle;
encoding, by a modulated-light source, identifying information and a timestamp of the timestamped video into a signal;
transmitting, by a processor, the signal comprising modulating radiation associated with the vehicle from the timestamped video, the signal identifying the vehicle;
receiving, by the on-board unit, a second message, the second message including location information and a timestamp, wherein the second message comprises a determination of a drift in internal location sensors of the vehicle at a time associated with the timestamp;
determining an actual location of the vehicle based on the location information, wherein at least one of the first message or the second message comprises a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) message transmitted using a V2X communication protocol;
determining a correction factor based on a difference between the actual location of the vehicle and a global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) based location of the vehicle; and
applying the correction factor to the GNSS-based location of the vehicle.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the location further comprises:
changing the location information based on a geometry of the vehicle, wherein the geometry of the vehicle comprises a shape of the vehicle; and
determining the actual location based on the location information.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the modulated-light source comprises a headlight or a back light of the vehicle.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the modulated-light source broadcasts the modulating radiation and the modulating radiation is not visible to a human eye.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the motion information comprises at least one of a heading of the vehicle, a speed of the vehicle, or an acceleration of the vehicle.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second message further comprises a determination that the vehicle receiving a location signal of a strength or reception frequency below respective thresholds.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first message comprises at least one of: a temporary identifier, a latitude of the vehicle, a longitude of the vehicle, an elevation of the vehicle, a speed of the vehicle, a heading of the vehicle, an acceleration of the vehicle, a yaw of the vehicle, a brake system status of the vehicle, a type of the vehicle, or a trailer information of the vehicle.

8. A method for locating a vehicle, comprising:
obtaining a timestamped video of the vehicle;
receiving, by a roadside unit comprising a camera, a first message including a motion information associated with the vehicle;
determining modulated radiation associated with the vehicle and a timestamp from the time stamped video;
decoding the modulated radiation to obtain an identifier of the vehicle;
determining a location information for the vehicle based on the timestamped video and the motion information;
transmitting a second message including the location information and an indication of the identifier, wherein the second message comprises a determination of a drift in internal location sensors of the vehicle at a time associated with the timestamp;
determining an actual location of the vehicle based on the location information, wherein at least one of the first message or the second message comprises a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) message transmitted using a V2X communication protocol;
determining a correction factor based on a difference between the actual location of the vehicle and a global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) based location of the vehicle; and
applying the correction factor to the GNSS-based location of the vehicle.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein obtaining the timestamped video comprises capturing, by a camera, the timestamped video in a field of view of the camera.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein determining the location information further comprises:
determining a vehicle geometry based on the identifier, wherein the vehicle geometry comprises a shape of the vehicle; and
determining the location information based on the vehicle geometry, a road geometry, and the timestamped video.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the first message comprises at least one of: a temporary identifier, a latitude of the vehicle, a longitude of the vehicle, an elevation of the vehicle, a speed of the vehicle, a heading of the vehicle, an acceleration of the vehicle, a yaw of the vehicle, a brake system status of the vehicle, a type of the vehicle, or a trailer information of the vehicle.

12. A system for locating a vehicle, comprising:
at least one memory device that stores computer-executable instructions; and
at least one processor configured to access the at least one memory device, wherein the processor is configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to:
obtain a timestamped video of the vehicle;
transmit, by an on-board unit comprising a controller, a first message including a motion information associated with the vehicle;
encode, by a modulated light source, identifying information and a timestamp of the timestamped video into a signal;
transmit, by the processor, the signal comprising modulating radiation associated with the vehicle from the timestamped video, the signal identifying the vehicle;
receive, by the on-board unit, a second message, the second message including location information and a timestamp, wherein the second message comprises a determination of a drift in internal location sensors of the vehicle at a time associated with the timestamp;
determine an actual location of the vehicle based on the location information, wherein at least one of the first message or the second message comprises a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) message transmitted using a V2X communication protocol;
determine a correction factor based on a difference between the actual location of the vehicle and a global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) based location of the vehicle; and
apply the correction factor to the GNSS-based location of the vehicle.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein determining the location further comprises:
changing the location information based on a geometry of the vehicle, wherein the geometry of the vehicle comprises a shape of the vehicle; and
determining the actual location based on the location information.

14. The system of claim 12 , wherein the processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to:
receive, by a roadside unit comprising a camera, the first message including the motion information associated with the vehicle;
determine modulated radiation that identifies the vehicle from the video;
decode the modulated radiation to obtain an identifier of the vehicle;
determine the location information for the vehicle based on the video and motion information; and
transmit the second message including the location information.

15. The system of claim 12 , wherein the second message comprises a timestamped video in a field of view of a camera that is captured by the camera.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein determining the location information further comprises:
determining a vehicle geometry based on the identifier, wherein the geometry of the vehicle comprises a shape of the vehicle; and
determining the location information based on the vehicle geometry, a road geometry, and the timestamped vi

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Hamilton Brennan
• Cardillo John
• Bandi Krishna

Classifications

• G08G1/096783

  where the origin of the information is a roadside individual element · CPC title

• G01C21/1656

  with passive imaging devices, e.g. cameras · CPC title

• H04W4/44 Primary

  for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H] · CPC title

• G08G1/0112

  from the vehicle, e.g. floating car data [FCD] · CPC title

• G08G1/04

  using optical or ultrasonic detectors · CPC title