Trailer angle measurement method and device, and vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12099121-B2
Application number	US-202117343489-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 9, 2021
Priority date	Dec 10, 2018
Publication date	Sep 24, 2024
Grant date	Sep 24, 2024

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a method and an apparatus for trailer angle measurement, as well as a vehicle, applied in a vehicle including a tractor and a trailer. At least one LiDAR is provided on each of two sides of the tractor. The method includes: obtaining, an initial trailer model containing initial point cloud data; controlling the to emit laser light; controlling each of the LiDARs to receive a corresponding point cloud reflected by the surface of the trailer; and calculating a trailer angle based on the point cloud data and the initial point cloud data using a point cloud matching algorithm. With the embodiments of the present disclosure, fast and accurate measurement of a trailer angle can be achieved with a simple structure.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for trailer angle measurement, applied in a vehicle comprising a tractor and a trailer, at least one LiDAR being provided on each of two sides of the tractor, the method comprising:
obtaining an initial trailer model containing initial point cloud data corresponding to an initial trailer angle value;
controlling the LiDAR provided on each of the two sides of the tractor to emit laser light, such that a surface of the trailer reflects the laser light emitted by the LiDAR;
controlling the LiDAR provided on each of the two sides of the tractor to receive corresponding laser light reflected by the surface of the trailer to obtain second point cloud data based on the laser light;
determining, based on a further trailer angle obtained in a previous period and a trailer size, an area range with a predetermined distance from the trailer in the previous period as a predetermined area range; and
calculating a trailer angle based on the second point cloud data and the initial point cloud data using a point cloud matching algorithm, comprising:
preprocessing the second point cloud data to obtain a preprocessed point cloud data and obtaining an initial trailer angle for each of the LiDARs based on the initial point cloud data and the preprocessed point cloud data using an iterative closest point algorithm, comprising:
for each of the LiDARs,
performing area of interest filter on the second point cloud data to obtain point cloud data within the predetermined area range; and
performing noise filter on the point cloud data within the predetermined area range to obtain noise filtered point cloud data forming a current trailer model;

screening the initial trailer angle for each of the LiDARs by a predetermined determination condition;
sorting the screened initial trailer angle for each of the LiDARs based on collecting times in a current period to form angle data to be processed; and
performing kalman filter on the angle data to be processed to obtain the trailer angle.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the said obtaining the initial trailer model containing initial point cloud data corresponding to the initial trailer angle value comprises:
controlling, in a predetermined vehicle coordinate system, an external LiDAR to emit laser light to two sides of the trailer when the trailer angle is 0°, such that surfaces on the two sides of the trailer reflect the laser light emitted by the external LiDAR, respectively; and
controlling the external LiDAR to receive laser light reflected by the surfaces on the two sides of the trailer to obtain the initial point cloud data based on the laser light to obtain the initial trailer model containing the initial point cloud data.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the said preprocessing the second point cloud data to obtain the preprocessed point cloud data and obtaining the initial trailer angle for each of the LiDARs based on the initial point cloud data and the preprocessed point cloud using the iterative closest point algorithm further comprises:
for each point of the current trailer model,
determining a point of the initial point cloud data with a closest straight-line distance to the point as a target point;
moving the point to a place of its target point using a singular value decomposition algorithm to obtain a next trailer model, and generating a model matrix of a current iteration, the model matrix comprising a rotation matrix and a translation matrix of the current iteration, the rotation matrix comprising trigonometric function relationships for current deflection angles of three coordinate axes in a predetermined vehicle coordinate system.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the said preprocessing the second point cloud data to obtain the preprocessed point cloud data and obtaining the initial trailer angle for each of the LiDARs based on the initial point cloud data and the preprocessed point cloud using the iterative closest point algorithm further comprises:
for each of the LiDARs,
multiplying a model matrix of each iteration to obtain a result matrix, the result matrix comprising a result rotation matrix and a result translation matrix, the result rotation matrix comprising trigonometric function relationships for deflection angles of the three coordinate axes in the predetermined vehicle coordinate system; and
determining the initial trailer angle for each of the LiDARs based on the result rotation matrix.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the said screening initial trailer angles by the predetermined determination condition comprises:
determining whether a number of points in the noise filtered point cloud corresponding to each of the LiDARs is smaller than a predetermined number threshold; and
discarding the initial trailer angle corresponding to any of the LiDARs having the number of points smaller than the predetermined number threshold.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein the said screening initial trailer angles by the predetermined determination condition comprises:
determining whether an angle deviation value between the initial trailer angle of each of the LiDARs in the current period and the further trailer angle obtained in the previous period is greater than a predetermined angle deviation threshold; and
discarding the initial trailer angle of any of the LiDARs in the current period when the angle deviation value is greater than the predetermined angle deviation threshold.

7. A vehicle comprising an apparatus for trailer angle measurement, a tractor and a trailer, at least one LiDAR being provided on each of two sides of the tractor, the apparatus being communicatively connected to each of the LiDARs, and the apparatus comprising a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored on the memory and executable by the processor, wherein the processor is configured to, when executing the computer program, perform a process of trailer angle measurement, the process comprising:
obtaining an initial trailer model containing initial point cloud data corresponding to an initial trailer angle value;
controlling the LiDAR provided on each of the two sides of the tractor to emit laser light, such that a surface of the trailer reflects the laser light emitted by the LiDAR;
controlling the LiDAR provided on each of the two sides of the tractor to receive corresponding laser light reflected by the surface of the trailer to obtain second point cloud data based on the laser light;
determining, based on a further trailer angle obtained in a previous period and a trailer size, an area range with a predetermined distance from the trailer in the previous period as a predetermined area range; and
calculating a trailer angle based on the second point cloud data and the initial point cloud data using a point cloud matching algorithm, comprising:
preprocessing the second point cloud data to obtain a preprocessed point cloud data and obtaining an initial trailer angle for each of the LiDARs based on the initial point cloud data and the preprocessed point cloud data using an iterative closest point algorithm, comprising:
for each of the LiDARs,
performing area of interest filter on the second point cloud data to obtain point cloud data within the predetermined area range; and
performing noise filter on the point cloud data within the predetermined area range to obtain noise filtered point cloud data forming a current trailer model;

screening the initial trailer angle for each of the LiDARs by a predetermined determination condition;
sorting the screened initial trailer angle for each of the LiDARs based on collecting times in a current period to form angle data to be processed; and
performing kalman filter on the angle data to be processed to obtain the trailer angle.

Assignees

• Beijing Tusen Zhitu Tech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Jin Yuhe
• Wu Nan
• Li Yiming

Classifications

• G01S17/02 Primary

  Systems using the reflection of electromagnetic waves other than radio waves (G01S17/66 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B62D53/06

  Semi-trailers · CPC title

• G01B11/24

  for measuring contours or curvatures · CPC title

• G01S17/88

  Lidar systems specially adapted for specific applications · CPC title

• G01S17/42

  Simultaneous measurement of distance and other co-ordinates (indirect measurement G01S17/46) · CPC title