Yaw estimation systems and methods for rigid bodies of earthmoving machines connected by a revolute joint

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12486644-B2
Application number	US-202217880872-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 4, 2022
Priority date	Aug 4, 2022
Publication date	Dec 2, 2025
Grant date	Dec 2, 2025

Abstract

Yaw estimation systems and methods for an earthmoving machine and control architecture to receive roll and pitch input from an engine end frame (EEF) inertial motion unite (IMU) and from a non-engine end frame (NEEF) IMU, estimate a yaw articulation angle of the NEEF relative to the EEF by at least two different estimation methods based on the received roll and pitch input, fuse the at least two different estimation methods to generate an updated yaw articulation angle, calculate a yaw articulation rate based on the received roll and pitch input, integrate as an integration the updated yaw articulation angle and the yaw articulation rate, generate a real-time yaw articulation angle estimate of the NEEF relative to the EEF based on the integration, and operate the earthmoving machine based on the real-time yaw articulation angle estimate.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A yaw estimation system comprising an earthmoving machine, wherein:
the earthmoving machine comprises a machine chassis comprising an engine end frame (EEF), an EEF inertial motion unit (IMU), a linkage assembly comprising a non-engine end frame (NEEF), a NEEF IMU, a revolute joint, an earthmoving implement, and control architecture; the EEF IMU disposed on the EEF, the NEEF IMU disposed on the NEEF, and the EEF coupled to the NEEF via the revolute joint comprising a yaw axis longitudinally to allow for movement about the yaw axis in a single degree of freedom; and the control architecture comprises an architecture controller programmed to:
receive roll and pitch input from the EEF IMU and from the NEEF IMU;
estimate a yaw articulation angle of the NEEF relative to the EEF by at least two different estimation methods based on the received roll and pitch input;
fuse the at least two different estimation methods to generate an updated yaw articulation angle;
calculate a yaw articulation rate based on the received roll and pitch input;
integrate as an integration the updated yaw articulation angle and the yaw articulation rate;
generate a real-time yaw articulation angle estimate of the NEEF relative to the EEF based on the integration; and
operate the earthmoving machine based on the real-time yaw articulation angle estimate.

2 . The yaw estimation system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the architecture controller is programmed to:
input the received roll and pitch input into a low pass filter (LPF) as an LPF filter input; and estimate an LPF phase lag based on the LPF input.

3 . The yaw estimation system as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the architecture controller is programmed to:
calculate a dynamic compensation due to the LPF phase lag; and integrate as the integration the updated yaw articulation angle, the yaw articulation rate, and the dynamic compensation.

4 . The yaw estimation system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the architecture controller is programmed to:
calculate dead reckoning data for the earthmoving machine; and integrate as the integration the updated yaw articulation angle, the yaw articulation rate, and the dead reckoning data.

5 . The yaw estimation system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the at least two different estimation methods comprise at least two of three different estimation methods comprising:
(1) a gravitational acceleration (GACC) method using roll and pitch physics, wherein the GACC method uses data associated with the earthmoving machine when on a slope and static to determine a gravitational acceleration relationship between the EEF and the NEEF; (2) a gyroscope (GYRO) method using angular rate physics, wherein the GYRO method uses the received roll and pitch data associated with the earthmoving machine to determine an angular relationship between the EEF and the NEEF; and (3) an external acceleration (EACC) method using external and linear acceleration physics associated with at least speeding, curving, or combinations thereof of the earthmoving machine to determine an external linear acceleration relationship between the EEF IMU and the NEEF IMU.

6 . The yaw estimation system as claimed in claim 5 , wherein to execute the GACC method the architecture controller is configured to:
equate in a GACC equation a rotational matrix of the NEEF relative to a global frame to a rotational matrix of the EEF relative to the global frame multiplied by a rotational matrix of the NEEF relative to the EEF; and manipulate the GACC equation based on unknown parameters comprising a yaw articulation angle of the NEEF relative to the global frame, a yaw articulation angle of the EEF relative to the global frame, and a rotational matrix around the yaw axis of the NEEF relative to the EEF to result a further GACC equation listing the yaw articulation angle of the NEEF relative to the EEF as an unknown parameter, wherein rotation matrices associated with a pitch articulation angle and a roll articulation angle based on the received roll and pitch input about each of the yaw axis, a pitch axis, and a roll axis are input parameters; and solve for the yaw articulation angle of the NEEF relative to the EEF based on the further GACC equation.

7 . The yaw estimation system as claimed in claim 5 , wherein to execute the GYRO method the architecture controller is configured to:
equate in a GACC equation a rotational matrix of the NEEF relative to a global frame to a rotational matrix of the EEF relative to the global frame multiplied by a rotational matrix of the NEEF relative to the EEF; generate a time derivative of the GACC equation using associated angular rate vectors in corresponding frames for each parameter; simplify to generate a further GYRO equation to solve for an unknown parameters of (i) a relative yaw articulation angle of the NEEF and the EEF in the global frame indicative of an EEF and NEEF yaw angle difference and (ii) a relative yaw rate between the NEEF and the EEF; solve for the yaw articulation angle of the NEEF relative to the EEF based on the further GYRO equation.

8 . The yaw estimation system as claimed in claim 5 , wherein to execute the EACC method the architecture controller is configured to:
equate in an EACC equation a rotational matrix of the EEF in a global frame multiplied by an EEF IMU original linear acceleration to the EEF original linear acceleration in the global frame plus the rotational matrix of the EEF in the global frame multiplied against associated skewed symmetric matrices of an NEEF angular rate vector in an NEEF frame and a time derivative thereof, and against an NEEF IMU position vector in the NEEF frame; assume via an assumption that the EEF original acceleration in the global frame equals the NEEF original acceleration in the global frame; simplify to generate a further EACC equation based on the assumption; solve for a relative yaw articulation angle of the NEEF and the EEF in the global frame indicative of an EEF and NEEF yaw angle difference based on the further EACC equation; solve for the yaw articulation angle of the NEEF relative to the EEF based on the further EACC equation and the relative yaw articulation angle of the NEEF and the EEF in the global frame indicative of an EEF and NEEF yaw angle difference.

9 . The yaw estimation system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the EEF IMU and the NEEF IMU each comprise a 3-axis accelerometer and a 3-axis gyroscope.

10 . The yaw estimation system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the architecture controller is programmed to:
calibrate the EEF IMU, wherein a frame of the EEF includes an EEF frame origin point corresponding to a point on the revolute joint; calibrate the NEEF IMU, wherein a frame of the NEEF includes an NEEF frame origin point corresponding to the point on the revolute joint.

11 . The yaw estimation system as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the architecture controller is programmed to:
align a frame of the calibrated EEF IMU with an orientation of the frame of the EEF; and align a frame of the calibrated NEEF IMU with an orientation of the frame of the NEEF.

12 . The yaw estimation system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the architecture controller is programmed to:
remove gravitational acceleration from data received from one or more IMUs of the earthmoving machine, including the EEF IMU and the NEEF IMU.

13 . A yaw estimation system comprising an earthmoving machine, wherein:
the earthmoving machine comprises a machine chassis comprising an engine end frame (EEF), an EEF inertial motion unit (IMU), a linkage assembly comprising a non-engine

Assignees

• Caterpillar Trimble Control Tech Llc

Inventors

• Cullen Shawn
• Dishman Eric
• Lamb Wayne
• Mills Geoff
• Zhu Yongliang

Classifications

• G01C21/16

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

• E02F9/24

  Safety devices {, e.g. for preventing overload (E02F9/226 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• E02F9/2025

  Particular purposes of control systems not otherwise provided for (E02F3/16, E02F3/26, sub-groups of E02F3/43, E02F3/651, sub-groups of E02F3/84, E02F3/907, E02F5/145 take precedence) · CPC title

• E02F3/34

  with bucket-arms {, i.e. a pair of arms, e.g. manufacturing processes, form, geometry, material of bucket-arms (with a single arm E02F3/283)} directly pivoted on the frames of tractors or self-propelled machines · CPC title

• B60W2520/22

  Articulation angle, e.g. between tractor and trailer · CPC title