Updating vehicle attitude for extended dead reckoning accuracy

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12535323-B2
Application number	US-202117397783-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 9, 2021
Priority date	Aug 10, 2020
Publication date	Jan 27, 2026
Grant date	Jan 27, 2026

Abstract

Techniques for vehicular navigation include determining a first attitude of a vehicle with respect to a reference frame at a first epoch, the determined first attitude including a determined first roll angle; computing an attitude of the INS at a second epoch that is subsequent to the first epoch; determining a second attitude of the vehicle at the second epoch; updating the determined second attitude of the vehicle, based on a determination that an absolute change in a yaw angle of the vehicle between the first epoch and the second epoch is less than a predetermined threshold, by setting a roll angle of the determined second attitude of the vehicle to equal the determined first roll angle; and based on the updated second attitude of the vehicle, determining an updated attitude of the INS. Applications relating to road vehicular (e.g., automobile) use are described.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of vehicular navigation performed by a vehicle system, the method comprising:
determining a first attitude of a vehicle with respect to a reference frame at a first epoch, the determined first attitude including a determined first roll angle; based on measurement data from an inertial navigation system (INS) of the vehicle, determining an attitude of the INS at a second epoch that is subsequent to the first epoch; based on the determined attitude of the INS at the second epoch, determining a second attitude of the vehicle at the second epoch; updating the determined second attitude of the vehicle, based on a determination that an absolute change in a yaw angle of the vehicle between the first epoch and the second epoch is less than a predetermined threshold by setting a roll angle of the determined second attitude of the vehicle to equal the determined first roll angle; determining, based on the updated second attitude of the vehicle, an updated attitude of the INS; and navigating the vehicle based on the updated attitude of the INS.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein determining the first attitude of the vehicle is based, at least in part, on:
an attitude of the INS at the first epoch with respect to the reference frame, or an orientation of a body frame of the INS at the first epoch relative to a body frame of the vehicle, or a combination thereof.

3 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the measurement data indicates a rate of rotation about at least one axis of a gyroscope of the INS.

4 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the attitude of the INS at the second epoch is an attitude with respect to the reference frame.

5 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the attitude of the INS at the second epoch is based on an attitude of the INS at the first epoch.

6 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method is performed during a period of dead reckoning for the vehicle.

7 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising providing the updated attitude of the INS.

8 . A device for vehicular navigation, the device comprising:
an inertial navigation system (INS); a memory; and one or more processors communicatively coupled with the INS and the memory, wherein the one or more processors are configured to:
determine a first attitude of a vehicle with respect to a reference frame at a first epoch, the determined first attitude including a determined first roll angle;
based on measurement data from the INS, determine an attitude of the INS at a second epoch that is subsequent to the first epoch;
based on the determined attitude of the INS at the second epoch, determine a second attitude of the vehicle at the second epoch;
update the determined second attitude of the vehicle based on a determination that an absolute change in a yaw angle of the vehicle between the first epoch and the second epoch is less than a predetermined threshold, by setting a roll angle of the determined second attitude of the vehicle to equal the determined first roll angle;
determine, based on the updated second attitude of the vehicle, an updated attitude of the INS; and
navigate the vehicle based on the updated attitude of the INS.

9 . The device of claim 8 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine the first attitude of the vehicle based, at least in part, on:
an attitude of the INS at the first epoch with respect to the reference frame, or an orientation of a body frame of the INS at the first epoch relative to a body frame of the vehicle, or a combination thereof.

10 . The device of claim 8 , wherein the INS is configured to include, in the measurement data, a rate of rotation about at least one axis of a gyroscope of the INS.

11 . The device of claim 8 , wherein, to determine the attitude of the INS at the second epoch, the one or more processors are configured to determine an attitude with respect to the reference frame.

12 . The device of claim 8 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine the attitude of the INS at the second epoch based on an attitude of the INS at the first epoch.

13 . The device of claim 8 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine the updated attitude of the INS during a period of dead reckoning for the vehicle.

14 . The device of claim 8 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to provide the updated attitude of the INS.

15 . An apparatus for vehicular navigation, the apparatus comprising:
means for determining a first attitude of a vehicle with respect to a reference frame at a first epoch, the determined first attitude including a determined first roll angle; means for determining an attitude of an inertial navigation system (INS) of the vehicle at a second epoch that is subsequent to the first epoch, based on measurement data from the INS; means for determining a second attitude of the vehicle at the second epoch based on the determined attitude of the INS at the second epoch; means for updating the determined second attitude of the vehicle, based on a determination that an absolute change in a yaw angle of the vehicle between the first epoch and the second epoch is less than a predetermined threshold, by setting a roll angle of the determined second attitude of the vehicle to equal the determined first roll angle; means for determining an updated attitude of the INS based on the updated second attitude of the vehicle; and means for navigating the vehicle based on the updated attitude of the INS.

16 . The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein means for determining the first attitude of the vehicle comprises means for basing the determining of the first attitude of the vehicle, at least in part, on:
an attitude of the INS at the first epoch with respect to the reference frame, or an orientation of a body frame of the INS at the first epoch relative to a body frame of the vehicle, or a combination thereof.

17 . The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the means for determining the attitude of the INS at the second epoch comprises means for determining an attitude with respect to the reference frame.

18 . The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the means for determining the attitude of the INS at the second epoch comprises means for basing the determining of the attitude of the INS at the second epoch on an attitude of the INS at the first epoch.

19 . The apparatus of claim 15 , further comprising means for providing the updated attitude of the INS.

20 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions for vehicular navigation, the instructions comprising code for:
determining a first attitude of a vehicle with respect to a reference frame at a first epoch, the determined first attitude including a determined first roll angle; determining an attitude of an inertial navigation system (INS) of the vehicle at a second epoch that is subsequent to the first epoch based on measurement data from the INS; determining a second attitude of the vehicle at the second epoch based on the determined attitude of the INS at the second epoch; updating the determined second attitude of the vehicle based on a determination that an absolute change in a yaw angle of the vehicle between the first epoch and the second epoch is less than a predetermined threshold by setting a roll angle of the determined second attitude of the vehicle to equal the determined first roll angle; and determining an updated att

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Saini Vinod Kumar
• Lakhzouri Abdelmonaem
• Zheng Bo
• Morrison William

Classifications

• G01S19/50

  whereby the position solution is constrained to lie upon a particular curve or surface, e.g. for locomotives on railway tracks · CPC title

• G01S19/43

  using carrier phase measurements, e.g. kinematic positioning; using long or short baseline interferometry · CPC title

• G01S19/40

  Correcting position, velocity or attitude · CPC title

• G01S19/37

  Hardware or software details of the signal processing chain · CPC title

• G01C21/188

  for accumulated errors, e.g. by coupling inertial systems with absolute positioning systems · CPC title