LIDAR-based shipboard tracking and state estimation for autonomous landing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9759809-B2
Application number	US-201514792896-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 7, 2015
Priority date	Jul 8, 2014
Publication date	Sep 12, 2017
Grant date	Sep 12, 2017

Abstract

A system and method for state estimation of a surface of a platform at sea, includes receiving sensor signals indicative of LIDAR data for the platform; applying a Bayesian filter to the LIDAR data for a plurality of hypotheses; determining vertical planes representing azimuth and elevation angles for the LIDAR data; applying a robust linear estimation algorithm to the vertical planes; and determining candidate points in response to the applying of the robust linear estimation algorithm.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for state estimation of a surface of a platform at sea, comprising:
receiving, with a processor, sensor signals indicative of LIDAR data for the platform;
applying, with the processor, a Bayesian filter to the LIDAR data for a plurality of hypotheses;
determining, with the processor, vertical planes representing azimuth and elevation angles for the LIDAR data;
applying, with the processor, a robust linear estimation algorithm to the vertical planes;
determining, with the processor, candidate points in response to the applying of the robust linear estimation algorithm; and
landing an aircraft on the surface of the platform that is estimated by the candidate points.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising initializing the Bayesian filter with an initial state estimate for the platform.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising clustering the candidate points into three-dimensional segments.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising determining dense planar regions in the candidate points.

5. The method of claim 2 , further comprising determining a refined state estimate of the platform from a robust planar estimation.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising determining the state estimation of the platform by applying the Bayesian filter using the refined state estimate.

7. The method of claim 5 , further comprising updating the initial state estimate with the refined state estimate.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the applying of the Bayesian filter further comprises applying the Bayesian filter to a plurality of sea-states.

9. A system for state estimation of a surface of a platform at sea, comprising:
a sensor system of an aircraft;
a processor; and
memory having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the processor, cause the system to:
receive sensor signals indicative of LIDAR data for the platform;
apply a Bayesian filter to the LIDAR data for a plurality of hypotheses;
determine vertical planes representing azimuth and elevation angles for the LIDAR data;
apply a robust linear estimation algorithm to the vertical planes; and
determine candidate points in response to the applying of the robust linear estimation algorithm.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the processor is configured to initialize the Bayesian filter with an initial state estimate for the platform.

11. The system of claim 9 , wherein the processor is configured to cluster the candidate points into three-dimensional segments.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the processor is configured to determine dense planar regions in the candidate points.

13. The system of claim 10 , wherein the processor is configured to determine a refined state estimate of the platform from a robust planar estimation.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the processor is configured to determine the state estimation of the platform by applying the Bayesian filter using the refined state estimate.

15. The system of claim 13 , wherein the processor is configured to update the initial state estimate with the refined state estimate.

Assignees

• Sikorsky Aircraft Corp

Inventors

• Derenick Jason C
• Cherepinsky Igor
• Stathis Christopher

Classifications

• G01S17/933

  of aircraft or spacecraft · CPC title

• G08G5/0069

  Physics · mapped topic

• G08G5/025

  Physics · mapped topic

• G05D1/0684

  on a moving platform, e.g. aircraft carrier · CPC title

• G05D1/0858

  specially adapted for vertical take-off of aircraft · CPC title