METHOD FOR FORMING A TRAVELLING PATH FOR A VEHICLE

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a computer implemented method for operating a control system to form a travelling path for a vehicle, where the path determination is based on data generated by a pair of sensors producing three-dimensional (3D) point clouds, where the 3D point clouds respectively provide a representation of a left and a right hand side of the vehicle. The present disclosure also relates to the corresponding control system and to a computer program product.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for operating a control system to form a travelling path for a vehicle, comprising: receiving, at an electronic control unit (ECU) of a control system, a first sequence of data from a first side facing sensor of the control system arranged at the vehicle and a corresponding second sequence of data from a second sensor of the control system arranged at the vehicle, the first and second side facing sensor having a non-overlapping field of view, wherein the first and the second sequence of data from the sensors is arranged as three-dimensional point clouds respectively providing a representation of a left and a right hand side of the vehicle, correlating, by the ECU, the first and the second sequence of data to form a third sequence of data, the third sequence of data providing a 3D representation of an area between the first and second sensors, selecting, by the ECU, a portion of the third sequence of data representing a traversable area for the vehicle, and forming, by the ECU, the travelling path for the vehicle based on the selected portion of the third sequence of data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second sensors are LiDAR sensors.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a scan center for the first and second sensors is perpendicular to a normal operational direction for the vehicle.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein correlating the first and the second sequence of data comprises performing a pair wise correlation between data points in the respective sequence of data.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: filtering, by the ECU, the third sequence of data to remove edge data points.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and the second sequence of data represent at least walls of a mine where the vehicle is travelling.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein forming the travelling path comprises applying an octree processing scheme.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising: transforming an output from the octree processing scheme to form a graph, the graph being a representation of the third sequence of data.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising: applying, by the ECU, weights to the graph, where data points of the graph arranged close to an edge of the traversable area are given a higher weight as compared to data points in a center of the traversable area.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the traversable area is a surface area.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the surface area coincides with a ground level.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein correlating the first and the second sequence of data comprises comparing a distance between the corresponding data points in the first and the second sequence of data.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising: operating the vehicle based on the formed travelling path.

14. (canceled)

15. A control system adapted to form a travelling path for a vehicle, the control system comprising an electronic control unit (ECU) and a first and a second side facing sensor arranged at the vehicle, the first and second sensors having a non-overlapping field of view, the ECU arranged in communication with the first and second sensors, wherein the ECU is adapted to: receive a first sequence of data from the first sensor and a corresponding second sequence of data from the second sensor, wherein the first and the second sequence of data from the sensors is arranged as three-dimensional (3D) point clouds respectively providing a representation of a left and a right-hand side of the vehicle, correlate the first and the second sequence of data to form a third sequence of data, the third sequence of data providing a 3D representation of an area between the first and second sensors, select a portion of the third sequence of data representing a traversable area for the vehicle, and form the travelling path for the vehicle based on the selected portion of the third sequence of data.

16. The control system of claim 15, wherein the first and second sensors are LiDAR sensors.

17. The control system of claim 15, wherein a scan center for the first and second sensors is perpendicular to a normal operational direction for the vehicle.

18. The control system of claim 15, wherein correlating the first and the second sequence of data comprises adapting the ECU to perform a pair wise correlation between data points in the respective sequence of data.

19. The control system of claim 15, wherein the ECU is further adapted to: filter the third sequence of data to remove edge data points.

20. (canceled)

21. The control system of claim 15, wherein forming the travelling path comprises adapting the ECU to apply an octree processing scheme.

22-27. (canceled)

28. The control system of claim 15, wherein the ECU comprises a first and a second processing portion, the first processing portion arranged on-board the vehicle and the second processing portion comprised with a remote server arranged off-board the vehicle, wherein correlate, select and form are at least partly performed by the second processing portion.

29-32. (canceled)

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] With reference to the appended drawings, below follows a more detailed description of embodiments of the present disclosure cited as examples.

[0023] In the drawings:

[0024] FIG. 1A illustrates a wheel loader and 1B a truck in which the navigation path determination system according to the present disclosure may be incorporated;

[0025] FIG. 2 illustrates a conceptual control system in accordance to a currently preferred embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0026] FIGS. 3A-3C exemplifies conversion from point clouds to a travelling path for the vehicle; and

[0027] FIG. 4 illustrates the processing steps for performing the method according to the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

[0028] The present disclosure will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which currently preferred embodiments of the present disclosure are shown. This disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided for thoroughness and completeness, and fully convey the scope of the disclosure to the skilled addressee. Like reference characters refer to like elements throughout.

[0029] Referring now to the drawings and to FIG. 1A in particular, there is depicted an exemplary vehicle, here illustrated as a wheel loader 100, in which a control system 200 (as shown in FIG. 2) according to the present disclosure may be incorporated. The control system 200 may of course be implemented, possibly in a slightly different way, in a truck 102 as shown in FIG. 1B, a car, a bus, etc. The vehicle may for example be one of an electric or hybrid vehicle, or possibly a gas, gasoline or diesel vehicle. The vehicle comprises an electric machine (in case of being an electric or hybrid vehicle) or an engine (such as an internal combustion engine in case of being a gas, gasoline or diesel vehicle).

[0030] FIG. 2 shows a conceptual and exemplary implementation of the control system 200 according to the present disclosure, presented in a non-limiting manner, to e.g. be implemented in the vehicle 100. Other ways of implementing the control system 200 is possible and within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0031] As is shown, the control system 200 comprises an electronic control unit (ECU) 202 arranged in communication with a first 204 and a second 206 LiDAR sensor, where the sensors 204, 206 are arranged on the sides of the vehicle 100 (left and right-hand side) and having a non-overlapping field of view.

[0032] The ECU 202 may for example be manifested as a general-purpose processor, an application specific processor, a circuit containing processing components, a group of distributed processing components, a group of distributed computers configured for processing, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), etc. The processor may be or include any number of hardware components for conducting data or signal processing or for executing computer code stored in memory. The memory may be one or more devices for storing data and/or computer code for completing or facilitating the various methods described in the present description. The memory may include volatile memory or non-volatile memory. The memory may include database components, object code components, script components, or any other type of information structure for supporting the various activities of the present description. According to an exemplary embodiment, any distributed or local memory device may be utilized with the systems and methods of this description. According to an exemplary embodiment the memory is communicably connected to the processor (e.g., via a circuit or any other wired, wireless, or network connection and includes computer code for executing one or more processes described herein.

[0033] The control system 200 may further comprise a transceiver 208, allowing the control system 200 wirelessly communicate with a remote server 210, not forming part of the control system 200. For reference, the transceiver 208 may be arranged to allow for any form of wireless connections like WLAN, CDMA, GSM, GPRS, 3G mobile communications, 3/4/5G mobile communications, or similar. Other present of future wireless communication protocols are possible and within the scope of the present disclosure, such as any form of Vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication protocols.

[0034] Furthermore, the control system 200 may be arranged in communication with one or a plurality of sensors (also not shown) for collecting data relating to the operation of the vehicle 100. Such sensors may for example be configured to collect data relating to a speed of the vehicle 100, an inclination at which the vehicle 100 is currently operate, a sensor for measuring a tire pressure, etc.

[0035] During operation, with further reference to FIGS. 3A-3C and 4, the process starts by receiving, S1, at the ECU 202, a first sequence of data from the first sensor 204 and a corresponding second sequence of data from the second sensor 206, wherein the first and the second sequence of data from the sensors 204, 206 is arranged as three-dimensional (3D) point clouds respectively providing a representation of a left (L) side wall 304 and a right (R) side wall 302 in relation to an operational direction for the vehicle 100.

[0036] Thus, in case e.g. the vehicle 100 is travelling in an enclosed space, such as a road within a mine, then the side mounted sensors 204, 206 will essentially chronologically collect information relating to the walls 302, 304 of the mine, such as is specifically shown in FIG. 3A.

[0037] Once the information from the sensors 204, 206 has been collected, the chronological information is correlate, S2, by the ECU 202 to form a third sequence of data, the third sequence of data providing a 3D representation of an area between first and the second sensor (204, 206). The correlation is preferably performed by activating a pair wise correlation between data points in the respective sequence of data from the sensors 304, 206. Possibly, the comparison may be seen as determining a distance across the road onto where the vehicle 100 is travelling, such as a distance between the walls 304, 306 of the mine. It may as such be useful to know an internal distance between the sensors 204, 206 when mounted at the vehicle 100. The overall distance between the walls 304, 306 may thus be seen as a sum of the distance measured by the first sensor 206 to the wall 302, plus the distance measured by the second sensor 204 to the wall 304, plus the internal distance between the sensors 204, 206.

[0038] Furthermore, a portion of the data in the third sequence of data is subsequently selected, S3, by the ECU 202. This selected portion of the third sequence of data represents a traversable area 306 for the vehicle (100, 102) such as is illustrated in FIG. 3B.

[0039] Based on the traversable area 306, it is possible to form S4, by the ECU 202, a travelling path 308, such as shown in FIG. 3C, for the vehicle 100 based on the selected portion of the third sequence of data. The travelling path 306 may for example, in a general case, be seen as a “center” of the traversable area 306. However, to increase the robustness of the scheme it may be possible to apply an octree processing scheme to the selected portion of the third sequence of data. Such a scheme may also comprise transforming an output from the octree processing scheme for forming a graph, the graph being a representation of the third sequence of data. It may also be advantageous to apply weights to the graph, where data points of the graph arranged closed to an edge of the traversable area is giving a higher weight as compared to data points in a center of the traversable area.

[0040] The present disclosure contemplates methods, devices and program products on any machine-readable media for accomplishing various operations. The embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented using existing computer processors, or by a special purpose computer processor for an appropriate system, incorporated for this or another purpose, or by a hardwired system. Embodiments within the scope of the present disclosure include program products comprising machine-readable media for carrying or having machine-executable instructions or data structures stored thereon. Such machine-readable media can be any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer or other machine with a processor.

[0041] By way of example, such machine-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of machine-executable instructions or data structures and which can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer or other machine with a processor. When information is transferred or provided over a network or another communications connection (either hardwired, wireless, or a combination of hardwired or wireless to a machine, the machine properly views the connection as a machine-readable medium. Thus, any such connection is properly termed a machine-readable medium. Combinations of the above are also included within the scope of machine-readable media.

[0042] Machine-executable instructions include, for example, instructions and data that cause a general-purpose computer, special purpose computer, or special purpose processing machines to perform a certain function or group of functions.

[0043] Although the figures may show a specific order of method steps, the order of the steps may differ from what is depicted. In addition, two or more steps may be performed concurrently or with partial concurrence. Such variation will depend on the software and hardware systems chosen and on designer choice. All such variations are within the scope of the disclosure. Likewise, software implementations could be accomplished with standard programming techniques with rule-based logic and other logic to accomplish the various connection steps, processing steps, comparison steps and decision steps.

[0044] Additionally, even though the disclosure has been described with reference to specific exemplifying embodiments thereof, many different alterations, modifications and the like will become apparent for those skilled in the art. Variations to the disclosed embodiments can be understood and effected by the skilled addressee in practicing the claimed disclosure, from a study of the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims. Furthermore, in the claims, the word “comprising” does not exclude other elements or steps, and the indefinite article “a” or “an” does not exclude a plurality.