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US 11,029,157 B2Granted
Autonomous vehicle navigation system and method
AssigneeAurora Flight Sciences Corporation
InventorsJames Paduano, Terrence McKenna
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An autonomous vehicle is improved with a navigational system having both cameras and echolocation sensors. The cameras and echolocation sensors may be part of an optical and echolocation system, respectively, that may work in conjunction with, for example, a global positioning system to determine a course for the autonomous vehicle to reach an objective while detecting and avoid obstacles along the course.
Claims27
An aerial vehicle comprising:
- an acoustic system coupled to the aerial vehicle and configured to provide a plurality of acoustic fields of view via a plurality of acoustic transceivers that are oriented toward a direction of travel of the aerial vehicle, wherein the acoustic system is configured to employ a beamforming technique and to aggregate at least a portion of the plurality of acoustic fields of view to acoustically identify obstacles;
- a processor operatively coupled to the acoustic system, wherein, upon detection of an obstacle by the acoustic system, the processor is configured to calculate dynamically a dodging maneuver for the aerial vehicle to avoid the obstacle;
- and
- a steering mechanism to steer the aerial vehicle in response to commands from the processor, wherein the steering mechanism comprises a plurality of rotors to provide lift to the aerial vehicle, wherein the steering mechanism is configured to effectuate the dodging maneuver in response to commands from the processor.
1 more element
An aerial vehicle comprising:
- an acoustic system coupled to the aerial vehicle to provide an acoustic field of view about at least a portion of the aerial vehicle, wherein the acoustic system is configured to employ a beamforming technique and to acoustically identify obstacles within the acoustic field of view using at least one of a first and a second acoustic transceiver configured to output an acoustic signal and to detect an echo of the acoustic signal,
- wherein the first acoustic transceiver has a first field of view,
- wherein the second acoustic transceiver has a second field of view,
- wherein the first field of view and the second field of view at least partially overlap, and
- wherein the acoustic field of view comprises the first field of view and the second field of view;
- an optical system coupled to the aerial vehicle, wherein the optical system is configured to provide an optical field of view about at least a portion of the aerial vehicle and to optically identify obstacles within the optical field of view;
- a processor operatively coupled to the acoustic system and the optical system, wherein, upon detection of an obstacle by the optical system or the acoustic system, the processor is configured to calculate dynamically a dodging maneuver for the aerial vehicle to avoid the obstacle;
- and
- a steering mechanism to steer the aerial vehicle in response to commands from the processor, wherein the steering mechanism is configured to effectuate the dodging maneuver in response to commands from the processor, wherein the dodging maneuver from the processor preempts other commands from the processor.
6 more elements
An aerial vehicle comprising:
- an acoustic system coupled to the aerial vehicle and configured to provide an acoustic field of view to acoustically identify obstacles via one or more acoustic transceivers that are oriented toward a direction of travel of the aerial vehicle;
- an optical system configured to provide an optical field of view about at least a portion of the aerial vehicle and to optically identify obstacles within the optical field of view
- a processor operatively coupled to the acoustic system and the optical system, and configured to generate control signals,
- wherein the processor is configured to generate speed or heading information through optical flow processing of data from the optical system, and
- wherein the processor is configured to use the speed or heading information as feedback;
- and
- a steering mechanism to steer the aerial vehicle in response to the control signals from the processor, wherein the steering mechanism comprises a plurality of rotors to provide lift to the aerial vehicle.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.