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US 11,752,976 B1Granted
Capacitance-based foreign object debris sensor
AssigneeWaymo LLC
InventorsFelix Jose Alvarez Rivera, Ralph Hamilton Shepard
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The disclosure relates to detecting and clearing debris from a sensor window. For instance, a system may include the sensor window and one or more processors. The sensor window may include a transparent thin film conductor. The one or more processors may be configured to identify a change in capacitance using the transparent thin film conductor, detect debris on the sensor window using the change in capacitance, and activate a cleaning system in order to clear the detected debris from the sensor window.
Claims22
A sensor, comprising:
- a housing;
- a sensor window including a transparent film conductor consisting of indium tin oxide (ITO) that detects capacitance differences across the sensor window due to debris being deposited on the sensor window;
- and
- one or more processors configured to:
- generate a map of the capacitance differences across the sensor window;
- and
- control a cleaning system located proximate to the housing based on the map of the capacitance differences to clear the debris from the sensor window.
4 more elements
A method performed by a sensor, the method comprising:
- using, by one or more processors, a transparent film conductor of a sensor window of the sensor to detect capacitance differences across the sensor window due to debris being deposited on the sensor window, wherein the transparent film conductor consists of indium tin oxide (ITO);
- generating, by the one or more processors, a map of the capacitance differences across the sensor window and
- controlling, by the one or more processors, a cleaning system located proximate to the sensor based on the map of the capacitance differences to clear the debris from the sensor window.
A sensor, comprising:
- a housing;
- a sensor window including a transparent film conductor that detects capacitance differences across the sensor window due to debris being deposited on the sensor window;
- and
- one or more processors configured to:
- generate a map of the capacitance differences across the sensor window;
- and
- control a cleaning system located proximate to the housing based on the map of the detected capacitance differences to clear the debris from the sensor window.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.