Neuromorphic cameras for aircraft
AssigneeRockwell Collins, Inc.
InventorsJulian C. Ryde, Weston J. Lahr, Richard M. Rademaker
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An onboard aircraft landing system includes one or more event-based cameras disposed at known locations to capture the runway and visible surrounding features such as lights and runway markings. The event-based cameras produce a continuous stream of event data that may be quickly processed to identify both light and dark features contemporaneously, and calculate an aircraft pose relative to the runway based on the identified features and the known locations of the event-based cameras. Composite features are identified via the relative location of individual features corresponding to pixel events.
Claims20
A computer apparatus comprising:
- one or more event-based cameras;
- and
- at least one processor in data communication with the one or more event-based cameras and a memory storing processor executable code for configuring the at least one processor to:
- receive a continuous stream of pixel change events from each of the one or more event-based cameras;
- identify one or more light sources via the continuous stream of pixel change events;
- identify one or more low-light features via the continuous stream of pixel change events;
- and
- determine a pose estimate for a platform including the one or more event-based cameras based on the identified one or more light sources and the identified one or more low-light features, wherein the one or more light sources and identified one or more low-light features are related by known, standard relative locations.
An aircraft landing system comprising:
- one or more event-based cameras disposed at known locations on an aircraft to capture images of a runway during a landing procedure;
- and
- at least one processor in data communication with the one or more event-based cameras and a memory storing processor executable code for configuring the at least one processor to:
- receive a continuous stream of pixel change events from each of the one or more event-based cameras;
- identify one or more light sources via the continuous stream of pixel change events;
- identify one or more low-light features via the continuous stream of pixel change events;
- and
- determine a pose estimate for the aircraft based on the identified one or more light sources and the identified one or more low-light features, wherein the one or more light sources and identified one or more low-light features are related by known, standard relative locations.
A method for determining an aircraft pose estimate comprising:
- receiving a continuous stream of pixel change events from one or more event-based cameras;
- identifying one or more light sources via the continuous stream of pixel change events;
- identifying one or more low-light features via the continuous stream of pixel change events;
- and
- determining a pose estimate for the aircraft based on the identified one or more light sources and the identified one or more low-light features, wherein the one or more light sources and identified one or more low-light features are related by known, standard relative locations.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.