System and a method for navigating a vehicle
AssigneeSaab AB
InventorNiklas Persson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In a system for navigating a vehicle according to the appearance of the surface region over which it moves there are at least three devices adapted to carry out a position determination of the vehicle according to a predetermined algorithm as well as members adapted to compare the positions determined by the devices and at a substantial deviation of any position from the other positions assume that this is erroneous and form an average of the other positions as the correct position of the vehicle.
Claims19
A system for navigating a vehicle according to the appearance of a surface region over which said vehicle moves, said system comprising:
- a radar altimeter, onboard of the vehicle, adapted to send signals towards said surface region and analyse signals reflected therefrom for measuring the height over the part of the surface region just passed by said vehicle;
- a data base storing information regarding the altitude of the surface region within the area in which the vehicle is present;
- a first device comprising:
- means for comparing the altitude of the surface region last measured with the data base information about surface region altitudes within a given uncertainty area and performing a procedure for forming a measurement shell extending over this area at the distance measured over the surface region and having a predetermined vertical thickness;
- and
- a control unit adapted to repeat said procedure for forming additional measurement shells and sections between a newly formed measurement shell and the previous measurement shell for determining the position of the vehicle to be within an area of a particular section, said control unit further adapted to control a restart of said procedure if said control unit failed to form at least one section between two measurement shells;
- at least two other devices as said first device each for making a position determination of said vehicle;
- and
- means for comparing the positions determined by the first device and the at least two other devices, wherein upon a substantial deviation of a first determined position from at least two other determined positions then determining that said first determined position is erroneous, and determining a substantially correct position of said vehicle by determining an average position using the at least two other determined positions.
A method for navigating a vehicle according to the appearance of a surface region over which said vehicle moves, said system comprising:
- sending signals by a radar altimeter, onboard of the vehicle, towards said surface region and analyzing signals reflected therefrom for measuring the height over the part of the surface region just passed by said vehicle;
- storing information within a data base regarding the altitude of the surface region within the area in which the vehicle is present;
- comparing the altitude of the surface region last measured with the data base information about surface region altitudes within a given uncertainty area;
- performing a procedure for forming a measurement shell extending over the uncertainty area at the distance measured over the surface region, the measurement shell having a predetermined vertical thickness;
- repeating said procedure for forming additional measurement shells and sections between a newly formed measurement shell and the previous measurement shell for determining the position of the vehicle to be within an area of a particular section;
- restarting said procedure if at least one section was not formed between two measurement shells;
- making a respective position determination by each of at least three different devices;
- and
- comparing the positions determined by the at least three different devices, wherein upon a substantial deviation of a first determined position from at least two other determined positions then determining that said first determined position is erroneous, and determining a substantially correct position of said vehicle by determining an average position using the at least two other determined positions.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.