System and method for interactive vehicle transportation network

Abstract

The invention relates to a vehicle tracking device for tracking one or more vehicles at a geographical location of a transportation network in which the one or more vehicles are able to move, the vehicle tracking device comprising: one or more infrared (IR) sensors having a field of view and being configured to detect IR radiation emitted from or reflected by the one or more vehicles at the geographical location within the field of view; a receiver configured to receive unique identification data uniquely identifying each of the one or more vehicles and position data indicating an initial position of each of the one or more vehicles when the one or more vehicles enter the field of view at the geographical location; a processor configured to determine current kinematic data of the one or more vehicles in at least two dimensions based on the IR radiation detected by the one or more IR sensors, the received unique identification data and the received position data; and a transmitter configured to transmit the determined current kinematic data of a particular vehicle of the one or more vehicles to a kinematic data receiver spaced apart from the transmitter.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to systems and methods for interactive vehicle transportation networks, such as those relating to autonomous vehicles. More specifically, but not exclusively, this invention relates to improvements or related improvements to systems and methods for operating transportation networks involving ground vehicles or aircraft providing passenger or freight transport within cities, urban areas, or along, above, or near designated motorways, freeways, highways, railways, or other routes between cities and urban areas. Any or all vehicles can be of any range, from fully autonomous to fully driver / pilot controlled. Moreover, they may or may not be linked to local, regional, or national traffic management systems. Such interactive systems and methods not only track vehicles but also involve corresponding data management and / or communication associated with such vehicles. Background Technology

[0002] As autonomous vehicle operation continues to develop, there is a need to adjust traffic management systems to utilize the new capabilities of autonomous vehicles. In particular, as vehicles become increasingly capable of controlling their own movement, some drawbacks of user-operated systems, such as driver or pilot reaction speed, attention levels, and fatigue, are eliminated. Therefore, autonomous vehicles are better able to react quickly to environmental hazards and, consequently, can safely achieve higher vehicle speeds and density compared to user-operated vehicles, where factors such as thinking distance must be considered when determining safe stopping distances.

[0003] To achieve such traffic management, vehicles must have access to precise kinematic data about themselves and every vehicle in their vicinity, enabling appropriate action to be taken. This would include kinematic data for both the specific vehicle taking action and other nearby vehicles that could influence the decision of what action should be taken.

[0004] The current technology architecture relies on the principle that onboard sensors independently provide each vehicle with its own situational awareness, which it can then use to reason about its environment and make its own decisions.

[0005] In recent years, commercially available situational awareness and geolocation technologies, including Radio Detection and Ranging (RADAR), Light Imaging, Detection and Ranging (LIDAR), Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), Electro-Optic (EO) sensors, and Infra-Red (IR) sensors, have been reduced in terms of mass, size, power consumption, heat output, and sensitivity to environmental hazards such as mechanical shock, vibration, and electromagnetic interference. In principle, they can be integrated into commercial vehicles (e.g., buses, trucks, taxis, drones) and residential vehicles (e.g., cars, personal aircraft) to work in combination to provide situational awareness, potentially enabling driverless or pilotless operation. However, the complexity of all such situational awareness methods based on multi-sensor and sensor fusion in safety-critical applications for driverless / pilotless vehicles is considerable. The authors' experience in the defense and aerospace sectors indicates that this complexity inevitably increases vehicle costs and raises safety risks. Furthermore, adopting universal approaches is becoming increasingly difficult, making standardization challenging. Despite significant investments by many large tech companies in self-driving cars, progress over the past decade has been extremely slow, with growing concerns about safety risks leading to questions about the likelihood of regulatory approval for autonomous vehicles.

[0006] In some known systems, attempts are made to implement roadside, in-road, or overhead sensing equipment to detect, locate, track, and communicate with vehicles for purposes such as traffic flow management. However, typically, these systems cannot achieve the real-time motion accuracy and reliability required for safe autonomous navigation in traffic flow at current legal speeds and recommended vehicle spacing, let alone with any increased traffic flow rate.

[0007] Using a representative example of traffic flow at a typical speed of 100 km / h (28 m / s) on a motorway or freeway, if the ground truth (i.e., physical reality) of a vehicle's longitudinal position is to be measured with an accuracy of 5 cm every 50 cm traveled, then measurements must be taken with that accuracy and provided repeatedly at a period of approximately 20 ms, equivalent to a frequency of approximately 50 Hz. Existing roadside systems cannot achieve this level of accuracy and frequency.

[0008] The purpose of this invention is to solve at least one or more of the problems mentioned above. Summary of the Invention

[0009] According to a first aspect of this embodiment, a vehicle tracking device is provided for tracking one or more vehicles at a geographic location in a transportation network in which one or more vehicles can move, the vehicle tracking device comprising: one or more infrared (IR) sensors having a field of view and configured to detect IR radiation emitted from or reflected by one or more vehicles at a geographic location within the field of view; a receiver configured to receive unique identification data that uniquely identifies each of the one or more vehicles and position data indicating the initial position of each of the one or more vehicles when the one or more vehicles enter the field of view at the geographic location; a processor configured to determine current kinematic data of the one or more vehicles in at least two dimensions based on the IR radiation detected by the one or more IR sensors, the received unique identification data, and the received position data; and a transmitter configured to transmit the determined current kinematic data of a particular vehicle among the one or more vehicles to a kinematic data receiver spaced apart from the transmitter.

[0010] In some embodiments, the specific vehicle is a ground vehicle. In such embodiments, the vehicle tracking device may have terrain mapping data, and the processor may be configured to determine current kinematic data in three dimensions based on one or more of the detected IR radiation, unique identification data, previously determined kinematic data of each of one or more vehicles, and terrain mapping data. In alternative embodiments, the specific vehicle is an aircraft.

[0011] In another embodiment, one or more vehicles include at least two vehicles, one of which is a ground vehicle and the other is an aircraft, and wherein one or more IR sensors include at least two sensors, one IR sensor being configured to detect IR radiation emitted from or reflected by the ground vehicle and the other IR sensor being configured to detect IR radiation emitted from or reflected by the aircraft.

[0012] In another embodiment, the processor is configured to use previously determined current kinematic data of one or more vehicles as input to determine current kinematic data for each of the one or more corresponding vehicles. In some embodiments, the processor is configured to determine the current kinematic data of one or more vehicles at a frequency of at least 50 Hz.

[0013] In some embodiments, the receiver is further configured to receive data relating to the ground space envelope or air space envelope of one or more vehicles, and the processor is configured to use the ground space envelope or air space envelope to determine the relative position of one or more vehicles.

[0014] In some embodiments, the vehicle tracking device further includes an IR transmitter configured to emit IR radiation toward one or more vehicles.

[0015] In a further embodiment, the transmitter is configured to send the determined current kinematic data to a kinematic data receiver of a specific vehicle. In some embodiments, the transmitter is configured to send the determined current kinematic data of each of one or more vehicles to a corresponding kinematic data receiver of one or more vehicles. In an alternative embodiment, the transmitter is configured to send the determined kinematic data to a kinematic data receiver of a remotely located Traffic Management System (TMS). In a further arrangement of the above embodiments, the processor may also be configured to generate a control signal for controlling a specific vehicle among one or more vehicles based on the determined current kinematic data of at least one of the one or more vehicles, wherein the control signal includes instructions that cause a change in the speed or position of the specific vehicle when executed by the specific vehicle, and wherein the transmitter is further configured to send the control signal to the specific vehicle.

[0016] In embodiments of this aspect, at least one of one or more IR sensors is configured to detect IR radiation emitted from or reflected by a fixed geographic reference point, and the processor is further configured to determine the position of the vehicle tracking device relative to the fixed geographic reference; and to use the determined position of the vehicle tracking device when determining the current kinematic data of one or more vehicles.

[0017] In a further embodiment, the current kinematic data of one or more vehicles determined by the processor includes at least the time-varying geographical location of the respective vehicles. In another embodiment, the vehicle tracking device is configured to monitor entry points with fixed locations and receive data associated with the fixed locations at specific time points as the initial location of each of one or more vehicles. The processor may also be configured to generate a pull request sent via a transmitter, which requests the transmission of unique identification data and initial location data from one or more vehicles.

[0018] In another aspect of this embodiment, a vehicle tracking system for tracking one or more vehicles is also provided. The vehicle tracking system includes a plurality of vehicle tracking devices arranged in a network as described in any arrangement of the first aspect, wherein a transmitter of a first vehicle tracking device is configured to transmit current kinematic data determined at the first vehicle tracking device and unique identification data of one or more vehicles to a second vehicle tracking device among the plurality of tracking devices, and a receiver of the first vehicle tracking device is configured to receive unique identification data of one or more vehicles and current kinematic data determined at the third vehicle tracking device from a third vehicle tracking device among the plurality of vehicle tracking devices.

[0019] In a further embodiment of this aspect, the processor of the second vehicle tracking device is further configured to compare current kinematic data of at least one of one or more vehicles locally determined at the second device with current kinematic data received from and determined at the first vehicle tracking device to determine consistency between the locally determined current kinematic data and the received kinematic data. In this case, the second vehicle tracking device may receive data comparison results between at least two other vehicle tracking devices, and the processor of the second tracking device may be configured to use voting to identify tracking devices with inconsistent behavior.

[0020] In another embodiment of this aspect, at least two of the plurality of vehicle tracking devices are arranged to be geographically adjacent to each other, and the IR sensors of the adjacently located vehicle tracking devices have partially overlapping fields of view.

[0021] In some embodiments of this aspect, the vehicle tracking system further includes a remote communication device comprising: a remote data receiver configured to receive remote data from a wide area communication network; and a remote data transmitter configured to transmit the remote data to one or more of a plurality of vehicle tracking devices; wherein one or more of the plurality of vehicle tracking devices are configured to receive the remote data and transmit the received remote data to at least one of one or more vehicles. The remote communication device may be configured to transmit the received remote data to each of the plurality of vehicle tracking devices. The remote communication device may also be configured to transmit the received remote data to each of the plurality of vehicle tracking devices in parallel. The current vehicle tracking device among the plurality of vehicle tracking devices may also be configured to: receive the remote data transmitted from the remote communication device directly or via another of the plurality of vehicle tracking devices; and transmit the received remote data to another of the plurality of vehicle tracking devices.

[0022] In some of the above embodiments, the remote communication device may also be configured to receive local data from one or more of a plurality of vehicle tracking devices and transmit the local data to a wide area communication network.

[0023] In a further arrangement of the above embodiments, a first vehicle tracking device among a plurality of vehicle tracking devices is configured to transmit determined current kinematic data of the vehicle tracking device to a remote communication device, and the remote communication device is configured to receive the determined current kinematic data from the first vehicle tracking device among the plurality of vehicle tracking devices. In such an arrangement, a second vehicle tracking device among the plurality of vehicle tracking devices may be configured to receive the determined current kinematic data from the remote communication device. The remote communication device may also be configured to transmit the determined current kinematic data locally on the system to a remotely located interactive device. The remote communication device may be communicatively coupled to a traffic management system (TMS) and may be configured to transmit the determined current kinematic data to the TMS. The remote communication device may be configured to receive the determined current kinematic data from the TMS. The remote data receiver may include a satellite communication receiver. The remote data receiver may include a OneWeb satellite communication receiver. The remote data receiver may include a 4G or 5G radio telecommunications receiver. The remote data receiver may include a wired network communication receiver.

[0024] The remote data may include control signals for controlling a particular vehicle among one or more vehicles based on determined current kinematic data of at least one of the vehicles, wherein the control signals include instructions that cause a change in the speed or position of the particular vehicle when executed by the particular vehicle, and wherein a transmitter of a particular vehicle tracking device located near the particular vehicle may also be configured to send the control signals to the particular vehicle.

[0025] In some embodiments, the remote communication device includes a plurality of remote communication devices, each of which is located at a geographically spaced location from the other remote communication devices and is configured to send remote data to one or more of a plurality of vehicle tracking devices provided within a geographical area local to that location.

[0026] In a further embodiment of this aspect, the system further includes a local communication device comprising: a local data receiver configured to receive local data from one or more of a plurality of vehicle tracking devices; and a local data transmitter configured to transmit the local data to a remotely located device via a wide area communication network; wherein one or more of the plurality of vehicle tracking devices are configured to receive local data from at least one of one or more vehicles and transmit the received local data to the local communication device. The local data may include one or more of the following: vehicle diagnostic and prediction data, driver condition data, driver health data, driver or passenger activity data, and vehicle telemetry data. The local data may include any data originating from a vehicle, its contents, or occupants. In some embodiments, one or more vehicles are aircraft, and a first subset of the plurality of vehicle tracking devices is configured to track one or more aircraft moving at a first altitude, and a second subset of the plurality of vehicle tracking devices is configured to track one or more aircraft moving at a second altitude.

[0027] In another aspect of this embodiment, a method is provided for tracking one or more vehicles at a geographic location in a transportation network in which one or more vehicles can move. The method includes: providing a vehicle tracking device having a field of view; receiving unique identification data that uniquely identifies each of the one or more vehicles and location data indicating an initial position of each of the one or more vehicles at the geographic location; detecting IR radiation emitted from or reflected by one or more vehicles at the geographic location; determining current kinematic data of the one or more vehicles based on the detected IR radiation, the received unique identification data of each of the one or more vehicles, and the location data; and transmitting the determined current kinematic data of a particular vehicle among the one or more vehicles to spaced-apart receiving locations. In some embodiments, the spaced-apart receiving locations may be located in the same general geographic location as the vehicle tracking device, but physically spaced apart. In other embodiments, the spaced-apart receiving locations may be located in a different geographic location than the vehicle tracking device.

[0028] In some arrangements of this aspect, the transmission step includes sending current kinematic data to at least one other vehicle tracking device among a plurality of tracking devices at spaced-apart receiving locations. The transmission step may also include sending current kinematic data to a specific vehicle at spaced-apart receiving locations. It should be understood that the term "current kinematic data" includes not only the current values ​​of kinematic variables such as velocity-position, momentum, and acceleration, but also the most recent historical data related to the vehicle, such as the aforementioned variable parameters over a short period of time prior to transmission (e.g., kinematic variables recorded every 40 seconds within a time period of 10 seconds, 1 minute, or 10 minutes).

[0029] In a further arrangement of this aspect, the method also includes providing a plurality of vehicle tracking devices arranged in a network, wherein a first vehicle tracking device among the plurality of vehicle tracking devices transmits, in use, unique identification data of one or more vehicles and current kinematic data determined at the first vehicle tracking device to a second vehicle tracking device among the plurality of tracking devices, and the first vehicle tracking device receives, in use, unique identification data of one or more vehicles and current kinematic data determined at the third vehicle tracking device among the plurality of vehicle tracking devices; the method also includes receiving remote data from a wide area communication network at a remote communication device; and transmitting the remote data to at least one of the plurality of vehicle tracking devices; wherein at least one of the plurality of vehicle tracking devices receives the remote data in use and transmits the received remote data to at least one of one or more vehicles in use.

[0030] In another embodiment of this aspect, the method further includes providing a plurality of vehicle tracking devices arranged in a network, wherein a first vehicle tracking device of the plurality of vehicle tracking devices transmits, in use, unique identification data of one or more vehicles and current kinematic data determined at the first vehicle tracking device to a second vehicle tracking device of the plurality of tracking devices, and the first vehicle tracking device receives, in use, unique identification data of one or more vehicles and current kinematic data determined at the third vehicle tracking device from a third vehicle tracking device of the plurality of vehicle tracking devices; the method further includes: receiving local data from one or more of the plurality of vehicle tracking devices at a local communication device; and transmitting the local data to a remote device via a wide area communication network; wherein one or more of the plurality of vehicle tracking devices receive local data from at least one of one or more vehicles in use, and transmits the received local data to the local communication device in use. This transmission step may include transmitting the determined kinematic data to a remote traffic management system (TMS).

[0031] The features described above in the embodiments can be combined in different ways, and if not specifically described in the above features, they can be added to the following detailed description of the embodiments of the invention. For example, other optional features described above in the embodiments according to the first and second aspects of the invention, wherein the remote communication device includes a remote data receiver and a remote data transmitter, can be used in the same way as in the embodiments described above in the third and fourth aspects of the invention, wherein the local communication device includes a local data receiver and a local data transmitter. Attached Figure Description

[0032] To facilitate a better understanding of the invention, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings by way of example, wherein:

[0033] Figure 1 This is an isometric view of the vehicle tracking device in its usage scenario;

[0034] Figure 2 yes Figure 1 Isometric view of a vehicle tracking device in an alternative use scenario;

[0035] Figure 3 Through Figure 1 The vehicle tracking device provides an isometric view of the vehicle being tracked.

[0036] Figure 4 yes Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a vehicle tracking device in China;

[0037] Figure 5A It is shown Figure 1 A flowchart of the operation method of the vehicle tracking device;

[0038] Figure 5B It is shown Figure 1 A flowchart of another operating method for the vehicle tracking device;

[0039] Figure 5C It is shown Figure 1 A flowchart of another operation method for a vehicle tracking device;

[0040] Figure 6 It includes multiple Figure 1 An isometric view of a vehicle tracking system in a usage scenario;

[0041] Figure 7 yes Figure 6 Isometric view of the vehicle tracking system in alternative use scenarios;

[0042] Figure 8A and 8B yes Figure 6 An isometric view of a vehicle tracking system in another alternative use case;

[0043] Figure 9 It is shown Figure 6 A flowchart of the operation method of the vehicle tracking system; and

[0044] Figure 10 This is an isometric view of a vehicle tracking system including a remote communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0045] Specific embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0046] It should be understood that the reference to "vehicle to be tracked" in this document can refer to a variety of moving mechanical objects, including those traveling along the ground and in the air. As a non-exhaustive list, these vehicles can include cars, trucks, motorcycles, drones, and small aircraft. These vehicles can also be configured to be manually operated by a user, or the vehicles can be configured to be autonomous, or a combination of both, i.e., semi-autonomous driving.

[0047] First go to Figure 1 This illustration shows a vehicle tracking device 10 for detecting one or more vehicles 12 and determining various kinematic data associated with the detected vehicles 12. While the term "device" is used herein, it should be understood that the term should be interpreted as synonymous with "equipment". The vehicle tracking device 10 is shown positioned above a road 14, securely mounted on existing road infrastructure 16, and configured to monitor vehicles 12 entering a fixed field of view of the vehicle tracking device 10. The existing road infrastructure 16 to which the vehicle tracking device 10 is mounted may include lampposts, traffic lights, road sign frames, traffic monitoring equipment, and bridges. It should be understood that this is an illustrative example, and the vehicle tracking device 10 may be mounted on other existing road infrastructure 16. Alternatively, the vehicle tracking device 10 may have a dedicated support structure to which the vehicle tracking device 10 may be attached.

[0048] The vehicle tracking device 10 is configured to receive data that uniquely identifies a vehicle 12 entering its field of view. This unique identification data may include the vehicle's registration information. The vehicle tracking device 10 is also configured to receive data indicating the vehicle 12's initial position relative to itself, or data using the initial position as an absolute position, when the vehicle 12 enters its field of view. Alternatively, all these positions may be provided only in absolute coordinates (e.g., the vehicle's latitude and longitude). The vehicle tracking device 10 is then further configured to combine the received unique identification data with the initial position data to associate the unique identification data with the initial position data. (Refer to below...) Figure 3 Further details on how to achieve this are provided.

[0049] It should be understood that the term "initial position" as used herein refers to the position of vehicle 12 when it first enters the functional view of vehicle tracking device 10. Furthermore, in embodiments using multiple vehicle tracking devices in a networked system (described below), the initial position of the vehicle received by the current vehicle tracking device may be the last tracked position of the vehicle in the field of view of an adjacent vehicle tracking device from which the vehicle departed. Given that the fields of view of two vehicle tracking devices are typically adjacent to or slightly overlap, the last sensed vehicle position in the field of view of the first vehicle tracking device can provide a very good indicator of the position of vehicle 12 when it enters the field of view of the second adjacent vehicle tracking device 10.

[0050] The vehicle tracking device 10 is also configured to receive IR emissions emitted or reflected by the vehicle 12 as it enters the field of view of the vehicle tracking device. The vehicle tracking device 10 is configured to determine various kinematic data of the vehicle 12 based on the received IR emissions. Such kinematic data may include the position, velocity, acceleration, or other kinematic characteristics of the vehicle 12. In some embodiments, the kinematic data determined by the vehicle tracking device 10 is used in conjunction with unique identification data and initial position data to correlate the received data with the detected IR emissions.

[0051] Once vehicle 12 has entered the field of view of vehicle tracking device 10, the vehicle tracking device can be configured to continuously monitor the current kinematic data of vehicle 12 until vehicle 12 leaves the field of view of vehicle tracking device 10. Therefore, once vehicle 12 enters the field of view of vehicle tracking device 10 and receives unique identification information and initial position data, vehicle tracking device 10 is configured to specifically monitor the incremental movement of vehicle 12 by receiving continuous IR emissions from the vehicle at regular time intervals. Vehicle tracking device 10 can use each of the detected IR emissions to determine the vehicle's position, and the combination of consecutive position determinations allows for the calculation of other kinematic data such as velocity and acceleration. Measurements of position at regular time intervals can also be used to determine whether the detected vehicle 12 is moving laterally (i.e., changing lanes) and longitudinally (i.e., along the road). The length of the time interval between consecutively detected IR emissions can be used to determine the delay and accuracy of the calculated kinematic data. For example, if IR emissions are detected with a period of 20 ms (frequency approximately 50 Hz) and an accuracy of 5 cm, this translates to a measurement every 50 cm for a vehicle traveling at 100 km / h. For vehicle control and navigation, this is considered highly accurate and will also enable the rapid and precise calculation of vehicle speed, acceleration / deceleration rates, or other useful kinematic data. These figures should be considered illustrative, as they can be replaced if lower precision and latency prove sufficient in practice, and vice versa if higher precision or latency proves necessary in practice.

[0052] The vehicle tracking device 10 can also be configured to send determined current kinematic data to one or more detected vehicles 12. The sent kinematic data may include any kinematic data determination performed by the vehicle tracking device 10. The provision of kinematic data enables one or more detected vehicles 12 to adjust the kinematic amounts (e.g., speed or direction of travel) of the relevant vehicle 12 based on received motion information. In some embodiments, the vehicle tracking device 10 is configured to send only the determined current kinematic data associated with the vehicle 12 it is involved with. In such embodiments, the vehicle 12 can then adjust its kinematic amounts based on this knowledge (e.g., decrease or increase speed, move within a lane if indicated by a lane deviation, etc.). In a further embodiment, the vehicle tracking device 10 is configured to send determined kinematic data associated with multiple detected vehicles 12 to each vehicle. In such embodiments, each vehicle 12 can then adjust its kinematic amounts using knowledge of its own kinematic data and the kinematic data of other nearby vehicles 12. For example, the first vehicle 12 is provided with current kinematic data indicating the speed and position of the second vehicle 12 directly in front of the first vehicle, so that the first vehicle can safely move closer to the second vehicle 12.

[0053] The current kinematic data is transmitted to one or more vehicles 12 that can operate partially or fully autonomously, or can be operated via input from a driver, pilot, or remote controller of the vehicle 12. The transmission format performed by the vehicle tracking device 10 can be arranged to suitably meet the needs of the receiving vehicle 12. In a further embodiment of the invention, the vehicle tracking device 10 is configured to additionally send control signals to one or more vehicles 12, causing the vehicles to take specific actions. The control signals can be formed based on calculated current kinematic data of one or more vehicles 12. For example, if it is determined based on the calculated speeds of the two vehicles 12 that two detected vehicles 12 are within a predetermined distance from each other in the field of view of the vehicle tracking device 10, the vehicle tracking device 10 generates a control signal that will be sent to one of the vehicles 12 to instruct the vehicle to accelerate or decelerate accordingly.

[0054] In another embodiment, the vehicle tracking system 10 is also configured to send determined current kinematic data to a local or regional traffic management system (TMS) to provide a shared public picture, which includes high-precision kinematic data of the vehicles 12 across a wider field of multiple IR tracking sensors. This provides the TMS with real-time, accurate data for each vehicle 12 and allows the TMS to enhance the determined current kinematic data provided to one or more vehicles 12 regarding their immediate location using traffic management-related advice or mandatory information processed by the onboard systems of one or more vehicles 12. This information can be provided to one or more vehicles 12 via the vehicle tracking system 10 or through any other appropriately configured system and network.

[0055] It should be understood that the vehicle tracking device 10 can be securely mounted at various heights. The mounting height of the vehicle tracking device 10 typically determines the ground envelope within its field of view; that is, a vehicle tracking device mounted at a higher position can have a larger area within its field of view than a vehicle tracking device 10 mounted at a lower position. Therefore, the mounting height of the vehicle tracking device 10 will depend largely on the field of view requirements. Typically, a vehicle tracking device 10 mounted at a height of 10m requires a field of view of 140° longitudinally (i.e., along the road) and 50° laterally (i.e., across the road) to cover the ground envelope typically associated with lampposts on highways or expressways.

[0056] In other embodiments of the vehicle tracking device 10, it is desirable to be able to change the field of view of the vehicle tracking device during use, or possibly during installation, to cover the desired ground envelope. For example, it may be desirable to move the field of view so that the vehicle tracking device 10 can observe different lanes of a highway. In such embodiments, the vehicle tracking device 10 is configured to rotate about at least one axis to adjust the ground envelope within the field of view and may have adjustable optics to change the field of view, thereby providing variable ground envelope coverage within the field of view for the device 10. In such embodiments, the device 10 is configured to take into account the current position and orientation of the vehicle tracking device 10 when determining the current kinematic data of one or more vehicles 12.

[0057] According to the embodiments described herein, when multiple vehicles 12 are present in the field of view of the vehicle tracking device 10, the vehicle tracking device 10 can be configured to receive relevant data and IR emissions from each vehicle 12, and simultaneously calculate the current kinematic data of each vehicle 12. The vehicle tracking device can also be used to detect IR emissions from entities other than vehicles (e.g., pedestrians, cyclists, or animals), and enhance the tracking device's ability to support safe vehicle operation in environments where pedestrians or cyclists are legally present or where pedestrians or animals should not be present. The field of view of the tracking device can extend to cover the pavement or walkway adjacent to the road, thereby enabling the tracking of pedestrians / animals.

[0058] It is conceivable that, in certain situations, the vehicle tracking device 10 operates in an environment where not all vehicles entering its field of view are capable of emitting or reflecting IR radiation detected by the vehicle tracking device 100. In such cases, these vehicles may be restricted to a specific, possibly slowest, lane by physical obstacles, road signs, onboard lane tracking control, or any combination of these or other methods. Further conceivable is that, in some situations, one vehicle may obscure IR emissions or reflections from another vehicle—for example, if a small car is behind and close to a large truck when they approach the sensor. In this case, the IR sensor could be fixed at a higher height, or traffic flow could be restricted in a conventional manner to keep vehicles of similar size in the appropriate lane. Furthermore, the vehicle tracking device 10 can be configured to receive IR emissions from multiple angles, such that IR emissions can still be received even when emissions are blocked outside the field of view of the vehicle tracking device at certain angles. In this regard, the vehicle tracking device may include multiple different IR sensors located at different locations (e.g., at different heights). In such embodiments, when emissions are detected from multiple angles, the vehicle tracking device 10 can be configured to compare the detected emissions to verify their authenticity.

[0059] Now for reference Figure 2 , showed Figure 1Another use case for the vehicle tracking device 10 described herein is shown. In this embodiment, the vehicle tracking device 10 is shown installed on existing road infrastructure. However, in this case, the vehicle tracking device 10 is configured to monitor the aircraft 20. It should be understood that the above embodiment can be appropriately adapted to monitor aircraft rather than ground vehicles. In other embodiments, the tracking device may also be installed on vehicles (e.g., ships, trains, aircraft, or spacecraft) to enable precise tracking of other vehicles (e.g., other aircraft or aerial drones or other spacecraft), thereby supporting complex operations (e.g., aircraft landing on ships, drones landing on trains, or spacecraft docking operations). Further discussion on how to install the vehicle tracking device on existing road infrastructure is given below.

[0060] It should be understood that, Figure 1 In this application scenario, the vehicle tracking device is configured to monitor ground vehicles 12, which are typically restricted to traveling along predetermined routes (i.e., roads in urban areas, rural areas, and highways). However, in Figure 2 In such application scenarios, the aircraft 20 to be monitored is not physically limited by this method; therefore, it is conceivable that the vehicle tracking device 10 might need to be installed outside of purely road-based infrastructure. Thus, in scenarios such as... Figure 2 In the illustrated use case, the vehicle tracking device 10 is configured to be securely installed on any existing infrastructure, regardless of its proximity to the roadside. Alternatively, the vehicle tracking device 10 may also be provided with a dedicated support structure to which it can be attached. (See reference...) Figure 4 Further considerations regarding such an arrangement will be discussed in more detail. While it is conceivable that the vehicle tracking device 10 could be installed outside of purely road infrastructure to monitor the aircraft 20, it should be understood that the aircraft 20 could also be configured to travel along existing road and rail infrastructure in a manner similar to the ground vehicle 12 example. Therefore, even when monitoring the aircraft 20, the vehicle tracking device 10 can still be configured to be installed on the same existing roadside / railway-side infrastructure as previously described.

[0061] Although Figure 1 and Figure 2The use cases are shown separately, but it should be understood that a single vehicle tracking device 10 can be provided, configured to monitor ground vehicles 12 and aircraft 20. This is achieved by providing sensors oriented in different directions (i.e., with different fields of view) to monitor both types of vehicles. In this case, the vehicle tracking device 10 is configured to send determined current kinematic data about the aircraft 20 to only one or more aircraft 20, and similarly configured to send determined current kinematic data about the ground vehicles 12 to only one or more ground vehicles 12. Additionally or alternatively, the vehicle tracking device 10 can be configured to send determined current kinematic data about the aircraft 20 to one or more ground vehicles 12, and vice versa. This advantageously allows the ground vehicles 12 and aircraft 20 to coordinate their positions. For example, this can be used for ground-to-air battery charging, where an aircraft operating under battery-powered power can dock with a battery-charged truck or train. It can also be used in a scenario where a delivery truck or train enters a delivery area with a swarm of aerial delivery drones, then separates, delivers, and returns. It can also be used in scenarios where drones collect goods and transport them to trucks or trains for long-distance transport. Another advantage of sharing aircraft data with ground vehicles is that a physical space can be created at the location of the ground vehicles, allowing the aircraft to travel above and vice versa. This would be a safety configuration where, if the aircraft loses altitude or collides, there are no ground vehicles below it, thus minimizing the risk of a collision. It should be understood that these use cases are for illustrative purposes only and are intended to be used in many other applications. References will follow. Figure 4 Further details regarding these embodiments are described in more detail.

[0062] Go to Figure 3 An example of ground vehicle 12 is shown. Figure 1 The vehicle tracking device 10 is configured to detect ground vehicles 12. Figure 3 Vehicle 12 is shown, which is equipped with IR transmitters 30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, and 30E mounted on its upward-facing surface. Although Figure 3 Five transmitters, 30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, and 30E, are shown, but it should be understood that this is for illustrative purposes only, and any suitable number of transmitters can be used to achieve the function of the vehicle tracking device 10. It should also be understood that the transmitters can be attached to the front, rear, or side of the vehicle. Their use in relation to the vehicle's ground spatial envelope will be described later.

[0063] Vehicle 12 is also equipped with a transmitter 32 and a receiver 34 (or a combined transceiver) configured to transmit and receive wireless signals, respectively. Once within the field of view of vehicle tracking device 10, vehicle 12 is configured to transmit wireless signals to vehicle tracking device 10. The wireless signals include unique identification data for vehicle 12, as well as data indicating the initial position of vehicle 12 relative to vehicle tracking device 10 or indicating the absolute position of the vehicle. Providing initial location can be particularly useful if the vehicle is unknown to the system, i.e., at the system's entry point. However, it is inconceivable that the sensor network would require this information once the vehicle is being tracked by the system. Once the vehicle is known to the network, the information that can be received from the vehicle is as follows.

[0064] Vehicle 12 can typically be configured to transmit data indicating the position of IR transmitters 30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, 30E relative to a ground envelope 36 of vehicle 12. The ground envelope 36 provides an indication of the vehicle's two-dimensional footprint, representing the space occupied by vehicle 12 on the road as it travels. When vehicle tracking device 10 detects IR transmissions from IR transmitters 30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, 30E, these transmissions can be used in conjunction with information about the ground spatial envelope to determine the two-dimensional space occupied by vehicle 12. In this way, vehicle tracking device 10 does not need to fully resolve images of the vehicle to reliably determine its proximity to other vehicles. In some embodiments, the ground spatial envelope further includes some space surrounding the vehicle to act as a safety zone around the space occupied by the vehicle. Furthermore, providing the positions of IR transmitters 30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, and 30E relative to the ground envelope 36 can also help determine orientational kinematic data, whereby the vehicle tracking device 10 can determine the orientation of the relevant vehicle 12 on the road (i.e., whether it is precisely aligned along the road, or whether it is angled to change its position across the road). In embodiments where the aircraft 20 is to be tracked, the ground spatial envelope 36 is unsuitable. In this case, the aircraft 20 can be configured to provide an airborne spatial envelope. In some embodiments, the airborne spatial envelope can again provide a two-dimensional footprint of the vehicle representing the two-dimensional space occupied by the vehicle 20 in the air while in motion. In a further embodiment, the airborne spatial envelope can provide a three-dimensional footprint of the vehicle, representing the three-dimensional space occupied by the vehicle 20 in the air while in motion.

[0065] exist Figure 3In the diagram, IR transmitters 30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, and 30E are shown arranged in a specific configuration. It should be understood that, in addition to the variable number of IR transmitters 30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, and 30E, their arrangement pattern can also be similarly variable. In some embodiments of the invention, the vehicle tracking device 10 is configured to associate a specific pattern of IR transmitters with a specific type of vehicle (e.g., truck, car, drone, motorcycle, etc.). When a specific spatial pattern of IR emission is detected, the vehicle tracking device 10 is configured to identify the type of vehicle being detected. This pattern prevents false identification due to overlapping of adjacent vehicles. Standard configurations for specific vehicle types may include, for example, a triangular array of three IR transmitters for cars and a domino array of five IR transmitters for trucks and vans. These configurations facilitate the precise sensing and determination of kinematic data such as position, velocity, acceleration, deceleration, direction, etc. Information relating to the type of vehicle 12 in the field of view of the vehicle tracking device 10 can also be sent to one or more detected vehicles 12 within the field of view of the tracking device. Furthermore, in embodiments where the vehicle tracking system 10 is configured to generate control signals, the vehicle tracking device 10 is configured to use information relating to the type of the detected vehicle to determine the content or type of the control signal to be generated. For example, when two adjacent vehicles 12 are determined to be close to each other, the control signals generated by the vehicle tracking device 10 are typically different for trucks and cars due to differences in their parking distances.

[0066] In some embodiments, IR transmitters 30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, and 30E are replaced by IR reflectors. This embodiment is for a vehicle tracking device 10 equipped with one or more IR transmitters configured to emit IR radiation into the field of view of the vehicle tracking device and detect IR radiation reflected by IR reflectors on one or more vehicles 12 to track them.

[0067] Go to Figure 4 It shows more details Figure 1A schematic diagram of a vehicle tracking device is provided. The vehicle tracking device 10 first includes a receiver 40 configured, according to the above embodiment, to wirelessly receive transmitted data. Specifically, the receiver 40 is configured to receive unique identification data of at least one or more vehicles 12 within the field of view of the vehicle tracking device 10, and to receive data indicating the initial position of one or more vehicles 12 relative to the vehicle tracking device. The receiver 40 may be configured to wirelessly receive data transmitted from one or more vehicles 12 via an external communication network 42. The receiver 40 may be configured to receive this data via low-latency radio frequency communication. Alternatively, the receiver 40 may use any suitable form of communication to receive the data, enabling data reception from one or more vehicles 12. In some embodiments, the receiver 40 is also configured to receive data originating from sources other than one or more vehicles 12, such as other vehicle tracking devices 10 or a centralized traffic management system (not shown). This data is again transmitted via the external communication network 42. In some embodiments, the receiver 40 is configured to receive data via wired communication where appropriate; that is, the receiver 40 is configured to receive data from a fixed location (e.g., a centralized traffic management system or an adjacent tracking device).

[0068] In some embodiments of the invention, the vehicle tracking device 10 is configured to monitor an area or "entry point" whose location is pre-configured as known to the vehicle tracking device 100 (e.g., by storing the location in the vehicle tracking device's memory 48). In such embodiments, the vehicle tracking device 10 may not need to receive information about the initial location of one or more vehicles 12. In such embodiments, the vehicle tracking device 10 may be configured such that the initial location of a particular vehicle 12 will always be a location pre-configured as known to the vehicle tracking device 10 as described above. In a further embodiment, the vehicle tracking device 10 is configured to monitor multiple locations (e.g., multiple lanes) in the entry point, each of which has its own known pre-configured location. In such embodiments, when a vehicle 12 enters the entry point, the vehicle tracking device 10 may be configured to select one of the multiple pre-configured locations as the initial location of the vehicle 12. The method of making such a selection is described in further detail with reference to the "association" process described below. Such entry point embodiments may be embodied in toll booths, where vehicles are configured to stop at a specific location known to the vehicle tracking device 10. In some embodiments, the vehicle 12 does not need to be stationary as it approaches the known location.

[0069] In additional or further embodiments, the vehicle tracking device 10 may also be configured to determine unique identification data for one or more vehicles 12, rather than receiving such unique identification data from the respective vehicle 12. This can be achieved by providing the vehicle tracking device 10 with a sensor (not shown in the figures) capable of determining the unique identifier of a vehicle 12 (e.g., the vehicle's license plate / number plate) or identifying and classifying vehicles (e.g., using image processing) and assigning unique identifiers to more approximate the vehicle's location. Such a sensor may include an Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) camera or other suitable cameras or sensors capable of uniquely identifying a particular vehicle 12 or detecting and assigning unique identifiers. Such embodiments may also be used in conjunction with the embodiments described above, wherein the vehicle tracking device 10 is configured to monitor its location as an area or "entry point" pre-configured as known to the vehicle tracking device 100. In this case, the vehicle tracking device 10 may not need to receive any data transmissions from one or more vehicles 12, wherein the determination and assignment of the initial location and the determination of the unique identifier are performed entirely by the vehicle tracking device 10. However, if information related to the ground space envelope also needs to be received through the vehicle tracking device 10, this may still need to be provided by the corresponding vehicle 12.

[0070] Furthermore, according to the above embodiments, the vehicle tracking device 10 may include one or more IR sensors 44 configured to detect IR radiation, and specifically detect IR radiation emitted or reflected from IR emitters or reflectors 30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, 30E of one or more vehicles 12 to be tracked. Figure 4Only one IR sensor 44 is shown in the diagram, but it should be understood that this is for illustrative purposes only, and in some cases, including multiple IR sensors is beneficial. For example, multiple IR sensors 44 can be provided, where each IR sensor has a different field of view pointing to the road or possibly a road intersection. This makes it possible to provide a dedicated IR sensor 44 for each lane of the road. Alternatively, and according to the above embodiment, multiple IR sensors 44 can be provided, where one or more IR sensors 44 are configured to monitor the road, and one or more IR sensors are configured to monitor the sky. In this way, according to the above embodiment, a single vehicle tracking device 10 can be configured to monitor both the aircraft 20 and the ground vehicles 12. The same arrangement can be applied, for example, to an aircraft carrier, where the movement of aircraft on the deck and approaching airborne aircraft are tracked. The IR sensor 44 can be configured to detect IR radiation within a predetermined wavelength range, where the predetermined range is determined by the user of the vehicle tracking device 10. In particular, the predetermined wavelength range can specifically correspond to the wavelength range emitted or reflected by one or more vehicles 12. This enables the vehicle tracking device 10 to reduce the detection of IR noise, which can be emitted by sources other than the one or more vehicles 12 to be tracked.

[0071] The vehicle tracking device 10 of the current embodiment also includes a processor 46 communicatively coupled to a receiver 40 and one or more IR sensors 44. According to the above embodiment, the processor 46 is configured to receive data received via the receiver 40, as well as information related to detected IR emissions received via the one or more IR sensors 44. The processor 46 is also configured to track one or more vehicles 12 based on the received data and the detected IR emissions. This tracking includes the calculation of various kinematic data associated with one or more vehicles 12. In particular, the processor 16 is configured to at least determine the location of the IR emission source. This can be determined, for example, by processing an IR image within the sensor, or by determining the angle at which the IR emission enters the IR sensor 44 and combining it with known information relating that angle to a specific location on the road. The information received by the processor 46 may include any relevant information that enables the processor to determine the location of the IR emission source (e.g., the time of emission reception, the angle at which the IR emission enters the IR sensor 44, etc.).

[0072] Processor 46 is configured to receive unique identification data of one or more vehicles 12 in the field of view of vehicle tracking device 10, and to receive data indicating the initial position of one or more vehicles 12 relative to vehicle tracking device 10, and to associate that data with information related to detected IR emissions received by one or more IR sensors 44. In this way, processor 46 is able to associate a particular IR radiation with the unique identification of a vehicle 12 that emits or reflects the IR emission. This association may include comparing the initial position data received by receiver 40 with a determined position from which the received IR emission originates to determine whether the two positions coincide. If the two positions coincide, processor 46 is configured to associate the received IR emission with the unique identification data of vehicle 12, whose initial position data coincides with the origin position of the IR emission. In the case of coincidence, processor 46 may be configured to represent the now-identified vehicle 12 as having a specific position based on the initial position data and / or the origin of the IR emission. In some embodiments, consistency is determined when the initial position data and the position of the IR emission are within each other's error range. In embodiments where a single vehicle is equipped with multiple IR transmitters or reflectors 30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, 30E, the processor 46 is configured to associate the IR emissions received from the multiple IR transmitters or reflectors 30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, 30E with a unique identifier of the vehicle 12 that emits or reflects IR radiation. This can be implemented similarly to the embodiments described above, but additionally, the received unique identifier may include initial position data for each of the multiple IR transmitters or reflectors 30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, 30E, and an indication of the total number of IR transmitters or reflectors 30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, 30E on the vehicle 12.

[0073] According to some of the embodiments described above, the vehicle tracking device 10 is configured to monitor an area or "entry point" whose location is pre-configured as known to the vehicle tracking device 10, and this location can be used as initial position data for the vehicle 12. As described above, such a location can be stored in the memory 48 of the vehicle tracking device 10. In these embodiments, when the processor 46 associates a detected IR emission with unique identification data, the initial position of the vehicle 12 is assigned to a pre-configured location known to the vehicle tracking device 10. Therefore, the processor 46 can retrieve this location from the memory 48. In a further embodiment where the vehicle tracking device 10 is configured to monitor multiple locations (e.g., multiple lanes) among the entry points, each of these locations has its own known pre-configured location, and the processor 46 is configured to determine which of the multiple pre-configured locations should be assigned as the initial position of the vehicle 12. This can be achieved by comparing the origin position of the received IR emission with each of the pre-configured locations and assigning the initial position based on this comparison. In some embodiments, the assignment is performed when the comparison between the source location of the received IR transmission and the pre-configured location falls within each other's error range. In other embodiments, the assignment is performed by comparing all pre-configured locations with the origin location of the received IR transmission and assigning the initial location to the pre-configured location that is closest to the initial location of the received IR transmission. The examples provided above are for illustrative purposes only, and any suitable comparison method can be used to achieve the desired functionality described above.

[0074] According to the above embodiments, after vehicle 12 is associated with one or more specific detected IR emissions, processor 46 is configured to store association-related information in a memory 48 communicatively coupled to processor 46. The information stored in memory 48 includes a unique identifier of the associated vehicle 12 and its determined location. According to the embodiments described herein, the information stored in memory 48 may additionally include any other determined kinematic data. Memory 48 may be configured to be accessed later via processor 46 to retrieve information related to one or more previously associated vehicles 12. According to the embodiments described herein, this retrieval may be used to determine additional kinematic data for vehicle 12.

[0075] Upon receiving information relating to detected IR emissions received by one or more IR sensors 44, the processor 46 may also be configured to determine whether the detected IR emission has been emitted or reflected by the vehicle 12, whose unique identifier has previously been associated with the detected IR emission. This is achieved by retrieving information from memory 48 regarding the determined position of the vehicle 12 stored according to the above embodiment and comparing this information with the origin position of the currently detected IR emission. If, after a known time interval, it is determined that the origin of the current IR emission is sufficiently close to the previously determined position of the vehicle 12, the processor 46 is configured to associate the currently detected IR emission with the vehicle and represent the origin of the currently detected IR emission as the new position of the vehicle 12. The determination of whether the origin is sufficiently close can be achieved by calculating the position difference between the origin of the IR position and the previously determined position of the vehicle 12, and when the difference is below a predetermined threshold, the processor 46 associates the origin of the IR emission with the new position of the vehicle 12. The predetermined threshold may be set by the user. The predetermined threshold may also be based on other factors, such as the speed of the vehicle 12 and the refresh rate of the IR sensors 44. The new location can then be stored in memory 48. In some embodiments, the new location overwrites a previously determined location. In other embodiments, in addition to one or more previously determined timestamped locations, the new location is stored, creating a record of all locations where vehicle 12 has been located since it was first detected. In such an embodiment, when determining whether a subsequent emission is related to the vehicle 12 record, the origin of the IR emission is compared to the nearest location of vehicle 12 based on the timestamp. Processor 46 can be configured to perform this determination frequently as the IR sensor 44 receives an emission. As described above, the length of the time interval between consecutively detected IR emissions can be used to determine the accuracy of the calculated kinematic data. For example, if an IR emission is detected with a period of 8 ms (approximately 120 Hz), this means the vehicle has traveled 20 cm. This is considered highly accurate for vehicle control and navigation, and also allows for the rapid and accurate calculation of vehicle speed, acceleration / deceleration rates, or other useful kinematic data. These figures should be considered illustrative only, because they can be replaced if it proves in practice that lower precision and latency are sufficient, and if it proves in practice that higher precision or latency is necessary.

[0076] Processor 46 can also be configured to retrieve information related to a specific vehicle from memory 48 to calculate additional kinematic data for vehicle 12. Specifically, the processor can be configured to retrieve multiple locations of a specific vehicle 12 and associated timestamps of those locations (known as vehicle tracking records over a period of time) to calculate the speed and / or acceleration of vehicle 12. Speed ​​and acceleration can be calculated in two dimensions (i.e., along and across the road). The calculations can be performed using techniques known to those skilled in the art and therefore do not require further description herein. By calculating this additional kinematic data, more information about vehicle 12 can be determined, and when this information is provided to vehicle 12, it can also be used to more precisely control vehicle 12. The calculated kinematic data can also be stored in the memory records of the relevant vehicle 12.

[0077] In a further embodiment of the invention, the processor 46 is configured to additionally generate control or warning signals from one or more vehicles 12, causing the vehicles to take specific actions. According to the above embodiments, the control signals can be formed based on calculated current kinematic data of one or more vehicles 12. In such an embodiment, the processor 46 is configured to retrieve kinematic data of all vehicles 12 in the field of view of the tracking device 10 from the memory 48 to determine the action to be taken. For example, if it is determined based on the calculated speeds of two vehicles 12 that two detected vehicles 12 in the field of view of the vehicle tracking device 10 are within a predetermined distance from each other, the processor 46 generates a control or warning signal to be sent to one of the vehicles 12, instructing the vehicle to accelerate or decelerate accordingly.

[0078] In some embodiments, when the vehicle 12 moves out of the field of view of the vehicle tracking device 10, the processor 46 is configured to instruct the memory to delete any stored information related to the vehicle 12.

[0079] In embodiments where the vehicle tracking device 10 is configured to receive information indicating the position of IR transmitters 30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, 30E relative to the ground envelope 36 of the vehicle 12, the processor 46 may also be configured to combine this information with information related to detected IR emissions received by one or more IR sensors 44 to determine the position / or orientation of the ground envelope 36 of the vehicle 12. In some embodiments, the position of the ground envelope 36 is determined relative to the vehicle tracking device 10 and / or is determined as the absolute position of the ground envelope.

[0080] In these embodiments, if the vehicle 12 involved in the ground envelope 36 has not been previously associated, the calculation of the position of the ground envelope 36 is performed as part of the initial association step. When the correlation between the detected IR emissions and the unique identification data of the vehicle 12 is performed to indicate the initial position of the vehicle 12, the processor 46 will additionally combine the initial position data of each of the IR transmitters 30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, and 30E with information regarding the position of each of the IR transmitters 30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, and 30E relative to the ground envelope 36. In this way, the initial position of the ground envelope 36 is generated, and an indication of the two-dimensional space initially occupied by the vehicle 12 is generated, without requiring full resolution of the image of the vehicle 12. As described in the embodiments above, the ground space envelope may also include some space surrounding the vehicle to act as a security zone around the space occupied by the vehicle 12. Once the position of the initial ground envelope 36 is determined, in addition to the ground space envelope 36 information already provided regarding the positions of the IR transmitters 30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, and 30E relative to the ground space envelope 36, this information is similar to the process described above regarding the initial positions of the IR transmitters 30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, and 30E and is stored in the memory 48.

[0081] When calculating the ground envelope 36 for a vehicle 12 already associated with its unique identifier according to the above embodiments, the processor 46 can also retrieve stored ground envelope information from the memory 48. When it is determined that an IR transmitter is associated with a previously associated vehicle 12, the processor 46 retrieves information about the position of the IR transmitters 30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, and 30E relative to the previously stored ground spatial envelope 36. This information can then be combined with the origin of the detected IR transmitters 30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, and 30E in a manner similar to that described above. Similarly, any new calculated position of the ground envelope 36 can be similarly stored in the memory 48 along with the positions of the IR transmitters 30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, and 30E and any associated timestamps.

[0082] While the position / orientation of the ground space envelope 36 being calculated has been discussed, it should be understood that other kinematic data (e.g., velocity and acceleration) can be calculated similarly for the ground space envelope 36 of vehicle 12 and subsequently stored in memory 48. Furthermore, any functionality of the vehicle tracking device 10 relating to the ground space envelope described herein also applies to the airspace envelope of the aircraft.

[0083] The vehicle tracking device 10 may also include a transmitter 50 communicatively coupled to the processor 46. The transmitter 50 may be configured to receive determined kinematic data from the processor 46 and subsequently transmit the kinematic data to one or more vehicles 12 within the field of view of the vehicle tracking device. The transmitter 50 may be configured to transmit the data via low-latency radio frequency communication. Alternatively, the transmitter 50 may use any suitable form of communication to transmit the data, allowing the data to be received by one or more vehicles 12.

[0084] Transmitter 50 can be configured to send kinematic data of only the identified vehicles 12 to the vehicles 12 associated with it. In such an embodiment, the vehicles receive data to adjust the position and / or speed of the vehicles 12 based solely on their own kinematic data. For this purpose, each vehicle 12 may have a unique or locally unique communication frequency capable of transmitting and receiving data. According to the above embodiment, this information may be provided as part of unique identification data. In some embodiments, the communication channel may be encrypted to prevent unauthorized interception or interference with transmission.

[0085] In a further embodiment, transmitter 50 is configured to transmit defined kinematic data of one or more vehicles 12 to multiple vehicles among the one or more vehicles 12. Data can be transmitted according to the embodiments described above. In such embodiments, data is received by a vehicle to adjust its position, velocity, and / or acceleration based on its own kinematic data and the kinematic data of the vehicles 12 nearby. For example, vehicle 12 can be configured to receive kinematic data relating to itself and the vehicles around it, and based on all this information, adjust the acceleration or velocity of vehicle 12 accordingly, and thus the position of the vehicle (e.g., if it is noticed that another nearby vehicle is farther than a certain threshold distance, vehicle 12 is configured to adjust its own position to approach that distance, and vice versa).

[0086] In the case of transmitting the kinematic data as described above, the kinematic data can also be transmitted in a similar manner in the embodiment for calculating the position of the ground space envelope 36 of vehicle 12 (and any other relevant kinematic data).

[0087] In embodiments where the processor 46 generates control or warning signals, the transmitter 50 is also configured to send the generated control or warning information to one or more vehicles 12. In this embodiment, the transmitter 50 is configured to send control or warning signals only to the vehicles 12 associated with it. This can be similar to the method described above, where kinematic data is sent only to the vehicles 12 associated with it.

[0088] In embodiments that generate control signals or warnings and provide and / or calculate kinematic information about the ground space envelope 36 of one or more vehicles 12, control signals or warnings can be generated based on the kinematic information of the ground space envelope 36. As previously described, the ground space envelope 36 of the vehicles may be provided with a safety zone surrounding the space occupied by the vehicles 12. This safety zone is taken into account by the control signals or warnings based on the kinematic data of the ground space envelope 36. This can serve as an additional safety mechanism for the system, ensuring that one or more vehicles 12 remain safely close to each other. This can be particularly advantageous in mitigating small position determination errors of one or more vehicles 12.

[0089] Transmitter 50 can also be configured to send the determined current kinematic data to a local or regional traffic management system (TMS) to provide a shared public picture that includes high-precision kinematic data of vehicle 12 across a wider range of multiple IR tracking sensors. The advantages of such a transmitter have been described above. Receiver 40 can also be configured to receive control, warning, or advisory information from a local or regional TMS and transmit it to vehicle 12 via transmitter 50. Alternatively, the TMS can provide control, warning, or advisory information to vehicle 12 through some other appropriately configured mechanism.

[0090] When receiver 40 is configured to receive data from vehicle 12, the vehicle tracking device can also be configured to continuously generate a data request signal, which is transmitted via transmitter 50 to one or more vehicles 12 that request the required data when they enter the field of view of vehicle tracking device 10. Alternatively, vehicles 12 can also be configured to continuously broadcast the information for reception by vehicle tracking device 10 only when they enter the range.

[0091] In a further embodiment of the vehicle tracking device 10, one or more IR transmitters (not shown) are also provided. These IR transmitters can be provided in scenarios where each of the one or more vehicles 12 to be detected includes one or more IR reflectors instead of transmitters. In such an embodiment, the IR transmitters of the vehicle tracking device 10 are configured to emit IR radiation in the direction of the vehicle 12 to be detected, which is then reflected by the IR reflectors of the vehicle 12 for re-detection by the vehicle tracking device 10. The detected IR radiation can then be reused according to the embodiments described above.

[0092] In a further embodiment, the vehicle tracking device 10 also includes an additional fixed IR transmitter or reflector (not shown) located remotely from the IR sensor 44 and always within the IR sensor's field of view. The IR sensor 44 continuously monitors the position of the fixed transmitter / reflector and uses any offset detected from the fixed position to measure any movement of other elements of the vehicle tracking device 10 due to environmental conditions (e.g., wind). The processor 46 is configured to calculate this offset based on the IR emissions received from the fixed IR reflector or transmitter. This can be used to calculate kinematic data input to ground vehicles and aircraft when calculating any offset to maintain tracking accuracy. This is particularly advantageous in adverse weather conditions that are expected to cause movement of the vehicle tracking device 10 and helps prevent inaccurate calculations of kinematic data.

[0093] In some embodiments of the vehicle tracking device 10, the processor 46 is also configured to calculate three-dimensional kinematic data. In such embodiments, the vehicle tracking device 10 is also configured to receive three-dimensional terrain mapping data via receiver 40, or pre-stored in memory 48, which is used to correlate a specific detected two-dimensional location with the terrain height at that point. This three-dimensional location data is stored and used in calculations similar to those for the two-dimensional data described above. When the vehicle tracking device 10 is configured to detect and track an aircraft, it is also configured to receive altitude data from the aircraft to determine three-dimensional location data. This is assumed by the present embodiments of the invention due to the widespread availability of small, low-power, low-weight radar altimeters with performance characteristics compatible with the current embodiments (60Hz measurement rate, 20cm accuracy). Alternatively, a horizontal 360-degree laser beacon can be deployed on a fixed structure at an appropriate height (e.g., on top of a high-rise building in an urban area) to provide an altitude self-guiding reference signal for the aircraft. Alternatively, the vehicle tracking device 10 can be configured to receive multiple transmissions from multiple sensors on the aircraft to perform triangulation operations, which enables the determination of three-dimensional position data. Through combinations of these methods and possibly others, the aircraft can maintain its altitude at the desired safe level.

[0094] The following discussion provides examples of the receive and transmit rates required to maintain accurate calculations, as well as data requirements. It should be understood that these are given only as examples, and the exact figures may vary depending on the user's needs.

[0095] The typical currently recommended interval between vehicles traveling at 100 km / h is based on a stopping distance, which is the sum of a thinking distance and a braking distance in a ratio of 1:3. The current embodiment of the invention can eliminate the thinking distance, thereby immediately increasing safe traffic flow by 25%. As confidence in the safety of the system and method grows, it will be possible to gradually increase this envelope to at least twice, and possibly several times, the current traffic flow. Similar considerations exist for rail transit, where the minimum standard of intervals between trains largely determines network capacity. The current embodiment of the invention enables a reduction in the minimum standard of intervals.

[0096] On a typical motorway / freeway, the spacing between lampposts to which the vehicle tracking device 10 can be attached is approximately 30 meters (m), the lamppost height is approximately 10 meters, and the lane width is approximately 11 meters. All of this requires the vehicle tracking device 10 to have a typical longitudinal (along the lane) field of view of 140° and a lateral (across the lane) field of view of 55°. The vehicle tracking device 10 can be manufactured in a standard configuration with settings that allow adjustment of the longitudinal and lateral fields of view during installation, thus allowing the standard vehicle tracking device 10 of the above embodiments to be deployed in a variety of situations. The vehicle tracking device 10 addresses all multiple vehicles within its field of view. For a 3-lane driving lane, assuming all vehicles are traveling with a head-to-tail distance of only 1 meter (an extreme case achievable only after gradual deployment and demonstration of the system's ability to handle progressively increasing traffic density), approximately 20 small vehicles 12 can be reached. In this extreme case, approximately 60 IR transmitters / reflectors of the vehicles 12 will be seen, and it is considered feasible to address and analyze this number to create and transmit kinematic data for each vehicle 12.

[0097] At the distances proposed by the systems and methods of embodiments of the present invention, IR radiation emitted by typical commercial beacons exhibits strong characteristics in normal atmosphere and weather. Since the vehicle tracking device 10 is positioned at a height of approximately 10 m and has a field of view of approximately 140 x 55 degrees, a focal plane array charge-coupled device (CCD) detector of approximately 4 megapixels (i.e., 2K x 2K pixels) will provide an azimuth accuracy of approximately 0.1 degrees, achieving a resolution of approximately 5 cm, and is capable of tracking up to 20 vehicles 12 (= 60 IR transmitters) (this is based on the maximum vehicle occupancy within the field of view, assuming all vehicles are small vehicles with a longitudinal spacing of 1 meter). A detection refresh rate of approximately 100 Hz is required to track vehicles with the required accuracy at speeds of 200 km / h. These parameters reach or approach the levels achievable by state-of-the-art IR tracking sensors (which are improving year by year).

[0098] A 2D positional accuracy of approximately 5cm x 5cm requires 18 bits of digital data within a 30m x 11m field of view; therefore, for the extreme case of 20 small vehicles 12 (=60 transmitters), each with 18 bits of longitudinal / lateral position, this equals 1080 bits. At 120Hz, this will generate a data stream of 110Kbit / sec, which is transmitted to vehicle 12 via a communication device. This is feasible for short-range transmissions downwards to the vehicle antenna within the field of view, and encryption devices or methods (not shown) can be added to improve security.

[0099] It is conceivable that the method of transmitting data between the vehicle tracking device 10 and the vehicle 12 could be any of a plurality of wireless communication systems or technologies capable of transmitting the required data (estimated to be 1080 bits in the above example) with a delay of approximately 1-2 ms. For example, it could be a whole part or “network slice” of an evolved 5G digital mid-band or high-band network technology, which has an air latency of <1 ms and a range of approximately or at least 10 m, and thus conforms to the performance and design scope of the present invention. Alternatively, data transmission could be performed via a standard 802.11 WiFi wireless network, the latest version of which meets the desired latency and capacity requirements of the present invention, or it could be a new infrastructure system conforming to the new 802.11p standard for fast-moving mobile communications for vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure networks to support autonomous, semi-autonomous, and managed autonomous driving. Alternatively, it could also be a dedicated data link designed for this purpose. It is also conceivable that the method of transmitting data between the vehicle tracking device 10 and the vehicle 12 could be a component of 5G / 6G digital small cell network technology, which would have an air latency of <1ms and a range of approximately 10m, and thus conform to the performance and design scope of the present invention. In fact, embodiments of the present invention could be key enablers for conceived vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure networks supporting autonomous, semi-autonomous, and managed autonomous driving.

[0100] It should be understood that, where appropriate, the above embodiments can be used to determine and transmit kinematic data of ground vehicles and aircraft.

[0101] Now go to Figure 5A The above embodiment illustrates an operation method 60 of the vehicle tracking device 10. Specifically, Figure 5A This relates to a method for a vehicle tracking device to receive unique identification data and associate the unique identification data with received IR transmissions.

[0102] Method 60 begins at step 62 with receiving unique identification data of one or more vehicles 12 transmitted within the field of view of the vehicle tracking device, along with initial position data indicating the initial position of one or more vehicles 12 relative to the vehicle tracking device 10. Alternatively, this initial position may be provided in absolute position coordinates (e.g., latitude and longitude coordinates). According to the above embodiment, this data is received by receiver 40. Subsequently, according to the above embodiment, method 60 continues at step 64 by detecting IR radiation emitted or reflected from the IR transmitters or reflectors 30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, 30E of the one or more vehicles 12 to be tracked. IR radiation is detected by one or more IR sensors 44. It should be understood that although steps 62 and 64 are shown sequentially, the two transmissions may be received in reverse order or simultaneously.

[0103] Subsequently, method 60 continues by determining the origin of the detected IR radiation in step 66. This can be implemented according to the above embodiments and can be executed by processor 46. This step enables the location to be associated with the received IR radiation. After this determination, the vehicle tracking device 10 then associates the received IR emission with the unique identification data of one or more vehicles 12 in step 68. According to the above embodiments, this can be achieved by comparing the determined location of the IR emission with the initial location of the received vehicle 12. In some embodiments, multiple sets of IR emissions with different origin locations can be received simultaneously. In these embodiments, method 60 includes comparing the initial location of the vehicle 12 with each set of IR emissions until a suitable emission that can be associated with the vehicle 12 is found. Once the vehicle 12 has been associated with an IR emission, according to the above embodiments, method 60 continues by storing the unique identification data of the vehicle 12 and the initial location of the vehicle 12 in memory 48 in step 70. The method then ends at step 72.

[0104] In method 60 described above, the association between detected IR emissions and transmitted data indicating the initial position of one or more vehicles 12 relative to the vehicle tracking device 10 is discussed. It should be understood that although method 60 is discussed in the context of providing the positions of IR transmitters or reflectors 30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, 30E, in some embodiments, information about the ground space envelope 36 is additionally provided according to the embodiments discussed above. In such embodiments, when the association is performed in step 68, according to the embodiments described above, the calculation of the ground space envelope 36 of the vehicle 12 is additionally performed using the provided ground space envelope 36 information, and this information is used to perform the association (i.e., the vehicle 12 can be configured to provide its initial position of the ground space envelope 36, and the vehicle tracking device 10 is configured to compare this information with the calculated ground space envelope). This information may then also be stored in step 70.

[0105] It should be understood that the vehicle tracking device 10 can simultaneously receive multiple sets of unique identifier data and initial location data. In this case, method 60 is configured to repeat itself for each set of unique identifier data and initial location data simultaneously and concurrently. Alternatively, method 60 can be configured to operate on each set of unique identifier data and initial location data simultaneously.

[0106] refer to Figure 5B This illustrates another method 80 of operation of the vehicle tracking device 10 described in the above embodiments. Specifically, Figure 5B Method 80 is described, in which the vehicle tracking device 10 associates an IR emission with a vehicle 12 that was previously detected and associated with the IR emission.

[0107] According to the above embodiment, method 80 begins in step 82 with the detection of IR radiation emitted or reflected from IR emitters or reflectors 30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, 30E of one or more vehicles 12 to be tracked. Thereafter, method 60 continues by determining the origin of the detected IR radiation in step 84. This can be implemented according to the above embodiment and can be executed by processor 46. This step allows the location to be associated with the received IR radiation.

[0108] Once the origin of the IR transmission is determined, method 80 continues by retrieving the locations of previously identified vehicles from the memory 48 of the vehicle tracking device 10 in step 84. This may include retrieving all previously stored data. Alternatively, processor 46 may be configured to retrieve only a subset of that data. This may include retrieving only the latest location stored for each vehicle 12. This may also include retrieving filtered information, where the filter may specify that only information related to vehicles whose locations are within a predetermined distance from the origin of the IR transmission is retrieved.

[0109] Once a location is retrieved, method 80 proceeds by determining in step 86 which of the vehicles 12 with previously stored information is associated with the IR transmission. According to the above embodiment, this can be achieved by determining whether any of the retrieved location data is sufficiently close to the origin of the IR transmission. When this is complete, method 80 continues by associating the origin location of the IR transmission with the vehicle identified in step 86 in step 88. This association may include updating the current location of the identified vehicle 12 to the origin location of the IR transmission. According to the above embodiment, method 80 continues by storing the current location in memory 48 in the memory record of the identified vehicle 12 in step 90. As described above, this storage may also include storing a timestamp of when the IR transmission was received. The method then concludes at step 92.

[0110] For reference Figure 5A In the previously discussed embodiment where ground space envelope 36 information was provided and stored in memory 48, the information retrieval in step 86 may also include retrieving the ground space envelope 46 information. Then, as previously described, this can be used to calculate kinematic data regarding the ground space envelope 36 to determine which vehicle 12 the detected IR information is associated with (i.e., the previously calculated position of the ground space envelope 36 of vehicle 12 can be compared with the currently calculated ground space envelope 36 to determine the vehicle 12 involved in the detected IR information). Similarly, in step 92, this new kinematic information can then be stored in memory 48.

[0111] Now go to Figure 5C This illustrates an operation method 100 of the vehicle tracking device 10 described in the above embodiments. Specifically, Figure 5C A method 100 is described for a vehicle tracking device 10 to determine and transmit kinematic data of one or more vehicles 12 in the field of view of the vehicle tracking device.

[0112] Operation method 100 begins in step 102 with acquiring position data of a specific vehicle 12 within the field of view of the vehicle tracking device 10. This may include receiving IR transmissions, determining their origin positions, and according to the above... Figure 5A and 5B Methods 60 and 80 associate the origin location with a specific vehicle. This may also include retrieving the location data of a specific vehicle from memory 48.

[0113] Subsequently, processor 46 uses the acquired position information in step 104 to determine the kinematic data of vehicle 12. In some cases, this only involves determining the one-dimensional or two-dimensional position of vehicle 12, in which case the acquisition and determination steps are identical. In other embodiments, the kinematic data includes calculating quantities such as one-dimensional or two-dimensional velocity and acceleration, which requires acquiring multiple positions in conjunction with the time taken to determine the position. In such embodiments, the processor typically retrieves multiple positions and associated timestamps from memory 48. The retrieval of positions in memory 48 may be combined with IR emission source data not yet stored in memory 48. Calculating velocity and acceleration using position and time data is well known and will not be described further here.

[0114] Once the required kinematic data is determined, the determined data is stored in the memory 48 of the vehicle tracking device 10 in step 106. Following this storage, according to the above embodiment, method 100 continues by transmitting the determined kinematic data to one or more vehicles 12 in step 108. This may include transmitting data only to the vehicle associated with the data. It may also include transmitting data to multiple vehicles 12 within the field of view of the vehicle tracking device 10. In some embodiments, the method may further include transmitting the kinematic data to the TMS in step 108. It should be understood that the method of transmitting data to the TMS can be the same as the method of transmitting data to the vehicles 12. Alternatively, the method of data transmission may include utilizing additional system infrastructure and methods. Reference will be made to the following... Figure 10 These alternatives will be described in more detail. Then, operation method 100 proceeds to step 110 to end.

[0115] In an embodiment where the processor is additionally configured to generate a control or warning signal to be sent to one or more vehicles 12, method 100 includes an additional step between steps 106 and 108 to calculate and determine the control or warning signal according to the above embodiment. Then, in step 108, the control or warning signal is additionally sent along with kinematic data, or the control or warning signal may be sent in place of the kinematic data.

[0116] In an embodiment providing ground space envelope 36 information, calculating the kinematic data of vehicle 12 in step 104 may include determining kinematic data related to the ground space envelope 36 of vehicle 12 according to the above embodiment. Then, in step 106, the data related to the ground space envelope 36 may be stored, and the data may be sent in step 108.

[0117] Now for reference Figure 6The figure shows an isometric view of a vehicle tracking system 150, which includes multiple vehicle tracking devices 10 as described above, for detecting one or more ground vehicles 12 and determining various kinematic data associated with the detected vehicles 12. For clarity, not all vehicle tracking devices 10 are labeled in the figure. More specifically, the vehicle tracking system 150 shown includes multiple vehicle tracking devices 10 installed in an urban environment and configured to determine various kinematic data with respect to the detected vehicles 12 over an area larger than the field of view (or “unit” 152) of any single vehicle tracking device. In this way, the vehicle tracking system 150 is capable of tracking one or more vehicles 12 over a large area. It should be understood that while the vehicle tracking system 150 is shown installed in an urban environment where multiple obstacles (e.g., buildings, road infrastructure) may obstruct the field of view of the vehicle tracking devices 10, the vehicle tracking system 150 can also be used to track vehicles 12 over large areas where such obstacles are absent, such as on extended roads (e.g., highways or motor vehicle lanes, or on extended track lengths). The vehicle tracking device 10 of the vehicle tracking system 150 can be reattached to existing infrastructure, such as lampposts, traffic lights, road sign frames, and buildings.

[0118] The illustrated vehicle tracking system 150 includes a plurality of vehicle tracking devices 10, each located in its own unit 152 as described in the above embodiments. The plurality of units 152 constitute a network covering the area monitored by the vehicle tracking system 150. Each vehicle tracking device 10 may include any of the elements described above to achieve the desired functionality associated with these features. In particular, each device 10 may include features that allow receiving unique identification data for each vehicle 12, detecting IR emissions, and calculating and transmitting various kinematic data to one or more vehicles 12. It should be understood that each vehicle tracking device 10 in the vehicle tracking system 150 may have features from different embodiments to achieve different functions in each unit. For example, according to the above embodiments, one device 10 in the system 150 may be configured to monitor an entry point into the system 150 and be configured to receive information from a vehicle 12 or be configured to have pre-configured location information. Other devices 10 in the system 150 may not require such functionality because they do not monitor the entry location.

[0119] exist Figure 6In the vehicle tracking system 150, each vehicle tracking device 10 can also be configured to send calculated kinematic data to one or more other vehicle tracking devices 100 within the vehicle tracking system 150. This can be achieved through appropriate configuration of the receiver 40, processor 46, and transmitter 50 of each vehicle tracking device, since the transmission range is similar to the transmission range between the tracking device and the vehicle 12 within its field of view. Alternatively, other communication mechanisms may be involved, for example, a wired connection may exist between the vehicle tracking devices 10. Furthermore, each vehicle tracking device 10 can be similarly configured to send unique identification data of the vehicle 12 along with the calculated kinematic data to one or more other vehicle tracking devices 10 within the vehicle tracking system 150. In this way, as the vehicle 12 passes through and leaves the field of view of a particular vehicle tracking device 10, various data can be transmitted (or may have already been transmitted) to the unit 152 of another vehicle tracking device into which the vehicle 12 is now entering. This data can be used similarly to the data initially sent by the vehicle 12 to the vehicle tracking device 10 to associate the received IR transmission with the vehicle 12 that entered the first unit of the vehicle tracking system 150. In the case of transmitting kinematic data, any positional data of the vehicle tracking device 10 used to calculate that data can also be provided. Alternatively, when transmitting positional data, the positional data can be processed first such that the position of the vehicle 12 is given relative to the vehicle tracking device 10 to which the positional data is transmitted, rather than the positional data being given by the device 10 from which it is transmitted. Alternatively, the vehicle tracking device 10 receiving the positional data can be configured to transform the data itself. Alternatively, one or more absolute positions of the vehicle 12 (e.g., longitude and latitude coordinates) can be transmitted.

[0120] exist Figure 6In the vehicle tracking system 150, each vehicle tracking device 10 can also be configured to send calculated kinematic data to one or more other vehicle tracking devices 100 within the vehicle tracking system 150. This can be achieved through appropriate configuration of the receiver 40, processor 46, and transmitter 50 of each vehicle tracking device. Furthermore, each vehicle tracking device 10 can be similarly configured to send unique identification data of vehicle 12 along with the calculated kinematic data to one or more other vehicle tracking devices 10 within the vehicle tracking system 150. In this way, as vehicle 12 passes through and leaves the field of view of a particular vehicle tracking device 10, various data can be transmitted to another vehicle tracking device 10 into which vehicle 12 is now entering. This data can be used similarly to the data initially sent by vehicle 12 to the vehicle tracking device 10 to associate the received IR transmission with vehicle 12 entering the first unit of the vehicle tracking system 150. In the case of transmitting kinematic data, any location data regarding the vehicle tracking device 10 into which the data is calculated can also be provided. Alternatively, when transmitting location data, the location data can be processed first so that the position of vehicle 12 is given relative to the vehicle tracking device 10 to which the location data is transmitted, rather than by the device 10 that transmits the location data. Alternatively, the vehicle tracking device 10 receiving the location data can be configured to transform the data itself. Alternatively, one or more absolute positions of vehicle 12 (e.g., longitude and latitude coordinates) can be transmitted.

[0121] In embodiments where each vehicle tracking device 10 is configured to send unique identification data and calculated kinematic data to other vehicle tracking devices, each vehicle tracking device does not necessarily need to receive unique identification data or any other data from the vehicle itself. In such embodiments, according to the above embodiments, the system 150 is configured to initially receive unique identification data and initial position data from the vehicle 12 at a designated vehicle tracking device 10. This vehicle tracking device 10 is configured to monitor a designated “entry point” (or entry unit), wherein the vehicle is configured to enter an area monitored by the vehicle tracking system 150. Alternatively, such a vehicle tracking device 10 can be configured to monitor a pre-configured known location as described in the above embodiments. Therefore, the vehicle may not need to provide such initial position information and / or unique identification information. Subsequently, the vehicle tracking device that received data from the vehicle sends the relevant information to other vehicle tracking devices 10. In such embodiments, any vehicle tracking device 10 that does not monitor an entry unit is configured not to receive this information from one or more vehicles 12, but only to receive transmissions from other vehicle tracking devices.

[0122] In a further embodiment, the unit 152 monitored by each vehicle tracking device 10 is configured to overlap with other units, such that there are points where one or more vehicles 12 being tracked are within the field of view of multiple vehicle tracking devices. In such an embodiment, each associated vehicle tracking device 10 is configured to calculate kinematic data for one or more vehicles. In some embodiments, the calculated kinematic data for each vehicle is sent to each of the other vehicle tracking devices 10 in the unit containing one or more vehicles 10, and the data is compared. The processor of each vehicle tracking device is then configured to compare the data and use a voting algorithm to determine whether the data is consistent, and wherein, if inconsistent, the inconsistent data is rejected and not sent to the vehicle 12 (or other destination). This allows checking the data consistency or continuity between each vehicle tracking device 10 and its first, second, and possibly third overlapping tracking devices, and in the latter two cases, the ability to detect and vote out a faulty tracking device 10. This creates a “triple” or “quadruple” redundancy architecture capable of achieving the required security integrity of information provided to vehicles with more than 1 x 10 faults per vehicle mile. -8 Secondly, it allows for the tolerance and repair of tracking device malfunctions, thus achieving high information availability. Furthermore, status information from diagnostic or predictive equipment on each vehicle 12 can be transmitted back to the vehicle tracking device 10, enabling neighboring vehicles 10 or any involved traffic management system to be alerted to any malfunctions or predicted faults, particularly malfunctioning IR transmitters, further enhancing the overall system integrity.

[0123] In a further embodiment, the voting algorithm can be used in another manner, wherein data consistency or continuity is determined among a plurality of tracking devices 10, wherein cells are adjacent or nearly adjacent but do not overlap. In such an embodiment, the comparison between the positions of one or more vehicles 10 measured by the plurality of vehicle tracking devices 10 is performed by the voting algorithm. Through this comparison, the voting algorithm is able to detect a very high level of integrity consistent with the preceding segment in the event that one of the vehicle tracking devices 10 produces an inconsistent position. As an illustrative example, a voting algorithm employed by a group of four adjacent vehicle tracking devices 10 can determine which of the tracking devices 10 is inconsistent with the other three by passing a rolling pairwise comparison to a fourth tracking device. In such an example, the voting system can mark the erroneous device 10 as faulty and ignore, overwrite, replace with interpolation, or otherwise process any measurements made by the erroneous device until the faulty device is repaired. The voting algorithm can also be configured to wait for multiple erroneous measurements to be determined before a device is highlighted as faulty. While this example mentions the use of four vehicle tracking devices 10, it should be understood that the voting algorithm can be used by any number of vehicle tracking devices 10, such as third-order or fourth-order or higher-order devices 10. In some embodiments, the vehicle tracking devices 10 employing a voting algorithm "roll" along the vehicle tracking device system (i.e., when the voting algorithm is among four devices 10, devices numbered 1 to 4 will vote among themselves, followed by numbers 2 to 5, 3 to 6, and so on). As a variation of this architecture, the vehicle tracking devices 10 can be arranged in groups of three or four or more, with a fixed voting algorithm among the three or four or more groups, and tracking consistency checks are performed within and during the switching between the three or four groups. In some embodiments, there may be adjacent or nearly adjacent units in some parts of the network and overlapping units in other parts, possibly in areas with higher traffic safety risks. Such embodiments with said adjacency and overlap can enable the use of fewer vehicle tracking devices 10 over extended areas while still allowing multiple vehicle tracking devices to monitor common areas.

[0124] Figure 6 An embodiment of the vehicle tracking system 150 illustrates one implementation where the vehicle tracking system 150 is configured to detect and determine the kinematic data of a ground vehicle. However, the vehicle tracking system 150 can also be configured to monitor the aircraft 20. Examples of such configurations are shown below. Figure 7As shown, the system is again deployed in an urban environment. Again, for clarity, not all vehicle tracking devices 10 and aircraft 20 are labeled. It should be understood that in this configuration, the same features and functions as vehicle tracking system 150 are included, except that vehicle tracking system 150 is configured to monitor IR emissions or reflections received from above rather than below system 150. Each vehicle tracking device 10 of vehicle tracking system 150 has a field of view in this configuration, or optionally a "sky unit". In this embodiment, the tracking system for the sky unit must be oriented northward (south in the Southern Hemisphere) away from the vertical to avoid solar glare. Adjacent sky units forming "sky lanes" must be safely separated from lanes in the opposite direction of the flow.

[0125] Figure 8A and 8B This illustrates another example of how the upward-facing vehicle tracking system 810 can be configured to create aerial corridors for vehicles such as delivery / collection drones. In this configuration, the vehicle tracking devices have a narrow field of view and can be arranged to create aerial corridors at a higher altitude, such as above an electrified track. This also allows for the creation of more than one aerial corridor at different altitudes by connecting spare or multiple spare vehicle tracking devices together. Figure 8A In this system, even-numbered tracking devices create corridor 811 at an altitude of, for example, 300 feet, and odd-numbered tracking devices create corridor 812 at an altitude of, for example, 150 feet. The field of view of the IR sensors on the track markers is configured to create adjacent or slightly overlapping units in the sky at these altitudes. Thus, two distinct aerial corridors are created by using an alternative vehicle tracking device 810 of the system. Each vehicle tracking device may also include an upward-facing IR transmitter, many of which are visible to IR sensors properly mounted on the aircraft 820. Because the IR transmitters will be regularly spaced, this provides another method for monitoring and controlling the aircraft's own altitude through direct triangulation. The IR transmitters can also be used to create "runway lights" for a "landing strip" on the side of the railway, which are visible to the IR sensors on the aircraft. This can be useful for normal operation, but is particularly useful for creating a safe landing zone 813 for aircraft, for example, that has malfunctioned or is low on fuel. In this way, the infrastructure system created by this embodiment enables safe and controlled flight of autopilot aircraft.

[0126] It should also be understood that although the two ground and air monitoring configurations are shown as separate embodiments, these two embodiments can be combined in a third embodiment that simultaneously monitors both aircraft and ground vehicles. This is achieved through a suitable configuration according to the embodiments of the vehicle tracking device 10 described above. Furthermore, the vehicle tracking system 150 can be configured at certain points to detect and calculate only the kinematic data of ground vehicles or aircraft. As an example, this can be achieved by providing an upward-facing or downward-facing IR sensor 44 in the vehicle tracking device 10, depending on whether an aircraft or a ground vehicle is to be detected in the field of view of a particular vehicle tracking device 10. In this way, redundant components can be removed when a specific type of monitoring is not required in a particular area. Figure 7 Also shown is a horizontal 360° laser beacon 160, which provides a horizontal wide-area reference signal that the aircraft can use to maintain a precise altitude.

[0127] refer to Figure 9 The diagram illustrates an operation method 170 for the aforementioned vehicle tracking system 150. Specifically, method 170 relates to how a vehicle tracking device 10 of the vehicle tracking system 150 in one unit 152 receives information from another vehicle tracking device in another typically adjacent unit 152 and uses that information to determine the kinematic data of a vehicle 12 entering its field of view. It should be understood that... Figure 5A The steps of method 60 are used to achieve the initial acquisition of data and determination of kinematic data by the first vehicle tracking device 10 at the cell where the vehicle enters the cell network, and method 170 relates to the process followed by vehicle tracking devices after the first vehicle tracking device 10.

[0128] Method 170 begins in step 172 with receiving identification data, kinematic data (position, velocity, acceleration, deceleration, orientation, or other useful kinematic data), and vehicle geometry data about each vehicle about to enter its field of view, transmitted from its upstream neighboring device. This is similar to... Figure 5A Step 62, wherein information is received from vehicle 12, provided that relevant data is received from its upstream neighboring vehicle tracking device 10 via receiver 40. In this case, the initial position data of vehicle 12 transmitted may include the position calculated by the upstream neighboring vehicle tracking device 10.

[0129] According to the above embodiment, method 170 continues in step 174 by detecting IR radiation emitted or reflected from one or more IR transmitters or reflectors 30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, 30E of the vehicles 12 to be tracked. The IR radiation is detected by one or more IR sensors 44. It should be understood that although steps 172 and 174 are shown sequentially, the two transmissions can be received in reverse order or simultaneously.

[0130] Subsequently, method 170 continues by determining the origin of the detected IR radiation in step 176. This is implemented according to the above embodiment and is executed by processor 46. This step enables the location to be associated with the received IR radiation. After this determination, vehicle tracking device 10 then associates the received IR emission with unique identification data of one or more vehicles 12 in step 178. According to the above embodiment, this is achieved by comparing the determined location of the IR emission with the received location data of the vehicle 12. In some embodiments, multiple sets of IR emissions with different origin locations are received simultaneously. In these embodiments, method 170 includes comparing the received location of the vehicle 12 with each set of IR emissions until a suitable emission that the vehicle 12 can be associated with is found. According to the above embodiment, once the vehicle 12 has been associated with an IR emission, method 170 continues by storing the unique identification data of the vehicle 12 and the initial location of the vehicle 12 in memory 48 in step 180.

[0131] It should be understood that the vehicle tracking device 10 can simultaneously receive multiple sets of unique identifier data and initial location data. In this case, method 170 is configured to repeat itself for each set of unique identifier data and initial location data simultaneously. Alternatively, method 170 is configured to operate on each set of unique identifier data and received location data simultaneously.

[0132] The method of operation 170 continues by using the acquired information to determine the kinematic data of vehicle 12 in step 182. In some cases, this only involves determining the position of vehicle 12 in one or two dimensions, in which case the acquisition and determination steps are identical. In other embodiments, the step of determining the kinematic data includes calculating one-dimensional or two-dimensional quantities such as velocity and acceleration, which requires acquiring multiple positions in conjunction with the time taken to determine the position. In such embodiments, the processor typically retrieves multiple positions and associated timestamps from memory 48. Retrieving positions from memory 48 can be combined with IR emission source data not yet stored in memory 48. Calculating velocity and acceleration using position and time data is well known and will not be described further here.

[0133] Once the required kinematic data is determined, the determined data is stored in the memory 48 of the vehicle tracking device 10 in step 184. Following this storage, according to the above embodiment, method 100 continues by transmitting the determined kinematic data to one or more vehicles 12 in step 186. This may include transmitting data only to the vehicles associated with it. It may also include transmitting data to multiple vehicles 12 within the field of view of the vehicle tracking device 10 or outside the field of view but within communication range between the vehicle tracking devices. In an embodiment where kinematic data is transmitted to the TMS, step 186 further includes transmitting the kinematic data to the TMS.

[0134] Following this, method 170 continues by determining in step 188 whether vehicle 12, whose kinematic data has been determined, is about to leave the current field of view of the vehicle tracking device 10. This determination may include comparing the determined position of vehicle 12 with a known end position of the field of view of the vehicle tracking device 10. If vehicle 12 is within a predetermined range of the end position, it can be determined that the vehicle is leaving the field of view of the vehicle tracking device 10. If not, method 180 returns to step 174 and detects a new IR emission associated with vehicle 12. If it is determined that vehicle 12 is leaving the field of view of the tracking device 10, method 170 continues in step 190 by sending identification data and kinematic data about vehicle 12 that is about to leave its field of view to its downstream adjacent IR tracking sensor. The method then proceeds to step 192 to end.

[0135] In embodiments intended to provide kinematic data about multiple vehicles within the field of view of the vehicle tracking device 10, or outside the field of view but within the communication range between the vehicle tracking devices, for one or more vehicles 12 within the field of view of the vehicle tracking device 10, it should be understood that modifications can be made to achieve this. Figure 9 Method 170. This modification may include, in step 182, processor 46 being configured to simultaneously determine kinematic data of multiple vehicles 12 in its field of view. This may include retrieving data from memory 48 relating to all vehicles in the field of view of vehicle tracking device 10 as determined according to the above embodiment. Relevant kinematic data may then be calculated for each of these vehicles 12, and subsequently stored according to step 184. Then, in step 186, the kinematic data of all vehicles 12 in the field of view may be sent to one or more vehicles 12. It should also be understood that only a subset of the calculated kinematic data may be sent to each vehicle 12. This subset may be determined based on vehicles near the vehicle 12 to which data is to be sent. For example, if there are 10 vehicles in the field of view of vehicle tracking device 10, there may only be four vehicles in immediate proximity to a particular vehicle 12 (i.e., one in front, one behind, and one on each side). In this example, vehicle tracking device 10 may be configured to provide only the kinematic data relating to the vehicle itself 12 and its four immediate neighbors to a particular vehicle 12. Furthermore, it is possible that vehicle 12 itself has left the field of view of tracking device 10, but the vehicle behind it is not and has not yet entered the field of view of the next tracking device in the direction of travel. In this case, the tracking device will continue to provide vehicle 12 with kinematic data of the vehicle behind it until the vehicle behind it leaves its field of view.

[0136] Figure 9Method 170 involves a process in which kinematic data is sent to another vehicle tracking device 10 only when a vehicle is about to leave the field of view of a particular tracking device 10. However, in some embodiments, the vehicle tracking system 150 is configured to continuously send calculated kinematic data to other vehicle tracking devices 10 in the system 150. This can be used in situations where a voting system is employed to determine whether the determined kinematic data is agreed upon by multiple devices 10 and to prevent the transmission of incorrectly calculated data. In such embodiments, method 170 can be adapted such that when kinematic data is sent to vehicle 12 in step 186, it is simultaneously sent to other vehicle tracking devices 10. This can be sent to all other devices 10 in the system 150, or only a subset (e.g., upstream and downstream adjacent devices 10). In such embodiments, steps 188 and 190 can be omitted because it is not necessary to determine whether the vehicle is leaving the field of view of a particular device 10. Alternatively, these steps can still be performed to notify the downstream adjacent device 10 that it will no longer receive data about the particular vehicle 12 from the current device 10.

[0137] It should be understood that Figure 9 Method 170 can be modified appropriately to take into account various modifications to each vehicle tracking device 10 in the vehicle tracking system 150. In particular, information about the ground space envelope 36 can be used in a method similar to the one described above to determine the position of the vehicle 12.

[0138] Now for reference Figure 10 The figure illustrates a vehicle tracking system 200 comprising multiple vehicle tracking devices 10 as described above. This system is used to detect one or more ground vehicles 12 and determine various kinematic data associated with the detected vehicles 12. For clarity, not all vehicle tracking devices 10 are labeled in the figure. Furthermore, the vehicle tracking system 200 also includes a remote communication device 202 (in... Figure 10 The device is schematically shown as a communication mast. This remote communication device is configured to receive remote data from a wide area communication network and to transmit the received remote data to one or more vehicle tracking devices 10. One or more vehicle tracking devices 10 receiving the remote data are further configured to transmit the remote data to one or more vehicles within the field of view 152 of the respective tracking device. It should be understood that the vehicle tracking system 200 may include information regarding… Figure 6 The vehicle tracking device 160 describes any one or more features to achieve the associated functions of these features.

[0139] In some situations, it is beneficial to be able to transmit data remotely to a vehicle. This data can include information related to vehicle operation (e.g., navigation data). It can also include other types of more general data, such as data used for browsing the internet on devices connected to the vehicle. Typically, data connections to vehicles can be intermittent, especially in locations far from broadcasting masts that can transmit such data to vehicles (e.g., on highways), or may suffer from multipath reflections, resulting in noise and distorted received signals (typically in built-up areas, particularly high-rise buildings). Figure 10 The provision of vehicle tracking system 200 allows for more reliable data transmission even in such remote or built-up locations. One such example of where such data is needed involves providing data from a TMS. The TMS can be located anywhere within the location of the vehicle tracking system 200 in question, and in some cases, the TMS may be located remotely from the vehicle tracking system 100. In this case, providing a remote communication device 202 enables communication between the TMS and one or more vehicles, regardless of the remote location. This is particularly advantageous because the TMS is typically placed in a central location to receive information from multiple different traffic locations. By providing... Figure 10 The vehicle tracking system 200, in particular, enables the provision of reliable communication links between the TMS and multiple different locations.

[0140] Back Figure 10 The vehicle tracking system 200 is displayed against the backdrop of a six-lane highway. The functional and performance characteristics of the data transmission 153 between the tracking device 10 and the vehicle 12 have been described in the preceding paragraphs as requiring a transmission latency on the order of 1-2 ms and a data transmission rate of approximately 1 Kbit per 10 ms to provide the tracking accuracy required for safety-critical vehicle control. Similar requirements apply to the transmission 154 between the tracking devices 10. It should be understood that the description of the operation of the vehicle tracking system for tracking one or more local vehicles has already been detailed above and will not be repeated here for ease of reading.

[0141] The remote communication device 202 is shown located near one or more vehicle tracking devices 10 of the vehicle tracking system 200. It should be understood that the remote communication device 202 may be an accessory isolated from one or more tracking devices 10, or in some cases, it may be located within a vehicle tracking device 10. The remote communication device 202 includes one or more receivers (not shown) configured to receive remote data from remote devices via a wide area communication network. This data can be received via wired or wireless means. The remote communication device 202 further includes one or more transmitters (not shown) configured to transmit remote data to one or more of the plurality of vehicle tracking devices 10 via wired or wireless means. One or more of the vehicle tracking devices 10 are equipped with receivers configured to receive the transmitted remote data. As previously mentioned, this may be the same receiver 40, or it may be an additional dedicated receiver. The one or more vehicle tracking devices 10 are further provided with one or more transmitters configured to transmit remote data to one or more vehicles in the field of view of the vehicle tracking device. This may be the same transmitter 50 mentioned above, or it may be an additional dedicated transmitter. Specifically, the remote communication device 202 may be equipped with a satellite communication receiver for communicating with satellite 204. In some cases, the satellite receiver may specifically include a OneWeb satellite communication receiver. Additionally or alternatively, the remote communication device 202 may also be equipped with a 4G or 5G telecommunications receiver.

[0142] In some use cases, the remote communication device 202 is configured to send remote data in parallel to each of one or more vehicle tracking devices 10; that is, each of the vehicle tracking devices 10 in the vehicle tracking system 200 is configured to receive and send data from the remote communication device 202 independently of each other. In other use cases, the remote communication device 202 is configured to communicate directly with a specific vehicle tracking device 10 and send remote data only to that one vehicle tracking device. The vehicle tracking device 10 that receives the remote data is then configured to send the remote data to another vehicle tracking device 10. This process can be repeated until remote data has been sent to all vehicle tracking devices 10 in the vehicle tracking system 200. In some use cases, data transmission between vehicle tracking devices 10 continues until data is sent to a vehicle tracking device that is within communication range of the vehicle 12, which is the intended recipient of the data.

[0143] In a further use case, the remote communication device 202 is also configured to receive local data from one or more vehicle tracking devices 10. This data may include kinematic data determined by one or more vehicle tracking devices 10. The data may also include requests for remote data from a wide area communication network. In this use case, one or more vehicle tracking devices 10 are configured to receive requests for remote data from one or more vehicles in the field of view of the relevant vehicle tracking device 100, and subsequently send these requests to the remote communication device 202. The aforementioned transmitters and receivers of the remote communication device 202 and one or more vehicle tracking devices 10 can be appropriately configured to receive and send these requests. Alternatively, additional dedicated transmitters and receivers may be provided for this purpose. In some use cases, the remote communication device 202 is also configured to send any received kinematic data to one or more vehicle tracking devices 10. This enables the remote communication device 202 to transmit remote kinematic data determined by a particular vehicle tracking device 10 to another vehicle tracking device. This can serve as a supplement to or alternative to the methods described above for transmitting determined kinematic data between vehicle tracking devices 10.

[0144] In a scenario where the remote communication device 202 is configured to receive local data as described above, the remote communication device 202 may also be configured to send the data to a remote device separate from the vehicle tracking system 200. This may include a TMS. It may also include any device configured to receive and transmit data, such as a web server.

[0145] It should also be understood that, although Figure 10 A single remote communication device 202 is shown, but the vehicle tracking system 200 may include multiple remote communication devices 202, each placed geographically spaced apart from each other. The spacing between the remote communication devices 202 can be determined by the communication range and performance requirements of the data being transmitted. In this way, data transmission can span a wide geographical area while minimizing the number of communication devices required to provide access to a wide area network.

[0146] Moving to the example of a remote communication device 202 configured to deliver and receive data from the TMS, according to the above embodiment, the performance attributes used for communicating with the TMS will depend on the corresponding functions and performance characteristics of the broader overall system 200. Transmission to the TMS may be for monitoring only, or the TMS may monitor and provide traffic management suggestions and warnings, or the TMS may provide closed-loop control of vehicle traffic (according to the above embodiment of providing control signals). Each of these use cases places increasingly higher performance demands on the systems and technologies used (higher data rates, lower latency, higher data integrity).

[0147] Figure 10 Numerous possible methods are illustrated for transmitting data from a large number of vehicle tracking devices to a TMS and for receiving back advisories, warnings, control information, or other messages. Transmission between adjacent or nearby tracking devices (which can be wired or wireless) can be extended to allow a group of tracking devices (in...) Figure 10 In this arrangement, they are linked 192 in groups of 20 to TMS communication devices 202 installed at extended intervals along roads or throughout the urban environment. Depending on performance and other possible requirements, this arrangement can be serial (accumulating data from one device to the next, and then to the TMS communication device) or parallel (directly from each device to the TMS communication device 202).

[0148] Then, the TMS communication device 202 on the roadside can communicate with the TMS. Figure 10 Several different possible categories of communication technologies are shown. The communication link to the TMS can be via wired telecommunications 194, or via wireless devices (e.g., long-range WiFi or radio data links such as 4G or 5G links 193), or via satellite communications 195 (e.g., low Earth orbit or geostationary satellite systems 204).

[0149] These technology categories offer latency ranging from a few milliseconds to 500 milliseconds and capacity ranging from 10 Mbps to 1 Gbps. Despite Figure 10 The current deployment is most likely to be efficient and effective, but the specific technologies for tracking device-to-vehicle and tracking device-to-tracking transmission described earlier are equally relevant here. A network slice of a 4G LTE / 5G network can provide all the necessary communication links. However, these technologies are generally still rarely available for long-distance routes, and the option of directly connecting from roadside, urban, and city stations 202 to low-Earth orbit satellite communication systems 195, 204 (such as OneWeb) may be advantageous. This system has a potential latency of 50ms and a data rate capacity exceeding sufficient limits.

[0150] exist Figure 10 The example illustrates communication between the remote communication device 202 and the TMS via several different communication systems described above. It should be understood that additional communication systems with other remote devices (as emphasized above) can be provided, such that a dedicated communication channel exists between the TMS and the remote communication device 202 (according to the above embodiment), and an independent communication channel exists between the remote communication device 202 and other remote devices.

[0151] As described above, according to any of the above embodiments, Figure 10The embodiments utilize one or more appropriately configured vehicle tracking devices 10 and appropriately configured remote communication devices 202 to implement data flow between one or more vehicles 12 and remote devices over a wide area communication network. Specifically, the above embodiments enable local data to be transmitted from one or more vehicles 12 to remote devices in this manner. While the above embodiments describe such local data in the case of requesting remote data from a wide area communication network, it should be understood that... Figure 10 The system can be further configured to enable remote devices to receive different types of local data from the vehicle. This local data can typically include data related to the internal and external vehicle conditions, data related to the vehicle's driver / pilot / passengers, and the environmental conditions around the vehicle.

[0152] As described above, each vehicle tracking device 10 includes one or more receivers 40 configured to receive wireless communications from the vehicle 12. In some embodiments, these receivers 40 are configured, according to the above embodiments, to receive different types of local data that can be sent to a remote device. In alternative embodiments, additional dedicated transmitters and receivers are provided to the vehicle tracking device 10 for this purpose.

[0153] pass Figure 10 The local data transmission implemented in the embodiments enables the data to be provided to any number of data acquisition systems configured to receive data via a wide area communication network. In this way, these systems provide a convenient way to receive real-time and non-real-time data from one or more vehicles 10. Furthermore, since precise location data for each of the one or more vehicles 10 can be acquired using the vehicle tracking device 10 and system 150 described in the above embodiments, the received local data may advantageously include this location data in addition to the other information described above and below. This combination of location data and other information can provide the data collection system receiving this information with sufficient data to perform more in-depth analysis than is possible in currently known systems. In other embodiments, precise location data implemented by the vehicle tracking device 10 and system 150 may not be required, although less precise location data may still be effective. In this case, the local data may additionally include the vehicle's GPS data (or other location data).

[0154] Examples and use cases of the different types of local data that can be sent are shown below:

[0155] • Vehicle diagnostic and forecasting data is sent to vehicle manufacturers, maintenance, and emergency failure / recovery organizations for ground vehicles and aircraft. The use of this data allows manufacturers to determine the lifespan of vehicle components and enables failure and recovery organizations to determine whether a failure has occurred and the location of the faulty vehicle. The use of precise location data provided by vehicle tracking device 10 and system 150 makes it possible to determine vehicle location more accurately for these purposes.

[0156] • Vehicle tracking history, combined with driver control input data (driving vehicle) or autonomous control data, is available for use by ground vehicle and aircraft maintenance, insurance, and leasing / rental organizations. Furthermore, the use of precise location data enabled by vehicle tracking device 10 and system 150 enhances the quality of the data received for this purpose.

[0157] • Driver status data (control, monitoring, alert, alert, sleep) for manned ground vehicles. This status data can be used to determine the driver's alertness level while driving / driving the vehicle and to determine whether a warning needs to be displayed to the driver. Similarly, the data can be used to identify sections of the vehicle's route, such as highways (motorways (freeways)), where driver alertness is typically reduced (due to the characteristics of the route), and to use this data to modify the route infrastructure to improve...

[0158] High driver alertness (thus improving driver safety as they travel along the path). Driver health data (e.g., monitoring of vital signs from smartwatches or smartphones).

[0159] In scenarios where driver health data is captured by sensors that are not part of the vehicle, according to the above embodiments, each vehicle can be configured to receive data from external sensors before sending the data.

[0160] • Driver / passenger activity data (e.g., what they do on their phones / laptops / car controls / entertainment systems), as a function of location / trip phase, time of day, etc.

[0161] • Precise tracking of package delivery is crucial for logistics organizations using ground vehicles and aircraft. Currently, delivery services typically do not provide precise vehicle location data, or instead rely on the use of mobile devices within the vehicle to determine its proxy location. In particular, the use of mobile devices is disadvantageous because the recorded location data is often inaccurate, and these devices can be easily turned off or lost from reception, preventing the determination of the proxy location of the sending vehicle.

[0162] Vehicle telemetry data is used to determine road conditions. Vehicle telemetry data can be sent indicating when a vehicle passes through a section of road with poor conditions (e.g., potholes), and the exact location of the potholes. This information can be sent to maintenance infrastructure hardware that records pothole locations and their presence. In some cases, repeated indications of pothole presence from multiple vehicles can provide more accurate data on pothole locations. Similarly, for air corridors (passages), there may be localized low visibility problems or other hazards that can be monitored locally and transmitted to the TMS to notify approaching aircraft of the hazard.

[0163] All this local data relating to activities specifically related to ground vehicles or aircraft is provided to vehicle tracking system 150. This system acts as a conduit for providing this information to remotely located interactive devices (e.g., servers) via a wide area network. However, the data can also be stored at one or more remote communication devices 202 via the vehicle tracking system. The data can then be uploaded to a central server using any wide area network communication link, where it can be processed and analyzed as needed. The upload cycle is determined as a function of the available storage capacity at each remote communication device 202.

[0164] Having described in detail several exemplary embodiments of the invention and the implementation of different functions of the device, it should be understood that those skilled in the art will be able to easily adjust the basic configuration of the system to perform the described functions without needing a detailed explanation of how to implement them. Therefore, in this specification, several functions of the system are described in different places without explaining the required detailed implementation, as this is unnecessary given the ability of those skilled in the art to implement the functions in the system.

[0165] Furthermore, it should be understood that the features, advantages, and functions of the different embodiments described herein can be combined where the context permits.

Claims

1. A vehicle tracking device for tracking one or more vehicles at a predetermined fixed geographical location in a transportation network in which one or more vehicles can move, the vehicle tracking device comprising: One or more infrared (IR) sensors, the IR sensors having a field of view at a predetermined fixed geographical location of the transportation network, and configured to detect IR radiation emitted or reflected by the one or more vehicles at the predetermined fixed geographical location within the field of view; A receiver is configured to receive transmitted data, the transmitted data including unique identifier data that uniquely identifies each of the one or more vehicles and position data indicating the initial position of each of the one or more vehicles when the one or more vehicles enter the field of view at the predetermined fixed geographic location; A processor is configured to determine current kinematic data of one or more vehicles in at least two dimensions based on IR radiation detected by the one or more IR sensors, received unique identification data, and received position data, wherein the processor is configured to use previously determined current kinematic data of the one or more vehicles as input to the processor to determine current kinematic data of each of the one or more respective vehicles. as well as A transmitter is configured to transmit determined current kinematic data of a particular vehicle among the one or more vehicles to a kinematic data receiver spaced apart from the transmitter.

2. The vehicle tracking device according to claim 1, wherein, The specific vehicle in question is a ground vehicle.

3. The vehicle tracking device according to claim 2, wherein, The vehicle tracking device is provided with terrain mapping data, and the processor is configured to determine current kinematic data in three dimensions based on one or more of the detected IR radiation, the unique identification data, the previously determined kinematic data of each of the one or more vehicles, and the terrain mapping data.

4. The vehicle tracking device according to claim 1, wherein, The specific vehicle in question is an aircraft.

5. The vehicle tracking device according to claim 1, wherein, The one or more vehicles include at least two vehicles, one of which is a ground vehicle and the other is an aircraft, and wherein the one or more IR sensors include at least two IR sensors, one IR sensor being configured to detect IR radiation emitted from or reflected by the ground vehicle, and the other IR sensor being configured to detect IR radiation emitted from or reflected by the aircraft.

6. The vehicle tracking device according to claim 1, wherein, The processor is configured to determine the current kinematic data of the one or more vehicles at a frequency of at least 50 Hz.

7. The vehicle tracking device according to claim 1, wherein, The receiver is also configured to receive data relating to the ground space envelope or air space envelope of the one or more vehicles, and the processor is arranged to use the ground space envelope or air space envelope to determine the relative position of the one or more vehicles.

8. The vehicle tracking device of claim 1, further comprising an IR transmitter configured to emit IR radiation toward the one or more vehicles.

9. The vehicle tracking device according to claim 1, wherein, The transmitter is configured to send the determined current kinematic data to a kinematic data receiver for a specific vehicle.

10. The vehicle tracking device according to claim 1, wherein, The transmitter is configured to transmit determined current kinematic data of each of the one or more vehicles to the corresponding kinematic data receiver of the one or more vehicles.

11. The vehicle tracking device according to claim 1, wherein, The transmitter is configured to send the determined current kinematic data to a kinematic data receiver in a remotely located traffic management system (TMS).

12. The vehicle tracking device according to claim 9, wherein, The processor is further configured to generate a control signal for controlling a particular vehicle among the one or more vehicles based on determined current kinematic data of at least one of the vehicles, wherein the control signal includes an instruction to change the speed or position of the particular vehicle when executed by the particular vehicle, and wherein the transmitter is further configured to send the control signal to the particular vehicle.

13. The vehicle tracking device according to claim 1, wherein, At least one of the one or more IR sensors is configured to detect IR radiation emitted from or reflected by a fixed geographic reference point, and the processor is further configured to: Determine the position of the vehicle tracking device relative to the fixed geographic reference point; and When determining the current kinematic data of one or more vehicles, the determined position is used by the vehicle tracking device.

14. The vehicle tracking device according to claim 1, wherein, The current kinematic data of the one or more vehicles determined by the processor includes at least the time-varying geographical location of the respective vehicles.

15. The vehicle tracking device according to claim 1, wherein, The vehicle tracking device is configured to monitor entry points with fixed locations and receive data associated with the fixed locations at specific time points as the initial location of each of the one or more vehicles.

16. The vehicle tracking device according to claim 1, wherein, The processor is also configured to generate a pull request to be sent by the transmitter, the pull request requesting the transmission of the unique identification data and initial location data from the one or more vehicles.

17. The vehicle tracking device according to claim 1, wherein, The one or more infrared (IR) sensors have a sufficiently wide field of view to cover the movement of people or animals adjacent to the transport network.

18. A vehicle tracking system for tracking one or more vehicles, the vehicle tracking system comprising a plurality of vehicle tracking devices as claimed in claim 1 arranged in a network, wherein, The transmitter of the first vehicle tracking device is configured to transmit current kinematic data determined at the first vehicle tracking device and unique identification data of one or more vehicles to a second vehicle tracking device among the plurality of tracking devices, and the receiver of the first vehicle tracking device is configured to receive unique identification data of one or more vehicles and current kinematic data determined at the third vehicle tracking device from a third vehicle tracking device among the plurality of vehicle tracking devices.

19. The vehicle tracking system according to claim 18, wherein, The processor of the second vehicle tracking device is further configured to compare the current kinematic data of at least one of the one or more vehicles, which is locally determined at the second vehicle tracking device, with the current kinematic data received from and determined at the first vehicle tracking device, to determine the consistency between the locally determined current kinematic data and the received kinematic data.

20. The vehicle tracking system according to claim 19, wherein, The second vehicle tracking device receives data comparison results between at least two other vehicle tracking devices, and the processor of the second vehicle tracking device is configured to use voting to identify tracking devices with inconsistent behavior.

21. The vehicle tracking system according to claim 18, wherein, At least two of the plurality of vehicle tracking devices are arranged to be geographically adjacent to each other, and the IR sensors of the adjacently located vehicle tracking devices have partially overlapping fields of view.

22. The vehicle tracking system according to claim 18, further comprising: Remote communication equipment, including: A remote data receiver is configured to receive remote data from a wide area communication network; and A remote data transmitter is configured to send the remote data to one or more of the plurality of vehicle tracking devices; One or more of the plurality of vehicle tracking devices are configured to receive the remote data and transmit the received remote data to at least one of the one or more vehicles.

23. The vehicle tracking system according to claim 22, wherein, The remote communication device is configured to send the received remote data to each of the plurality of vehicle tracking devices.

24. The vehicle tracking system according to claim 23, wherein, The remote communication device is configured to send the received remote data to each of the plurality of vehicle tracking devices in parallel.

25. The vehicle tracking system according to claim 23, wherein, The current vehicle tracking device among the plurality of vehicle tracking devices is configured as follows: The remote data is received directly or via another of the plurality of vehicle tracking devices from the remote communication device; as well as The received remote data is sent to another of the plurality of vehicle tracking devices.

26. The vehicle tracking system according to claim 22, wherein, The remote communication device is also configured to receive local data from one or more of the plurality of vehicle tracking devices and transmit the local data to the wide area communication network.

27. The vehicle tracking system according to claim 22, wherein, The first vehicle tracking device of the plurality of vehicle tracking devices is configured to send the determined current kinematic data of the vehicle tracking device to the remote communication device, and the remote communication device is configured to receive the determined current kinematic data from the first vehicle tracking device of the plurality of vehicle tracking devices.

28. The vehicle tracking system according to claim 27, wherein, The second vehicle tracking device among the plurality of vehicle tracking devices is configured to receive determined current kinematic data from the remote communication device.

29. The vehicle tracking system according to claim 27, wherein, The remote communication device is also configured to send the determined current kinematic data locally on the system to a remotely located interactive device.

30. The vehicle tracking system according to claim 29, wherein, The remote communication device is communicatively coupled to the traffic management system (TMS) and configured to send the determined current kinematic data to the TMS.

31. The vehicle tracking system according to claim 30, wherein, The remote communication device is configured to receive the determined current kinematic data from the TMS.

32. The vehicle tracking system according to claim 22, wherein, The remote data receiver includes a satellite communication receiver.

33. The vehicle tracking system according to claim 32, wherein, The remote data receiver includes a OneWeb satellite communication receiver.

34. The vehicle tracking system according to claim 22, wherein, The remote data receiver includes a 4G or 5G radio telecommunications receiver.

35. The vehicle tracking system according to claim 22, wherein, The remote data includes a control signal for controlling a particular vehicle among the one or more vehicles based on determined current kinematic data of at least one of the vehicles, wherein the control signal includes an instruction to change the speed or position of the particular vehicle when executed by the particular vehicle, and wherein a transmitter of a particular vehicle tracking device located near the particular vehicle is further configured to send the control signal to the particular vehicle.

36. The vehicle tracking system according to claim 22, wherein, The remote communication device includes a plurality of remote communication devices, each of which is located at a geographically spaced location from the other remote communication devices in the plurality of remote communication devices, and is configured to send the remote data to one or more of the plurality of vehicle tracking devices provided within a local geographic area of ​​that location.

37. The vehicle tracking system according to claim 18, further comprising: Local communication equipment, including: A local data receiver is configured to receive local data from one or more of the plurality of vehicle tracking devices; and A local data transmitter is configured to transmit the local data to a remotely located device via a wide area communication network; One or more of the plurality of vehicle tracking devices are configured to receive local data from at least one of the one or more vehicles and send the received local data to the local communication device.

38. The vehicle tracking system according to claim 37, wherein, The local data includes one or more of the following: vehicle diagnostic and prediction data, driver status data, driver health data, driver or passenger activity data, and vehicle telemetry data.

39. The vehicle tracking system according to claim 18, wherein, The one or more vehicles are aircraft, a first subset of the plurality of vehicle tracking devices is configured to track one or more aircraft moving at a first altitude, and a second subset of the plurality of vehicle tracking devices is configured to track one or more aircraft moving at a second altitude.

40. A method for tracking one or more vehicles at predetermined fixed geographical locations in a transportation network, said one or more vehicles being able to move within the transportation network, the method comprising: Provide a vehicle tracking device having a field of view at the predetermined fixed geographical location of the transportation network; Receive transmitted data, the transmitted data including unique identifier data that uniquely identifies each of the one or more vehicles and location data indicating the initial location of each of the one or more vehicles at the predetermined fixed geographical location; Detecting IR radiation emitted from or reflected by one or more vehicles at the predetermined fixed geographical location; The current kinematic data of the one or more vehicles is determined based on the detected IR radiation, the unique identification data of each of the one or more vehicles received, and the location data. The determination step includes using previously determined current kinematic data of the one or more vehicles to determine the current kinematic data of each of the one or more respective vehicles. as well as The determined current kinematic data of a specific vehicle among the one or more vehicles is sent to spaced-out receiving locations.

41. The method according to claim 40, wherein, The transmission step includes transmitting the current kinematic data to at least one other vehicle tracking device among a plurality of tracking devices at the spaced-out receiving locations.

42. The method according to claim 40, wherein, The transmission step includes sending the current kinematic data to a specific vehicle at the spaced-out receiving location.

43. The method of claim 41, further comprising providing a plurality of said vehicle tracking devices arranged in a network, wherein, In use, the first vehicle tracking device of the plurality of vehicle tracking devices sends the unique identification data of the one or more vehicles and the current kinematic data determined at the first vehicle tracking device to the second vehicle tracking device of the plurality of tracking devices, and the first vehicle tracking device receives the unique identification data of the one or more vehicles and the current kinematic data determined at the third vehicle tracking device from the third vehicle tracking device of the plurality of vehicle tracking devices in use. The method further includes: Receiving remote data from a wide area communication network at a remote communication device; and Send the remote data to at least one of the plurality of vehicle tracking devices; In this embodiment, at least one of the plurality of vehicle tracking devices receives the remote data during use and transmits the received remote data to at least one of the one or more vehicles during use.

44. The method of claim 41, further comprising providing a plurality of said vehicle tracking devices arranged in a network, wherein, In use, the first vehicle tracking device of the plurality of vehicle tracking devices sends the unique identification data of the one or more vehicles and the current kinematic data determined at the first vehicle tracking device to the second vehicle tracking device of the plurality of tracking devices, and the first vehicle tracking device receives the unique identification data of the one or more vehicles and the current kinematic data determined at the third vehicle tracking device from the third vehicle tracking device of the plurality of vehicle tracking devices in use. The method further includes: Receive local data from one or more of the plurality of vehicle tracking devices at a local communication device; and The local data is transmitted to a remotely located device via a wide area communication network; In this embodiment, one or more of the plurality of vehicle tracking devices receive local data from at least one of the one or more vehicles during use, and transmit the received local data to the local communication device during use.

45. The method according to claim 40, wherein, The sending step includes sending the determined kinematic data to the remote traffic management system (TMS).

Images