Laser radar adjustment method and device, vehicle and readable storage medium

Abstract

The invention relates to the technical field of laser radars, and provides a laser radar adjustment method and device, a vehicle and a readable storage medium, and the adjustment method comprises the steps: obtaining point cloud data collected by a laser radar, and determining a target region in a collection region; if the point cloud change rate of the target area within the first preset time does not reach a first upper limit, a first area is set according to the target area, and the target area and a second area form the collection area; and when the laser radar scans the first area, closing the corresponding laser emission unit in the first area, and enabling the corresponding laser emission unit in the second area to be in a starting state. According to the method, the overall power of the laser radar can be reasonably reduced, and the service life of the laser radar can be prolonged.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of mechanical multi-beam laser radar, and in particular to a laser radar adjustment method, device, vehicle and readable storage medium. Background Art

[0002] LiDAR plays a very important role in the process of intelligent driving. For example, it can detect whether there are obstacles and their distance information, so as to provide safety reminders. In order to improve driving safety, LiDAR equipment with high wiring harness is usually used, such as hybrid solid-state LiDAR. It can be seen that the higher the wiring harness, the more transmitting units are required, and the corresponding equipment volume is larger. Since the laser transmitting unit is the main source of power for LiDAR, the high-beam LiDAR will bring greater power consumption. Not only that, the vehicle-mounted LiDAR is generally in working state during driving, and being in working state for a long time often easily leads to excessive internal temperature of LiDAR, which in turn accelerates the shortening of the service life of LiDAR (especially the life of the laser transmitting unit). Summary of the invention

[0003] In view of this, embodiments of the present application provide a laser radar adjustment method, device, vehicle and readable storage medium.

[0004] In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for adjusting a laser radar, comprising:

[0005] Obtain point cloud data collected by the laser radar and determine the target area in the collection area;

[0006] If the point cloud change rate of the target area within the first preset time does not reach the first upper limit, setting a first area according to the target area, wherein the target area and the second area constitute the acquisition area;

[0007] When the laser radar scans the first area, the corresponding laser emitting units in the first area are turned off, and the corresponding laser emitting units in the second area are turned on.

[0008] In some embodiments, setting the first area according to the target area includes:

[0009] A first area is determined from the target area, wherein the first area is smaller than the target area and is located within the target area.

[0010] In some embodiments, if the point cloud change rate of the second area within the second preset time does not reach the second upper limit, the area of ​​the first area is gradually increased under the condition that the first area is smaller than the target area.

[0011] In some embodiments, if there is no obstacle in the second area on the boundary between the second area and the target area within the second preset time, the area of ​​the first area is gradually increased under the condition that the first area is smaller than the target area.

[0012] In some embodiments, setting the first area according to the target area includes:

[0013] A first region is determined from the acquisition region, wherein the first region is composed of a first local region in the target region and a second local region in the second region, and the first local region is adjacent to the second local region.

[0014] In some embodiments, if the point cloud change rate of the second region within a third preset time does not reach a third upper limit, the area of ​​the first region is gradually increased under the condition that the boundary of the first region does not exceed the boundary of the acquisition region.

[0015] In some embodiments, if there is no obstacle in the second area on the boundary of the first area within the third preset time, the area of ​​the first area is gradually increased under the condition that the boundary of the first area does not exceed the boundary of the acquisition area.

[0016] In some embodiments, the target area is determined based on a driving road area of ​​the vehicle.

[0017] In some embodiments, the target area is determined based on the vehicle as the center and the safe driving distance.

[0018] In some embodiments, when the laser radar scans the first area, turning off the corresponding laser emission unit in the first area includes:

[0019] When the laser radar scans the first area within the second preset time period or the third preset time period, a corresponding proportion of laser emitting units in the first area is turned off, and the value range of the proportion is (0, 1];

[0020] Each time the laser radar obtains a frame of point cloud data, the ratio gradually increases to equal 1.

[0021] In some embodiments, the laser radar adjustment method further includes:

[0022] In the last frame of point cloud data within the fourth preset time period, all laser emission units are controlled to be in the start state, and the target area at the current moment is saved;

[0023] The target area at the current moment is compared with the target area at the previous moment. If the corresponding point cloud change rate reaches the fourth upper limit, all laser emitting units are controlled to be in an activated state until the corresponding point cloud change rate is lower than the fourth upper limit.

[0024] In some embodiments, the laser radar adjustment method further includes:

[0025] If the laser radar scans the first area and the laser emitting unit of the first area is turned off, the most recently saved point cloud data of the first area is called, and then combined with the point cloud data of the second area acquired at the current moment to form a frame of point cloud data of the acquisition area at the current moment.

[0026] In some embodiments, the laser radar adjustment method further includes:

[0027] If the laser radar scans the first area and the laser emitting unit in the first area is turned off, the laser receiving unit corresponding to the first area is turned off, and the corresponding laser receiving unit in the second area is turned on.

[0028] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides an adjustment device for a laser radar, comprising:

[0029] An acquisition module is used to acquire point cloud data collected by the laser radar and determine the target area in the acquisition area;

[0030] A region setting module, configured to set a first region according to the target region if the point cloud change rate of the target region within a first preset time does not reach a first upper limit, wherein the target region and the second region constitute the acquisition region;

[0031] The control module is used to turn off the corresponding laser emitting units in the first area and enable the corresponding laser emitting units in the second area when the laser radar scans the first area.

[0032] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a vehicle, comprising a processor and a memory, wherein the memory stores a computer program, and the processor is used to execute the computer program to implement the above-mentioned laser radar adjustment method.

[0033] The embodiments of the present application have the following beneficial effects:

[0034] The adjustment method of the laser radar of the present application obtains the point cloud data collected by the laser radar and determines the target area in the collection area; if the point cloud change rate of the target area within the first preset time does not reach the first upper limit, the first area is set according to the target area, wherein the target area and the second area constitute the collection area; when the laser radar scans the first area, the corresponding laser emission unit in the first area is turned off, and the corresponding laser emission unit in the second area is in the start-up state. By combining the change rate of the point cloud data of the corresponding area, the surrounding environment changes during the vehicle driving process are judged, and when no person or vehicle breaks in, the laser emission unit corresponding to the local area is controlled to be turned off, thereby effectively reducing the overall power of the laser radar without affecting driving safety. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0035] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, the drawings required for use in the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. It should be understood that the following drawings only show certain embodiments of the present application and therefore should not be regarded as limiting the scope. For ordinary technicians in this field, other related drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying creative work.

[0036] Figure 1 A schematic diagram showing an application of the adjustment method of the laser radar of Example 1 of the present application is shown;

[0037] Figure 2 A first flow chart of the adjustment method of the laser radar of Example 1 of the present application is shown;

[0038] Figure 3 A schematic diagram showing a first area division of the laser radar adjustment method of Example 1 of the present application is shown;

[0039] Figure 4 A second area division schematic diagram of the laser radar adjustment method of Example 1 of the present application is shown;

[0040] Figure 5 A second flow chart of the adjustment method of the laser radar of Embodiment 2 of the present application is shown;

[0041] Figure 6 A schematic diagram showing a first area division of the adjustment device of the laser radar in Example 2 of the present application is shown;

[0042] Figure 7 A second area division schematic diagram of the laser radar adjustment device of Example 2 of the present application is shown;

[0043] Figure 8 A schematic diagram of the structure of the adjustment device of the laser radar of Example 3 of the present application is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0044] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be described clearly and completely below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present application, rather than all of the embodiments.

[0045] The components of the embodiments of the present application generally described and shown in the drawings herein may be arranged and designed in various configurations. Therefore, the following detailed description of the embodiments of the present application provided in the drawings is not intended to limit the scope of the application claimed for protection, but merely represents the selected embodiments of the present application. Based on the embodiments of the present application, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without making creative work belong to the scope of protection of the present application.

[0046] Hereinafter, the terms "including", "having" and their cognates that can be used in various embodiments of the present application are intended only to indicate specific features, numbers, steps, operations, elements, components or a combination of the foregoing items, and should not be understood as first excluding the existence of one or more other features, numbers, steps, operations, elements, components or a combination of the foregoing items or increasing the possibility of one or more features, numbers, steps, operations, elements, components or a combination of the foregoing items. In addition, the terms "first", "second", "third" and the like are only used to distinguish descriptions and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance.

[0047] Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical terms and scientific terms) used herein have the same meanings as those generally understood by those skilled in the art to which the various embodiments of the present application belong. The terms (such as those defined in generally used dictionaries) will be interpreted as having the same meanings as the contextual meanings in the relevant technical field and will not be interpreted as having idealized meanings or overly formal meanings unless clearly defined in the various embodiments of the present application.

[0048] In conjunction with the accompanying drawings, some embodiments of the present application are described in detail below. In the absence of conflict, the following embodiments and features in the embodiments can be combined with each other.

[0049] In existing intelligent driving, in order to achieve higher driving safety, LiDAR equipment with higher wiring harness is generally required. In LiDAR equipment, the power consumption of LiDAR is mainly concentrated in the laser emission module. The requirement of higher wiring harness means that more laser emission units need to be equipped, and the laser emission module will be larger, which not only increases the overall power of LiDAR, but also causes the problem of local over-temperature inside the LiDAR.

[0050] The laser radar adjustment method of the present application can be applied to road scenes with fewer obstacles (such as cars, pedestrians, etc.), such as highways, or traffic roads during the late night, etc. By combining the change rate of the point cloud data of the corresponding area collected by the laser radar installed on the vehicle, the state of the surrounding environment during the vehicle driving process can be judged. Then, when it is judged that the current road condition is relatively stable, the laser emission unit in the corresponding area is controlled to be turned off. This will not affect driving safety, but can effectively reduce the overall power of the laser radar, and can further increase the service life of the laser radar. It can be understood that the aforementioned highway can be such as Figure 1 The schematic diagram of a one-way road with three lanes is shown in FIG. 1 . In addition, it can also be a two-way road, etc., which is not limited here.

[0051] It is worth noting that the laser radar in this application is mainly aimed at mechanical multi-beam laser radar and hybrid solid-state laser radar. Among them, the mechanical multi-beam laser radar mainly changes the light path by rotating the transceiver module and projects it to the target area. The hybrid solid-state laser radar mainly changes the light path by rotating the scanning module (MEMS galvanometer or prism) and projects it to the target area. It can be understood that whether it is a mechanical laser radar or a hybrid solid-state laser radar, the more laser emission beams, the more cloud points are collected per second, and the higher the fineness of the obtained point cloud image.

[0052] The adjustment method of the laser radar is described in detail below with reference to specific embodiments.

[0053] Example 1

[0054] This embodiment introduces the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application based on the road characteristics of the highway as the basis for dividing the target area.

[0055] Please refer to Figure 2 , exemplary, the laser radar adjustment method includes steps S110 to S130:

[0056] S110, acquiring point cloud data collected by the laser radar, and determining a target area in the collection area.

[0057] The acquisition area mainly refers to the entire field of view that the laser radar can scan, which generally includes the road area where the vehicle is traveling and the surrounding area except the road area. Specifically, the surrounding area can further include the end area where the road meets the sky, the roadside areas on both sides of the road, etc. Figure 1 As shown, assuming that the vehicle is traveling in the middle lane, the road area refers to the area where the 3rd lane is located, and the surrounding area includes the roadside areas on both sides of the 3rd lane and the distant area where the lanes connect to the sky.

[0058] In this embodiment 1, the target area mainly refers to the road area that the driver focuses on, that is, the range of the lane that can be driven. It can be understood that by combining the characteristics of the lane and the lane line, the point cloud data collected by the laser radar can be analyzed, so as to determine the position or range of the road area and the corresponding lane point cloud data from the collection area.

[0059] S120: If the point cloud change rate of the target area within the first preset time does not reach a first upper limit, a first area is set according to the target area, wherein the target area and the second area constitute the acquisition area.

[0060] Exemplarily, when it is detected that the point cloud change rate of the target area within a certain period of time does not reach the preset upper limit, it indicates that the state in the target area has not changed significantly, and it can be determined that the environment of the road area is relatively stable at this time. Then, the first area can be determined according to the determined target area. In addition, the remaining area except the target area is recorded as the second area, that is, the target area and the second area will constitute the entire acquisition area.

[0061] Among them, the first area mainly refers to the corresponding area where the laser emitting unit needs to be turned off. It may only include a part of the above-mentioned target area, such as only the area where the side lanes are located (specifically, it may include all opposite lanes and / or adjacent same-direction lanes, etc.); it may also be composed of a part of the target area and other designated areas (such as the side lanes and their adjacent local roadside areas, etc.), which can be set according to actual needs.

[0062] It can be understood that when the vehicle is driving, the surrounding area (i.e., the second area) will generally change (such as trees, buildings, billboards, etc.); but if there are fewer obstacles (such as cars, pedestrians, etc.), the change rate of the target area is lower. If other vehicles or pedestrians want to enter the road where the vehicle is located, they often need to enter the above-mentioned surrounding area (i.e., the second area) before they can enter the lane where the vehicle is currently located. Therefore, in addition to the lane road area where the vehicle is located, if the status of other lane road areas is relatively stable, such as there is no vehicle in front or not in the same lane, you can further consider reducing the point cloud collection of road areas, such as the road area where adjacent same-direction lanes or part (or all) of the opposite lanes are located, and only focus on the second area.

[0063] In one embodiment, the first area can be determined from the target area, wherein the first area is smaller than the target area and is located in the target area, such as Figure 3The local area of ​​the lane near the vehicle in the areas S1_1 and S1_2 shown. For another example, if it is a two-way lane, the first area can be the area where part (or all) of the opposite lane is located, or part (or all) of the adjacent same-direction lanes in the same-direction lane. The specific division can be decided by the system according to the algorithm; different power levels can also be set and selected by the driver and passengers, etc., and there is no restriction on this.

[0064] As an optional solution, if the point cloud change rate of the second area within the second preset time does not reach the second upper limit, indicating that there are no new people or vehicles in the lane where the current vehicle is located or the adjacent lane in the surrounding environment during this period of time, then the area of ​​the first area is gradually increased under the condition that the first area is smaller than the target area. Figure 3 As shown, the area range of the first region can be gradually expanded to not exceed the boundary of the target region, such as Figure 3 The dotted area is shown.

[0065] It can be understood that if there is no obvious change in the second area, which means that there is no abnormality in the surrounding environment, the range of the first area can be gradually increased, but it should be smaller than the boundary of the target area (i.e., the road area). On the contrary, if the point cloud change rate within the second preset time reaches the second upper limit, it indicates that there is an abnormality, and all laser emission units need to be started immediately. Furthermore, if the abnormality disappears again, the sleep operation of controlling the corresponding laser emission units in the first area to shut down can be continued.

[0066] As another optional solution, if there is no obstacle (such as a car, pedestrian, etc.) in the second area within the second preset time at the boundary between the second area and the target area, indicating that no car / pedestrian in the surrounding environment will enter the target area within this period of time, then the area of ​​the first area is gradually increased under the condition that the first area is smaller than the target area. Figure 3 As shown, the area range of the first region can be gradually expanded to not exceed the boundary of the target region, such as Figure 3 The dotted area is shown.

[0067] It can be understood that although the above-mentioned second area may change, since the above-mentioned change does not mean that there are obstacles (such as cars, pedestrians, etc.) about to enter the target area, the range of the first area can still be gradually increased, but it should be smaller than the boundary of the target area (i.e., the road area). On the contrary, if there are obstacles (such as cars, pedestrians, etc.) in the above-mentioned second area on the boundary between the second area and the target area within the second preset time, it indicates that there is an abnormality, and there may be a possibility that obstacles (such as cars, pedestrians, etc.) are about to enter the target area. At this time, all laser emission units need to be started immediately. Furthermore, if the abnormality disappears again, the above-mentioned sleep operation of controlling the corresponding laser emission units in the first area to shut down can continue to be started.

[0068] In addition, in another embodiment, the first area can be set larger. Exemplarily, the first area can be determined from the acquisition area, and the first area is composed of the first local area in the target area and the second local area in the second area, and the first local area is adjacent to the second local area, such as Figure 4 Specifically, a part of the lane area in the target area and a part of the roadside area adjacent to the side lane area in the surrounding area are used as the first area, such as areas S1_1, S1_2, S2_1 and S2_2.

[0069] Similarly, as an optional solution, if the point cloud change rate of the second area within the third preset time does not reach the third upper limit, the area of ​​the first area is gradually increased under the condition that the boundary of the first area does not exceed the boundary of the acquisition area. In other words, if there is no abnormality in the surrounding area, the number of closed laser emission units can also be gradually increased. On the contrary, if the point cloud change rate of the second area within the third preset time reaches the third upper limit, it indicates that there is an abnormality in the surrounding area, and all laser emission units need to be turned on immediately. When the abnormality disappears again, the above-mentioned sleep operation can be continued.

[0070] Similarly, as another optional solution, if there is no obstacle (such as a car, pedestrian, etc.) on the boundary of the first area in the second preset time, it indicates that there is no car / pedestrian in the surrounding environment during this period of time to enter the target area, then the area of ​​the first area is gradually increased under the condition that the boundary of the first area does not exceed the boundary of the acquisition area. In other words, if there is no abnormality in the surrounding area, the number of closed laser emission units can also be gradually increased. On the contrary, if there is an obstacle (such as a car, pedestrian, etc.) on the boundary of the second area and the target area in the second preset time, it indicates that there is an abnormality, and there may be a possibility that the obstacle (such as a car, pedestrian, etc.) is about to enter the target area. At this time, all laser emission units need to be started immediately. Furthermore, if the abnormality disappears again, the sleep operation of controlling the corresponding laser emission unit in the first area to be turned off can be continued. It should be noted that the above judgment is based on the laser radar to obtain each frame of the point cloud image of the acquisition area. Therefore, since the boundary of the first area after the last change will become the standard for the obstacle (such as a car, pedestrian, etc.) to be reached this time, that is, the first area boundary of each judgment is not fixed. The above judgment is an iterative process that may change.

[0071] S130, when the laser radar scans the first area, turn off the corresponding laser emitting units in the first area, and enable the corresponding laser emitting units in the second area.

[0072] With respect to the first method for determining the first area, the step S130 includes, when the laser radar scans the first area each time within the second preset time period, turning off the laser emitting unit corresponding to scanning the first area. Optionally, when the range of the first area increases, the number of laser emitting units corresponding to the first area will also increase, and then the number of emitting units that need to be turned off will also increase accordingly, so that the overall power can be further reduced.

[0073] With respect to the above-mentioned second method for determining the first area, the above-mentioned step S130 includes, when the laser radar scans the first area each time within the third preset time period, shutting down the corresponding proportion of laser emitting units in the first area, wherein the value range of the proportion is (0,1]. Specifically, the laser radar is controlled to gradually increase the above-mentioned proportion to 1 each time a frame of point cloud data is obtained. This is because, considering that the roadside area may be involved when the first area is expanded, it is not possible to directly shut down all the emitting units in the entire first area at once, and it is necessary to gradually increase the number of emitting units that need to be shut down. Of course, the expansion of the first area and the increase in the number of shut-down emitting units are usually not synchronized. For example, the number of shut-down emitting units can be increased after each frame of point cloud image is obtained (there are several frames of images in 1 second), and the expansion of the first area should be controlled at a frequency of one second or several seconds.

[0074] Among them, the first, second and third preset times mentioned above can be set equal or different, and can be set accordingly according to the actual sampling frequency / frame scanning frequency of the laser radar, etc., which is not limited here. It can be understood that if the laser radar can collect several frames of point cloud images per second, by shutting down the local laser emission unit when the corresponding area conditions are met, the power of the laser radar during the entire driving process can be greatly reduced, effectively avoiding the problem of local overtemperature caused by the laser emission module inside the laser radar, and also extending the service life of the laser emission unit.

[0075] It can be understood that for the above two adjustment methods, the first method is safer because it only turns off part (or all) of the laser emitting units corresponding to the road area, without involving the laser emitting units corresponding to the surrounding environment area, that is, the surrounding area is always in a collection state, so that it can be guaranteed that the area that must be passed to enter the road area can be monitored at any time to see if there are any abnormalities. The second method saves more power of the laser radar and increases the life of the laser emitting unit, but its safety is relatively poor compared to the first method, because in addition to the road area, some laser emitting units in the surrounding environment area will also be turned off, which will affect the monitoring ability of the surrounding environment.

[0076] Further optionally, the adjustment method of the laser radar also includes:

[0077] If the laser radar scans the first area and the laser emitting unit in the first area is turned off, the laser receiving unit in the first area is turned off, and the corresponding laser receiving unit in the second area is turned on.

[0078] It can be understood that by turning off the laser receiving unit of the corresponding first area, not only the overall power consumption of the laser radar can be further reduced, but also the ambient light can be prevented from irradiating the laser receiving unit of the corresponding first area. The noise current generated by the laser receiving unit improves the signal-to-noise ratio of the receiving side of the laser radar.

[0079] In addition, in order to prevent emergencies, such as small animals suddenly coming out of the sewer, etc., when making intelligent driving decisions, the latest or most recent point cloud data is also needed for processing. Therefore, no matter which adjustment method is used, all laser emission units need to be started once at regular intervals to ensure the accuracy and safety of the decision.

[0080] As an alternative, Figure 5 As shown, the adjustment method of the laser radar also includes:

[0081] S140, for the last frame of point cloud data within the fourth preset time period, control all laser emitting units to be in an activated state and save the target area at the current moment.

[0082] S150, comparing the target area at the current moment with the target area at the previous moment, if the corresponding point cloud change rate reaches the fourth upper limit, control all laser emitting units to be in the start state until the corresponding point cloud change rate is lower than the fourth upper limit.

[0083] It can be understood that every certain period of time (such as within 1 second), all the transmitting units need to be started once to obtain the click data of the entire space, and then use it as a comparison benchmark for subsequent moments. If the point cloud change rate corresponding to the target area at two adjacent moments reaches the set upper limit, it indicates that the state of the road area has changed significantly, so all laser transmitting units need to be started to obtain the latest point cloud data. Otherwise, the sleep control of some transmitting units can be carried out according to the aforementioned adjustment method.

[0084] Further optionally, the adjustment method of the laser radar also includes:

[0085] If the laser radar scans the first area and the laser emitting unit of the first area is turned off, the most recently saved point cloud data of the first area is called, and then combined with the point cloud data of the second area acquired at the current moment to form a frame of point cloud data of the acquisition area at the current moment.

[0086] Considering that if the laser emitting unit in the first area is turned off, the point cloud data of the corresponding road area cannot be obtained, but since the point cloud data of the entire road area may be needed when making driving decisions, the most recently stored point cloud data of the first area can be merged with the most recently collected point cloud data of the second area to facilitate subsequent operations.

[0087] The adjustment method of the laser radar in this embodiment 1 obtains the point cloud data collected by the laser radar, and judges the changes in the surrounding environment during vehicle driving in combination with the change rate of the point cloud data in the corresponding area, and controls the shutdown of the laser emission unit corresponding to the local area when no person or vehicle breaks in, thereby effectively reducing the overall power of the laser radar without affecting driving safety.

[0088] It should be noted that the embodiments of the present application may involve the collection and use of the geographical environment. In actual applications, the collected data of the geographical environment can be used in the scheme described in this article within the scope permitted by applicable laws and regulations in accordance with the applicable laws and regulations of the country where the application is located (for example, obtaining permission from government departments, etc.).

[0089] Example 2

[0090] This embodiment introduces the technical solution provided by the embodiment of the present application based on the driver's safe driving distance as the basis for dividing the target area. Typically, the adjustment method of the laser radar includes steps S210 to S230:

[0091] S210, acquiring point cloud data collected by the laser radar, and determining a target area in the collection area.

[0092] Among them, the acquisition area mainly refers to the entire field of view that the laser radar can scan. In this embodiment 2, the target area mainly refers to the area that the driver focuses on. Specifically, the target area includes an area with the vehicle as the center and the driver's safe driving distance as the radius, and the surrounding area is the area in the acquisition area except the target area. It can be understood that the driver's safe driving distance can be decided by the algorithm according to the environment / vehicle speed; different levels can also be set and selected by the driver, etc., and there is no restriction on this.

[0093] S220: If the point cloud change rate of the target area within the first preset time does not reach a first upper limit, a first area is set according to the target area, wherein the target area and the second area constitute the acquisition area.

[0094] Exemplarily, when it is detected that the point cloud change rate of the target area within a certain period of time does not reach the preset upper limit, it indicates that the state in the target area has not changed significantly, and it can be determined that the environment of the road area is relatively stable at this time. Then, the first area can be determined according to the determined target area. In addition, the remaining area except the target area is recorded as the second area, that is, the target area and the second area will constitute the entire acquisition area.

[0095] Among them, the first area mainly refers to the corresponding area where the laser emitting unit needs to be turned off. It may include only a part of the above-mentioned target area, or it may be composed of a part of the target area and other designated areas (such as the side lane and its adjacent local roadside area, etc.). It can be set according to actual needs.

[0096] It is understandable that when the vehicle is driving, the surrounding area (i.e., the second area) will generally change (such as trees, buildings, billboards, etc.); however, if there are fewer obstacles (such as cars, pedestrians, etc.), the change rate of the target area is lower. If other vehicles or pedestrians want to enter the target area where the vehicle is located, they often need to enter the above-mentioned surrounding area (i.e., the second area) before entering the target area where the vehicle is currently located. Therefore, if the state of the target area is relatively stable, such as there are no obstacles in front, you can further consider reducing the point cloud collection of the target area and only focus on the second area.

[0097] In one embodiment, Figure 6 As shown, assuming that the entire screen area is the acquisition area, the target area mainly refers to the area R range based on the vehicle and surrounded by the safe driving distance. When the first area is determined from the target area, for example, the first area is smaller than the target area and is located in the target area, such as Figure 6 The region R1 shown can of course be of other shapes, which are not limited here. However, it can be understood that the specific division of the first region can be decided by the system according to the algorithm; different power levels can also be set and selected by the driver and passengers, etc., which are not limited.

[0098] As an optional solution, if the point cloud change rate of the second area within the second preset time does not reach the second upper limit, indicating that there are no new people or vehicles in the lane where the current vehicle is located or the adjacent lane in the surrounding environment during this period of time, then the area of ​​the first area is gradually increased under the condition that the first area is smaller than the target area. Figure 6 As shown, the area range of the first region can be gradually expanded to not exceed the boundary of the target region R.

[0099] It can be understood that if there is no obvious change in the second area, which means that there is no abnormality in the surrounding environment, the range of the first area can be gradually increased, but it should be smaller than the boundary of the target area (i.e., the road area). On the contrary, if the point cloud change rate within the second preset time reaches the second upper limit, it indicates that there is an abnormality, and all laser emission units need to be started immediately. Furthermore, if the abnormality disappears again, the sleep operation of controlling the corresponding laser emission units in the first area to shut down can be continued.

[0100] As another optional solution, if there is no obstacle (such as a car, pedestrian, etc.) in the second area within the second preset time at the boundary between the second area and the target area, indicating that no car / pedestrian in the surrounding environment will enter the target area within this period of time, then the area of ​​the first area is gradually increased under the condition that the first area is smaller than the target area. Figure 6 As shown, the area range of the first region can be gradually expanded to not exceed the boundary of the target region, such as Figure 6 The dotted area is shown.

[0101] It can be understood that although the above-mentioned second area may change, since the above-mentioned change does not mean that there are obstacles (such as cars, pedestrians, etc.) about to enter the target area, the range of the first area can still be gradually increased, but it should be smaller than the boundary of the target area (i.e., the road area). On the contrary, if there are obstacles (such as cars, pedestrians, etc.) in the above-mentioned second area on the boundary between the second area and the target area within the second preset time, it indicates that there is an abnormality, and there may be a possibility that obstacles (such as cars, pedestrians, etc.) are about to enter the target area. At this time, all laser emission units need to be started immediately. Furthermore, if the abnormality disappears again, the above-mentioned sleep operation of controlling the corresponding laser emission units in the first area to shut down can continue to be started.

[0102] In addition, in another embodiment, the first area can be set larger. Exemplarily, the first area can be determined from the acquisition area, and the first area is composed of the first local area in the target area and the second local area in the second area, and the first local area is adjacent to the second local area, such as Figure 7 As shown, a part of the lane area in the target area R and a part of the roadside area in the surrounding area adjacent to the side lane area are taken as the first area R1. It can be seen that the first area R1 can be composed of a part of the second area (R2_1 and R2_2) and a part of the target area R. It can be understood that the area shape here is only a schematic division, and in actual scenes, it can be set to other shapes such as rectangle, trapezoid, ellipse or circle according to needs, which is not limited here.

[0103] Similarly, as an optional solution, if the point cloud change rate of the second area within the third preset time does not reach the third upper limit, the area of ​​the first area is gradually increased under the condition that the boundary of the first area does not exceed the boundary of the acquisition area. In other words, if there is no abnormality in the surrounding area, the number of closed laser emission units can also be gradually increased. On the contrary, if the point cloud change rate of the second area within the third preset time reaches the third upper limit, it indicates that there is an abnormality in the surrounding area, and all laser emission units need to be turned on immediately. When the abnormality disappears again, the above-mentioned sleep operation can be continued.

[0104] Similarly, as another optional solution, if there is no obstacle (such as a car, pedestrian, etc.) on the boundary of the first area in the second preset time, it indicates that there is no car / pedestrian in the surrounding environment during this period of time to enter the target area, then the area of ​​the first area is gradually increased under the condition that the boundary of the first area does not exceed the boundary of the acquisition area. In other words, if there is no abnormality in the surrounding area, the number of closed laser emission units can also be gradually increased. On the contrary, if there is an obstacle (such as a car, pedestrian, etc.) on the boundary of the second area and the target area in the second preset time, it indicates that there is an abnormality, and there may be a possibility that the obstacle (such as a car, pedestrian, etc.) is about to enter the target area. At this time, all laser emission units need to be started immediately. Furthermore, if the abnormality disappears again, the sleep operation of controlling the corresponding laser emission unit in the first area to be turned off can be continued. It should be noted that the above judgment is based on the laser radar to obtain each frame of the point cloud image of the acquisition area. Therefore, since the boundary of the first area after the last change will become the standard for the obstacle (such as a car, pedestrian, etc.) to be reached this time, that is, the first area boundary of each judgment is not fixed. The above judgment is an iterative process that may change.

[0105] S230, when the laser radar scans the first area, the corresponding laser emitting units in the first area are turned off, and the corresponding laser emitting units in the second area are turned on.

[0106] For the first method of determining the first area, the step S230 includes, when the laser radar scans the first area each time within the second preset time period, turning off the laser emitting unit corresponding to the first area. Optionally, when the range of the first area increases, the number of laser emitting units corresponding to the first area will also increase, and then the number of emitting units that need to be turned off will also increase accordingly, so that the overall power can be further reduced.

[0107] With respect to the above-mentioned second method for determining the first area, the above-mentioned step S230 includes, when the laser radar scans the first area each time within the third preset time period, turning off the corresponding proportion of laser emitting units in the first area, wherein the value range of the proportion is (0,1]. Specifically, the laser radar is controlled to gradually increase the above-mentioned proportion to 1 each time a frame of point cloud data is obtained.

[0108] Among them, the first, second and third preset times mentioned above can be set equal or different, and can be set accordingly according to the actual sampling frequency / frame scanning frequency of the laser radar, etc., which is not limited here. It can be understood that if the laser radar can collect several frames of point cloud images per second, by shutting down the local laser emission unit when the corresponding area conditions are met, the power of the laser radar during the entire driving process can be greatly reduced, effectively avoiding the problem of local overtemperature caused by the laser emission module inside the laser radar, and also extending the service life of the laser emission unit.

[0109] It can be understood that for the above two adjustment methods, the first method is safer because it only turns off part (or all) of the laser emitting units corresponding to the road area, without involving the laser emitting units corresponding to the surrounding environment area, that is, the surrounding area is always in a collection state, so that it can be guaranteed that the area that must be passed to enter the road area can be monitored at any time to see if there are any abnormalities. The second method saves more power of the laser radar and increases the life of the laser emitting unit, but its safety is relatively poor compared to the first method, because in addition to the road area, some laser emitting units in the surrounding environment area will also be turned off, which will affect the monitoring ability of the surrounding environment.

[0110] Further optionally, the adjustment method of the laser radar also includes:

[0111] If the laser radar scans the first area and the laser emitting unit in the first area is turned off, the laser receiving unit in the first area is turned off, and the corresponding laser receiving unit in the second area is turned on.

[0112] It can be understood that by turning off the laser receiving unit of the corresponding first area, not only the overall power consumption of the laser radar can be further reduced, but also the ambient light can be prevented from irradiating the laser receiving unit of the corresponding first area. The noise current generated by the laser receiving unit improves the signal-to-noise ratio of the receiving side of the laser radar.

[0113] In addition, in order to prevent emergencies, such as small animals suddenly coming out of the sewer, etc., when making intelligent driving decisions, the latest or most recent point cloud data is also needed for processing. Therefore, no matter which adjustment method is used, all laser emission units need to be started once at regular intervals to ensure the accuracy and safety of the decision.

[0114] As an optional solution, the adjustment method of the laser radar also includes:

[0115] S240, for the last frame of point cloud data within the fourth preset time period, control all laser emitting units to be in an activated state and save the target area at the current moment.

[0116] S250, comparing the target area at the current moment with the target area at the previous moment, if the corresponding point cloud change rate reaches the fourth upper limit, control all laser emitting units to be in the start state until the corresponding point cloud change rate is lower than the fourth upper limit.

[0117] It can be understood that every certain period of time (such as within 1 second), all the transmitting units need to be started once to obtain the click data of the entire space, and then use it as a comparison benchmark for subsequent moments. If the point cloud change rate corresponding to the target area at two adjacent moments reaches the set upper limit, it indicates that the state of the road area has changed significantly, so all laser transmitting units need to be started to obtain the latest point cloud data. Otherwise, the sleep control of some transmitting units can be carried out according to the aforementioned adjustment method.

[0118] Further optionally, the adjustment method of the laser radar also includes:

[0119] If the laser radar scans the first area and the laser emitting unit of the first area is turned off, the most recently saved point cloud data of the first area is called, and then combined with the point cloud data of the second area acquired at the current moment to form a frame of point cloud data of the acquisition area at the current moment.

[0120] Considering that if the laser emitting unit in the first area is turned off, the point cloud data of the corresponding road area cannot be obtained, but since the point cloud data of the entire road area may be needed when making driving decisions, the most recently stored point cloud data of the first area can be merged with the most recently collected point cloud data of the second area to facilitate subsequent operations.

[0121] The adjustment method of the laser radar in this embodiment 2 obtains the point cloud data collected by the laser radar, and judges the changes in the surrounding environment during vehicle driving in combination with the change rate of the point cloud data in the corresponding area, and controls the shutdown of the laser emission unit corresponding to the local area when no person or vehicle breaks in, thereby effectively reducing the overall power of the laser radar without affecting driving safety.

[0122] It should be noted that the embodiments of the present application may involve the collection and use of the geographical environment. In actual applications, the collected data of the geographical environment can be used in the scheme described in this article within the scope permitted by applicable laws and regulations in accordance with the applicable laws and regulations of the country where the application is located (for example, obtaining permission from government departments, etc.).

[0123] Example 3

[0124] Please refer to Figure 8 Based on the method of the above embodiment, this embodiment proposes an adjustment device 100 for a laser radar. Exemplarily, the adjustment device 100 for the laser radar includes:

[0125] The acquisition module 110 is used to acquire point cloud data collected by the laser radar and determine the target area in the acquisition area;

[0126] The area setting module 120 is used to set a first area according to the target area if the point cloud change rate of the target area within the first preset time does not reach a first upper limit, wherein the target area and the second area constitute the acquisition area;

[0127] The control module 130 is used to turn off the corresponding laser emitting units in the first area and enable the corresponding laser emitting units in the second area when the laser radar scans the first area.

[0128] As an implementation manner, the region setting module 120 is used to determine a first region from the target region, wherein the first region is smaller than the target region and is located in the target region.

[0129] As an implementation manner, the target area is determined based on a driving road area of ​​the vehicle.

[0130] As another implementation, the target area is determined based on the vehicle as the center and the safe driving distance.

[0131] Further optionally, the area setting module 120 is also used to gradually increase the area of ​​the first area if the point cloud change rate of the second area within the second preset time does not reach a second upper limit, provided that the first area is smaller than the target area; or, if there is no obstacle on the boundary between the second area and the target area within the second preset time, then gradually increase the area of ​​the first area if the first area is smaller than the target area.

[0132] As another implementation, the region setting module 120 is used to determine a first region from the acquisition region, wherein the first region is composed of a first local region in the target region and a second local region in the second region, and the first local region is adjacent to the second local region.

[0133] Further optionally, the area setting module 120 is also used to gradually increase the area of ​​the first area on the condition that the boundary of the first area does not exceed the boundary of the acquisition area if the point cloud change rate of the second area within a third preset time does not reach a third upper limit; or, if there is no obstacle on the boundary of the first area in the second area within the third preset time, then gradually increase the area of ​​the first area on the condition that the boundary of the first area does not exceed the boundary of the acquisition area.

[0134] Furthermore, the control module 130 is used to turn off a corresponding proportion of laser emitting units in the first area when the laser radar scans the first area within the third preset time period, and the value range of the proportion is (0,1];

[0135] Each time the laser radar obtains a frame of point cloud data, the ratio gradually increases to equal 1.

[0136] As an optional solution, the adjustment device 100 of the laser radar further includes:

[0137] The control module 130 is also used to control all laser emitting units to be in the start-up state and save the target area at the current moment in the last frame of point cloud data within the fourth preset time period; compare the target area at the current moment with the target area at the previous moment, and if the corresponding point cloud change rate reaches the fourth upper limit, control all laser emitting units to be in the start-up state until the corresponding point cloud change rate is lower than the fourth upper limit.

[0138] As an optional solution, the adjustment device 100 of the laser radar further includes:

[0139] The control module 130 is used to call the most recently saved point cloud data of the first area if the laser radar scans the first area and the laser emitting unit of the first area is turned off, and then combine it with the point cloud data of the second area acquired at the current moment to form a frame of point cloud data of the acquisition area at the current moment.

[0140] The control module 130 is also used to turn off the laser receiving unit corresponding to the first area and enable the corresponding laser receiving unit in the second area to be in an activated state if the laser radar scans the first area and the laser emitting unit in the first area is turned off.

[0141] It can be understood that the device of this embodiment corresponds to the method of the above embodiment, and the options of the steps and methods in the above embodiment are also applicable to this embodiment, so they will not be described repeatedly here.

[0142] The present application also provides a vehicle, which exemplarily includes a laser radar, a processor and a memory, wherein the laser radar is used to collect point cloud data of the space where the vehicle is located, the memory stores a computer program, and the processor runs the computer program to enable the vehicle device to execute the above-mentioned laser radar adjustment method or the functions of each module in the above-mentioned laser radar adjustment device.

[0143] The present application also provides a readable storage medium for storing the computer program used in the above-mentioned vehicle.

[0144] It should be noted that the embodiments of the present application may involve the collection and use of the geographical environment. In actual applications, the collected data of the geographical environment can be used in the scheme described in this article within the scope permitted by applicable laws and regulations in accordance with the applicable laws and regulations of the country where the application is located (for example, obtaining permission from government departments, etc.).

[0145] In several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed devices and methods can also be implemented in other ways. The device embodiments described above are merely schematic. For example, the flowcharts and structure diagrams in the accompanying drawings show the possible architecture, functions and operations of the devices, methods and computer program products according to multiple embodiments of the present application. In this regard, each box in the flowchart or block diagram can represent a module, a program segment or a part of a code, and the module, a program segment or a part of a code contains one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function. It should also be noted that in an alternative implementation, the functions marked in the box can also occur in a different order from the order marked in the accompanying drawings. For example, two consecutive boxes can actually be executed substantially in parallel, and they can sometimes be executed in the opposite order, depending on the functions involved. It should also be noted that each box in the structure diagram and / or the flow diagram, and the combination of boxes in the structure diagram and / or the flow diagram, can be implemented with a dedicated hardware-based system that performs a specified function or action, or can be implemented with a combination of dedicated hardware and computer instructions.

[0146] In addition, the functional modules or units in the various embodiments of the present application may be integrated together to form an independent part, or each module may exist separately, or two or more modules may be integrated to form an independent part.

[0147] If the function is implemented in the form of a software function module and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application can be essentially or partly embodied in the form of a software product that contributes to the prior art, and the computer software product is stored in a storage medium, including several instructions to enable a computer device (which can be a smart phone, a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to perform all or part of the steps of the method described in each embodiment of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes: various media that can store program codes, such as a USB flash drive, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a disk or an optical disk.

[0148] The above description is only a specific implementation manner of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited thereto. Any technician familiar with the technical field can easily think of changes or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed in the present application, which should be included in the protection scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A method for adjusting a laser radar, characterized in that: include: Obtain point cloud data collected by the laser radar and determine the target area in the collection area; If the point cloud change rate of the target area within the first preset time does not reach the first upper limit, setting a first area according to the target area, wherein the target area and the second area constitute the acquisition area; When the laser radar scans the first area, the corresponding laser emitting units in the first area are turned off, and the corresponding laser emitting units in the second area are turned on.

2. The adjustment method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The step of setting the first area according to the target area includes: Determine a first area from the target area, wherein the first area is smaller than the target area and is located in the target area; If the point cloud change rate of the second area within the second preset time does not reach the second upper limit, then on the condition that the first area is smaller than the target area, gradually increasing the area of ​​the first area; Alternatively, if there is no obstacle in the second area on the boundary between the second area and the target area within the second preset time, the area of ​​the first area is gradually increased under the condition that the first area is smaller than the target area.

3. The adjustment method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The step of setting the first area according to the target area includes: Determine a first area from the acquisition area, wherein the first area is composed of a first local area in the target area and a second local area in the second area, and the first local area is adjacent to the second local area; If the point cloud change rate of the second area within the third preset time does not reach the third upper limit, gradually increasing the area of ​​the first area on the condition that the boundary of the first area does not exceed the boundary of the acquisition area; Alternatively, if there is no obstacle in the second area on the boundary of the first area within the third preset time, the area of ​​the first area is gradually increased under the condition that the boundary of the first area does not exceed the boundary of the acquisition area.

4. The adjustment method according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that: When the laser radar scans the first area, turning off the corresponding laser emitting unit in the first area includes: When the laser radar scans the first area within the second preset time period or the third preset time period, a corresponding proportion of laser emitting units in the first area is turned off, and the value range of the proportion is (0, 1]; Each time the laser radar obtains a frame of point cloud data, the ratio gradually increases to equal 1.

5. The adjustment method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: Also includes: In the last frame of point cloud data within the fourth preset time period, all laser emission units are controlled to be in the start state, and the target area at the current moment is saved; The target area at the current moment is compared with the target area at the previous moment. If the corresponding point cloud change rate reaches the fourth upper limit, all laser emitting units are controlled to be in an activated state until the corresponding point cloud change rate is lower than the fourth upper limit.

6. The adjustment method according to claim 4, characterized in that: Also includes: If the laser radar scans the first area and the laser emitting unit of the first area is turned off, the most recently saved point cloud data of the first area is called, and then combined with the point cloud data of the second area acquired at the current moment to form a frame of point cloud data of the acquisition area at the current moment.

7. The adjustment method according to claim 1, 2, 3 or 6, characterized in that: Also includes: If the laser radar scans the first area and the laser emitting unit in the first area is turned off, the laser receiving unit corresponding to the first area is turned off, and the corresponding laser receiving unit in the second area is turned on.

8. A laser radar adjustment device, characterized in that: include: An acquisition module is used to acquire point cloud data collected by the laser radar and determine the target area in the acquisition area; A region setting module, configured to set a first region according to the target region if the point cloud change rate of the target region within a first preset time does not reach a first upper limit, wherein the target region and the second region constitute the acquisition region; The control module is used to turn off the corresponding laser emitting units in the first area and enable the corresponding laser emitting units in the second area when the laser radar scans the first area.

9. A vehicle, characterized in that: The vehicle includes a laser radar, a processor and a memory, the laser radar is used to collect point cloud data of the space where the vehicle is located, the memory stores a computer program, and the processor is used to execute the computer program to implement the laser radar adjustment method described in any one of claims 1-7.

10. A readable storage medium, characterized in that: It stores a computer program, which, when executed on a processor, implements the adjustment method of the laser radar according to any one of claims 1-7.

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