Methods and Processors for Controlling the Operation of an Unmanned Vehicle

Claims

1. A method for controlling the operation of an unmanned vehicle, implemented by one or more processors connected to one or more sensors and one or more control systems of the unmanned vehicle, and providing for: at the first moment in time: receiving data from one or more sensors about objects indicating a plurality of objects in the surrounding space of the unmanned vehicle, whereby each of the objects is assigned an identifier; the formation of a mesh structure containing many cells, each of which covers part of the surrounding space; forming for a given cell a bit mask indicating the identifiers of one or more objects present in a first portion of the surrounding space covered by at least the given cell; at the second moment in time: receiving a query for a target cell of a grid structure covering a target portion of the surrounding space; determining the identifiers of one or more target objects present in the target portion of the surrounding space from a plurality of objects using a bit mask of a given cell; controlling the operation of an unmanned vehicle using one or more control systems, taking into account the presence of one or more target objects in the target part of the surrounding space.

2. The method according to paragraph 1, which further provides for, at a first moment in time, the formation of a preliminary bit mask for a given cell indicating the identifiers of one or more objects present in the corresponding part of the surrounding space, wherein the formation of the bit mask for a given cell includes performing an operation on the preliminary bit masks of a group of cells.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the target cell is a target group of cells from a plurality of cells covering the target portion of the surrounding space and containing a given cell and another given cell, wherein the method further provides, at a first moment in time, for the other given cell, for the formation of another bit mask indicating the identifiers of one or more objects present in another part of the surrounding space covered by another group of cells from the plurality of cells containing the other given cell, wherein determining the identifiers of one or more target objects present in the target portion involves forming a target bit mask indicating the identifiers of one or more target objects present in the target portion based on a combination of a bit mask of a given cell and a bit mask of another given cell.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first group of cells is symmetrical to the second group of cells in the mesh structure.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the specified cell and the other specified cell are diagonally opposite each other in the target group of cells.

6. The method according to paragraph 1, which further provides for the formation of limiting elements for a plurality of objects, each of which occupies a larger portion of the surrounding space of the unmanned vehicle than the object corresponding to it, where the bit mask indicates the identifiers of one or more objects present in the corresponding part of the surrounding space with the corresponding bounding elements.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of objects includes an object of a first type and another object of a second type, wherein the first type is different from the second type.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the bit mask is a sequence of N bits, the i-th bit of which characterizes the presence of a given object from a set of objects with the i-th identifier.

9. A method for controlling the operation of an unmanned vehicle, implemented by one or more processors connected to one or more sensors and one or more control systems of the unmanned vehicle, and providing for: at the first moment in time: receiving data from one or more sensors about objects indicating a plurality of objects in the surrounding space of the unmanned vehicle, whereby each of the objects is assigned an identifier; the formation of a mesh structure containing many cells, each of which covers part of the surrounding space; forming for a given cell a first bit mask indicating identifiers of one or more objects present in a first portion of the surrounding space covered by a first group of cells from a plurality of cells containing the given cell and another given cell; forming for another given cell a second bit mask indicating identifiers of one or more objects present in a second portion of the surrounding space covered by a second group of cells from a plurality of cells, wherein the first group of cells comprises the given cell and another given cell and at least partially overlaps with the second group of cells, in addition to the given cell and another given cell, at the second moment in time: receiving a query for a target group of cells of a grid structure covering a target portion of the surrounding space and containing a given cell and another given cell; determining the identifiers of one or more target objects present in the target portion of the surrounding space from a plurality of objects using a first bit mask of a given cell and a second bit mask of another given cell; controlling the operation of an unmanned vehicle using one or more control systems, taking into account the presence of one or more target objects in the target part of the surrounding space.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein determining the identifiers of one or more target objects comprises forming a target bit mask indicating the identifiers of one or more target objects by performing an operation on a first bit mask and a second bit mask.

11. An electronic device for controlling the operation of an unmanned vehicle equipped with one or more sensors and one or more control systems, configured to: at the first moment in time: receive data from one or more sensors about objects that characterize a set of objects in the surrounding space of the unmanned vehicle, with each of the objects being assigned an identifier; form a mesh structure containing many cells, each of which covers a portion of the surrounding space; generate, for a given cell, a bit mask indicating the identifiers of one or more objects present in a first portion of the surrounding space covered by at least the given cell; at the second moment in time: receive a query for a target cell of a grid structure covering a target portion of the surrounding space; determine the identifiers of one or more target objects present in the target portion of the surrounding space from a set of objects using a bit mask of a given cell; control the operation of an unmanned vehicle using one or more control systems, taking into account the presence of one or more target objects in a target part of the surrounding space.

12. The device according to claim 11, which is further capable of, at a first moment in time, generating for a given cell a preliminary bit mask indicating the identifiers of one or more objects present in the corresponding part of the surrounding space, wherein the generation of the bit mask for a given cell involves the electronic device performing an operation on the preliminary bit masks of a group of cells.

13. The device of claim 11, wherein the target cell is a target group of cells from a plurality of cells covering the target portion of the surrounding space and containing a given cell and another given cell, wherein the device is additionally capable, at a first moment of time, of generating for another given cell another bit mask indicating the identifiers of one or more objects present in another part of the surrounding space covered by another group of cells from a plurality of cells containing another given cell, wherein determining the identifiers of one or more target objects present in the target portion involves the electronic device generating a target bit mask indicating the identifiers of one or more target objects present in the target portion based on a combination of a bit mask of a given cell and a bit mask of another given cell.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein the first group of cells is symmetrical to the second group of cells in the mesh structure.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the specified cell and the other specified cell are diagonally opposite each other in the target group of cells.

16. The device of claim 11, which is further capable of generating, for a plurality of objects, bounding elements, each of which occupies a larger portion of the surrounding space of the unmanned vehicle than the object corresponding to it, wherein the bit mask indicates the identifiers of one or more objects present in the corresponding portion of the surrounding space with the corresponding bounding elements.

17. The device of claim 11, wherein the plurality of objects includes an object of a first type and another object of a second type, wherein the first type is different from the second type.

18. The device according to claim 11, wherein the bit mask is a sequence of N bits, the i-th bit of which characterizes the presence of a given object from a set of objects with the i-th identifier.

19. An electronic device for controlling the operation of an unmanned vehicle, equipped with one or more sensors and one or more control systems of the unmanned vehicle, configured to: at the first moment in time: receive data from one or more sensors about objects that characterize a set of objects in the surrounding space of the unmanned vehicle, with each of the objects being assigned an identifier; form a mesh structure containing many cells, each of which covers a portion of the surrounding space; generate, for a given cell, a first bit mask indicating the identifiers of one or more objects present in a first portion of the surrounding space covered by a first group of cells from a plurality of cells containing the given cell and another given cell; generate for another given cell a second bit mask indicating identifiers of one or more objects present in a second portion of the surrounding space covered by a second group of cells from a plurality of cells, wherein the first group of cells contains the given cell and another given cell and at least partially overlaps with the second group of cells, in addition to the given cell and another given cell; at the second moment in time: receive a query for a target group of cells of a grid structure covering a target portion of the surrounding space and containing a given cell and another given cell; determine the identifiers of one or more target objects present in the target portion of the surrounding space from a plurality of objects using a first bit mask of a given cell and a second bit mask of another given cell; control the operation of an unmanned vehicle using one or more control systems, taking into account the presence of one or more target objects in a target part of the surrounding space.

20. The device of claim 19, wherein determining the identifiers of one or more target objects involves the electronic device generating a target bit mask indicating the identifiers of one or more target objects by performing an operation on a first bit mask and a second bit mask.