AGV Guidance System Using External Positioning and Dynamic Command Transmission
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional automated guided vehicles (AGVs) require high-performance processors, large-capacity memory, and sophisticated sensors for autonomous navigation, leading to high system costs due to the need for IC tags or location markers and complex navigation systems.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle guidance system that uses a positioning device to measure the vehicle's location and a guidance device to transmit guidance commands, allowing the vehicle to move without needing to measure its own location, eliminating the need for IC tags or location markers and reducing hardware requirements.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If conventional AGV systems use high-performance processors, large-capacity memory, and sophisticated sensors for autonomous navigation, then navigation accuracy is improved, but system cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the location measurement function from the vehicle and places it in a separate positioning device (base station). The vehicle no longer needs sophisticated sensors or high-performance processors for location detection, as this function is performed externally by the positioning device that measures location using radio wave propagation characteristics.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a guidance device as an intermediary between the positioning device and the vehicle. The guidance device receives location information from the positioning device, calculates guidance commands, and transmits them to the vehicle. This mediator simplifies the vehicle's onboard requirements while maintaining navigation accuracy through continuous external guidance.
2Difficulty of detecting and measuring
If IC tags or location markers are disposed within the area for travel to enable autonomous travel, then location detection capability is improved, but hardware cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the requirement for IC tags or location markers from the travel area. Instead of placing physical markers throughout the environment, the system uses a positioning device that determines location based on radio wave propagation characteristics between the base station and the vehicle, eliminating the need for distributed location markers.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical/physical system of IC tags and location markers with an electromagnetic field-based positioning system. The positioning device uses radio wave propagation characteristics to determine vehicle location, substituting physical markers with wireless electromagnetic field measurements.
3Device complexity
If the guidance device transmits guidance commands at fixed intervals, then system simplicity is improved, but navigation accuracy deteriorates when vehicle speed changes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the guidance command transmission dynamic by adjusting the transmission timing based on vehicle speed. When the vehicle travels at a higher speed than a predetermined threshold, the guidance device transmits guidance commands at a shorter interval. This dynamic adjustment maintains navigation accuracy under varying speed conditions while keeping the system relatively simple.
Solution Approach 2:
The system incorporates feedback by having the guidance device receive location information from the positioning device, compare it with expected position based on previous guidance commands, and adjust subsequent guidance command transmission timing accordingly. This feedback mechanism allows the system to adapt transmission intervals to actual vehicle performance and speed.
Data Source
AI summary
A vehicle guidance system to guide a vehicle includes a vehicle, a positioning device to measure a location of the vehicle and output location information of the vehicle, and a guidance device to guide the vehicle. When the guidance device guides the vehicle from a first location, through a second location, to a third location, the guidance device transmits a first guidance command to guide the vehicle from the first location to the second location. While the vehicle is moving from the first location toward the second location in accordance with the first guidance command, the guidance device estimates an expected location of arrival of the vehicle based on a change in the location of the vehicle as measured by the positioning device. The guidance device generates a second guidance command to guide from the expected location of arrival to the third location, and before the vehicle arrives at the expected location of arrival, transmits the second guidance command to the vehicle at least once.