Proactive Directional Control for Vehicle Heading Disturbances

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Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional directional control systems for vehicles are inflexible and require extensive testing and adjustment for each vehicle type, leading to high manufacturing costs and accuracy issues when dealing with varying environmental conditions, such as wind and waves, which can result in unsafe conditions for mobile structures controlled by autopilots.

Innovation Solution

A proactive directional control system that includes a logic device, sensors, and actuators to determine steering angle disturbances based on environmental conditions, using a feed-forward disturbance correction to adjust directional control signals and stabilize the vehicle's heading, incorporating a disturbance model and nominal vehicle feedback to preempt disturbances and maintain stability.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Adaptability or versatility

If conventional directional control systems are designed for a particular vehicle type, then the system can provide basic directional control, but it requires extensive testing and adjustment for each vehicle type leading to high manufacturing costs and cannot easily be used for different vehicle types

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveadaptability to different vehicle typesVSAvoidextensive testing and adjustment procedures

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary identification of vehicle parameters (mass, moment of inertia, center of gravity position) before control operations. This preliminary characterization allows the control algorithm to be pre-configured for the specific vehicle, eliminating the need for extensive field testing and adjustment for each vehicle type while maintaining accurate directional control

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The control system automatically identifies and adapts to the specific vehicle characteristics it is controlling, without requiring manual configuration or extensive testing. The system serves itself by autonomously determining the vehicle parameters and optimizing its control strategy, making it universally applicable across different vehicle types

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

2Reliability

If conventional directional control systems are used, then the system structure is relatively simple, but it cannot accurately handle varying environmental conditions such as wind and waves leading to unsafe conditions

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvesafety under environmental conditionsVSAvoidsystem complexity for handling disturbances

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system continuously monitors actual directional response and compares it with expected response, using this feedback to identify vehicle parameters and adjust control strategies. This real-time feedback mechanism enables the system to adapt to environmental disturbances like wind and waves, significantly improving safety and reliability

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

Solution Approach 2:

The system proactively compensates for environmental disturbances by incorporating disturbance models that predict the effects of wind, waves, and other external forces. By applying counteracting control actions before disturbances significantly affect the vehicle, the system maintains safety without requiring overly complex real-time response mechanisms

Inventive Principle:

Principle #9Preliminary anti-action

3Manufacturing precision

If conventional directional control systems are designed with high precision for each vehicle type, then manufacturing precision can be improved, but the device complexity and manufacturing costs increase significantly

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedirectional control accuracyVSAvoidcustomization for each vehicle type

Core Design Contradiction:

Manufacturing precisionVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The control system is designed as a universal platform that can accurately control any vehicle type within its class by automatically identifying vehicle parameters. Rather than creating custom control systems for each vehicle, this single universal system adapts to different vehicles through parameter identification, achieving high manufacturing precision without increased device complexity or customization

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Data Source

PatentUS10996676B2Proactive directional control systems and methods

Publication Date: 2021.05.04 TELEDYNE FLIR LLC

AI summary

Techniques are disclosed for systems and methods to provide proactive directional control for a mobile structure. A proactive directional control system may include a logic device, a memory, one or more sensors, one or more actuators/controllers, and modules to interface with users, sensors, actuators, and/or other modules of a mobile structure. The logic device is adapted to determine a steering angle disturbance estimate based on environmental conditions associated with the mobile structure, and the steering angle disturbance estimate is used to adjust a directional control signal provided to an actuator of the mobile structure. The logic device may also be adapted to receive directional data about a mobile structure and determine nominal vehicle feedback from the directional data, which may be used to adjust and/or stabilize the directional control signal provided to the actuator.