Docking Interface With Biased Safety Perimeter for Hazard-Aware Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional directional control systems for vehicles, including planes, watercraft, and automobiles, are not intuitive enough for reliable docking or parking assistance, especially in crowded conditions or with external disturbances like wind or water currents.
Innovation Solution
A docking assist system that includes a logic device, sensors, actuators, and a user interface to determine and provide control signals for navigation, adjusting steering and propulsion to assist in docking, while monitoring perimeter sensor data and environmental hazards.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional directional control systems are used for docking assistance, then the system complexity is low, but the reliability and accuracy of docking control deteriorates in crowded conditions or with environmental disturbances
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the docking control function into multiple independent modules: perimeter ranging system for hazard detection, logic device for control signal determination, and user interface for parameter input. This modular segmentation improves reliability by isolating failure points while maintaining manageable system complexity through standardized interfaces between modules.
Solution Approach 2:
The logic device acts as an intermediary between the perimeter ranging system and the navigation control system. It receives raw sensor data, processes it through predetermined algorithms, and generates refined control signals that account for environmental disturbances, thereby improving docking reliability without requiring direct complex interactions between sensors and actuators.
2Measurement precision
If more sensors and monitoring systems are added to improve docking accuracy, then the measurement precision of perimeter data improves, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The perimeter ranging system is designed as a multi-functional sensor array that simultaneously performs hazard detection, distance measurement, and environmental monitoring. This universal sensor platform achieves high measurement precision for multiple parameters without proportionally increasing system complexity, as a single sensor system serves multiple detection purposes.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements continuous feedback loops where perimeter sensor data is constantly monitored and fed back to the logic device, which adjusts control signals in real-time. This feedback mechanism enables high measurement precision to be effectively utilized for dynamic docking adjustments, ensuring accurate control while maintaining a streamlined architecture through iterative refinement rather than over-engineering.
3Ease of operation
If the system provides autonomous docking control, then the ease of operation for the user improves, but the extent of automation increases system complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements dynamic automation levels that can adjust between manual and autonomous operation modes based on user input and environmental conditions. The logic device processes user preferences and real-time sensor data to dynamically determine the appropriate degree of automation, allowing the system to provide ease of operation when needed while maintaining manageable complexity through conditional automation rather than full autonomy.
Solution Approach 2:
The autonomous docking system performs self-service by automatically processing perimeter sensor data, determining optimal docking trajectories, and executing control signals without continuous user intervention. This self-service capability improves ease of operation by eliminating manual docking maneuvers, while the use of predetermined algorithms and automated decision-making reduces the operational burden on users without requiring excessively complex system architecture.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques are disclosed for systems and methods to provide graphical user interfaces for assisted and/or autonomous navigation for mobile structures. A navigation assist system includes a user interface with a display for a mobile structure and a logic device configured to render a docking user interface on the display. The logic device determines a direction and magnitude of a navigational bias associated with navigation of the mobile structure and determines a spatially biased safety perimeter and hazard monitoring area within a monitoring perimeter of a perimeter ranging system mounted to the mobile structure, based on the direction and magnitude of the navigational bias. The docking user interface includes a maneuvering guide with a virtual bumper perimeter intrusion indicator configured to indicate a relative position and/or proximity of a navigation hazard within the spatially biased hazard monitoring area.