Event-Driven Sensor Tracking of Pulsed LED Arrays for Low-Compute SLAM
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional SLAM techniques for autonomous robots and augmented reality head-mounted displays are computationally intensive and power-consuming, and feature point identification can lead to mismatches, requiring complex protection mechanisms.
Innovation Solution
Employing event-driven sensors (EDS) to detect light intensity changes from pulsing LEDs, allowing for efficient feature point detection with minimal computational resources by correlating event times with LED blink times, eliminating the need for complex tracking protection and image processing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional SLAM techniques are used for feature point identification and tracking, then tracking accuracy can be maintained through multiple verification steps, but computational complexity and power consumption increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies periodic action by having LEDs emit light in regular, timed pulses rather than continuously. Each LED cycles through on/off states at known time intervals, creating periodic light emissions that the EDS sensor can detect and correlate with specific LED identities based on timing information. This periodic pulsing enables reliable feature identification without requiring complex continuous image processing.
2Reliability
If conventional SLAM techniques with multiple verification steps are implemented, then tracking reliability improves, but power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and utilizes only the essential temporal information from LED emissions - specifically the timing of light pulses - rather than processing complete images or extensive feature sets. The EDS sensor captures light intensity changes over time and correlates these temporal patterns with known LED pulsing schedules, extracting sufficient information for reliable tracking without the computational overhead of conventional SLAM verification steps.
3Device complexity
If feature point identification is performed without absolute accuracy, then computational requirements are reduced, but mismatch errors increase requiring protection mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback through the use of known LED pulsing timing patterns. The system has prior knowledge of when each LED should emit light, and uses this expected timing information as a reference to verify and correct detected events. When the EDS sensor detects a light pulse, it compares the actual timing against the expected timing from the pulsing schedule, providing feedback that confirms feature identification accuracy without requiring complex verification algorithms.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Reduces power consumption and computational requirements while ensuring accurate feature point identification, enabling efficient simultaneous localization and mapping with high-frequency LED tracking.
Implementation Method 1
event driven sensor (EDS) sensing cells which detect motion by virtue of EDS principles. EDS uses the change of light intensity as sensed by one or more pixels as an indication of motion
Implementation Method 2
at least one light emitting diode (LED) assembly configured to cause individual LEDs in the assembly to emit light one LED at a time
Data Source
AI summary
An event driven sensor (EDS) is used for simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) and in particular is used in conjunction with a constellation of light emitting diodes (LED) to simultaneously localize all LEDs and track EDS pose in space. The EDS may be stationary or moveable and can track moveable LED constellations as rigid bodies. Each individual LED is distinguished at a high rate using minimal computational resources (no image processing). Thus, instead of a camera and image processing, rapidly pulsing LEDs detected by the EDS are used for feature points such that EDS events are related to only one LED at a time.