Vehicle LiDAR Lens Coverage Detection Using Trajectory Overlap
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Light-based scanning devices in vehicles can malfunction due to partial obstruction of their field of view, leading to safety compromises and navigation inaccuracies, which existing technologies have not adequately addressed.
Innovation Solution
A computer system determines the lens coverage condition of a light-based scanning device by generating a frame of reference from light and trajectory data, identifying non-overlapping regions, and assessing the vehicle's position relative to these regions to identify partial coverage or obstruction, enabling intelligent control of cleaning, braking, or navigation adjustments.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the vehicle operates without lens coverage detection, then the system complexity is reduced, but the safety and navigation accuracy deteriorate due to undetected obstructions
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary detection of lens coverage conditions by comparing trajectory points with light points before navigation decisions are made. This advance detection allows the system to identify obstructions proactively, enabling preventive actions such as cleaning operations or route adjustments, thereby maintaining safety without requiring complex real-time intervention systems
Solution Approach 2:
A frame of reference is introduced as an intermediary data structure that maps both trajectory points and light points into a common coordinate system. This intermediary representation simplifies the comparison process between expected vehicle path and actual light detection data, enabling efficient obstruction detection without requiring direct complex analysis between multiple sensor systems
2Measurement precision
If the system continuously monitors lens coverage, then the detection precision is improved, but the energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs lens coverage detection at periodic intervals based on trajectory updates rather than continuously. By comparing light points with trajectory points at discrete time steps corresponding to vehicle movement phases, the system maintains adequate detection precision while significantly reducing computational load and energy consumption compared to continuous monitoring
Solution Approach 2:
The system focuses detection resources on identifying non-overlapping regions between trajectory and light points, performing partial analysis only where obstructions are likely to occur. This selective approach concentrates computational effort on critical detection zones rather than uniformly processing all sensor data, optimizing the balance between detection precision and energy usage
3Measurement precision
If the system identifies non-overlapping regions to detect obstructions, then the measurement precision is improved, but the computational complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The detection space is segmented into discrete trajectory points and light points that can be independently compared. By dividing the continuous vehicle path and sensor field into discrete measurable units, the system enables efficient computational comparison through point-to-point matching, reducing the complexity of analyzing continuous spatial data while maintaining detection accuracy
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
A computer system (100; 500) comprising processing circuitry (102; 502) configured to obtain light data (110) from a light-based scanning device (20); obtain trajectory data (112) of an upcoming trajectory of a vehicle (10); generate a frame of reference (30) for the light-based scanning device (20), the frame of reference (30) indicating positional relationships of a plurality of light points (32) based on the light data (110) and a plurality of trajectory points (34) based on the trajectory data (112); for one or more given trajectory points (32), identify a non-overlapping region (36) in the frame of reference (30) where no light points (34) are collocated at said one or more given trajectory points (32); and determine the lens coverage condition based on a position of the vehicle (10) in relation to the identified non-overlapping region (36).