Local Command Normalization for Remote Vehicle Teleoperation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing remote vehicle control systems face challenges in maintaining low latency and managing inconsistencies due to bandwidth constraints and varying vehicle and environmental conditions during teleoperation, which can impact safety and operational efficiency.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle system that normalizes operations locally using primary and auxiliary sensor data to transform control commands and stabilize vehicle parameters, reducing the need for extensive data transmission and enabling safe remote operation by compensating for conditions unknown to the remote support server.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If real-time video and telemetry data are transmitted to a remote server for processing, then remote operation capability is enabled, but network bandwidth is consumed and latency increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments data transmission by categorizing sensor data into primary (essential for remote operation) and secondary (local processing only) categories. Primary sensor data is transmitted to the remote server, while auxiliary sensor data is processed locally to generate transformed control commands, reducing overall network bandwidth consumption while maintaining remote operation capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The vehicle system acts as an intermediary by locally transforming control commands from the remote server based on auxiliary sensor data before executing them. This intermediary processing reduces the need for transmitting all control and sensor data bidirectionally, thereby reducing network bandwidth consumption while enabling remote operation.
2Loss of information
If all sensor data is transmitted to the remote server, then complete situational awareness is achieved, but transmission latency increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts and processes critical auxiliary sensor data locally at the vehicle without transmitting it to the remote server. This local extraction and processing of auxiliary data enables the vehicle to compensate for conditions unknown to the remote server, maintaining situational awareness completeness while avoiding the latency associated with transmitting all sensor data.
Solution Approach 2:
The vehicle system performs preliminary local processing of auxiliary sensor data and transformation of control commands before transmission or execution. This preliminary action ensures that critical information is already processed and compensated for when it reaches the remote server or is executed locally, reducing the need for retransmission and minimizing latency.
3Device complexity
If control commands are executed directly from remote server, then system complexity is minimized, but handling inconsistencies between different vehicles and environmental conditions occur
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies local quality by implementing vehicle-specific and environment-specific transformations of control commands at each individual vehicle. Each vehicle locally adjusts control commands based on its own auxiliary sensor data, ensuring that handling characteristics are consistent across different vehicles and environmental conditions while maintaining relatively simple overall system architecture.
4Loss of time
If bandwidth constraints are accepted to reduce data transmission, then latency is reduced, but information completeness for remote operation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system changes parameters by selectively transmitting only primary sensor data while processing auxiliary sensor data locally. This parameter change in data transmission strategy reduces bandwidth consumption and latency while maintaining information completeness through local processing of the auxiliary data that would otherwise be transmitted.
Data Source
AI summary
In a vehicle system that can receive remote support from a remote support server (e.g., interfacing with a human or computer teleoperator), a local normalization engine locally normalizes operation of the vehicle based on locally available sensor data that may not be accessible to the remote support server. The local normalization engine applies transformations to control commands received from the remote support server to transform the command to compensate for conditions that are locally sensed and may be unknown to the remote support server. Alternatively, or in addition, the local normalization engine controls auxiliary functions of the vehicle (e.g., by activating one or more auxiliary actuators) that may not be under direct control of the remote support server.