Marine Proximity Sensing with Automated Sensor Location Estimation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current proximity sensing systems on marine vessels require laborious and exacting installation measurements, are error-prone, and lack flexibility in sensor placement, leading to increased costs and potential failures in vessel control systems.
Innovation Solution
A system utilizing a main inertial measurement unit (IMU) at a known location and co-located IMUs with proximity sensors to automatically determine relative orientation and position transforms, allowing for flexible and automated sensor calibration without prior specification of sensor locations, enabling 'plug-and-play' installation and customization.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If traditional proximity sensing systems are installed on a marine vessel, then the system can detect objects near the vessel, but the installation requires laborious and exacting measurements which increases cost and potential for errors
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs self-calibration by automatically determining sensor locations and orientations through data processing from the IMU and proximity sensors themselves, without requiring external measurement tools or manual calibration procedures. The calibration data is generated and stored in the database autonomously, eliminating the need for laborious installation measurements while maintaining high precision through automated coordinate transform calculations.
2Adaptability or versatility
If traditional proximity sensing systems are installed on a marine vessel, then the system can detect objects near the vessel, but the sensor placement is rigid and lacks flexibility
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adapts to any sensor placement configuration by automatically calculating the specific location and orientation of each sensor through IMU data comparison and coordinate transform operations. Rather than requiring sensors to be installed at predetermined fixed positions, the system flexibly accommodates various mounting locations while maintaining measurement precision through automated calibration that determines the exact coordinates of each sensor in the vessel's reference frame.
3Ease of manufacture
If automated sensor calibration is implemented, then installation costs and errors are reduced, but the system requires complex data processing to determine relative orientation and position transforms
Solution Approach 1:
The IMU serves as an intermediary reference device that mediates between the known main installation point and the unknown sensor locations. By using the IMU's measured orientation and position data as an intermediate reference frame, the system can calculate coordinate transforms to any sensor location without requiring direct measurement between all points, thereby simplifying the overall calibration process while maintaining accuracy through mathematical transform operations.
Data Source
AI summary
A system for proximity sensing on a marine vessel includes a main inertial measurement unit (IMU) positioned at a main installation attitude and a main location, a first proximity sensor configured to measure proximity of objects from a first sensor location, and a first sensor IMU positioned at the first sensor location and at a first installation attitude. A sensor processor is configured to receive main IMU data from the main IMU and first IMU data from the first sensor IMU, and then determine a relative orientation transform between the main installation attitude and the first installation attitude by comparing the main IMU data and the first IMU data, and then determine a relative position transform between the main location and the first sensor location based on the relative orientation transform, the main IMU data, and the first IMU data.