Occupancy Map Updating With Correction Cells for Autonomous Vehicles
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Solution Overview
Problem
Occupancy maps used by autonomous vehicles become outdated when the environment changes, leading to inadequate representation of the current environment, as they only provide a snapshot and do not account for changes in occupancy of areas over time.
Innovation Solution
An autonomous vehicle scans its environment using sensors to detect discrepancies between current occupancy and original occupancy information, creating a correction occupancy map that updates the occupancy information of cells in the occupancy map, ensuring the map remains current and accurate.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If occupancy maps are used to represent the environment, then the environment can be modeled in discrete cells, but the map becomes outdated when the environment changes over time
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by continuously scanning the environment and detecting discrepancies between current and original occupancy information before the map becomes completely outdated. This proactive approach allows the system to maintain an updated correction occupancy map that reflects current environmental conditions, preventing the accumulation of significant errors in the original occupancy map.
2Reliability
If the occupancy map is updated continuously, then the map remains current, but additional computational processing is required
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the occupancy map updating process by maintaining a separate correction occupancy map that only contains discrepancies from the original map. This segmentation allows the system to update only the necessary portions of the environment representation rather than processing the entire map, reducing computational complexity while maintaining map currency.
3Measurement precision
If sensors scan the environment continuously, then real-time occupancy changes are detected, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses feedback by comparing sensor scan results with the original occupancy map to detect only changes in occupancy status. This feedback mechanism allows the system to scan the environment continuously for accuracy while minimizing energy consumption by only processing and updating cells where discrepancies are detected, rather than uniformly processing the entire environment.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a method for updating an occupancy map (30) assigned to an environment (20), and a mobile vehicle (1). According to the method, an occupancy map (30) having a plurality of discrete cells (7) is provided, each of said cells comprising original occupancy information about the original occupancy of corresponding regions of the environment (20). A partial region of the environment (20) is scanned by a sensor (6) of a vehicle (1). On the basis of the scanned partial region of the environment (20), discrepancies between the current occupancy of the partial region and the original occupancy information of the corresponding cells (7) of the occupancy map (30) are identified and the identified discrepancies are bundled to form a correction occupancy map (61, 81), which is assigned to the scanned partial region of the environment (20) and the cells of which each comprise occupancy information about the current occupancy of the partial region. The occupancy map (30) is subsequently updated by the occupancy information of the cells (7) assigned to the partial region being updated by the corresponding occupancy information of the cells of the correction occupancy map (61, 81).