Navigation System Using Street Light Data for Night Positioning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional navigation systems face challenges in accurately determining vehicle position, especially at night time due to reduced performance under poor lighting conditions, which affects the reliability of driver assistance functions.
Innovation Solution
A navigation system that utilizes an image sensor and a map database storing street lighting data, including positions and heights of street lights, to refine position estimates by matching light patterns in image data with pre-stored data, enhancing accuracy and reliability even in low ambient light conditions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional navigation systems use standard image sensors for position determination, then the system can operate during daytime with sufficient accuracy, but the system performance degrades significantly at night time under poor lighting conditions
Solution Approach 1:
The system changes the parameter being measured from general image data during daytime to specific street light position data at night time. By switching to a specialized measurement approach that targets artificial light sources rather than relying on ambient illumination, the system maintains reliability across different lighting conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The navigation system uses the street lights themselves as the measurement target rather than requiring external illumination or active sensors. The street lights provide their own signal (their position and light pattern) which the system detects and uses for position determination, eliminating the need for external lighting assistance.
2Measurement precision
If the system uses street lighting data for position refinement, then position accuracy is improved at night time, but the system complexity increases due to additional data processing requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-storing street light position data in the map database before night time operation. This pre-prepared reference data eliminates the need for complex real-time calculations during night operation, as the system only needs to match detected light patterns against the pre-stored positions rather than computing positions from scratch.
Solution Approach 2:
The system extracts only the essential feature (street light positions) from the complex map database for night time operation. By isolating and using only the relevant street light position data rather than processing all map information, the system reduces computational complexity while maintaining position accuracy.
Data Source
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AI summary
Navigation system and method of determining a vehicle position A navigation system comprises an image sensor configured to capture image data. A map database comprises street lighting data which includes, for a plurality of street lights (41), position data indicating a position (31) at which a street light (41) is installed and height data indicating a height (34) at which a light source (42) of the street light (41) is located. A processing device is configured to refine a position estimate by analyzing the image data using the street lighting data.