Timed Quality Temporal Logic for Autonomous Vehicle Perception Evaluation

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative Solutions
Generate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

Current methods for evaluating perception systems in autonomous vehicles, particularly those using Deep Neural Networks, lack formal verification techniques to ensure correctness and performance, especially in handling temporal dependencies and dynamic object changes in real-time image recognition tasks.

Innovation Solution

The implementation of Timed Quality Temporal Logic (TQTL) provides a formal framework for evaluating the quality of perception algorithms by using quality monitors to score learning-based perception results, incorporating existential and universal quantifiers to reason about dynamically changing object numbers and time constraints, enabling precise temporal reasoning.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If formal verification techniques are applied to perception systems, then reliability and correctness are improved, but device complexity and difficulty of detecting and measuring increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecorrectness of perception systemVSAvoidcomplexity of verification framework
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent introduces an intermediary verification framework that acts as a mediator between the perception system and formal verification methods. This framework includes components such as the scene generator, hypothesis generator, and quality monitor that translate complex verification tasks into manageable intermediate representations, thereby improving reliability without directly imposing the full complexity of formal verification on the perception system itself.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Solution Approach 2:

The verification framework is segmented into distinct modular components: scene generator (creates test scenarios), hypothesis generator (formulates verification hypotheses), quality monitor (evaluates perception quality), and counter-example generator (identifies failures). Each component handles a specific aspect of verification, making the overall complex task manageable and maintainable while ensuring thorough reliability checking.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

2Reliability

If extensive virtual testing is conducted to improve confidence in vision-based systems, then reliability is improved, but loss of time and productivity decrease

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveconfidence in vision-based systemVSAvoidtime for extensive testing
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The framework performs preliminary actions by generating diverse test scenes and hypotheses in advance before actual perception testing. The scene generator pre-creates various driving scenarios with different objects, conditions, and edge cases, while the hypothesis generator pre-formulates verification hypotheses. This preliminary preparation enables more efficient subsequent testing by avoiding ad-hoc scene creation during actual evaluation, thereby reducing overall testing time while maintaining comprehensive coverage.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

3Measurement precision

If quality monitors are used to score perception results with temporal reasoning, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveprecision of perception quality evaluationVSAvoidcomplexity of quality monitor
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The quality monitor replaces traditional mechanical or heuristic evaluation methods with formal temporal logic-based assessment. Instead of using simple metrics or rule-based systems, the framework employs temporal logic formulas to precisely specify and evaluate temporal dependencies in perception quality. This substitution enables rigorous measurement of temporal aspects such as object persistence, motion consistency, and temporal relationships between detected objects, achieving high measurement precision through formal methods.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

Data Source

PatentUS11586914B2Systems and methods for evaluating perception systems for autonomous vehicles using quality temporal logic
Publication Date: 2023.02.21 THE ARIZONA BOARD OF REGENTS ON BEHALF OF THE UNIV OF ARIZONA
  • US11586914B2 patent drawing
  • US11586914B2 patent drawing
  • US11586914B2 patent drawing

AI summary

Various embodiments for systems and methods of evaluating perception systems for autonomous vehicles using a quality temporal logic are disclosed herein.