Vehicle Collision Avoidance via Tangential Circular Arc Evasion
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing collision avoidance systems for unmanned aircraft are impractical for visual flight scenarios due to reliance on expensive and far-sighted sensor systems for early detection of obstacles, and they fail to guarantee reliable evasion of non-cooperative, stationary or moving obstacles with low-cost, small sensor systems.
Innovation Solution
A method that detects obstacles, defines a safety area, calculates an evasive path as a circular arc with a tangential straight segment, and adjusts the vehicle's movement to follow this path, ensuring the vehicle maintains a safe distance from obstacles using a minimal sensor range based on speed and curvature radius, allowing for effective collision avoidance with low hardware expenditure.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a far-sighted sensor system is used for early detection of obstacles, then collision avoidance reliability is improved, but system cost and complexity increase disproportionately
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary calculation of the evasive movement path before actual collision avoidance is needed. The microcontroller pre-computes the circular arc path and tangential straight line segment based on current position and obstacle data, so that when collision is detected, the pre-calculated path can be executed immediately without complex real-time computation, thus achieving reliable avoidance with simpler hardware
Solution Approach 2:
The invention uses a circular arc path for evasive movement instead of straight-line assumptions. The circular path with radius R is calculated to be tangent to the obstacle's safety area, providing smooth and reliable collision avoidance. This curved path approach works effectively with short sensor ranges, resolving the contradiction between reliability and sensor system complexity
2Use of energy by moving object
If straight alternative routes are calculated for collision avoidance, then energy consumption is reduced, but reliability deteriorates for obstacles detected at small distances
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adapts the evasive path composition based on detection distance. When obstacles are detected early, a straight line path is used for energy efficiency. When obstacles are detected at short distances, the system switches to a circular arc path that can be executed quickly with smaller sensor ranges, thus maintaining reliability while managing energy consumption based on the situation
3Device complexity
If a small sensor radius is used on board the vehicle, then system cost is reduced, but the ability to detect obstacles early enough for safe evasion is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The invention compensates for the limited sensor range by utilizing the time dimension through pre-calculation. The microcontroller continuously calculates the evasive path in advance, and when an obstacle is detected within the short sensor range, the pre-computed circular arc path is executed immediately. This transforms the spatial limitation into a temporal solution, allowing safe evasion with compact sensors
4Ease of operation
If the flight altitude and speed are kept constant, then operational simplicity is maintained, but the ability to resolve air traffic conflicts is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The evasive movement path is segmented into two distinct parts: a circular arc segment for initial deviation from the collision course, and a tangential straight line segment for completing the avoidance maneuver. This segmentation allows the system to maintain constant altitude and speed throughout the maneuver, achieving conflict resolution through spatial path division rather than temporal speed/altitude changes
Data Source
AI summary
One example of the invention relates to a method for controlling the movement of an object for avoiding collisions with obstacles; the method comprises the following: recognizing at least one moving or stationary obstacle; defining a safety region around the obstacle moving along with the obstacle, wherein a penetration of the object into the same is to be avoided; detecting, whether the obstacle, including the safety region thereof, is on a collision course with the object; calculating an evasion movement path past the obstacle such that the evasion movement path extends at least approximately in the manner of a circular path, and said path or a straight line extending tangentially thereto is tangential to the safety region around the obstacle; steering the object such that said object initially approximately follows the calculated evasion movement path, wherein the calculated evasion movement is tangential to the present movement of the object.