Autonomous Vehicle Obstacle Detection for Obscured Solar Farm Posts
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Solution Overview
Problem
Autonomous vehicles face challenges in navigating and performing tasks near dynamic and obscured obstacles, such as solar panels and posts, due to limitations in GPS precision and availability, as well as obstacles created by changing solar panel orientations and vegetation growth.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of systems and methods that enable autonomous vehicles to real-time detect and determine the location and orientation of dynamic obstacles, such as solar panels, and infer the location of stationary obstacles, like posts, using direct sensing data from LIDAR and other sensors, even when these obstacles are obscured or dynamically changing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If GPS coordinates are used for navigation, then the autonomous vehicle can locate obstacles, but the precision and availability are insufficient to navigate within desired proximity of obstacles
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces LIDAR as an intermediary sensing device between the autonomous vehicle and obstacles. The LIDAR system directly measures distances to obstacles and their features, providing high-precision spatial information that compensates for GPS limitations. This intermediary sensing layer enables the vehicle to detect obstacles within desired proximity despite GPS signal unavailability or imprecision.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces reliance on satellite-based GPS electromagnetic signals with direct optical/mechanical sensing using LIDAR. By substituting the GPS-based positioning system with active LIDAR ranging, the system achieves higher measurement precision for obstacle location without being constrained by GPS availability or signal blockage.
2Productivity
If solar panels are oriented dynamically for optimal sunlight exposure, then energy generation is maximized, but the lower edge creates dynamically-changing navigational obstacles
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by implementing real-time, continuous LIDAR scanning that adapts to the changing orientation of solar panels. The system dynamically updates obstacle models as panels rotate, allowing the navigation system to respond to dynamically-changing lower edges while the panels maintain optimal energy-generating orientation throughout the day.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs feedback through continuous LIDAR measurement of solar panel positions and orientations. This real-time feedback enables the navigation system to adjust the vehicle's path dynamically, accommodating the changing lower edge positions of panels as they rotate for optimal sunlight exposure, thus resolving the conflict between energy generation and navigational safety.
3Ease of operation
If conventional sensing means are used to detect posts, then detection is straightforward, but posts obscured by vegetation growth become difficult to detect
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from two-dimensional image-based detection to three-dimensional spatial mapping using LIDAR. By measuring distance, height, and spatial position directly, the system can detect posts even when obscured by vegetation at ground level. The LIDAR's ability to measure vertical dimensions and penetrate through gaps in vegetation allows detection in the third dimension, overcoming the limitations of conventional optical sensors.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent makes the LIDAR system universal by designing it to detect multiple object types (posts, panels, terrain features) simultaneously. The same LIDAR device that maps terrain and detects panel orientations also detects obscured posts through their vertical structure, eliminating the need for separate detection systems and maintaining ease of operation while overcoming vegetation obscuration.
4Productivity
If the autonomous vehicle navigates close to obstacles to perform tasks, then task performance is improved, but the risk of collision with dynamic obstacles increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by continuously scanning and mapping the environment with LIDAR before the vehicle executes navigation maneuvers. The system detects and models dynamic obstacles such as solar panels and posts in advance, allowing the vehicle to plan collision-free paths that navigate close to obstacles for efficient task performance while maintaining safety margins through pre-computed trajectories.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach allows autonomous vehicles to navigate and perform tasks, such as mowing, within a desired proximity of obstacles, ensuring safe and efficient operation even in complex and dynamic environments.
Implementation Method 1
direct sensing data from LIDAR and other sensors
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed are solutions for an autonomous vehicle to real-time detect and determine dynamic and/or obscured obstacles to support navigation and services to within a desired proximity of said obstacles. Certain such implementations are specifically directed to autonomous mowers, for example, capable of real-time object detection to determine location and orientation of solar panels in a solar farm, for example, and based on the location and orientation of such solar panels further determine the location of their corresponding posts that may be otherwise obstructed from direct detection by the autonomous mower's other sensing systems possibly due to vegetation growth around the posts or other reasons.