Visible-Light Vehicle Relay Control for Warehouse Fleet Coverage
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems for operating a fleet of vehicles, such as in a warehouse or production hall, face challenges in ensuring safety and efficiency due to limitations in communication range, obstacle detection, and collision avoidance, particularly in environments with limited visibility and complex spatial arrangements.
Innovation Solution
A system comprising vehicles equipped with bidirectional communication modules using visible light for data transmission and position determination, with a central control unit coordinating routes and orders to prevent collisions, and utilizing vehicles to extend communication range and reduce the number of stationary light sources, while allowing for automatic return and error handling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If the number of stationary light sources is reduced, then system cost and complexity decrease, but communication range and coverage area are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent converts static stationary light sources into dynamic mobile vehicles that can move throughout the facility. These autonomous vehicles equipped with light sources and communication modules dynamically extend the communication network coverage area while reducing the need for fixed infrastructure, directly resolving the contradiction between fewer light sources and larger coverage area
Solution Approach 2:
The system transitions from a two-dimensional planar communication network to a three-dimensional spatial network by utilizing vehicles that move through the facility space. This dimensional expansion allows coverage of areas that would be inaccessible to stationary sources, increasing effective communication range without proportionally increasing the number of light sources
2Area of stationary object
If vehicles operate outside transmission spatial areas, then system range is extended, but communication reliability and data transmission stability deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
Vehicles store communication data and instructions in their onboard memory before entering areas with poor signal coverage. This preliminary storage of critical information ensures that communication can continue reliably even when vehicles operate outside the optimal transmission spatial areas of stationary modules
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces intermediate communication points and relay vehicles that act as mediators between vehicles operating in coverage gaps and the central control system. These intermediaries forward data and maintain communication reliability by bridging the gap in transmission coverage areas
3Reliability
If vehicles determine relative positions autonomously, then collision avoidance improves, but position determination accuracy and reference precision worsen without external reference
Solution Approach 1:
Vehicles continuously exchange position data and status information with each other and with stationary communication modules through feedback loops. This mutual feedback mechanism allows vehicles to refine their position determination accuracy by comparing relative positions with multiple reference points, maintaining both collision avoidance capability and measurement precision
Solution Approach 2:
The system merges autonomous position determination with cooperative position verification. Vehicles combine their own sensors and calculations with data from neighboring vehicles and stationary modules, creating a hybrid position determination system that achieves both autonomous collision avoidance and high accuracy through data fusion
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
Enhances safety by reducing collision risks through precise position determination and route calculation, increases system range without additional infrastructure, and allows for efficient error handling and vehicle recovery.
Implementation Method 1
each having a respective transmission/reception module, in particular each having a respective transmission spatial area for bidirectional communication with the stationarily arranged transmission/reception module and/or a vehicle, with the respective transmission/reception module having at least one controllable light source
Implementation Method 2
respective transmission/reception module having at least one controllable light source and has a light sensor, in particular a light source of visible light and a light sensor for visible light
Data Source
Figure 1
AI summary
The invention relates to a method for operating, in particular for controlling, a system, and to a system, characterized in that the system comprises vehicles, a central control unit, and at least one stationary transmitting-receiving module, which is connected to the central control unit by means of a bidirectional communication channel and has a transmission spatial region, in particular a transmission cone, wherein each vehicle has a transmitting-receiving module, each transmitting-receiving module having, in particular, a transmission spatial region, for bidirectional communication with the stationary transmitting-receiving module and/or with a vehicle, wherein the transmitting-receiving modules each have at least one controllable light source and one light sensor, in particular one light source of visible light and one light sensor for visible light, wherein the central control unit transmits driving jobs to the vehicles by means of the stationary transmitting-receiving module, wherein a first vehicle located in the transmission spatial region of the stationary transmitting-receiving module forwards a driving job to a second vehicle located outside of the transmission spatial region of the stationary transmitting-receiving module, wherein the second vehicle transmits data, in particular status information, to the central control unit by means of the first vehicle and by means of the stationary transmitting-receiving module.