US 12,123,721 B2
Range image aided INS
Bruno M. Scherzinger, Ontario (CA)
Assigned to Trimble Inc., Westminster, CO (US)
Filed by Trimble Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US)
Filed on Sep. 18, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/369,613.
Application 18/369,613 is a continuation of application No. 17/178,620, filed on Feb. 18, 2021, granted, now 11,815,356.
Prior Publication US 2024/0003687 A1, Jan. 4, 2024
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G01C 21/16 (2006.01); G01C 19/02 (2006.01)
CPC G01C 21/1652 (2020.08) [G01C 19/02 (2013.01); G01C 21/1656 (2020.08)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of navigation comprising:
measuring, using an inertial measurement unit (IMU) attached to a dynamic platform, a specific force vector and an angular rate vector of the dynamic platform;
estimating a current navigation solution of a position and an orientation of the dynamic platform at a current time based on at least: (i) a last navigation solution at a prior time, and (ii) the specific force vector and the angular rate vector measured by the IMU;
acquiring, using a range image (RI) sensor attached to the dynamic platform, current RI data at the current time and last RI data at the prior time;
performing an a priori transformation of the last RI data to obtain transformed last RI data based on the last navigation solution;
performing an a priori transformation of the current RI data to obtain transformed current RI data based on the current navigation solution;
constructing a delta pose registration cost gradient (DPRCG) measurement based on (i) the transformed last RI data, (ii) the transformed current RI data, (iii) the current navigation solution, and (iv) the last navigation solution; and
determining an absolute navigation solution of a current position and a current orientation of the dynamic platform based on at least (i) the current navigation solution, and (ii) the DPRCG measurement.