Method and apparatus for the alignment of multi-aperture systems

Abstract

A vehicle sensor system consisting of video, radar, ultrasonic or laser sensors, oriented to obtain a 360 degree view around the vehicle for the purpose of developing a situation or scene awareness. The sensors may or may not have overlapping field of views, or support the same applications, but data will be shared by all. Orientation of the sensor to the vehicle body coordinates is critical in order to accurately assess threat and respond. This system describes methods based on measuring force and rotation on each sensor and computing a dynamic alignment to first each other, then second to the vehicle.

Having described and illustrated the principles of the invention in a preferred embodiment thereof, it should be apparent that the invention may be modified in arrangement and detail without departing from such principles. I claim all modifications and variation coming within the spirit and scope of the following claims. 
     
         1 . (canceled) 
     
     
         2 . A method for determining accelerometer location on a vehicle, comprising:
 mounting a first accelerometer on a vehicle;   mounting a second accelerometer on a vehicle;   determining the center of rotation, width of the vehicle track, and wheelbase of the vehicle and logging into memory as a vehicle data set;   establishing a uniform Cartesian grid and overlaying the vehicle data set on the Cartesian grid and logging into memory as a vehicle reference frame;   placing the vehicle into a motion parallel to its longitudinal axis at a first constant speed and first steering angle;   obtaining the first constant speed and the first steering angle of the vehicle and logging into memory as an initial velocity data set;   maneuvering the vehicle into a turn, wherein the vehicle maintains the second constant speed at a second steering angle with respect to the longitudinal axis and logging into memory as a maneuver velocity data set;   measuring the centripetal acceleration of the first accelerometer and determining magnitude and direction of the acceleration measured by the first accelerometer and logging into memory as a first accelerometer data set;   measuring the centripetal acceleration of the second accelerometer and determining magnitude and direction of the acceleration measured by the second accelerometer and logging into memory as a second accelerometer data set;   downloading the data sets logged into memory, comprising at least one of the:
 vehicle reference frame, 
 initial velocity data set, 
 maneuver velocity data set, 
 first accelerometer data set, and 
 second accelerometer data set; 
   responsive to downloading the data sets from memory, using the data to determine at least one of the location and orientation of the first and second accelerometer with respect to the center of rotation on the vehicle reference frame.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the first accelerometer is mounted on a first object detection sensor. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the second accelerometer is mounted on a second object detection sensor. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the first and second object detection sensors are components within a vehicle object detection system. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein memory comprises any, hard disk, Read Only Memory (ROM), Dynamic Random Access memory (RAM), or any combination of different memory devices. 
     
     
         7 . A system for determining accelerometer location on a vehicle, comprising:
 a first accelerometer mounted on a vehicle;   a second accelerometer mounted on a vehicle;   system memory;   a vehicle data set, wherein the vehicle data set includes at least one of center of rotation, width of the vehicle track, and wheelbase of the vehicle, and wherein the vehicle data set is logged into memory;   a uniform Cartesian grid, wherein the vehicle data set is overlaid on the Cartesian grid and logged into memory as a vehicle reference frame;   vehicle controls operative to place the vehicle into a motion parallel to its longitudinal axis at a first constant speed and a first steering angle;   one or more processors operative to:
 obtain the first constant speed and a the first steering angle of the vehicle as an initial velocity data set, wherein the initial velocity data set is logged into memory; 
   vehicle controls further operative to maneuver the vehicle into a turn, wherein the vehicle maintains a second constant speed at a second steering angle with respect to the longitudinal axis to provide a maneuver velocity data set to be logged into memory;   the one or more processors further operative to:
 measure the centripetal acceleration of the first accelerometer and determine magnitude and direction of the acceleration measured by the first accelerometer to produce a first accelerometer data set, wherein the first accelerometer data set is logged into memory; 
 measure the centripetal acceleration of the second accelerometer and determine magnitude and direction of the acceleration measured by the second accelerometer to produce a second accelerometer data set, wherein the second accelerometer data set is logged into memory; 
 download the data sets logged into memory, comprising at least one of the:
 vehicle reference frame, 
 initial velocity data set, 
 maneuver velocity data set, 
 first accelerometer data set, and 
 second accelerometer data set; 
 
 download the data sets from memory, wherein the processor uses the data to determine at least one of the location and orientation of the first and second accelerometer with respect to the center of rotation on the vehicle reference frame. 
   
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein the first accelerometer is mounted on a first object detection sensor. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the second accelerometer is mounted on a second object detection sensor. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the first and second object detection sensors are components within a vehicle object detection system. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein memory comprises any, hard disk, Read Only Memory (ROM), Dynamic Random Access memory (RAM), or any combination of different memory devices. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein memory includes central memory that all or some of the one or more processors can access. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein memory comprises one or more different memories that are accessed by one or more specific processors.