Patent Application
20240370971
Vehicle Surround View Systems provide occupants of a vehicle with a visualization of the area surrounding the vehicle. For drivers, Surround View Systems provide the driver with the ability to view the surrounding area, including blind spots where the driver's line of sight is occluded by parts of the vehicle or other objects in the environment, without the need to reposition (e.g., turn their head, get off the driver's seat, lean a certain direction, etc.). This visualization may assist and facilitate a variety of driving maneuvers, such as smoothly entering or exiting a parking spot without hitting vulnerable road users like pedestrians or objects such as a road curb or other vehicles. More and more vehicles, especially luxury brands or new models, are being produced with Surround View Systems equipped.
Existing vehicle Surround View Systems usually utilize fisheye cameras—typically mounted at positions towards the front, left, rear and right sides of the vehicle body or rig—to perceive the surrounding area from multiple directions. Additional cameras may be included in special cases, like for long trucks or vehicles with trailers. Frames from the individual cameras are stitched together using camera parameters to align frames and blending techniques to combine overlapping regions to provide a horizontal 360° surround view visualization.
Typically, the vehicle (e.g., a vehicle rig) and different cameras installed on the vehicle have their own three-dimensional (3D) coordinate systems. As such, coordinate systems for the cameras and the vehicle (e.g., vehicle rig coordinate system) may be aligned with respect to a world space. Image stitching pipelines for Surround View Systems typically use data captured using cameras that are calibrated relative to a vehicle rig coordinate system, which is itself defined relative to a world space (e.g., by defining a vehicle rig coordinate system with an origin located at the ground projection of the center of the rear vehicle axis). Typically, the vehicle rig coordinate system is assumed to have a fixed height relative to the ground. Camera calibration may relate the coordinate systems for the cameras to the vehicle rig coordinate system, and the location of the vehicle in combination with an assumed fixed height and flat orientation relative to the ground may relate the vehicle rig coordinate system to the world space. As such, an image stitching pipeline may include a projection that maps image pixels from image space to the coordinate systems of their respective cameras, to the vehicle rig coordinate system, and/or into world space using known transformations.
However, conventional camera calibration and image stitching pipelines for Surround View Systems have some drawbacks. Camera calibration is typically performed when the ground is flat. Cameras are installed on the sprung mass (vehicle body or rig) of the vehicle, and the sprung mass is attached to the wheels via the suspension. Calibration typically occurs when the sprung mass is in a resting state, and therefore when the positions of the installed cameras relative to the wheels and ground remain fixed. However, in real-world driving conditions, the sprung mass (and hence each camera) moves with respect to the wheels and ground due to suspension movements caused by rapid acceleration, deceleration, turning maneuvers, bumps, holes, uneven road surface, and the like. Since calibration and transformation from image space to world space typically assumes a fixed camera height relative to a flat ground, when the sprung mass moves in situations like this, the assumption breaks down and the accuracy of the calibrated extrinsic parameters decreases, causing visual artifacts in the resulting stitched image such as misalignment at stitching seams and wobbling in the stitched image over time. Since these artifacts may obscure or omit useful visual information and are often distracting to the driver, the artifacts can interfere with the safe operation of the vehicle. As a result, there is a need for improved visualization techniques that reduce visual artifacts, better represent useful visual information in a stitched image, and/or otherwise improve the visual quality of stitched images.
Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to image stitching with ego-motion compensated camera calibration. Systems and methods are disclosed that compensate for dynamic sensor (e.g., camera) movements by employing ego-motion compensation to projections of sensor (e.g., image) data.
In contrast to conventional systems, such as those described above, projections of sensor (e.g., image) data may be compensated with ego-motion information to more accurately align the projected sensor data with the surrounding environment (e.g., the ground). For example, techniques described herein may be used to compensate camera calibrations and/or camera projections in an image stitching pipeline with computed ego-motion. In some embodiments, one or more sensors (e.g., cameras) of an ego-object (e.g., a vehicle) may be calibrated to determine extrinsic parameters for each sensor, and the extrinsic parameters may be used to project sensor data captured by the one or more sensors to corresponding 3D location(s) in a 3D representation of the surrounding environment. The rotation and/or translation of the body (e.g., a sprung mass or suspension) of the ego-object with respect to the calibration state (e.g., sprung mass in a resting state, fixed height relative to flat ground) may be estimated based on detected ego-motion of the ego-object, and the estimated rotation and/or translation may be used to generate and apply a transformation that compensates the extrinsic parameters for each sensor and/or compensates the projection of sensor data to account for movement with respect to the calibration state (e.g., rotation with respect to flat ground, translation with respect to the resting state of the sprung mass). The projection may be used in an image stitching pipeline, for example, to generate a surround view visualization of the environment surrounding the ego-object.
In some embodiments, rotation of the body of the ego-object relative to the calibration state may be approximated as rotation relative to the ground and may be estimated from one or more ego-motion signals, such as a suspension orientation signal generated using a suspension level sensor (e.g., by calculating rotation based on measured distance between the suspension and the road), a suspension orientation signal generated using a suspension motion model (e.g., estimating rotation based on estimated stiffness of the ego-object and detected acceleration), a low-passed trajectory signal generated based on a detected trajectory (e.g., filtering the up-vector of a measured ego-motion trajectory), and/or others. Additionally or alternatively, rotation information may be estimated using structure-from-motion (e.g., estimating rotation based on triangulating and tracking positions of observed objects on the ground), a deep neural network (e.g., predicting a representation of rotation based on an input representation of the road surface), and/or otherwise. Translation of the body of the ego-object with respect to the resting state of the sprung mass may be estimated from one or more ego-motion signals, such as a suspension displacement signal generated using one or more suspension level sensors (e.g., measuring or calculating displacement of the suspension relative to its resting state, measuring or calculating a change in height of the suspension above the ground relative to its resting height above the ground).
As such, detected ego-motion may be used to estimate rotation and/or translation of an ego-object and ego-motion compensate projections of sensor data, such as in image stitching, placement of 3D models at detected 3D locations, and/or other scenarios.
The present systems and methods for image stitching with ego-motion compensated camera calibration are described in detail below with reference to the attached drawing figures, wherein:
Systems and methods are disclosed related to image stitching with ego-motion compensated camera calibration. For example, systems and methods are disclosed that compensate for dynamic sensor (e.g., camera) movements by employing ego-motion compensation to projections of sensor (e.g., image) data to more accurately align the projected sensor data with the surrounding environment (e.g., the ground). The present techniques may be utilized to visualize an environment around an ego-object, such as a vehicle, robot, and/or other type of object, in systems such as parking visualization systems, Surround View Systems, remote piloting, surround view streaming systems, and/or others.
Although the present disclosure may be described with respect to an example autonomous vehicle 1200 (alternatively referred to herein as “vehicle 1200” or “ego-vehicle 1200,” an example of which is described with respect to
At a high level, one or more sensors (e.g., cameras) of an ego-object (e.g., a vehicle) may be used to detect sensor data (e.g., image data) representing an environment surrounding the ego-object. The rotation and/or translation of the body (e.g., a sprung mass or suspension) of the ego-object with respect to the calibration state (e.g., sprung mass in a resting state, fixed height relative to flat ground) may be estimated based on ego-motion of the ego-object, and the rotation and/or translation may be used to ego-motion compensate a projection of the sensor data, for example, in a stitching pipeline (e.g., a projection of image data into a stitched image of the surrounding environment). Rotation and/or translation may be estimated using one or more ego-motion signals, and the estimation technique may depend on the use case (e.g., whether detected during operation or by design). As such, the estimated rotation and/or translation may be used to compensate for the motion of the sensors relative to the calibration state (e.g., motion relative to the ground, changes in suspension height).
Generally, rotation may be estimated from one or more ego-motion signals; for example, using an inertial measurement unit (IMU) (e.g., filtering the up-vector of a measured vehicle trajectory), a suspension level sensor (e.g., calculating rotation based on measured distance between the suspension and the road), a suspension motion model (e.g., estimating rotation based on estimated stiffness of the ego-object and detected acceleration), structure-from-motion (e.g., estimating rotation based on triangulating and tracking positions of observed objects on the ground), a deep neural network (e.g., predicting a representation of rotation based on an input representation of the road surface), and/or otherwise. In some embodiments, the rotation estimation technique may be selected based on the use case or detected scenario (e.g., estimating rotation using a suspension level sensor or suspension motion model for on-road driving, estimating rotation by filtering the up-vector of a measured vehicle trajectory for off-road driving).
In some embodiments, the estimated rotation and/or translation is used in a stitching pipeline to compensate for the motion of the sensors (e.g., and the sprung mass) with respect to the calibration state (e.g., rotation with respect to flat ground, translation with respect to the resting state of the sprung mass). For example, a transformation representing the estimated rotation and/or translation (e.g., a projection matrix) may be generated, and the transformation (or a derivation thereof) may be applied in the stitching pipeline (e.g., by applying the transformation to the calibrated extrinsic parameters for each sensor to ego-motion compensate the calibrated extrinsic parameters, and using the ego-motion compensated extrinsic parameters to transform a projection of corresponding sensor data). As such, image data from each camera may be aligned, ego-motion compensated, stitched, and projected (in any suitable order) to create a stitched image, such as a 360° (“surround view”) visualization of the environment surrounding the vehicle, and a view of the surround view visualization may be rendered. The surround view visualization of the environment may take the form of a stitched panorama, a stitched 3600 image, a top-down projection of a stitched 3600 image, a textured 3D geometric surface modeling the surrounding environment in the shape of a 3D bowl, a rendering of one of the foregoing, and/or other forms. For example, (e.g., stitched) image data may be mapped onto a textured 3D surface in a 3D representation of the environment; a virtual camera may be placed in the 3D environment with a specified location and/or orientation and used to render a view of the textured 3D surface into a viewport from the perspective of the virtual camera; and/or the rendered view may be presented on a monitor visible to an operator or occupants (e.g., driver) of the ego-object (e.g., vehicle).
As such, the techniques described herein may be used to ego-motion compensate camera calibrations and/or camera projections in an image stitching pipeline. Applying ego-compensation in this manner reduces misalignments at stitching seams and wobbling in stitched images over time in comparison to prior techniques by more accurately aligning the projected sensor data and its aligned representation with the surrounding physical environment (e.g., the ground plane). In other words, image stitching using ego-motion compensated camera projections helps reduce visual artifacts in stitched images. As such, the techniques described herein may be used to generate improved visualizations that reduce visual artifacts, better represent useful visual information in a surround view visualization, and promote safe operation of the vehicle.
With reference to
In an example embodiment, the ego-motion compensated projection module 100 of
In an example embodiment involving a Surround View System, the Surround View System may be incorporated into an ego-object, such as the autonomous vehicle 1200 of
Generally, image stitching may be performed on image data from any number and any type of camera, such as those described below with respect to the autonomous vehicle 1200 of
In order to facilitate image stitching, the ego-motion compensated projection module 100 may align image data representing overlapping fields of view (e.g., multiple images) by projecting the image data into an aligned or composite representation. More specifically, the ego-motion compensated projection module 100 may back-project each pixel of the image data (e.g., the input pixel 105) from its original image space into a common world-aligned 3D coordinate system, and project the image data from the world-aligned 3D coordinate system into the aligned or composite representation (e.g., a top-down projection image). In
In some embodiments, the back-projection 110 (pixel2cameraray) uses the camera's intrinsic parameters 108 (representing the optical center and focal length of the camera) to map the input pixel 105 to a corresponding 3D location in the 3D coordinate system of the camera that captured the image input. The input pixel 105 may be represented in pixel coordinates in image space, and the back-projection 110 may back-project the input pixel 105 from pixel coordinates to a corresponding 3D point using any known technique to obtain a corresponding depth value for the input pixel 105. For example, the depth value may be obtained from a corresponding pixel from a depth map or range image (e.g., captured using LiDAR or RADAR sensor(s); generated by a deep neural network from image data, LiDAR or RADAR detections, and/or other sensor data), from a 3D model of the surrounding environment (e.g., a 3D bowl comprising a circular ground plane for the inner portion of the bowl centered around the ego-object and connected to an outer bowl represented as a curved surface rising from the ground plane to a height or with a slope that increases proportionally to the distance from the bowl center), and/or otherwise. As such, the back-projection 110 may be considered as mapping the input pixel 105 into a camera ray 115 that originates from the center of the camera, and passes through a corresponding 3D location for the pixel defined in the 3D coordinate system of the camera that captured the image input.
Having converted the input pixel 105 into a representation of a 3D ray (the camera ray 115), the transformations 120, 130, and 140 may convert the representation of the 3D ray from a 3D coordinate system of the input camera to a 3D coordinate system that is aligned with the rig on which the camera is installed (e.g., a rig ray 125 defined in a rig-aligned coordinate system, such as a vehicle rig coordinate system), a 3D coordinate system that is aligned with a representation of the surrounding environment (e.g., a road ray 135 defined in a road-aligned coordinate system), and/or a 3D coordinate system that is aligned with a virtual camera in the representation of the surrounding environment (e.g., a virtual camera ray 145 defined in a coordinate system of a virtual camera aligned with a desired orthographic projection).
For example, given a camera's extrinsic parameters 118 (e.g., defining the camera's location and orientation and relative to a rig coordinate system, determined for a camera through a calibration procedure), the transformation 120 (camera2rig) may use the extrinsic parameters 118 to convert the camera ray 115 from camera space to a rig ray 125 in rig space (e.g., a ray that originates from the center of the rig coordinate system and passes through a corresponding 3D location for the pixel defined in the 3D coordinate system of the rig on which the camera that captured the image input was installed). The ego-motion compensation module 126 may use a motion signal 128 to generate and apply a transformation 130 (rig2road) that converts the rig ray 125 from rig space to a road ray 135 in a road-aligned space, as described in greater detail below. The transformation 140 (road2virtualcam) may apply a transformation that converts the road ray 135 from the road-aligned space to a virtual camera ray 145 in virtual camera space. Each of the transformations 120, 130, 140 (and/or a combination thereof) may be represented and/or applied as a corresponding 3D transformation matrix (e.g., a camera transformation matrix representing a rotation and/or translation of a vector in 3D space). In some embodiments, the transformations 120 and 130 are combined (e.g., by multiplying a transformation matrix representing the extrinsic parameters 118 for each camera with a transformation matrix representing one or more rotational components of the motion signal 128, such as pitch and roll, to generate a transformation matrix representing ego-motion compensated extrinsic parameters), and the combined transformation is applied. These are just a few examples, and other variations are contemplated within the scope of the present disclosure.
The projection 150 (virtualray2pixel) may project the virtual camera ray 145 from virtual camera space into a coordinate system for an aligned or composite representation (e.g., into pixel coordinates for a corresponding output pixel 155 of a projection image, such as a top-down projection image). The process may be repeated to map multiple pixels into regions of overlapping image data in the aligned or composite representation. In some embodiments, a UV mapping module maps the aligned or composite representation onto a 3D (e.g., bowl) representation of the environment, texturizing the 3D representation with image data, to generate a textured 3D (e.g., bowl) representation (e.g., a UV mapped mesh, using forward or reverse mapping), and a viewport renderer may position and orient a virtual camera in a 3D scene with the textured 3D representation and use the virtual camera to render a view of the textured 3D representation for a corresponding viewport.
Returning to
In some embodiments, rotation of the body of the ego-object relative to a surface such as the road may be estimated using a suspension orientation signal that is generated using a suspension level sensor or a suspension motion model. For example, one or more suspension level sensors may be used to measure displacement or distance between the suspension and the road, and the measurements may be used to estimate rotation of the suspension with respect to the road surface. In an example embodiment that uses a suspension motion model, a linear model may be used to estimate the motion of the suspension in each desired rotational direction (e.g., pitch and roll) as a function of estimated stiffness in a particular rotational direction and acceleration in the same rotational direction (e.g., detected using an IMU). For example, in some embodiments that use a linear model, multiplying stiffness by acceleration yields an angle of deviation, which may be taken as the angle of rotation in that direction.
In some embodiments, rotation of the body of the ego-object relative to a surface such as the road may be estimated using a low-passed trajectory signal. Given a detected ego-object trajectory (e.g., detected using an IMU with a complementary or Kalman filter), applying low-pass filtering to the up-vector of the detected trajectory may be used to approximate a smoothed ground plane and represent the shape of the road, and applying high-pass filtering to the up-vector of the detected trajectory may be used to approximate more transient rotations such as those that result from suspension movements caused by rapid acceleration, deceleration, turning maneuvers, bumps, holes, uneven road surface, and the like. As such, a detected up-vector representing detected orientation with respect to the horizon may be extracted using an IMU, the orientation of the ground plane may be estimated by low-pass filtering the up-vector, the orientation of the body may be estimated by high-pass filtering the up-vector, and rotation of the body with respect to the ground may be estimated by taking the difference between the two (the estimated orientation of the body minus the estimated orientation of the ground).
A suspension orientation signal and a low-passed trajectory signal are just two examples of possible ego-motion signals that may be used as the motion signal 128 by the ego-motion compensation module 126. Additionally or alternatively, rotation and/or translation may be estimated using structure-from-motion (e.g., estimating rotation and/or translation based on triangulating and tracking positions of observed objects on the ground), a deep neural network (e.g., predicting a representation of rotation and/or translation based on an input representation of the road surface), and/or otherwise.
In some embodiments, the type of motion signal and corresponding rotation and/or translation estimation technique used by the ego-motion compensation module 126 may be selected by design. Comparing a suspension orientation signal and a low-passed trajectory signal (and corresponding rotation estimation techniques) as two possible options, the different options may outperform one another in different use cases.
Additionally or alternatively, the ego-motion compensation module 126 may support the use of multiple types of motion signals and/or corresponding rotation and/or translation estimation techniques. In some embodiments, the type of motion signal and corresponding rotation and/or translation estimation technique used by the ego-motion compensation module 126 may be triggered by a configurable setting, such as an on-road/off-road driving setting. For example, a suspension orientation signal may be assigned to an on-road driving setting based on an expectation that it may compensate for suspension movement/rotation caused by acceleration and turning maneuvers better than a low-passed trajectory signal, and a low-passed trajectory signal may be assigned to an off-road driving setting based on an expectation that it may compensate for suspension movement/rotation caused by bumps and holes better than a suspension orientation signal.
In some embodiments, the ego-motion compensation module 126 may detect a particular use case and apply a corresponding signal and rotation/translation estimation technique based on an assigned mapping between detected use cases and corresponding signals/rotation estimation techniques. An example mapping may assign: suspension movement/rotation caused by acceleration, deceleration, or turns to a suspension orientation signal; suspension movement/rotation caused by bumps and holes to low-passed trajectory signal; suspension movement/rotation caused by entering a ramp from flat ground to a low-passed trajectory signal; suspension movement/rotation caused by driving on a flat but inclined ramp to a suspension orientation signal; suspension movement/rotation caused by climbing over a curb to a low-passed trajectory signal; and/or suspension movement/rotation caused by parking on a curb to a suspension orientation signal. Generally, the ego-motion compensation module 126 may detect the applicable use case in any suitable manner. For example, the applicable use case may be derived from map data (e.g., storing locations of known bumps/holes in the road, ramps, curbs/road boundaries) and/or the ego-object's current position, trajectory, and/or turn status (e.g., assigning a suspension orientation signal during turns, and otherwise using map/position data to determine the applicable use case). Additionally or alternatively, a deep neural network may be used to predict the use case based on an input representation of the surrounding scene (e.g., image data, road profile) generated using sensor data captured by one or more sensors of the ego-object. In some embodiments, the ego-motion compensation module 126 may compute multiple rotation and/or translation estimates using different techniques, and a deep neural network may be used to predict which of the estimates is more likely to be accurate. These are just a few options, and others may additionally or alternatively be implemented within the scope of the present disclosure.
Although various embodiments are described as using ego-motion compensation during a projection of sensor data in the context of image stitching, in some embodiments, ego-motion compensated projections may be used in other scenarios. For example, in the context of rendering a virtual or augmented representation of a 3D environment surrounding an ego-object, objects in the environment may be detected from sensor data captured using one or more sensors of the ego-object, and their corresponding 3D locations in the 3D environment may be determined using a projection that relies on calibrated extrinsic parameters of the corresponding sensor. As such, a virtual representation of the detected object (e.g., a virtual model of a car, for example) may be placed in the virtual representation of the 3D environment at the projected 3D location (e.g., on the ground plane). Because this projection relies on extrinsic parameters which may be calibrated relative to a flat ground and/or sprung mass at rest, movement of the body of the ego-object (e.g., rotation relative to the ground, translation relative to the resting state of the sprung mass) can introduce inaccuracies in the placement of the virtual model. Using ego-motion compensated projections can therefore improvement the accuracy of the placement of the virtual model in the virtual representation of the 3D environment. This scenario is just an example, and other scenarios that use ego-motion compensated projections and/or ego-motion compensated calibrated extrinsic parameters are contemplated within the scope of the present disclosure.
Now referring to
The method 900, at block B904, includes generating an ego-motion compensated projection of frames of image data representing overlapping views of the environment using a transformation that is based at least on the representation of the estimated rotation or the estimated translation of the body of the ego-object. For example, with respect to
The method 1000, at block B1004, includes generating an ego-motion compensated projection of frames of image data representing overlapping views of the environment using a transformation that is based at least on the representation of the estimated rotation or the estimated translation of the suspension of the ego-object. For example, with respect to
The method 1000, at block B1006, includes generating a surround view visualization based at least on the ego-motion compensated projection. For example, a Surround View System may be incorporated into an ego-object, such as the autonomous vehicle 1200 of
As mentioned, it may be desirable to generate a single, consistent view of this surrounding environment based at least in part upon these captured images 1130. This may include, for example, generating a composite image 1150 as illustrated in
In this example, the camera images may be provided to a view generator 1104 that may use these input camera images 1102 to generate an output view or composite image, or video stream, for presentation via at least one display 1124, such as a monitor, projector, or wearable display, among other such options. In this example, the camera images 1102 may be provided to a stitching module 1106 that will attempt to stitch multiple images together to generate a composite representation. The stitching module may use any of a number of different stitching or compositing algorithms, as may perform various blending or other image manipulation techniques. In at least one embodiment, the stitching module may use various intrinsic and extrinsic parameters of the cameras, at least to the extent values for these parameters are known and available from a camera database 1108 or other such location, in order to properly assign the image data for compositing. This may include, for example, information such as the relative poses or orientation of these different cameras, such that at least an initial stitching position and orientation may be determined for each image. It should be understood that for view generator systems that receive sequences of images or streams of video frame data, the images or frames to be composited may be those that correspond to, or were captured at, the substantially same point in time, at least to an extent to which such capture can be synchronized, or otherwise represent the same time slice.
The camera calibration parameters may be used to map the camera views into a stitched space, such as may correspond to a top-down view or “bowl” view in a projection space. This projection may be used to identify any overlapping regions between adjacent cameras, where one or more blending algorithms may be used to blend at least some of the pixels to make the stitching less visible or apparent. The stitching module 1106 may use values for one or more stitching parameters, as may be stored to a parameter database 1110 or other such location. Values for these parameters may determine aspects of how component images are stitched together, as may relate to weightings or locations for blending and other such aspects. Example stitching parameters include, but are not limited to, blending method (e.g., alpha blending or multiband blending), blending width, blending alpha map shape (e.g., angular based or perpendicular based), seam type (e.g., diagonal seam, vertical seam, or horizontal seam), and seam location. The stitching module 1106 may use values for these various parameters with the input constituent images to generate a composite image, or stitched image 1112, that provides a single representation of an environment, scene, or location at a point in time, such as a “current” point in time, accounting for some amount of latency in transmission and processing.
If a scene is not harmonized between cameras, it may be desirable to use a larger blending weight or radius (e.g., 200) to provide for a smoother transition between data from images. If it is a highly structured scene with lots of buildings and edges, for example, it may be desirable to use a smaller blending weight (e.g., 2) to avoid ghosting and other artifacts due to misalignment between cameras. Single band blending may be used where images are blended in only one band (or a subset) of multiple bands. In at least one embodiment, constituent images are decomposed into different frequency bands or components, and different blending weights may be used for each of these bands or components.
In order to attempt to provide stitched images of high subjective quality, some amount of processing of a stitched image may be performed to attempt to assess the quality, as well as to use a result of that assessment to make any changes to the stitching parameters that may be desirable to improve the quality, at least where the determined quality is below a target or threshold value or determination. In this example, both the stitched image 1112 from the stitching module 1106 and the constituent images 1114, used to generate that stitched image, may be used for a quality assessment determination. In some embodiments the constituent images may correspond directly to the input camera images 1102, while in some embodiments these constituent images may have had at least some amount of processing performed, such as to reduce variations in brightness, color, or contrast, or to reduce a presence of noise or remove image artifacts, among other such options. In at least one embodiment, removing or reducing a presence of image artifacts in the individual constituent images before stitching may result in a higher quality stitched image.
In this example, the stitched image 1112 and constituent images 1114 may be processed to produce image data that better provides for one or more specific types of comparison. In at least one embodiment, this may include utilizing a high pass filter 1116 (or edge or feature detector) on the images to enhance or identify edges or other prominent features in the images. In some embodiments, a quality assessment 1122 may be performed using any known technique, and if a measure of the quality assessment is below some designated threshold, the image data may be optimized in a loop, for example, by applying one or more geometric or photometric transforms and feeding the transformed image data back to the stitching module 1106.
The systems and methods described herein may be used by, without limitation, non-autonomous vehicles, semi-autonomous vehicles (e.g., in one or more adaptive driver assistance systems (ADAS)), piloted and un-piloted robots or robotic platforms, warehouse vehicles, off-road vehicles, vehicles coupled to one or more trailers, flying vessels, boats, shuttles, emergency response vehicles, motorcycles, electric or motorized bicycles, aircraft, construction vehicles, trains, underwater craft, remotely operated vehicles such as drones, and/or other vehicle types. Further, the systems and methods described herein may be used for a variety of purposes, by way of example and without limitation, for machine control, machine locomotion, machine driving, synthetic data generation, model training, perception, augmented reality, virtual reality, mixed reality, robotics, security and surveillance, simulation and digital twinning, autonomous or semi-autonomous machine applications, deep learning, environment simulation, object or actor simulation and/or digital twinning, data center processing, conversational AI, light transport simulation (e.g., ray-tracing, path tracing, etc.), collaborative content creation for 3D assets, cloud computing and/or any other suitable applications.
Disclosed embodiments may be comprised in a variety of different systems such as automotive systems (e.g., a control system for an autonomous or semi-autonomous machine, a perception system for an autonomous or semi-autonomous machine), systems implemented using a robot, aerial systems, medial systems, boating systems, smart area monitoring systems, systems for performing deep learning operations, systems for performing simulation operations, systems for performing digital twin operations, systems implemented using an edge device, systems incorporating one or more virtual machines (VMs), systems for performing synthetic data generation operations, systems implemented at least partially in a data center, systems for performing conversational AI operations, systems for performing light transport simulation, systems for performing collaborative content creation for 3D assets, systems implemented at least partially using cloud computing resources, and/or other types of systems.
The vehicle 1200 may include components such as a chassis, a vehicle body, wheels (e.g., 2, 4, 6, 8, 18, etc.), tires, axles, and other components of a vehicle. The vehicle 1200 may include a propulsion system 1250, such as an internal combustion engine, hybrid electric power plant, an all-electric engine, and/or another propulsion system type. The propulsion system 1250 may be connected to a drive train of the vehicle 1200, which may include a transmission, to enable the propulsion of the vehicle 1200. The propulsion system 1250 may be controlled in response to receiving signals from the throttle/accelerator 1252.
A steering system 1254, which may include a steering wheel, may be used to steer the vehicle 1200 (e.g., along a desired path or route) when the propulsion system 1250 is operating (e.g., when the vehicle is in motion). The steering system 1254 may receive signals from a steering actuator 1256. The steering wheel may be optional for full automation (Level 5) functionality.
The brake sensor system 1246 may be used to operate the vehicle brakes in response to receiving signals from the brake actuators 1248 and/or brake sensors.
Controller(s) 1236, which may include one or more system on chips (SoCs) 1204 (
The controller(s) 1236 may provide the signals for controlling one or more components and/or systems of the vehicle 1200 in response to sensor data received from one or more sensors (e.g., sensor inputs). The sensor data may be received from, for example and without limitation, global navigation satellite systems (“GNSS”) sensor(s) 1258 (e.g., Global Positioning System sensor(s)), RADAR sensor(s) 1260, ultrasonic sensor(s) 1262, LIDAR sensor(s) 1264, inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensor(s) 1266 (e.g., accelerometer(s), gyroscope(s), magnetic compass(es), magnetometer(s), etc.), microphone(s) 1296, stereo camera(s) 1268, wide-view camera(s) 1270 (e.g., fisheye cameras), infrared camera(s) 1272, surround camera(s) 1274 (e.g., 360 degree cameras), long-range and/or mid-range camera(s) 1298, speed sensor(s) 1244 (e.g., for measuring the speed of the vehicle 1200), vibration sensor(s) 1242, steering sensor(s) 1240, brake sensor(s) (e.g., as part of the brake sensor system 1246), and/or other sensor types.
One or more of the controller(s) 1236 may receive inputs (e.g., represented by input data) from an instrument cluster 1232 of the vehicle 1200 and provide outputs (e.g., represented by output data, display data, etc.) via a human-machine interface (HMI) display 1234, an audible annunciator, a loudspeaker, and/or via other components of the vehicle 1200. The outputs may include information such as vehicle velocity, speed, time, map data (e.g., the High Definition (“HD”) map 1222 of
The vehicle 1200 further includes a network interface 1224 which may use one or more wireless antenna(s) 1226 and/or modem(s) to communicate over one or more networks. For example, the network interface 1224 may be capable of communication over Long-Term Evolution (“LTE”), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (“WCDMA”), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (“UMTS”), Global System for Mobile communication (“GSM”), IMT-CDMA Multi-Carrier (“CDMA2000”), etc. The wireless antenna(s) 1226 may also enable communication between objects in the environment (e.g., vehicles, mobile devices, etc.), using local area network(s), such as Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy (“LE”), Z-Wave, ZigBee, etc., and/or low power wide-area network(s) (“LPWANs”), such as LoRaWAN, SigFox, etc.
The camera types for the cameras may include, but are not limited to, digital cameras that may be adapted for use with the components and/or systems of the vehicle 1200. The camera(s) may operate at automotive safety integrity level (ASIL) B and/or at another ASIL. The camera types may be capable of any image capture rate, such as 60 frames per second (fps), 120 fps, 240 fps, etc., depending on the embodiment. The cameras may be capable of using rolling shutters, global shutters, another type of shutter, or a combination thereof. In some examples, the color filter array may include a red clear clear clear (RCCC) color filter array, a red clear clear blue (RCCB) color filter array, a red blue green clear (RBGC) color filter array, a Foveon X3 color filter array, a Bayer sensors (RGGB) color filter array, a monochrome sensor color filter array, and/or another type of color filter array. In some embodiments, clear pixel cameras, such as cameras with an RCCC, an RCCB, and/or an RBGC color filter array, may be used in an effort to increase light sensitivity.
In some examples, one or more of the camera(s) may be used to perform advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) functions (e.g., as part of a redundant or fail-safe design). For example, a Multi-Function Mono Camera may be installed to provide functions including lane departure warning, traffic sign assist and intelligent headlamp control. One or more of the camera(s) (e.g., all of the cameras) may record and provide image data (e.g., video) simultaneously.
One or more of the cameras may be mounted in a mounting assembly, such as a custom designed (three dimensional (“3D”) printed) assembly, in order to cut out stray light and reflections from within the car (e.g., reflections from the dashboard reflected in the windshield mirrors) which may interfere with the camera's image data capture abilities. With reference to wing-mirror mounting assemblies, the wing-mirror assemblies may be custom 3D printed so that the camera mounting plate matches the shape of the wing-mirror. In some examples, the camera(s) may be integrated into the wing-mirror. For side-view cameras, the camera(s) may also be integrated within the four pillars at each corner of the cabin.
Cameras with a field of view that include portions of the environment in front of the vehicle 1200 (e.g., front-facing cameras) may be used for surround view, to help identify forward facing paths and obstacles, as well aid in, with the help of one or more controllers 1236 and/or control SoCs, providing information critical to generating an occupancy grid and/or determining the preferred vehicle paths. Front-facing cameras may be used to perform many of the same ADAS functions as LIDAR, including emergency braking, pedestrian detection, and collision avoidance. Front-facing cameras may also be used for ADAS functions and systems including Lane Departure Warnings (“LDW”), Autonomous Cruise Control (“ACC”), and/or other functions such as traffic sign recognition.
A variety of cameras may be used in a front-facing configuration, including, for example, a monocular camera platform that includes a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (“CMOS”) color imager. Another example may be a wide-view camera(s) 1270 that may be used to perceive objects coming into view from the periphery (e.g., pedestrians, crossing traffic or bicycles). Although only one wide-view camera is illustrated in
Any number of stereo cameras 1268 may also be included in a front-facing configuration. In at least one embodiment, one or more of stereo camera(s) 1268 may include an integrated control unit comprising a scalable processing unit, which may provide a programmable logic (“FPGA”) and a multi-core micro-processor with an integrated Controller Area Network (“CAN”) or Ethernet interface on a single chip. Such a unit may be used to generate a 3D map of the vehicle's environment, including a distance estimate for all the points in the image. An alternative stereo camera(s) 1268 may include a compact stereo vision sensor(s) that may include two camera lenses (one each on the left and right) and an image processing chip that may measure the distance from the vehicle to the target object and use the generated information (e.g., metadata) to activate the autonomous emergency braking and lane departure warning functions. Other types of stereo camera(s) 1268 may be used in addition to, or alternatively from, those described herein.
Cameras with a field of view that include portions of the environment to the side of the vehicle 1200 (e.g., side-view cameras) may be used for surround view, providing information used to create and update the occupancy grid, as well as to generate side impact collision warnings. For example, surround camera(s) 1274 (e.g., four surround cameras 1274 as illustrated in FIG. 12B) may be positioned to on the vehicle 1200. The surround camera(s) 1274 may include wide-view camera(s) 1270, fisheye camera(s), 360 degree camera(s), and/or the like. Four example, four fisheye cameras may be positioned on the vehicle's front, rear, and sides. In an alternative arrangement, the vehicle may use three surround camera(s) 1274 (e.g., left, right, and rear), and may leverage one or more other camera(s) (e.g., a forward-facing camera) as a fourth surround view camera.
Cameras with a field of view that include portions of the environment to the rear of the vehicle 1200 (e.g., rear-view cameras) may be used for park assistance, surround view, rear collision warnings, and creating and updating the occupancy grid. A wide variety of cameras may be used including, but not limited to, cameras that are also suitable as a front-facing camera(s) (e.g., long-range and/or mid-range camera(s) 1298, stereo camera(s) 1268), infrared camera(s) 1272, etc.), as described herein.
Each of the components, features, and systems of the vehicle 1200 in
Although the bus 1202 is described herein as being a CAN bus, this is not intended to be limiting. For example, in addition to, or alternatively from, the CAN bus, FlexRay and/or Ethernet may be used. Additionally, although a single line is used to represent the bus 1202, this is not intended to be limiting. For example, there may be any number of busses 1202, which may include one or more CAN busses, one or more FlexRay busses, one or more Ethernet busses, and/or one or more other types of busses using a different protocol. In some examples, two or more busses 1202 may be used to perform different functions, and/or may be used for redundancy. For example, a first bus 1202 may be used for collision avoidance functionality and a second bus 1202 may be used for actuation control. In any example, each bus 1202 may communicate with any of the components of the vehicle 1200, and two or more busses 1202 may communicate with the same components. In some examples, each SoC 1204, each controller 1236, and/or each computer within the vehicle may have access to the same input data (e.g., inputs from sensors of the vehicle 1200), and may be connected to a common bus, such the CAN bus.
The vehicle 1200 may include one or more controller(s) 1236, such as those described herein with respect to
The vehicle 1200 may include a system(s) on a chip (SoC) 1204. The SoC 1204 may include CPU(s) 1206, GPU(s) 1208, processor(s) 1210, cache(s) 1212, accelerator(s) 1214, data store(s) 1216, and/or other components and features not illustrated. The SoC(s) 1204 may be used to control the vehicle 1200 in a variety of platforms and systems. For example, the SoC(s) 1204 may be combined in a system (e.g., the system of the vehicle 1200) with an HD map 1222 which may obtain map refreshes and/or updates via a network interface 1224 from one or more servers (e.g., server(s) 1278 of
The CPU(s) 1206 may include a CPU cluster or CPU complex (alternatively referred to herein as a “CCPLEX”). The CPU(s) 1206 may include multiple cores and/or L2 caches. For example, in some embodiments, the CPU(s) 1206 may include eight cores in a coherent multi-processor configuration. In some embodiments, the CPU(s) 1206 may include four dual-core clusters where each cluster has a dedicated L2 cache (e.g., a 2 MB L2 cache). The CPU(s) 1206 (e.g., the CCPLEX) may be configured to support simultaneous cluster operation enabling any combination of the clusters of the CPU(s) 1206 to be active at any given time.
The CPU(s) 1206 may implement power management capabilities that include one or more of the following features: individual hardware blocks may be clock-gated automatically when idle to save dynamic power; each core clock may be gated when the core is not actively executing instructions due to execution of WFI/WFE instructions; each core may be independently power-gated; each core cluster may be independently clock-gated when all cores are clock-gated or power-gated; and/or each core cluster may be independently power-gated when all cores are power-gated. The CPU(s) 1206 may further implement an enhanced algorithm for managing power states, where allowed power states and expected wakeup times are specified, and the hardware/microcode determines the best power state to enter for the core, cluster, and CCPLEX. The processing cores may support simplified power state entry sequences in software with the work offloaded to microcode.
The GPU(s) 1208 may include an integrated GPU (alternatively referred to herein as an “iGPU”). The GPU(s) 1208 may be programmable and may be efficient for parallel workloads. The GPU(s) 1208, in some examples, may use an enhanced tensor instruction set. The GPU(s) 1208 may include one or more streaming microprocessors, where each streaming microprocessor may include an L1 cache (e.g., an L1 cache with at least 96 KB storage capacity), and two or more of the streaming microprocessors may share an L2 cache (e.g., an L2 cache with a 512 KB storage capacity). In some embodiments, the GPU(s) 1208 may include at least eight streaming microprocessors. The GPU(s) 1208 may use compute application programming interface(s) (API(s)). In addition, the GPU(s) 1208 may use one or more parallel computing platforms and/or programming models (e.g., NVIDIA's CUDA).
The GPU(s) 1208 may be power-optimized for best performance in automotive and embedded use cases. For example, the GPU(s) 1208 may be fabricated on a Fin field-effect transistor (FinFET). However, this is not intended to be limiting and the GPU(s) 1208 may be fabricated using other semiconductor manufacturing processes. Each streaming microprocessor may incorporate a number of mixed-precision processing cores partitioned into multiple blocks. For example, and without limitation, 64 PF32 cores and 32 PF64 cores may be partitioned into four processing blocks. In such an example, each processing block may be allocated 16 FP32 cores, 8 FP64 cores, 16 INT32 cores, two mixed-precision NVIDIA TENSOR COREs for deep learning matrix arithmetic, an L0 instruction cache, a warp scheduler, a dispatch unit, and/or a 64 KB register file. In addition, the streaming microprocessors may include independent parallel integer and floating-point data paths to provide for efficient execution of workloads with a mix of computation and addressing calculations. The streaming microprocessors may include independent thread scheduling capability to enable finer-grain synchronization and cooperation between parallel threads. The streaming microprocessors may include a combined L1 data cache and shared memory unit in order to improve performance while simplifying programming.
The GPU(s) 1208 may include a high bandwidth memory (HBM) and/or a 16 GB HBM2 memory subsystem to provide, in some examples, about 900 GB/second peak memory bandwidth. In some examples, in addition to, or alternatively from, the HBM memory, a synchronous graphics random-access memory (SGRAM) may be used, such as a graphics double data rate type five synchronous random-access memory (GDDR5).
The GPU(s) 1208 may include unified memory technology including access counters to allow for more accurate migration of memory pages to the processor that accesses them most frequently, thereby improving efficiency for memory ranges shared between processors. In some examples, address translation services (ATS) support may be used to allow the GPU(s) 1208 to access the CPU(s) 1206 page tables directly. In such examples, when the GPU(s) 1208 memory management unit (MMU) experiences a miss, an address translation request may be transmitted to the CPU(s) 1206. In response, the CPU(s) 1206 may look in its page tables for the virtual-to-physical mapping for the address and transmits the translation back to the GPU(s) 1208. As such, unified memory technology may allow a single unified virtual address space for memory of both the CPU(s) 1206 and the GPU(s) 1208, thereby simplifying the GPU(s) 1208 programming and porting of applications to the GPU(s) 1208.
In addition, the GPU(s) 1208 may include an access counter that may keep track of the frequency of access of the GPU(s) 1208 to memory of other processors. The access counter may help ensure that memory pages are moved to the physical memory of the processor that is accessing the pages most frequently.
The SoC(s) 1204 may include any number of cache(s) 1212, including those described herein. For example, the cache(s) 1212 may include an L3 cache that is available to both the CPU(s) 1206 and the GPU(s) 1208 (e.g., that is connected both the CPU(s) 1206 and the GPU(s) 1208). The cache(s) 1212 may include a write-back cache that may keep track of states of lines, such as by using a cache coherence protocol (e.g., MEI, MESI, MSI, etc.). The L3 cache may include 4 MB or more, depending on the embodiment, although smaller cache sizes may be used.
The SoC(s) 1204 may include an arithmetic logic unit(s) (ALU(s)) which may be leveraged in performing processing with respect to any of the variety of tasks or operations of the vehicle 1200—such as processing DNNs. In addition, the SoC(s) 1204 may include a floating point unit(s) (FPU(s))—or other math coprocessor or numeric coprocessor types—for performing mathematical operations within the system. For example, the SoC(s) 104 may include one or more FPUs integrated as execution units within a CPU(s) 1206 and/or GPU(s) 1208.
The SoC(s) 1204 may include one or more accelerators 1214 (e.g., hardware accelerators, software accelerators, or a combination thereof). For example, the SoC(s) 1204 may include a hardware acceleration cluster that may include optimized hardware accelerators and/or large on-chip memory. The large on-chip memory (e.g., 4 MB of SRAM), may enable the hardware acceleration cluster to accelerate neural networks and other calculations. The hardware acceleration cluster may be used to complement the GPU(s) 1208 and to off-load some of the tasks of the GPU(s) 1208 (e.g., to free up more cycles of the GPU(s) 1208 for performing other tasks). As an example, the accelerator(s) 1214 may be used for targeted workloads (e.g., perception, convolutional neural networks (CNNs), etc.) that are stable enough to be amenable to acceleration. The term “CNN,” as used herein, may include all types of CNNs, including region-based or regional convolutional neural networks (RCNNs) and Fast RCNNs (e.g., as used for object detection).
The accelerator(s) 1214 (e.g., the hardware acceleration cluster) may include a deep learning accelerator(s) (DLA). The DLA(s) may include one or more Tensor processing units (TPUs) that may be configured to provide an additional ten trillion operations per second for deep learning applications and inferencing. The TPUs may be accelerators configured to, and optimized for, performing image processing functions (e.g., for CNNs, RCNNs, etc.). The DLA(s) may further be optimized for a specific set of neural network types and floating point operations, as well as inferencing. The design of the DLA(s) may provide more performance per millimeter than a general-purpose GPU, and vastly exceeds the performance of a CPU. The TPU(s) may perform several functions, including a single-instance convolution function, supporting, for example, INT8, INT16, and FP16 data types for both features and weights, as well as post-processor functions.
The DLA(s) may quickly and efficiently execute neural networks, especially CNNs, on processed or unprocessed data for any of a variety of functions, including, for example and without limitation: a CNN for object identification and detection using data from camera sensors; a CNN for distance estimation using data from camera sensors; a CNN for emergency vehicle detection and identification and detection using data from microphones; a CNN for facial recognition and vehicle owner identification using data from camera sensors; and/or a CNN for security and/or safety related events.
The DLA(s) may perform any function of the GPU(s) 1208, and by using an inference accelerator, for example, a designer may target either the DLA(s) or the GPU(s) 1208 for any function. For example, the designer may focus processing of CNNs and floating point operations on the DLA(s) and leave other functions to the GPU(s) 1208 and/or other accelerator(s) 1214.
The accelerator(s) 1214 (e.g., the hardware acceleration cluster) may include a programmable vision accelerator(s) (PVA), which may alternatively be referred to herein as a computer vision accelerator. The PVA(s) may be designed and configured to accelerate computer vision algorithms for the advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), autonomous driving, and/or augmented reality (AR) and/or virtual reality (VR) applications. The PVA(s) may provide a balance between performance and flexibility. For example, each PVA(s) may include, for example and without limitation, any number of reduced instruction set computer (RISC) cores, direct memory access (DMA), and/or any number of vector processors.
The RISC cores may interact with image sensors (e.g., the image sensors of any of the cameras described herein), image signal processor(s), and/or the like. Each of the RISC cores may include any amount of memory. The RISC cores may use any of a number of protocols, depending on the embodiment. In some examples, the RISC cores may execute a real-time operating system (RTOS). The RISC cores may be implemented using one or more integrated circuit devices, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), and/or memory devices. For example, the RISC cores may include an instruction cache and/or a tightly coupled RAM.
The DMA may enable components of the PVA(s) to access the system memory independently of the CPU(s) 1206. The DMA may support any number of features used to provide optimization to the PVA including, but not limited to, supporting multi-dimensional addressing and/or circular addressing. In some examples, the DMA may support up to six or more dimensions of addressing, which may include block width, block height, block depth, horizontal block stepping, vertical block stepping, and/or depth stepping.
The vector processors may be programmable processors that may be designed to efficiently and flexibly execute programming for computer vision algorithms and provide signal processing capabilities. In some examples, the PVA may include a PVA core and two vector processing subsystem partitions. The PVA core may include a processor subsystem, DMA engine(s) (e.g., two DMA engines), and/or other peripherals. The vector processing subsystem may operate as the primary processing engine of the PVA, and may include a vector processing unit (VPU), an instruction cache, and/or vector memory (e.g., VMEM). A VPU core may include a digital signal processor such as, for example, a single instruction, multiple data (SIMD), very long instruction word (VLIW) digital signal processor. The combination of the SIMD and VLIW may enhance throughput and speed.
Each of the vector processors may include an instruction cache and may be coupled to dedicated memory. As a result, in some examples, each of the vector processors may be configured to execute independently of the other vector processors. In other examples, the vector processors that are included in a particular PVA may be configured to employ data parallelism. For example, in some embodiments, the plurality of vector processors included in a single PVA may execute the same computer vision algorithm, but on different regions of an image. In other examples, the vector processors included in a particular PVA may simultaneously execute different computer vision algorithms, on the same image, or even execute different algorithms on sequential images or portions of an image. Among other things, any number of PVAs may be included in the hardware acceleration cluster and any number of vector processors may be included in each of the PVAs. In addition, the PVA(s) may include additional error correcting code (ECC) memory, to enhance overall system safety.
The accelerator(s) 1214 (e.g., the hardware acceleration cluster) may include a computer vision network on-chip and SRAM, for providing a high-bandwidth, low latency SRAM for the accelerator(s) 1214. In some examples, the on-chip memory may include at least 4 MB SRAM, consisting of, for example and without limitation, eight field-configurable memory blocks, that may be accessible by both the PVA and the DLA. Each pair of memory blocks may include an advanced peripheral bus (APB) interface, configuration circuitry, a controller, and a multiplexer. Any type of memory may be used. The PVA and DLA may access the memory via a backbone that provides the PVA and DLA with high-speed access to memory. The backbone may include a computer vision network on-chip that interconnects the PVA and the DLA to the memory (e.g., using the APB).
The computer vision network on-chip may include an interface that determines, before transmission of any control signal/address/data, that both the PVA and the DLA provide ready and valid signals. Such an interface may provide for separate phases and separate channels for transmitting control signals/addresses/data, as well as burst-type communications for continuous data transfer. This type of interface may comply with ISO 26262 or IEC 61508 standards, although other standards and protocols may be used.
In some examples, the SoC(s) 1204 may include a real-time ray-tracing hardware accelerator, such as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/101,232, filed on Aug. 10, 2018. The real-time ray-tracing hardware accelerator may be used to quickly and efficiently determine the positions and extents of objects (e.g., within a world model), to generate real-time visualization simulations, for RADAR signal interpretation, for sound propagation synthesis and/or analysis, for simulation of SONAR systems, for general wave propagation simulation, for comparison to LIDAR data for purposes of localization and/or other functions, and/or for other uses. In some embodiments, one or more tree traversal units (TTUs) may be used for executing one or more ray-tracing related operations.
The accelerator(s) 1214 (e.g., the hardware accelerator cluster) have a wide array of uses for autonomous driving. The PVA may be a programmable vision accelerator that may be used for key processing stages in ADAS and autonomous vehicles. The PVA's capabilities are a good match for algorithmic domains needing predictable processing, at low power and low latency. In other words, the PVA performs well on semi-dense or dense regular computation, even on small data sets, which need predictable run-times with low latency and low power. Thus, in the context of platforms for autonomous vehicles, the PVAs are designed to run classic computer vision algorithms, as they are efficient at object detection and operating on integer math.
For example, according to one embodiment of the technology, the PVA is used to perform computer stereo vision. A semi-global matching-based algorithm may be used in some examples, although this is not intended to be limiting. Many applications for Level 3-5 autonomous driving require motion estimation/stereo matching on-the-fly (e.g., structure from motion, pedestrian recognition, lane detection, etc.). The PVA may perform computer stereo vision function on inputs from two monocular cameras.
In some examples, the PVA may be used to perform dense optical flow. According to process raw RADAR data (e.g., using a 4D Fast Fourier Transform) to provide Processed RADAR. In other examples, the PVA is used for time of flight depth processing, by processing raw time of flight data to provide processed time of flight data, for example.
The DLA may be used to run any type of network to enhance control and driving safety, including for example, a neural network that outputs a measure of confidence for each object detection. Such a confidence value may be interpreted as a probability, or as providing a relative “weight” of each detection compared to other detections. This confidence value enables the system to make further decisions regarding which detections should be considered as true positive detections rather than false positive detections. For example, the system may set a threshold value for the confidence and consider only the detections exceeding the threshold value as true positive detections. In an automatic emergency braking (AEB) system, false positive detections would cause the vehicle to automatically perform emergency braking, which is obviously undesirable. Therefore, only the most confident detections should be considered as triggers for AEB. The DLA may run a neural network for regressing the confidence value. The neural network may take as its input at least some subset of parameters, such as bounding box dimensions, ground plane estimate obtained (e.g. from another subsystem), inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensor 1266 output that correlates with the vehicle 1200 orientation, distance, 3D location estimates of the object obtained from the neural network and/or other sensors (e.g., LIDAR sensor(s) 1264 or RADAR sensor(s) 1260), among others.
The SoC(s) 1204 may include data store(s) 1216 (e.g., memory). The data store(s) 1216 may be on-chip memory of the SoC(s) 1204, which may store neural networks to be executed on the GPU and/or the DLA. In some examples, the data store(s) 1216 may be large enough in capacity to store multiple instances of neural networks for redundancy and safety. The data store(s) 1212 may comprise L2 or L3 cache(s) 1212. Reference to the data store(s) 1216 may include reference to the memory associated with the PVA, DLA, and/or other accelerator(s) 1214, as described herein.
The SoC(s) 1204 may include one or more processor(s) 1210 (e.g., embedded processors). The processor(s) 1210 may include a boot and power management processor that may be a dedicated processor and subsystem to handle boot power and management functions and related security enforcement. The boot and power management processor may be a part of the SoC(s) 1204 boot sequence and may provide runtime power management services. The boot power and management processor may provide clock and voltage programming, assistance in system low power state transitions, management of SoC(s) 1204 thermals and temperature sensors, and/or management of the SoC(s) 1204 power states. Each temperature sensor may be implemented as a ring-oscillator whose output frequency is proportional to temperature, and the SoC(s) 1204 may use the ring-oscillators to detect temperatures of the CPU(s) 1206, GPU(s) 1208, and/or accelerator(s) 1214. If temperatures are determined to exceed a threshold, the boot and power management processor may enter a temperature fault routine and put the SoC(s) 1204 into a lower power state and/or put the vehicle 1200 into a chauffeur to safe stop mode (e.g., bring the vehicle 1200 to a safe stop).
The processor(s) 1210 may further include a set of embedded processors that may serve as an audio processing engine. The audio processing engine may be an audio subsystem that enables full hardware support for multi-channel audio over multiple interfaces, and a broad and flexible range of audio I/O interfaces. In some examples, the audio processing engine is a dedicated processor core with a digital signal processor with dedicated RAM.
The processor(s) 1210 may further include an always on processor engine that may provide necessary hardware features to support low power sensor management and wake use cases. The always on processor engine may include a processor core, a tightly coupled RAM, supporting peripherals (e.g., timers and interrupt controllers), various I/O controller peripherals, and routing logic.
The processor(s) 1210 may further include a safety cluster engine that includes a dedicated processor subsystem to handle safety management for automotive applications. The safety cluster engine may include two or more processor cores, a tightly coupled RAM, support peripherals (e.g., timers, an interrupt controller, etc.), and/or routing logic. In a safety mode, the two or more cores may operate in a lockstep mode and function as a single core with comparison logic to detect any differences between their operations.
The processor(s) 1210 may further include a real-time camera engine that may include a dedicated processor subsystem for handling real-time camera management.
The processor(s) 1210 may further include a high-dynamic range signal processor that may include an image signal processor that is a hardware engine that is part of the camera processing pipeline.
The processor(s) 1210 may include a video image compositor that may be a processing block (e.g., implemented on a microprocessor) that implements video post-processing functions needed by a video playback application to produce the final image for the player window. The video image compositor may perform lens distortion correction on wide-view camera(s) 1270, surround camera(s) 1274, and/or on in-cabin monitoring camera sensors. In-cabin monitoring camera sensor is preferably monitored by a neural network running on another instance of the Advanced SoC, configured to identify in cabin events and respond accordingly. An in-cabin system may perform lip reading to activate cellular service and place a phone call, dictate emails, change the vehicle's destination, activate or change the vehicle's infotainment system and settings, or provide voice-activated web surfing. Certain functions are available to the driver only when the vehicle is operating in an autonomous mode, and are disabled otherwise.
The video image compositor may include enhanced temporal noise reduction for both spatial and temporal noise reduction. For example, where motion occurs in a video, the noise reduction weights spatial information appropriately, decreasing the weight of information provided by adjacent frames. Where an image or portion of an image does not include motion, the temporal noise reduction performed by the video image compositor may use information from the previous image to reduce noise in the current image.
The video image compositor may also be configured to perform stereo rectification on input stereo lens frames. The video image compositor may further be used for user interface composition when the operating system desktop is in use, and the GPU(s) 1208 is not required to continuously render new surfaces. Even when the GPU(s) 1208 is powered on and active doing 3D rendering, the video image compositor may be used to offload the GPU(s) 1208 to improve performance and responsiveness.
The SoC(s) 1204 may further include a mobile industry processor interface (MIPI) camera serial interface for receiving video and input from cameras, a high-speed interface, and/or a video input block that may be used for camera and related pixel input functions. The SoC(s) 1204 may further include an input/output controller(s) that may be controlled by software and may be used for receiving I/O signals that are uncommitted to a specific role.
The SoC(s) 1204 may further include a broad range of peripheral interfaces to enable communication with peripherals, audio codecs, power management, and/or other devices. The SoC(s) 1204 may be used to process data from cameras (e.g., connected over Gigabit Multimedia Serial Link and Ethernet), sensors (e.g., LIDAR sensor(s) 1264, RADAR sensor(s) 1260, etc. that may be connected over Ethernet), data from bus 1202 (e.g., speed of vehicle 1200, steering wheel position, etc.), data from GNSS sensor(s) 1258 (e.g., connected over Ethernet or CAN bus). The SoC(s) 1204 may further include dedicated high-performance mass storage controllers that may include their own DMA engines, and that may be used to free the CPU(s) 1206 from routine data management tasks.
The SoC(s) 1204 may be an end-to-end platform with a flexible architecture that spans automation levels 3-5, thereby providing a comprehensive functional safety architecture that leverages and makes efficient use of computer vision and ADAS techniques for diversity and redundancy, provides a platform for a flexible, reliable driving software stack, along with deep learning tools. The SoC(s) 1204 may be faster, more reliable, and even more energy-efficient and space-efficient than conventional systems. For example, the accelerator(s) 1214, when combined with the CPU(s) 1206, the GPU(s) 1208, and the data store(s) 1216, may provide for a fast, efficient platform for level 3-5 autonomous vehicles.
The technology thus provides capabilities and functionality that cannot be achieved by conventional systems. For example, computer vision algorithms may be executed on CPUs, which may be configured using high-level programming language, such as the C programming language, to execute a wide variety of processing algorithms across a wide variety of visual data. However, CPUs are oftentimes unable to meet the performance requirements of many computer vision applications, such as those related to execution time and power consumption, for example. In particular, many CPUs are unable to execute complex object detection algorithms in real-time, which is a requirement of in-vehicle ADAS applications, and a requirement for practical Level 3-5 autonomous vehicles.
In contrast to conventional systems, by providing a CPU complex, GPU complex, and a hardware acceleration cluster, the technology described herein allows for multiple neural networks to be performed simultaneously and/or sequentially, and for the results to be combined together to enable Level 3-5 autonomous driving functionality. For example, a CNN executing on the DLA or dGPU (e.g., the GPU(s) 1220) may include a text and word recognition, allowing the supercomputer to read and understand traffic signs, including signs for which the neural network has not been specifically trained. The DLA may further include a neural network that is able to identify, interpret, and provides semantic understanding of the sign, and to pass that semantic understanding to the path planning modules running on the CPU Complex.
As another example, multiple neural networks may be run simultaneously, as is required for Level 3, 4, or 5 driving. For example, a warning sign consisting of “Caution: flashing lights indicate icy conditions,” along with an electric light, may be independently or collectively interpreted by several neural networks. The sign itself may be identified as a traffic sign by a first deployed neural network (e.g., a neural network that has been trained), the text “Flashing lights indicate icy conditions” may be interpreted by a second deployed neural network, which informs the vehicle's path planning software (preferably executing on the CPU Complex) that when flashing lights are detected, icy conditions exist. The flashing light may be identified by operating a third deployed neural network over multiple frames, informing the vehicle's path-planning software of the presence (or absence) of flashing lights. All three neural networks may run simultaneously, such as within the DLA and/or on the GPU(s) 1208.
In some examples, a CNN for facial recognition and vehicle owner identification may use data from camera sensors to identify the presence of an authorized driver and/or owner of the vehicle 1200. The always on sensor processing engine may be used to unlock the vehicle when the owner approaches the driver door and turn on the lights, and, in security mode, to disable the vehicle when the owner leaves the vehicle. In this way, the SoC(s) 1204 provide for security against theft and/or carjacking.
In another example, a CNN for emergency vehicle detection and identification may use data from microphones 1296 to detect and identify emergency vehicle sirens. In contrast to conventional systems, that use general classifiers to detect sirens and manually extract features, the SoC(s) 1204 use the CNN for classifying environmental and urban sounds, as well as classifying visual data. In a preferred embodiment, the CNN running on the DLA is trained to identify the relative closing speed of the emergency vehicle (e.g., by using the Doppler Effect). The CNN may also be trained to identify emergency vehicles specific to the local area in which the vehicle is operating, as identified by GNSS sensor(s) 1258. Thus, for example, when operating in Europe the CNN will seek to detect European sirens, and when in the United States the CNN will seek to identify only North American sirens. Once an emergency vehicle is detected, a control program may be used to execute an emergency vehicle safety routine, slowing the vehicle, pulling over to the side of the road, parking the vehicle, and/or idling the vehicle, with the assistance of ultrasonic sensors 1262, until the emergency vehicle(s) passes.
The vehicle may include a CPU(s) 1218 (e.g., discrete CPU(s), or dCPU(s)), that may be coupled to the SoC(s) 1204 via a high-speed interconnect (e.g., PCIe). The CPU(s) 1218 may include an X86 processor, for example. The CPU(s) 1218 may be used to perform any of a variety of functions, including arbitrating potentially inconsistent results between ADAS sensors and the SoC(s) 1204, and/or monitoring the status and health of the controller(s) 1236 and/or infotainment SoC 1230, for example.
The vehicle 1200 may include a GPU(s) 1220 (e.g., discrete GPU(s), or dGPU(s)), that may be coupled to the SoC(s) 1204 via a high-speed interconnect (e.g., NVIDIA's NVLINK). The GPU(s) 1220 may provide additional artificial intelligence functionality, such as by executing redundant and/or different neural networks, and may be used to train and/or update neural networks based on input (e.g., sensor data) from sensors of the vehicle 1200.
The vehicle 1200 may further include the network interface 1224 which may include one or more wireless antennas 1226 (e.g., one or more wireless antennas for different communication protocols, such as a cellular antenna, a Bluetooth antenna, etc.). The network interface 1224 may be used to enable wireless connectivity over the Internet with the cloud (e.g., with the server(s) 1278 and/or other network devices), with other vehicles, and/or with computing devices (e.g., client devices of passengers). To communicate with other vehicles, a direct link may be established between the two vehicles and/or an indirect link may be established (e.g., across networks and over the Internet). Direct links may be provided using a vehicle-to-vehicle communication link. The vehicle-to-vehicle communication link may provide the vehicle 1200 information about vehicles in proximity to the vehicle 1200 (e.g., vehicles in front of, on the side of, and/or behind the vehicle 1200). This functionality may be part of a cooperative adaptive cruise control functionality of the vehicle 1200.
The network interface 1224 may include a SoC that provides modulation and demodulation functionality and enables the controller(s) 1236 to communicate over wireless networks. The network interface 1224 may include a radio frequency front-end for up-conversion from baseband to radio frequency, and down conversion from radio frequency to baseband. The frequency conversions may be performed through well-known processes, and/or may be performed using super-heterodyne processes. In some examples, the radio frequency front end functionality may be provided by a separate chip. The network interface may include wireless functionality for communicating over LTE, WCDMA, UMTS, GSM, CDMA2000, Bluetooth, Bluetooth LE, Wi-Fi, Z-Wave, ZigBee, LoRaWAN, and/or other wireless protocols.
The vehicle 1200 may further include data store(s) 1228 which may include off-chip (e.g., off the SoC(s) 1204) storage. The data store(s) 1228 may include one or more storage elements including RAM, SRAM, DRAM, VRAM, Flash, hard disks, and/or other components and/or devices that may store at least one bit of data.
The vehicle 1200 may further include GNSS sensor(s) 1258. The GNSS sensor(s) 1258 (e.g., GPS, assisted GPS sensors, differential GPS (DGPS) sensors, etc.), to assist in mapping, perception, occupancy grid generation, and/or path planning functions. Any number of GNSS sensor(s) 1258 may be used, including, for example and without limitation, a GPS using a USB connector with an Ethernet to Serial (RS-232) bridge.
The vehicle 1200 may further include RADAR sensor(s) 1260. The RADAR sensor(s) 1260 may be used by the vehicle 1200 for long-range vehicle detection, even in darkness and/or severe weather conditions. RADAR functional safety levels may be ASIL B. The RADAR sensor(s) 1260 may use the CAN and/or the bus 1202 (e.g., to transmit data generated by the RADAR sensor(s) 1260) for control and to access object tracking data, with access to Ethernet to access raw data in some examples. A wide variety of RADAR sensor types may be used. For example, and without limitation, the RADAR sensor(s) 1260 may be suitable for front, rear, and side RADAR use. In some example, Pulse Doppler RADAR sensor(s) are used.
The RADAR sensor(s) 1260 may include different configurations, such as long range with narrow field of view, short range with wide field of view, short range side coverage, etc. In some examples, long-range RADAR may be used for adaptive cruise control functionality. The long-range RADAR systems may provide a broad field of view realized by two or more independent scans, such as within a 250 m range. The RADAR sensor(s) 1260 may help in distinguishing between static and moving objects, and may be used by ADAS systems for emergency brake assist and forward collision warning. Long-range RADAR sensors may include monostatic multimodal RADAR with multiple (e.g., six or more) fixed RADAR antennae and a high-speed CAN and FlexRay interface. In an example with six antennae, the central four antennae may create a focused beam pattern, designed to record the vehicle's 1200 surroundings at higher speeds with minimal interference from traffic in adjacent lanes. The other two antennae may expand the field of view, making it possible to quickly detect vehicles entering or leaving the vehicle's 1200 lane.
Mid-range RADAR systems may include, as an example, a range of up to 1260 m (front) or 80 m (rear), and a field of view of up to 42 degrees (front) or 1250 degrees (rear). Short-range RADAR systems may include, without limitation, RADAR sensors designed to be installed at both ends of the rear bumper. When installed at both ends of the rear bumper, such a RADAR sensor systems may create two beams that constantly monitor the blind spot in the rear and next to the vehicle.
Short-range RADAR systems may be used in an ADAS system for blind spot detection and/or lane change assist.
The vehicle 1200 may further include ultrasonic sensor(s) 1262. The ultrasonic sensor(s) 1262, which may be positioned at the front, back, and/or the sides of the vehicle 1200, may be used for park assist and/or to create and update an occupancy grid. A wide variety of ultrasonic sensor(s) 1262 may be used, and different ultrasonic sensor(s) 1262 may be used for different ranges of detection (e.g., 2.5 m, 4 m). The ultrasonic sensor(s) 1262 may operate at functional safety levels of ASIL B.
The vehicle 1200 may include LIDAR sensor(s) 1264. The LIDAR sensor(s) 1264 may be used for object and pedestrian detection, emergency braking, collision avoidance, and/or other functions. The LIDAR sensor(s) 1264 may be functional safety level ASIL B. In some examples, the vehicle 1200 may include multiple LIDAR sensors 1264 (e.g., two, four, six, etc.) that may use Ethernet (e.g., to provide data to a Gigabit Ethernet switch).
In some examples, the LIDAR sensor(s) 1264 may be capable of providing a list of objects and their distances for a 360-degree field of view. Commercially available LIDAR sensor(s) 1264 may have an advertised range of approximately 1200 m, with an accuracy of 2 cm-3 cm, and with support for a 1200 Mbps Ethernet connection, for example. In some examples, one or more non-protruding LIDAR sensors 1264 may be used. In such examples, the LIDAR sensor(s) 1264 may be implemented as a small device that may be embedded into the front, rear, sides, and/or corners of the vehicle 1200. The LIDAR sensor(s) 1264, in such examples, may provide up to a 120-degree horizontal and 35-degree vertical field-of-view, with a 200 m range even for low-reflectivity objects. Front-mounted LIDAR sensor(s) 1264 may be configured for a horizontal field of view between 45 degrees and 135 degrees.
In some examples, LIDAR technologies, such as 3D flash LIDAR, may also be used. 3D Flash LIDAR uses a flash of a laser as a transmission source, to illuminate vehicle surroundings up to approximately 200 m. A flash LIDAR unit includes a receptor, which records the laser pulse transit time and the reflected light on each pixel, which in turn corresponds to the range from the vehicle to the objects. Flash LIDAR may allow for highly accurate and distortion-free images of the surroundings to be generated with every laser flash. In some examples, four flash LIDAR sensors may be deployed, one at each side of the vehicle 1200. Available 3D flash LIDAR systems include a solid-state 3D staring array LIDAR camera with no moving parts other than a fan (e.g., a non-scanning LIDAR device). The flash LIDAR device may use a 5 nanosecond class I (eye-safe) laser pulse per frame and may capture the reflected laser light in the form of 3D range point clouds and co-registered intensity data. By using flash LIDAR, and because flash LIDAR is a solid-state device with no moving parts, the LIDAR sensor(s) 1264 may be less susceptible to motion blur, vibration, and/or shock.
The vehicle may further include IMU sensor(s) 1266. The IMU sensor(s) 1266 may be located at a center of the rear axle of the vehicle 1200, in some examples. The IMU sensor(s) 1266 may include, for example and without limitation, an accelerometer(s), a magnetometer(s), a gyroscope(s), a magnetic compass(es), and/or other sensor types. In some examples, such as in six-axis applications, the IMU sensor(s) 1266 may include accelerometers and gyroscopes, while in nine-axis applications, the IMU sensor(s) 1266 may include accelerometers, gyroscopes, and magnetometers.
In some embodiments, the IMU sensor(s) 1266 may be implemented as a miniature, high performance GPS-Aided Inertial Navigation System (GPS/INS) that combines micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) inertial sensors, a high-sensitivity GPS receiver, and advanced Kalman filtering algorithms to provide estimates of position, velocity, and attitude. As such, in some examples, the IMU sensor(s) 1266 may enable the vehicle 1200 to estimate heading without requiring input from a magnetic sensor by directly observing and correlating the changes in velocity from GPS to the IMU sensor(s) 1266. In some examples, the IMU sensor(s) 1266 and the GNSS sensor(s) 1258 may be combined in a single integrated unit.
The vehicle may include microphone(s) 1296 placed in and/or around the vehicle 1200. The microphone(s) 1296 may be used for emergency vehicle detection and identification, among other things.
The vehicle may further include any number of camera types, including stereo camera(s) 1268, wide-view camera(s) 1270, infrared camera(s) 1272, surround camera(s) 1274, long-range and/or mid-range camera(s) 1298, and/or other camera types. The cameras may be used to capture image data around an entire periphery of the vehicle 1200. The types of cameras used depends on the embodiments and requirements for the vehicle 1200, and any combination of camera types may be used to provide the necessary coverage around the vehicle 1200. In addition, the number of cameras may differ depending on the embodiment. For example, the vehicle may include six cameras, seven cameras, ten cameras, twelve cameras, and/or another number of cameras. The cameras may support, as an example and without limitation, Gigabit Multimedia Serial Link (GMSL) and/or Gigabit Ethernet. Each of the camera(s) is described with more detail herein with respect to
The vehicle 1200 may further include vibration sensor(s) 1242. The vibration sensor(s) 1242 may measure vibrations of components of the vehicle, such as the axle(s). For example, changes in vibrations may indicate a change in road surfaces. In another example, when two or more vibration sensors 1242 are used, the differences between the vibrations may be used to determine friction or slippage of the road surface (e.g., when the difference in vibration is between a power-driven axle and a freely rotating axle).
The vehicle 1200 may include an ADAS system 1238. The ADAS system 1238 may include a SoC, in some examples. The ADAS system 1238 may include autonomous/adaptive/automatic cruise control (ACC), cooperative adaptive cruise control (CACC), forward crash warning (FCW), automatic emergency braking (AEB), lane departure warnings (LDW), lane keep assist (LKA), blind spot warning (BSW), rear cross-traffic warning (RCTW), collision warning systems (CWS), lane centering (LC), and/or other features and functionality.
The ACC systems may use RADAR sensor(s) 1260, LIDAR sensor(s) 1264, and/or a camera(s). The ACC systems may include longitudinal ACC and/or lateral ACC. Longitudinal ACC monitors and controls the distance to the vehicle immediately ahead of the vehicle 1200 and automatically adjust the vehicle speed to maintain a safe distance from vehicles ahead. Lateral ACC performs distance keeping, and advises the vehicle 1200 to change lanes when necessary. Lateral ACC is related to other ADAS applications such as LCA and CWS.
CACC uses information from other vehicles that may be received via the network interface 1224 and/or the wireless antenna(s) 1226 from other vehicles via a wireless link, or indirectly, over a network connection (e.g., over the Internet). Direct links may be provided by a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication link, while indirect links may be infrastructure-to-vehicle (I2V) communication link. In general, the V2V communication concept provides information about the immediately preceding vehicles (e.g., vehicles immediately ahead of and in the same lane as the vehicle 1200), while the I2V communication concept provides information about traffic further ahead. CACC systems may include either or both I2V and V2V information sources. Given the information of the vehicles ahead of the vehicle 1200, CACC may be more reliable and it has potential to improve traffic flow smoothness and reduce congestion on the road.
FCW systems are designed to alert the driver to a hazard, so that the driver may take corrective action. FCW systems use a front-facing camera and/or RADAR sensor(s) 1260, coupled to a dedicated processor, DSP, FPGA, and/or ASIC, that is electrically coupled to driver feedback, such as a display, speaker, and/or vibrating component. FCW systems may provide a warning, such as in the form of a sound, visual warning, vibration and/or a quick brake pulse.
AEB systems detect an impending forward collision with another vehicle or other object, and may automatically apply the brakes if the driver does not take corrective action within a specified time or distance parameter. AEB systems may use front-facing camera(s) and/or RADAR sensor(s) 1260, coupled to a dedicated processor, DSP, FPGA, and/or ASIC. When the AEB system detects a hazard, it typically first alerts the driver to take corrective action to avoid the collision and, if the driver does not take corrective action, the AEB system may automatically apply the brakes in an effort to prevent, or at least mitigate, the impact of the predicted collision. AEB systems, may include techniques such as dynamic brake support and/or crash imminent braking.
LDW systems provide visual, audible, and/or tactile warnings, such as steering wheel or seat vibrations, to alert the driver when the vehicle 1200 crosses lane markings. A LDW system does not activate when the driver indicates an intentional lane departure, by activating a turn signal. LDW systems may use front-side facing cameras, coupled to a dedicated processor, DSP, FPGA, and/or ASIC, that is electrically coupled to driver feedback, such as a display, speaker, and/or vibrating component.
LKA systems are a variation of LDW systems. LKA systems provide steering input or braking to correct the vehicle 1200 if the vehicle 1200 starts to exit the lane.
BSW systems detects and warn the driver of vehicles in an automobile's blind spot. BSW systems may provide a visual, audible, and/or tactile alert to indicate that merging or changing lanes is unsafe. The system may provide an additional warning when the driver uses a turn signal. BSW systems may use rear-side facing camera(s) and/or RADAR sensor(s) 1260, coupled to a dedicated processor, DSP, FPGA, and/or ASIC, that is electrically coupled to driver feedback, such as a display, speaker, and/or vibrating component.
RCTW systems may provide visual, audible, and/or tactile notification when an object is detected outside the rear-camera range when the vehicle 1200 is backing up. Some RCTW systems include AEB to ensure that the vehicle brakes are applied to avoid a crash. RCTW systems may use one or more rear-facing RADAR sensor(s) 1260, coupled to a dedicated processor, DSP, FPGA, and/or ASIC, that is electrically coupled to driver feedback, such as a display, speaker, and/or vibrating component.
Conventional ADAS systems may be prone to false positive results which may be annoying and distracting to a driver, but typically are not catastrophic, because the ADAS systems alert the driver and allow the driver to decide whether a safety condition truly exists and act accordingly. However, in an autonomous vehicle 1200, the vehicle 1200 itself must, in the case of conflicting results, decide whether to heed the result from a primary computer or a secondary computer (e.g., a first controller 1236 or a second controller 1236). For example, in some embodiments, the ADAS system 1238 may be a backup and/or secondary computer for providing perception information to a backup computer rationality module. The backup computer rationality monitor may run a redundant diverse software on hardware components to detect faults in perception and dynamic driving tasks. Outputs from the ADAS system 1238 may be provided to a supervisory MCU. If outputs from the primary computer and the secondary computer conflict, the supervisory MCU must determine how to reconcile the conflict to ensure safe operation.
In some examples, the primary computer may be configured to provide the supervisory MCU with a confidence score, indicating the primary computer's confidence in the chosen result. If the confidence score exceeds a threshold, the supervisory MCU may follow the primary computer's direction, regardless of whether the secondary computer provides a conflicting or inconsistent result. Where the confidence score does not meet the threshold, and where the primary and secondary computer indicate different results (e.g., the conflict), the supervisory MCU may arbitrate between the computers to determine the appropriate outcome.
The supervisory MCU may be configured to run a neural network(s) that is trained and configured to determine, based on outputs from the primary computer and the secondary computer, conditions under which the secondary computer provides false alarms. Thus, the neural network(s) in the supervisory MCU may learn when the secondary computer's output may be trusted, and when it cannot. For example, when the secondary computer is a RADAR-based FCW system, a neural network(s) in the supervisory MCU may learn when the FCW system is identifying metallic objects that are not, in fact, hazards, such as a drainage grate or manhole cover that triggers an alarm. Similarly, when the secondary computer is a camera-based LDW system, a neural network in the supervisory MCU may learn to override the LDW when bicyclists or pedestrians are present and a lane departure is, in fact, the safest maneuver. In embodiments that include a neural network(s) running on the supervisory MCU, the supervisory MCU may include at least one of a DLA or GPU suitable for running the neural network(s) with associated memory. In preferred embodiments, the supervisory MCU may comprise and/or be included as a component of the SoC(s) 1204.
In other examples, ADAS system 1238 may include a secondary computer that performs ADAS functionality using traditional rules of computer vision. As such, the secondary computer may use classic computer vision rules (if-then), and the presence of a neural network(s) in the supervisory MCU may improve reliability, safety and performance. For example, the diverse implementation and intentional non-identity makes the overall system more fault-tolerant, especially to faults caused by software (or software-hardware interface) functionality. For example, if there is a software bug or error in the software running on the primary computer, and the non-identical software code running on the secondary computer provides the same overall result, the supervisory MCU may have greater confidence that the overall result is correct, and the bug in software or hardware on primary computer is not causing material error.
In some examples, the output of the ADAS system 1238 may be fed into the primary computer's perception block and/or the primary computer's dynamic driving task block. For example, if the ADAS system 1238 indicates a forward crash warning due to an object immediately ahead, the perception block may use this information when identifying objects. In other examples, the secondary computer may have its own neural network which is trained and thus reduces the risk of false positives, as described herein.
The vehicle 1200 may further include the infotainment SoC 1230 (e.g., an in-vehicle infotainment system (IVI)). Although illustrated and described as a SoC, the infotainment system may not be a SoC, and may include two or more discrete components. The infotainment SoC 1230 may include a combination of hardware and software that may be used to provide audio (e.g., music, a personal digital assistant, navigational instructions, news, radio, etc.), video (e.g., TV, movies, streaming, etc.), phone (e.g., hands-free calling), network connectivity (e.g., LTE, Wi-Fi, etc.), and/or information services (e.g., navigation systems, rear-parking assistance, a radio data system, vehicle related information such as fuel level, total distance covered, brake fuel level, oil level, door open/close, air filter information, etc.) to the vehicle 1200. For example, the infotainment SoC 1230 may radios, disk players, navigation systems, video players, USB and Bluetooth connectivity, carputers, in-car entertainment, Wi-Fi, steering wheel audio controls, hands free voice control, a heads-up display (HUD), an HMI display 1234, a telematics device, a control panel (e.g., for controlling and/or interacting with various components, features, and/or systems), and/or other components. The infotainment SoC 1230 may further be used to provide information (e.g., visual and/or audible) to a user(s) of the vehicle, such as information from the ADAS system 1238, autonomous driving information such as planned vehicle maneuvers, trajectories, surrounding environment information (e.g., intersection information, vehicle information, road information, etc.), and/or other information.
The infotainment SoC 1230 may include GPU functionality. The infotainment SoC 1230 may communicate over the bus 1202 (e.g., CAN bus, Ethernet, etc.) with other devices, systems, and/or components of the vehicle 1200. In some examples, the infotainment SoC 1230 may be coupled to a supervisory MCU such that the GPU of the infotainment system may perform some self-driving functions in the event that the primary controller(s) 1236 (e.g., the primary and/or backup computers of the vehicle 1200) fail. In such an example, the infotainment SoC 1230 may put the vehicle 1200 into a chauffeur to safe stop mode, as described herein.
The vehicle 1200 may further include an instrument cluster 1232 (e.g., a digital dash, an electronic instrument cluster, a digital instrument panel, etc.). The instrument cluster 1232 may include a controller and/or supercomputer (e.g., a discrete controller or supercomputer). The instrument cluster 1232 may include a set of instrumentation such as a speedometer, fuel level, oil pressure, tachometer, odometer, turn indicators, gearshift position indicator, seat belt warning light(s), parking-brake warning light(s), engine-malfunction light(s), airbag (SRS) system information, lighting controls, safety system controls, navigation information, etc. In some examples, information may be displayed and/or shared among the infotainment SoC 1230 and the instrument cluster 1232. In other words, the instrument cluster 1232 may be included as part of the infotainment SoC 1230, or vice versa.
The server(s) 1278 may receive, over the network(s) 1290 and from the vehicles, image data representative of images showing unexpected or changed road conditions, such as recently commenced road-work. The server(s) 1278 may transmit, over the network(s) 1290 and to the vehicles, neural networks 1292, updated neural networks 1292, and/or map information 1294, including information regarding traffic and road conditions. The updates to the map information 1294 may include updates for the HD map 1222, such as information regarding construction sites, potholes, detours, flooding, and/or other obstructions. In some examples, the neural networks 1292, the updated neural networks 1292, and/or the map information 1294 may have resulted from new training and/or experiences represented in data received from any number of vehicles in the environment, and/or based on training performed at a datacenter (e.g., using the server(s) 1278 and/or other servers).
The server(s) 1278 may be used to train machine learning models (e.g., neural networks) based on training data. The training data may be generated by the vehicles, and/or may be generated in a simulation (e.g., using a game engine). In some examples, the training data is tagged (e.g., where the neural network benefits from supervised learning) and/or undergoes other pre-processing, while in other examples the training data is not tagged and/or pre-processed (e.g., where the neural network does not require supervised learning). Training may be executed according to any one or more classes of machine learning techniques, including, without limitation, classes such as: supervised training, semi-supervised training, unsupervised training, self-learning, reinforcement learning, federated learning, transfer learning, feature learning (including principal component and cluster analyses), multi-linear subspace learning, manifold learning, representation learning (including spare dictionary learning), rule-based machine learning, anomaly detection, and any variants or combinations therefor. Once the machine learning models are trained, the machine learning models may be used by the vehicles (e.g., transmitted to the vehicles over the network(s) 1290, and/or the machine learning models may be used by the server(s) 1278 to remotely monitor the vehicles.
In some examples, the server(s) 1278 may receive data from the vehicles and apply the data to up-to-date real-time neural networks for real-time intelligent inferencing. The server(s) 1278 may include deep-learning supercomputers and/or dedicated AI computers powered by GPU(s) 1284, such as a DGX and DGX Station machines developed by NVIDIA. However, in some examples, the server(s) 1278 may include deep learning infrastructure that use only CPU-powered datacenters.
The deep-learning infrastructure of the server(s) 1278 may be capable of fast, real-time inferencing, and may use that capability to evaluate and verify the health of the processors, software, and/or associated hardware in the vehicle 1200. For example, the deep-learning infrastructure may receive periodic updates from the vehicle 1200, such as a sequence of images and/or objects that the vehicle 1200 has located in that sequence of images (e.g., via computer vision and/or other machine learning object classification techniques). The deep-learning infrastructure may run its own neural network to identify the objects and compare them with the objects identified by the vehicle 1200 and, if the results do not match and the infrastructure concludes that the AI in the vehicle 1200 is malfunctioning, the server(s) 1278 may transmit a signal to the vehicle 1200 instructing a fail-safe computer of the vehicle 1200 to assume control, notify the passengers, and complete a safe parking maneuver.
For inferencing, the server(s) 1278 may include the GPU(s) 1284 and one or more programmable inference accelerators (e.g., NVIDIA's TensorRT). The combination of GPU-powered servers and inference acceleration may make real-time responsiveness possible. In other examples, such as where performance is less critical, servers powered by CPUs, FPGAs, and other processors may be used for inferencing.
Although the various blocks of
The interconnect system 1302 may represent one or more links or busses, such as an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, or a combination thereof. The interconnect system 1302 may include one or more bus or link types, such as an industry standard architecture (ISA) bus, an extended industry standard architecture (EISA) bus, a video electronics standards association (VESA) bus, a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus, a peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) bus, and/or another type of bus or link. In some embodiments, there are direct connections between components. As an example, the CPU 1306 may be directly connected to the memory 1304. Further, the CPU 1306 may be directly connected to the GPU 1308. Where there is direct, or point-to-point connection between components, the interconnect system 1302 may include a PCIe link to carry out the connection. In these examples, a PCI bus need not be included in the computing device 1300.
The memory 1304 may include any of a variety of computer-readable media. The computer-readable media may be any available media that may be accessed by the computing device 1300. The computer-readable media may include both volatile and nonvolatile media, and removable and non-removable media. By way of example, and not limitation, the computer-readable media may comprise computer-storage media and communication media.
The computer-storage media may include both volatile and nonvolatile media and/or removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, and/or other data types. For example, the memory 1304 may store computer-readable instructions (e.g., that represent a program(s) and/or a program element(s), such as an operating system. Computer-storage media may include, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which may be used to store the desired information and which may be accessed by computing device 1300. As used herein, computer storage media does not comprise signals per se.
The computer storage media may embody computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, and/or other data types in a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism and includes any information delivery media. The term “modulated data signal” may refer to a signal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal. By way of example, and not limitation, the computer storage media may include wired media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF, infrared and other wireless media. Combinations of any of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.
The CPU(s) 1306 may be configured to execute at least some of the computer-readable instructions to control one or more components of the computing device 1300 to perform one or more of the methods and/or processes described herein. The CPU(s) 1306 may each include one or more cores (e.g., one, two, four, eight, twenty-eight, seventy-two, etc.) that are capable of handling a multitude of software threads simultaneously. The CPU(s) 1306 may include any type of processor, and may include different types of processors depending on the type of computing device 1300 implemented (e.g., processors with fewer cores for mobile devices and processors with more cores for servers). For example, depending on the type of computing device 1300, the processor may be an Advanced RISC Machines (ARM) processor implemented using Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC) or an x86 processor implemented using Complex Instruction Set Computing (CISC). The computing device 1300 may include one or more CPUs 1306 in addition to one or more microprocessors or supplementary co-processors, such as math co-processors.
In addition to or alternatively from the CPU(s) 1306, the GPU(s) 1308 may be configured to execute at least some of the computer-readable instructions to control one or more components of the computing device 1300 to perform one or more of the methods and/or processes described herein. One or more of the GPU(s) 1308 may be an integrated GPU (e.g., with one or more of the CPU(s) 1306 and/or one or more of the GPU(s) 1308 may be a discrete GPU. In embodiments, one or more of the GPU(s) 1308 may be a coprocessor of one or more of the CPU(s) 1306. The GPU(s) 1308 may be used by the computing device 1300 to render graphics (e.g., 3D graphics) or perform general purpose computations. For example, the GPU(s) 1308 may be used for General-Purpose computing on GPUs (GPGPU). The GPU(s) 1308 may include hundreds or thousands of cores that are capable of handling hundreds or thousands of software threads simultaneously. The GPU(s) 1308 may generate pixel data for output images in response to rendering commands (e.g., rendering commands from the CPU(s) 1306 received via a host interface). The GPU(s) 1308 may include graphics memory, such as display memory, for storing pixel data or any other suitable data, such as GPGPU data. The display memory may be included as part of the memory 1304. The GPU(s) 1308 may include two or more GPUs operating in parallel (e.g., via a link). The link may directly connect the GPUs (e.g., using NVLINK) or may connect the GPUs through a switch (e.g., using NVSwitch). When combined together, each GPU 1308 may generate pixel data or GPGPU data for different portions of an output or for different outputs (e.g., a first GPU for a first image and a second GPU for a second image). Each GPU may include its own memory, or may share memory with other GPUs.
In addition to or alternatively from the CPU(s) 1306 and/or the GPU(s) 1308, the logic unit(s) 1320 may be configured to execute at least some of the computer-readable instructions to control one or more components of the computing device 1300 to perform one or more of the methods and/or processes described herein. In embodiments, the CPU(s) 1306, the GPU(s) 1308, and/or the logic unit(s) 1320 may discretely or jointly perform any combination of the methods, processes and/or portions thereof. One or more of the logic units 1320 may be part of and/or integrated in one or more of the CPU(s) 1306 and/or the GPU(s) 1308 and/or one or more of the logic units 1320 may be discrete components or otherwise external to the CPU(s) 1306 and/or the GPU(s) 1308. In embodiments, one or more of the logic units 1320 may be a coprocessor of one or more of the CPU(s) 1306 and/or one or more of the GPU(s) 1308.
Examples of the logic unit(s) 1320 include one or more processing cores and/or components thereof, such as Data Processing Units (DPUs), Tensor Cores (TCs), Tensor Processing Units(TPUs), Pixel Visual Cores (PVCs), Vision Processing Units (VPUs), Graphics Processing Clusters (GPCs), Texture Processing Clusters (TPCs), Streaming Multiprocessors (SMs), Tree Traversal Units (TTUs), Artificial Intelligence Accelerators (AIAs), Deep Learning Accelerators (DLAs), Arithmetic-Logic Units (ALUs), Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Floating Point Units (FPUs), input/output (I/O) elements, peripheral component interconnect (PCI) or peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) elements, and/or the like.
The communication interface 1310 may include one or more receivers, transmitters, and/or transceivers that enable the computing device 1300 to communicate with other computing devices via an electronic communication network, included wired and/or wireless communications. The communication interface 1310 may include components and functionality to enable communication over any of a number of different networks, such as wireless networks (e.g., Wi-Fi, Z-Wave, Bluetooth, Bluetooth LE, ZigBee, etc.), wired networks (e.g., communicating over Ethernet or InfiniBand), low-power wide-area networks (e.g., LoRaWAN, SigFox, etc.), and/or the Internet. In one or more embodiments, logic unit(s) 1320 and/or communication interface 1310 may include one or more data processing units (DPUs) to transmit data received over a network and/or through interconnect system 1302 directly to (e.g., a memory of) one or more GPU(s) 1308.
The I/O ports 1312 may enable the computing device 1300 to be logically coupled to other devices including the I/O components 1314, the presentation component(s) 1318, and/or other components, some of which may be built in to (e.g., integrated in) the computing device 1300. Illustrative I/O components 1314 include a microphone, mouse, keyboard, joystick, game pad, game controller, satellite dish, scanner, printer, wireless device, etc. The I/O components 1314 may provide a natural user interface (NUI) that processes air gestures, voice, or other physiological inputs generated by a user. In some instances, inputs may be transmitted to an appropriate network element for further processing. An NUI may implement any combination of speech recognition, stylus recognition, facial recognition, biometric recognition, gesture recognition both on screen and adjacent to the screen, air gestures, head and eye tracking, and touch recognition (as described in more detail below) associated with a display of the computing device 1300. The computing device 1300 may be include depth cameras, such as stereoscopic camera systems, infrared camera systems, RGB camera systems, touchscreen technology, and combinations of these, for gesture detection and recognition. Additionally, the computing device 1300 may include accelerometers or gyroscopes (e.g., as part of an inertia measurement unit (IMU)) that enable detection of motion. In some examples, the output of the accelerometers or gyroscopes may be used by the computing device 1300 to render immersive augmented reality or virtual reality.
The power supply 1316 may include a hard-wired power supply, a battery power supply, or a combination thereof. The power supply 1316 may provide power to the computing device 1300 to enable the components of the computing device 1300 to operate.
The presentation component(s) 1318 may include a display (e.g., a monitor, a touch screen, a television screen, a heads-up-display (HUD), other display types, or a combination thereof), speakers, and/or other presentation components. The presentation component(s) 1318 may receive data from other components (e.g., the GPU(s) 1308, the CPU(s) 1306, DPUs, etc.), and output the data (e.g., as an image, video, sound, etc.).
As shown in
In at least one embodiment, grouped computing resources 1414 may include separate groupings of node C.R.s 1416 housed within one or more racks (not shown), or many racks housed in data centers at various geographical locations (also not shown). Separate groupings of node C.R.s 1416 within grouped computing resources 1414 may include grouped compute, network, memory or storage resources that may be configured or allocated to support one or more workloads. In at least one embodiment, several node C.R.s 1416 including CPUs, GPUs, DPUs, and/or other processors may be grouped within one or more racks to provide compute resources to support one or more workloads. The one or more racks may also include any number of power modules, cooling modules, and/or network switches, in any combination.
The resource orchestrator 1412 may configure or otherwise control one or more node C.R.s 1416(1)-1416(N) and/or grouped computing resources 1414. In at least one embodiment, resource orchestrator 1412 may include a software design infrastructure (SDI) management entity for the data center 1400. The resource orchestrator 1412 may include hardware, software, or some combination thereof.
In at least one embodiment, as shown in
In at least one embodiment, software 1432 included in software layer 1430 may include software used by at least portions of node C.R.s 1416(1)-1416(N), grouped computing resources 1414, and/or distributed file system 1438 of framework layer 1420. One or more types of software may include, but are not limited to, Internet web page search software, e-mail virus scan software, database software, and streaming video content software.
In at least one embodiment, application(s) 1442 included in application layer 1440 may include one or more types of applications used by at least portions of node C.R.s 1416(1)-1416(N), grouped computing resources 1414, and/or distributed file system 1438 of framework layer 1420. One or more types of applications may include, but are not limited to, any number of a genomics application, a cognitive compute, and a machine learning application, including training or inferencing software, machine learning framework software (e.g., PyTorch, TensorFlow, Caffe, etc.), and/or other machine learning applications used in conjunction with one or more embodiments.
In at least one embodiment, any of configuration manager 1434, resource manager 1436, and resource orchestrator 1412 may implement any number and type of self-modifying actions based on any amount and type of data acquired in any technically feasible fashion. Self-modifying actions may relieve a data center operator of data center 1400 from making possibly bad configuration decisions and possibly avoiding underutilized and/or poor performing portions of a data center.
The data center 1400 may include tools, services, software or other resources to train one or more machine learning models or predict or infer information using one or more machine learning models according to one or more embodiments described herein. For example, a machine learning model(s) may be trained by calculating weight parameters according to a neural network architecture using software and/or computing resources described above with respect to the data center 1400. In at least one embodiment, trained or deployed machine learning models corresponding to one or more neural networks may be used to infer or predict information using resources described above with respect to the data center 1400 by using weight parameters calculated through one or more training techniques, such as but not limited to those described herein.
In at least one embodiment, the data center 1400 may use CPUs, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), GPUs, FPGAs, and/or other hardware (or virtual compute resources corresponding thereto) to perform training and/or inferencing using above-described resources. Moreover, one or more software and/or hardware resources described above may be configured as a service to allow users to train or performing inferencing of information, such as image recognition, speech recognition, or other artificial intelligence services.
Network environments suitable for use in implementing embodiments of the disclosure may include one or more client devices, servers, network attached storage (NAS), other backend devices, and/or other device types. The client devices, servers, and/or other device types (e.g., each device) may be implemented on one or more instances of the computing device(s) 1300 of
Components of a network environment may communicate with each other via a network(s), which may be wired, wireless, or both. The network may include multiple networks, or a network of networks. By way of example, the network may include one or more Wide Area Networks (WANs), one or more Local Area Networks (LANs), one or more public networks such as the Internet and/or a public switched telephone network (PSTN), and/or one or more private networks. Where the network includes a wireless telecommunications network, components such as a base station, a communications tower, or even access points (as well as other components) may provide wireless connectivity.
Compatible network environments may include one or more peer-to-peer network environments—in which case a server may not be included in a network environment—and one or more client-server network environments—in which case one or more servers may be included in a network environment. In peer-to-peer network environments, functionality described herein with respect to a server(s) may be implemented on any number of client devices.
In at least one embodiment, a network environment may include one or more cloud-based network environments, a distributed computing environment, a combination thereof, etc. A cloud-based network environment may include a framework layer, a job scheduler, a resource manager, and a distributed file system implemented on one or more of servers, which may include one or more core network servers and/or edge servers. A framework layer may include a framework to support software of a software layer and/or one or more application(s) of an application layer. The software or application(s) may respectively include web-based service software or applications. In embodiments, one or more of the client devices may use the web-based service software or applications (e.g., by accessing the service software and/or applications via one or more application programming interfaces (APIs)). The framework layer may be, but is not limited to, a type of free and open-source software web application framework such as that may use a distributed file system for large-scale data processing (e.g., “big data”).
A cloud-based network environment may provide cloud computing and/or cloud storage that carries out any combination of computing and/or data storage functions described herein (or one or more portions thereof). Any of these various functions may be distributed over multiple locations from central or core servers (e.g., of one or more data centers that may be distributed across a state, a region, a country, the globe, etc.). If a connection to a user (e.g., a client device) is relatively close to an edge server(s), a core server(s) may designate at least a portion of the functionality to the edge server(s). A cloud-based network environment may be private (e.g., limited to a single organization), may be public (e.g., available to many organizations), and/or a combination thereof (e.g., a hybrid cloud environment).
The client device(s) may include at least some of the components, features, and functionality of the example computing device(s) 1300 described herein with respect to
The disclosure may be described in the general context of computer code or machine-useable instructions, including computer-executable instructions such as program modules, being executed by a computer or other machine, such as a personal data assistant or other handheld device. Generally, program modules including routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc., refer to code that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The disclosure may be practiced in a variety of system configurations, including hand-held devices, consumer electronics, general-purpose computers, more specialty computing devices, etc. The disclosure may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote-processing devices that are linked through a communications network.
As used herein, a recitation of “and/or” with respect to two or more elements should be interpreted to mean only one element, or a combination of elements. For example, “element A, element B, and/or element C” may include only element A, only element B, only element C, element A and element B, element A and element C, element B and element C, or elements A, B, and C. In addition, “at least one of element A or element B” may include at least one of element A, at least one of element B, or at least one of element A and at least one of element B. Further, “at least one of element A and element B” may include at least one of element A, at least one of element B, or at least one of element A and at least one of element B.
The subject matter of the present disclosure is described with specificity herein to meet statutory requirements. However, the description itself is not intended to limit the scope of this disclosure. Rather, the inventors have contemplated that the claimed subject matter might also be embodied in other ways, to include different steps or combinations of steps similar to the ones described in this document, in conjunction with other present or future technologies. Moreover, although the terms “step” and/or “block” may be used herein to connote different elements of methods employed, the terms should not be interpreted as implying any particular order among or between various steps herein disclosed unless and except when the order of individual steps is explicitly described.
