This application claims priority to and the benefit of Taiwan Patent Application No. 098129645, filed Sep. 3, 2009, the contents of which are incorporated herein in their entireties by reference.
This disclosure generally relates to a trajectory tracking technology and, more particularly, to a method and a system for motion tracking based on inertia detection.
With the advancement in technologies, object tracking and trajectory reconstruction have been widely used in, for example, traffic accident reconstruction, navigation of aerocrafts and trajectory evaluation, positioning aiding and game control. In object tracking and trajectory reconstruction, the rotational angle and the displacement of the object are given with the use of inertial measurement units.
Conventionally, an object tracking and trajectory reconstruction system generally comprises inertial measurement units. The inertial measurement units may comprise a gyroscope, an accelerometer and a magnetic compass. More particularly, the gyroscope is capable of detecting the angular velocity to calculate the rotational angle of an object. The accelerometer is capable of detecting the acceleration to calculate the displacement of the object. The magnetic compass is capable of detecting the absolute orientation to obtain the rotational angle of the object.
In U.S. Pub. No. 2008/0046214, a sensor system is disclosed using gyroscopes, accelerometers and magnetic compasses to detect the orientation and status of an object. Moreover, U.S. Pat. No. 4,038,527 also discloses a technology for detecting the status and the orientation of a movable object using gyroscopes and accelerometers. Moreover, U.S. Pat. No. 6,842,991 also discloses a technology for detecting the status and the orientation of a movable object using gyroscopes and magnetic compasses. However, since the gyroscope is expensive, it is not suitable for daily use. The magnetic compass is easily interfered with surrounding electronic appliances.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,615,132, a technology for detecting the position and the orientation of an object using six linear accelerometers is disclosed. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,615,132, six accelerometers are used to detect three-dimensional motion status and the orientation of an object. When four accelerometers are used, two-dimensional motion status and the orientation of an object can be detected. Moreover, Chen et al. also disclose a motion status detection technology using six linear accelerometers, entitled “Gyroscope free strapdown inertial measurement unit by six linear accelerometers”, (Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics 1994 0731-5090 vol. 17 no. 2(285-290)). More particularly, the six accelerometers are respectively disposed at the center of each edge of a regular tetrahedron. Each of the accelerometers is required to be fixedly positioned and oriented to detect the status and position of the object.
In one embodiment, this disclosure provides a method for motion tracking, comprising steps of: providing at least three accelerometers disposed on an object, the at least three accelerometers being provided with a relative position defined between neighboring accelerometers; calculating a second position corresponding to each of the at least three accelerometers by extrapolation after a specific time period according to a first position corresponding to each of the at least three accelerometers and an acceleration value relative to the first position; calibrating the second position according to the relative position defined between the neighboring accelerometers so that each of the accelerometers is provided with a calibrated position; determining a transformation matrix according to the calibrated position and an initial position corresponding to each of the accelerometers; and obtaining a rotational angle of the object according to the transformation matrix.
In another embodiment, this disclosure provides a system for motion tracking, comprising: at least three accelerometers disposed on a movable object and provided with a relative position defined between neighboring accelerometers, each of the accelerometers being provided with an acceleration signal according to the movable object; and a control unit electrically connected to the at least three accelerometers respectively so as to calculate a second position corresponding to each of the at least three accelerometers by extrapolation after a specific time period according to a first position corresponding to each of the at least three accelerometers and an acceleration signal relative to the first position, to calibrate the second position according to the relative position defined between the neighboring accelerometers so that each of the accelerometers is provided with a calibrated position, to determine a transformation matrix according to the calibrated position and an initial position corresponding to each of the accelerometers, and to obtain a rotational angle of the object according to the transformation matrix.
The objects and spirits of the embodiment of this disclosure will be readily understood by the accompanying drawings and detailed descriptions, wherein:
This disclosure providing a method and a system for motion tracking based on inertia detection can be exemplified by the embodiment as described hereinafter.
This disclosure provides a method and a system for motion tracking that uses an inertial measurement unit composed of at least three accelerometers to track the displacement and 3-D rotational angle of an object without any gyroscope or magnetic compass for angle calculation. In this disclosure, the inertial measurement unit composed of accelerometers is used to track the trajectory of a movable object with lowered cost and immunity from interference by electronic appliances.
Please refer to
As shown in
Please refer to
Linear transformation is based on one of the accelerometers. For example, in
Gi,jB=TS
Now, the coordinate system at any time needs to be transformed to the initial coordinate system. In step 32, an acceleration value transformed by a transformation matrix is calculated according to an acceleration signal having experiencing a consistency transformation. The acceleration signal of the moving object 90 is measured by the three accelerometers 20-22. The acceleration value along consistent detection axis is obtained by calculation on the acceleration signal based on Equation (1). Then, the acceleration value along consistent detection axis is transformed by a transformation matrix to obtain a transformed acceleration value corresponding to each of the accelerometers. In step 32, the acceleration signal measured by the accelerometers 20-22 is processed based on Equation (1) to obtain ai,j (i.e., Gi,jB in Equation (1)), where i denotes the sensor and j denotes the time, which is then multiplied by the transformation matrix to obtain an acceleration value Ai,j, where i denotes the sensor and j denotes the time, so as to transform the coordinate system to the initial coordinate system. For example, at time 0, when the acceleration signal measured by the accelerometers 20-22 is processed according to Equation (1) to obtain acceleration values α1,0, a2,0 and a3,0, these acceleration values are multiplied by an initial transformation matrix, as expressed in Equation (2), to obtain acceleration values A1,0, A2,0 and A3,0.
Then, in step 33, the new positions of the three accelerometers after a specific period of time are calculated by extrapolation according to the initial position and the transformed acceleration value of each of the three accelerometers.
Please refer to
The initial position of the accelerometer 20 at t0 is S1,0(x0, y0, z0), while the acceleration value is A1,0 and the velocity is V1,0. Similarly, the initial position of the accelerometer 21 at t0 is S2,0(x0, y0, z0), while the acceleration value is A2,0 and the velocity is V2,0. The initial position of the accelerometer 22 at t0 is S3,0(x0, y0, z0), while the acceleration value is A3,0 and the velocity is V3,0.
When the object moves for a specific period of time, the position of the accelerometer 20 at t1 is {tilde over (S)}1,1(x1, y1, z1) by extrapolation. The calibrated position is S1,1(x1, y1, z1), while the transformed acceleration is A1,1 and the velocity is V1,1. Similarly, the position of the accelerometer 21 at t1 is {tilde over (S)}2,1(x1, y1, z1). The calibrated position is S2,1(x1, y1, z1), while the transformed acceleration is A2,1 and the velocity is V2,1. Similarly, the position of the accelerometer 22 at t1 is {tilde over (S)}3,1(x1, y1, z1). The calibrated position is S3,1(x1, y1, z1), while the transformed acceleration is A3,1 and the velocity is V3,1.
Taking the accelerometers 20-22 for example, the positions {tilde over (S)}1,1, {tilde over (S)}2,1, {tilde over (S)}3,1 at t1 by extrapolation are expressed as:
wherein Δt0=t1−t0. Accordingly, a new position of each of the accelerometers at any time can be expressed as:
wherein {tilde over (S)}i,j+1 denotes a new position of the ith accelerometer at tj+1 according to the acceleration Ai,j and velocity Vi,j at tj that are processed by extrapolation.
In
The method of least squares can be expressed as:
where Si denotes the calibrated position, {tilde over (S)}i denotes the new position corresponding to the accelerometer by Equation (4). There are various methods for solving Equation (5) that are conventional and thus descriptions thereof are not to be represented herein. In
After the calibrated position is obtained, the displacement Di,j and the velocity of the object can be obtained according to the relation between the calibrated position and the position at a previous time. The displacement Di,j and the velocity Vi,j can be expressed as:
Then, step 35 is performed to determine a transformation matrix according to the calibrated position and the initial position. More particularly, referring to
[V1(S3,j−S1,j),V2(S2,j−S1,j),(V1×V2)]=TMj·[V1(S3,0−S1,0),V2(S2,0−S1,0),(V1×V2)0] (8)
From Equation (8), the transformation matrix TMj can be obtained as in Equation (9):
wherein each entry mij(i=0-2, j=0-2) in the matrix is known. As shown in
Finally, in step 36, the rotational angle of the object can be determined according to the transformation matrix in Equations (9) and (10). In other words, β can be determined from m02, while α, γ can be obtained according to m01 and m12. Therefore, the angles α1(Yaw)-β1(pitch)-γ1(roll) at t1 can be determined. Then, step 32 is repeated to determine the acceleration values α1,1, α2,1 and α3,1, of the object 90 at t1 and calculates the acceleration values A1,1, A2,1 and A3,1 transformed by the transformation matrix TM1 (Equation (9), j=1) according to the acceleration values. In other words, the acceleration values Ai,j of each of the accelerometers are the product of the acceleration values Gi,jB (ai,j) according to Equation (1) multiplied by the transformation matrix according to the calibrated position and the initial position. Then, steps 33-36 are repeated to determine the positions Si,j(i=1, 2, 3, j=2), the transformation matrix TM2 at t2 and the angles α2(Yaw)-β2(pitch)-γ2(roll) according to Equation (10). Repeatedly, the positions Si,j(i=1, 2, 3) corresponding to the object and the rotational angles αj(Yaw)-βj(pitch)-γj(roll) corresponding to each axis at tj can be determined so as to reconstruct the motion trajectory of the object. The resolution of the motion trajectory depends on the periods of time between timings.
Although this disclosure has been disclosed and illustrated with reference accelerometer to particular embodiments, the principles involved are susceptible for use in numerous other embodiments that will be apparent to persons skilled in the art. This disclosure is, therefore, to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the appended claims.
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Jeng-Heng Chen et al., Gyroscope Free Strapdown Inertial Measurement Unit by Six Linear Accelerometers, Journal of Guidance Control and Dynamics, Mar.-Apr. 1994, pp. 286-290, vol. 17, No. 2, limited legibility. |
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