WO2025164635A1

WO2025164635A1 - Positioning apparatus, positioning method, and positioning program

Info

Publication number: WO2025164635A1
Application number: PCT/JP2025/002686
Authority: WO
Inventors: Takashi Kato; Yoji Takayama
Original assignee: Furuno Electric Co Ltd
Current assignee: Furuno Electric Co Ltd
Priority date: 2024-01-31
Filing date: 2025-01-29
Publication date: 2025-08-07
Anticipated expiration: 2026-07-31
Also published as: JP2025118431A

Abstract

A positioning device (1) includes an acquisition unit (32), a conversion unit (33), a generation unit (34), and an output unit (35). The acquisition unit (32) acquires a geodetic antenna position in the geodetic coordinates, which corresponds to an antenna position. The geodetic antenna position is calculated based on a GNSS signal received by an antenna (5) mounted on a mobile body. The conversion unit (33) converts an offset amount in the mobile body coordinates, corresponding to a position difference between a reference position on the mobile body and the position of the antenna on the mobile body, into a geodetic offset amount, which is an offset amount of the geodetic coordinates, based on an attitude angle of local coordinates on the mobile body. The generation unit (34) generates a corrected position obtained by correcting the geodetic antenna position by adding the geodetic offset amount to the geodetic antenna position. The output unit (35) outputs the generated corrected position to an output target (100) as a positioning result.

Description

POSITIONING APPARATUS, POSITIONING METHOD, AND POSITIONING PROGRAM

The present disclosure relates to a positioning apparatus, a positioning method, and a positioning program.

Background

Conventionally, a GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) receiver, or the like, has been known to receive a navigation signal transmitted from a navigation satellite using an antenna and determine a position of a vehicle based on a position of the antenna. In this case, a host side, such as a vehicle controller or the like, obtains the positioning result from the GNSS receiver, and there is a technique to correct the positioning result based on a position difference between a reference position on the vehicle required by the host and the antenna’s position (for example, see Patent Document 1.).

However, in the prior art, since the host side, which is the output target of the positioning result, performs the processing to correct the positioning result before performing various controls, the processing load on the host side becomes large.

Therefore, the present disclosure proposes a positioning apparatus, a positioning method, and a positioning program that can reduce a processing load on an output target.

To solve the above problem, the positioning apparatus according to the present disclosure includes an acquisition unit, a conversion unit, a generation unit, and an output unit. The acquisition unit acquires a geodetic antenna position in the geodetic coordinates which corresponds to an antenna position. The geodetic antenna position in the geodetic coordinates is calculated based on a GNSS signal received by an antenna mounted on a mobile body. The conversion unit converts an offset amount in the mobile body coordinates, corresponding to a positional difference between a reference position on the mobile body and the antenna position on the mobile body, into a geodetic offset amount, which is an offset amount in the geodetic coordinates, based on an attitude angle in the local coordinates on the mobile body. The generation unit adds the geodetic offset amount to the geodetic antenna position to generate a corrected position that corrects the geodetic antenna position. The output unit outputs the generated corrected position to an output target as the positioning result. Thus, the positioning apparatus can reduce the processing load on the output target.

When the generation of the correction position by the generation unit is not possible, the output unit according to the present disclosure notifies the output target of the inability to output the corrected position. Thus, the positioning apparatus can inform the output target side that the corrected position cannot be output.

When the generation of the correction position by the generation unit is not possible, and the acquisition unit has acquired the geodetic antenna position, the output unit according to the present disclosure outputs the geodetic antenna position to the output target as the positioning result. Thus, the positioning apparatus can avoid a situation in which position information cannot be output to the output target.

The output unit according to the present disclosure also outputs the positioning result to the output target, with specific information added to specify whether the positioning result is the correction position or the geodetic antenna position. Thus, the positioning apparatus can specify whether the positioning result is the correction position or the geodetic antenna position on the output target side.

The positioning device according to the present disclosure further includes a sensor for detecting sensor information to calculate the attitude angle. Thus, the positioning apparatus can improve the accuracy of the attitude angle.

A positioning method according to the present disclosure is a positioning method executed by a computer and includes an acquisition step, a conversion step, a generation step, and an output step. The acquisition step acquires a geodetic antenna position in the geodetic coordinates, which corresponds to an antenna position. The geodetic antenna position in the geodetic coordinates is calculated based on a GNSS signal received by an antenna mounted on a mobile body. The conversion step converts an offset amount in mobile body coordinates, corresponding to a positional difference between a reference position on the mobile body and the antenna position on the mobile body, into a geodetic offset amount which is an offset amount in the geodetic coordinates, based on an attitude angle in the local coordinates on the mobile body. The generation step adds the geodetic offset amount to the geodetic antenna position to generate a corrected position obtained by correcting the geodetic antenna position. The output step outputs the generated corrected position to an output object as a positioning result. Thus, the positioning method can reduce a processing load on the output object.

A non-transient computer-readable medium containing program instructions for causing a computer to execute an acquisition procedure, a conversion procedure, a generation procedure, and an output procedure. The acquisition procedure acquires a geodetic antenna position in the geodetic coordinates, which corresponds to an antenna position. The geodetic antenna position of geodetic coordinates is calculated based on a GNSS signal received by an antenna mounted on a mobile object. The conversion procedure converts an offset amount in the mobile body coordinates, corresponding to a positional difference between a reference position on the mobile body and the antenna position on the mobile object, into a geodetic offset amount, which is an offset amount in the geodetic coordinates, based on an attitude angle in the local coordinates on the mobile body. In the generation procedure, the geodetic offset amount is added to the geodetic antenna position to generate a corrected position obtained by correcting the geodetic antenna position. The output procedure outputs the generated corrected position to the output target as a positioning result. Thus, the positioning program can reduce the processing load on the output target.

Fig. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a configuration of a vehicle according to an embodiment.
Fig. 2 is a diagram showing a reference position according to an embodiment.
Fig. 3 is a diagram showing an overview of a positioning method according to an embodiment.
Fig. 4 is a functional block diagram showing an example configuration of the GNSS receiver according to an embodiment.
Fig. 5 is a flowchart showing a procedure of processing executed by the GNSS receiver according to an embodiment.

Hereinafter, illustrative embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the present specification and the figures, elements similar to those described in previous figures may be denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed descriptions may be omitted accordingly.

Fig. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a configuration of a vehicle according to an embodiment. Fig. 2 is a diagram showing a reference position according to an embodiment. Fig. 3 is a diagram showing an overview of a positioning method according to an embodiment. Fig. 1 shows only the configuration necessary for the embodiment and omits other general configurations of the vehicle. In the present disclosure, the vehicle is shown as an example of a mobile body, but it is not limited to the vehicle, and other types of mobile bodies, such as ships and aircraft, may also be used.

As shown in Fig. 1, a vehicle C includes a GNSS receiver 1 and a vehicle controller 100.

The GNSS receiver 1 is a positioning device that uses an antenna to receive a navigation signal transmitted by a navigation satellite, thereby determine the position of the antenna. The navigation satellite is a satellite used in one or more GNSS systems such as GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, IRNSS, QZSS, Beidou, etc.

The GNSS receiver 1 analyzes the navigation signal received by the antenna, obtains a code pseudorange, a carrier phase, a Doppler frequency, etc., and successively calculates a geodesic coordinate position information (hereinafter, a geodetic antenna position) representing the current position of the antenna based on the analysis. The geodesic coordinate is an ECEF (Earth-Centered Earth-Fixed) coordinate, such as latitude, longitude, altitude, etc. The GNSS receiver 1 also has a DR (Dead Reckoning) function for estimating its own position using a sensor such as a gyro sensor or an acceleration sensor.

The vehicle controller 100 is a device (host) to which the positioning results of the GNSS receiver 1 are output. The vehicle controller 100 performs various vehicle controls such as an automatic driving function based on the positioning results of the GNSS receiver 1.

Here, as shown in Fig. 2, the vehicle controller 100 assumes that a specific position on the vehicle C is a reference position Pb, and the position information of reference position Pb is used when performing various vehicle controls. That is, since the position information measured by the GNSS receiver 1 corresponds to an antenna position Pa, it is necessary to correct (offset) the positioning results from the antenna position Pa to the reference position Pb. Therefore, conventionally, the host side (vehicle controller side) needs to correct the positioning results acquired from the GNSS receiver from the antenna position Pa to the reference position Pb before using them for various vehicle controls, which increases a processing load on the host side.

Therefore, in the present disclosure, the GNSS receiver 1 corrects the positioning results from the antenna position Pa to the reference position Pb and outputs them to the vehicle controller 100, which is an output target. Thus, the vehicle controller 100 does not need to correct the positioning results, so the processing load can be reduced. A method of correcting the positioning results will be described below with reference to Fig3. In Fig. 3, circles indicate “processing”, and rectangles indicate “ processing results ”.

As shown in Fig. 3, first, the vehicle controller 100 sets an offset of the GNSS antenna position (step S1). Specifically, the vehicle controller 100 receives information about the reference position Pb, represented by the body coordinates of the vehicle C (an example of moving body coordinates) from the vehicle controller 100, and directly sets the offset amount corresponding to a position difference between the antenna position Pa and the reference position Pb in the body coordinates. This offset amount is a position difference represented by the body coordinates. The body coordinates are three-axis orthogonal coordinates whose origin is a predetermined position (e.g., the center of the vehicle body) in the vehicle C.

Subsequently, the GNSS receiver 1 uses the antenna to receive a navigation signal transmitted by the navigation satellite, thereby measuring the position of the antenna (step S2). Specifically, the GNSS receiver 1 calculates the geodetic antenna position, which is the antenna position Pa, in the ECEF coordinate system (three-dimensional coordinates), based on the GNSS signal received by the antenna.

Subsequently, the GNSS receiver 1 calculates an attitude angle of the vehicle C based on the sensor data such as the gyro sensor and the acceleration sensor (step S3). The attitude angle is represented by NED (North-East-Down) coordinates, which are local coordinates.

Subsequently, the GNSS receiver 1 converts the offset amount from the body coordinates to the ECEF coordinates based on the geodetic antenna position in the ECEF coordinates, the attitude angle in the NED coordinates, and the offset amount in the body coordinates (step S4). Specifically, the GNSS receiver 1 first converts the offset amount from the body coordinates to the NED coordinates based on the attitude angle in the NED coordinates and the offset amount in the body coordinates. Subsequently, the GNSS receiver 1 converts the NED coordinates into a geodetic offset amount that is an offset amount in the ECEF coordinates based on the offset amount in the NED coordinates and the geodetic antenna position in the ECEF coordinates. For the conversion from the body coordinates to the NED coordinates and the conversion from the NED coordinates to the ECEF coordinates, a conversion method described in the U.S. standard (SAE J2945/1 APR2020 6.2.3 Coordinate System and Reference (COORDSYSREF)) can be used.

Subsequently, the GNSS receiver 1 adds the geodetic offset amount to the geodetic antenna position in the ECEF coordinates (step S5). Thus, the geodetic antenna position, which is the antenna position Pa in the ECEF coordinates, is corrected to the corrected position, which is the reference position Pb in the ECEF coordinates. Then, the GNSS receiver 1 outputs the generated corrected position to the vehicle controller 100.

Thus, according to the GNSS receiver 1 in the embodiment, the corrected position, in which the geodetic antenna position is offset from the antenna position Pa to the reference position Pb can be generated by converting the offset amount from the body coordinates to the ECEF coordinates. This eliminates the need for the vehicle controller 100 to correct the positioning result of the GNSS receiver 1 to the reference position Pb. Therefore, according to the GNSS receiver 1, the processing load on the vehicle control device 100, which is the output target, can be reduced.

Furthermore, since the GNSS receiver 1 is provided with the sensor for detecting the sensor information (sensor data) for calculating the attitude angle, the sensor information of a sensor placed close to the antenna position can be obtained, and the attitude angle can be calculated with high accuracy.

The GNSS receiver 1 may acquire the sensor information for calculating the attitude angle from outside the output target or the like. In this case, the GNSS receiving apparatus 1 corrects the attitude angle (or sensor information) based on the position difference between the attachment position and the antenna position when the sensor attachment position in the output target can be acquired, so that the accuracy of the attitude angle can be improved.

Additionally, if the GNSS receiver 1 is unable to generate the corrected position, the GNSS receiver 1 notifies that the corrected position cannot be output, outputs the geodetic antenna position, and adds a specific information as to whether the output position is the geodetic antenna position or the correction position.

Next, an example of the configuration of the GNSS receiver 1 as the positioning apparatus according to an embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 4. Fig. 4 is a functional block diagram showing the example of the configuration of the GNSS receiver1 according to the embodiment. In the block diagram of Fig. 4, only the components necessary for explaining the features of the present embodiment are represented by functional blocks, and the description of general components is omitted.

In other words, each components illustrated in the block diagram of Fig. 4 is a functional concept, and need not necessarily be physically constructed as shown. For example, the specific forms of distribution and integration of the functional blocks are not limited to those shown, and all or part of the functional blocks can be functionally or physically distributed and integrated into arbitrary units in according to various loads, usage conditions, and the like.

As shown in Fig. 4, the GNSS receiver 1 includes a communication unit 2, a control unit 3, a storage unit 4, an antenna 5, and a sensor 6.

The communication unit 2 is a communication interface for communicating with the outside. The communication unit 2 transmits and receives information to and from the vehicle controller 100 by being connected to an in-vehicle network, such as CAN, for example.

The antenna 5 is attached to the body of the vehicle C and receives the navigation signals such as GNSS signals. The antenna 5 outputs the received GNSS signals to the control unit 3. The sensor 6 is attached to the vehicle C and detects the sensor information for calculating the attitude angle of the vehicle C. The sensor 6 is, for example, the gyro sensor or the acceleration sensor.

The GNSS receiver 1 includes, for example, a computer having a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), a hard disk drive, an input/output port, and various circuits.

The CPU of the computer, for example, reads and executes a program stored in the ROM to function as a reception unit 31, an acquisition unit 32, a conversion unit 33, a generation unit 34, and an output unit 35 of the control unit 3.

Further, at least some or all of the reception unit 31, the acquisition unit 32, the conversion unit 33, the generation unit 34, and the output unit 35 of the control unit 3 may be constituted by hardware such as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) or an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array).

The storage unit 4 is a storage unit constituted by a storage device such as a semiconductor element memory or a hard disk drive. The storage unit 4 stores various programs and various information necessary for the processing of the control unit 3.

Next, each function (reception unit 31, acquisition unit 32, conversion unit 33, generation unit 34, and output unit 35) of the control unit 3 will be described in detail.

The reception unit 31 receives the information of the reference position Pb represented by the body coordinates of the vehicle C from the vehicle controller 100 which is the output target. The reception unit 31 directly receives the position difference between the received reference position Pb and the antenna position Pa represented by the body coordinates as the offset amount. This offset amount is represented by the body coordinates.

The acquisition unit 32 acquires various kinds of information. More specifically, the acquisition unit 32 receives the GNSS signal from the antenna 5. The acquisition unit 32 also acquires the sensor information from the sensor 6.

On the basis of the acquired GNSS signal, the acquisition unit 32 calculates the geodetic antenna position that is the antenna position Pa expressed by ECEF coordinates. On the basis of the sensor information, the acquisition unit 32 calculates the attitude angle of the vehicle C expressed by NED coordinates.

The conversion unit 33 performs various coordinate transformations. Specifically, the conversion unit 33 converts the offset amount from body coordinates to ECEF coordinates based on the geodetic antenna position in ECEF coordinates, the attitude angle in NED coordinates, and the offset amount in body coordinates. More specifically, the conversion unit 33 first converts the offset amount from the body coordinates to the NED coordinates based on the attitude angle in the NED coordinates and the offset amount in the body coordinates. Then, the conversion unit 33 converts the NED coordinates to the geodetic offset amount, which is the offset amount in the ECEF coordinates, based on the offset amount in the NED coordinates and the geodetic antenna position in the ECEF coordinates.

The generation unit 34 adds the geodetic offset amount converted by the conversion unit 33 to the geodetic antenna position acquired by the acquisition unit 32 to generate the corrected position obtained by correcting the geodetic antenna position. That is, the generation unit 34 corrects the geodetic antenna position that is the antenna position Pa in the ECEF coordinates to the corrected position that is the reference position Pb in the ECEF coordinates.

The output unit 35 outputs the corrected position generated by the generation unit 34 to the vehicle controller100 which is the output target.

When the generation unit 34 cannot generate the corrected position, the output unit 35 notifies the vehicle controller 100 that the corrected position cannot be output. The situation where the generation of the corrected position is not possible is, for example, if the acquisition unit 32 cannot acquire the geodetic antenna position or the acquisition unit 32 cannot calculate the attitude angle. In this way, the output unit 35 notifies the vehicle controller 100 that the corrected position cannot be output, so that the vehicle controller 100 side can handle the situation where the corrected position cannot be acquired (such as notifying the driver that the vehicle control cannot be performed due to the lack of positional information).

Further, the output unit 35 may output the geodetic antenna position to the output target as the positioning result when the position of the geodetic antenna cannot be generated because the attitude angle cannot be calculated by the acquisition unit 32, that is, when the geodetic antenna position can be acquired by the acquisition unit 32. Thus, a situation where the vehicle control cannot be performed because the position information cannot be acquired by the vehicle controller 100 side can be avoided.

In this case, the output unit 35 outputs a positioning result to which specific information specifying that the positioning result is the geodetic antenna position is added. The output unit 35 may output the positioning result to which specific information specifying that the positioning result is the corrected position is added. That is, the output unit 35 outputs the positioning result to the output target with specific information for specifying whether the positioning result is the correction position or the geodetic antenna position . The specific information is, for example, tag information such as “corrected position” or “ geodetic antenna position”. Thus, by adding the specific information, it is possible to specify whether the positioning result is the correction position or the geodetic antenna position on the vehicle controller 100 side.

Next, a procedure of a processing executed by the GNSS receiver 1 according to an embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 5. Fig. 5 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the processing executed by the GNSS receiver 1 according to the embodiment.

As shown in Fig. 5, first, the vehicle controller 100 directly sets the offset amount of the body coordinates (step 101).

Next, the control unit 3 determines whether or not the geodetic antenna position has been acquired based on the GNSS signal (step 102). Step 102 may be a determination process of “whether or not the GNSS signal has been received”.

If the position of the geodetic antenna can be obtained (step 102: Yes), the control unit 3 determines whether or not the attitude angle of the vehicle C can be obtained (calculated) (step 103). Step 103 may be a determination process of “whether or not the sensor information can be obtained”.

If the attitude angle can be obtained (step 103: Yes), the control unit 3 converts the offset amount from the body coordinates to the NED coordinates based on the attitude angle of the NED coordinates (step 104).

Subsequently, the control unit 3 converts the offset amount in the NED coordinates to the geodetic offset amount that is the offset amount in the ECEF coordinates based on the geodetic antenna position (step 105).

Subsequently, the control unit 3 corrects the geodetic antenna position to the corrected position by adding the geodetic offset amount in the ECEF coordinates to the geodetic antenna position (step 106).

Subsequently, the control unit 3 outputs the corrected position, with specific information specifying that the positioning result is the corrected position is added to the vehicle controller 100 as the positioning result (step 107), and the process ends.

On the other hand, in step 103, if the attitude angle cannot be acquired (step 103: No), the control unit 3 adds specific information specifying that the positioning result is the geodetic antenna position and outputs the geodetic antenna position to the vehicle controller 100 as the positioning result (step 108), and the process ends.

On the other hand, in step 102, when the geodetic antenna position cannot be acquired (step 102: No), the control unit 3 notifies that the position that is the positioning result cannot be output (step 109), and the process ends.

As described above, according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the positioning apparatus (GNSS receiver 1) includes the acquisition unit 32, the conversion unit 33, the generation unit 34, and the output unit 35. The acquisition unit 32 acquires geodetic antenna position in the geodetic coordinates (ECEF coordinates) which is the antenna position (antenna position Pa). The geodetic antenna position in the geodetic coordinates is calculated based on the GNSS signal received by the antenna 5 mounted on the mobile body (vehicle C). The conversion unit 33 converts the offset amount in the mobile body coordinates (body coordinates) corresponding to the position difference between the reference position Pb on the mobile body and the position of the antenna Pa on the mobile body, into the geodetic offset amount, which is the offset amount in the geodetic coordinates based on the attitude angle in the local coordinates (NED coordinates) on the mobile body. The generation unit 34 generates the corrected position obtained by correcting the geodetic antenna position by adding the geodetic offset amount to the geodetic antenna position. The output unit 35 outputs the generated corrected position to the output target as the positioning result. Thus, the positioning device can reduce the processing load on the output target.

Further, among the processes described in the above embodiments, all or part of the processes described as being automatically performed can be manually performed, or all or part of the processes described as being manually performed can be automatically performed by a known method. In addition, the processing procedures, specific names, and information, including various data and parameters shown in the above documents and drawings can be arbitrarily changed except as otherwise noted. For example, the various information shown in the figures is not limited to the information illustrated.

Further, the components of the illustrated apparatus are functional concepts, and need not necessarily be physically configured as shown. That is, the specific form of distribution and integration of the apparatuses is not limited to the one shown in the figures, and the whole or a part of the apparatus can be functionally or physically distributed and integrated into arbitrary units according to various loads, usage conditions, and the like.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the claims. For example, a configuration obtained by appropriately combining the above-described embodiments in a a way that does not contradict the processing contents is also included in the technical scope of the present invention. The respective steps shown in the flowchart and the sequence diagram of the above-described embodiments can be appropriately reordered.

Terminology

It is to be understood that not necessarily all objects or advantages may be achieved in accordance with any particular embodiment described herein. Thus, for example, those skilled in the art will recognize that certain embodiments may be configured to operate in a manner that achieves or optimizes one advantage or group of advantages as taught herein without necessarily achieving other objects or advantages as may be taught or suggested herein.

All of the processes described herein may be embodied in, and fully automated via, software code modules executed by a computing system that includes one or more computers or processors. The code modules may be stored in any type of non-transitory computer-readable medium or other computer storage device. Some or all the methods may be embodied in specialized computer hardware.

Many other variations than those described herein will be apparent from this disclosure. For example, depending on the embodiment, certain acts, events, or functions of any of the algorithms described herein can be performed in a different sequence, can be added, merged, or left out altogether (e.g., not all described acts or events are necessary for the practice of the algorithms). Moreover, in certain embodiments, acts or events can be performed concurrently, e.g., through multi-threaded processing, interrupt processing, or multiple processors or processor cores or on other parallel architectures, rather than sequentially. In addition, different tasks or processes can be performed by different machines and/or computing systems that can function together.

The various illustrative logical blocks and modules described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented or performed by a machine, such as a processor. A processor can be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor can be a controller, microcontroller, or state machine, combinations of the same, or the like. A processor can include electrical circuitry configured to process computer-executable instructions. In another embodiment, a processor includes an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable device that performs logic operations without processing computer-executable instructions. A processor can also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a digital signal processor (DSP) and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration. Although described herein primarily with respect to digital technology, a processor may also include primarily analog components. For example, some or all of the signal processing algorithms described herein may be implemented in analog circuitry or mixed analog and digital circuitry. A computing environment can include any type of computer system, including, but not limited to, a computer system based on a microprocessor, a mainframe computer, a digital signal processor, a portable computing device, a device controller, or a computational engine within an appliance, to name a few.

Conditional language such as, among others, "can", "could", "might" or "may" unless specifically stated otherwise, are otherwise understood within the context as used in general to convey that certain embodiments include, while other embodiments do not include, certain features, elements and/or steps. Thus, such conditional language is not generally intended to imply that features, elements and/or steps are in any way required for one or more embodiments or that one or more embodiments necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without user input or prompting, whether these features, elements and/or steps are included or are to be performed in any particular embodiment.

Disjunctive language such as the phrase "at least one of X, Y, or Z" unless specifically stated otherwise, is otherwise understood with the context as used in general to present that an item, term, etc., may be either X, Y, or Z, or any combination thereof (e.g., X, Y, and/or Z). Thus, such disjunctive language is not generally intended to, and should not, imply that certain embodiments require at least one of X, at least one of Y, or at least one of Z to each be present.

Any process descriptions, elements or blocks in the flow diagrams described herein and/or depicted in the attached figures should be understood as potentially representing modules, segments, or portions of code which include one or more executable instructions for implementing specific logical functions or elements in the process. Alternate implementations are included within the scope of the embodiments described herein in which elements or functions may be deleted, executed out of order from that shown, or discussed, including substantially concurrently or in reverse order, depending on the functionality involved as would be understood by those skilled in the art.

Unless otherwise explicitly stated, articles such as "a" or "an" should generally be interpreted to include one or more described items. Accordingly, phrases such as "a device configured to" are intended to include one or more recited devices. Such one or more recited devices can also be collectively configured to carry out the stated recitations. For example, "a processor configured to carry out recitations A, B and C" can include a first processor configured to carry out recitation A working in conjunction with a second processor configured to carry out recitations B and C. The same holds true for the use of definite articles used to introduce embodiment recitations. In addition, even if a specific number of an introduced embodiment recitation is explicitly recited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitation should typically be interpreted to mean at least the recited number (e.g., the bare recitation of "two recitations" without other modifiers, typically means at least two recitations, or two or more recitations).

It will be understood by those within the art that, in general, terms used herein, are generally intended as "open" terms (e.g., the term "including" should be interpreted as "including but not limited to" the term "having" should be interpreted as "having at least" the term "includes" should be interpreted as "includes but is not limited to" etc.).
For expository purposes, the term "horizontal" as used herein is defined as a plane parallel to the plane or surface of the floor of the area in which the system being described is used or the method being described is performed, regardless of its orientation. The term "floor" can be interchanged with the term "ground" or "water surface." The term "vertical" refers to a direction perpendicular to the horizontal as just defined. Terms such as "above", "below", "bottom", "top", "side", "higher", "lower", "upper", "over" and "under" are defined with respect to the horizontal plane.

As used herein, the terms "attached", "connected", "mated" and other such relational terms should be construed, unless otherwise noted, to include removable, moveable, fixed, adjustable, and/or releasable connections or attachments. The connections/attachments can include direct connections and/or connections having intermediate structure between the two components discussed.

Numbers preceded by a term such as "approximately", "about" and "substantially" as used herein include the recited numbers, and also represent an amount close to the stated amount that still performs a desired function or achieves a desired result. For example, the terms "approximately", "about" and "substantially" may refer to an amount that is within less than 10% of the stated amount. Features of embodiments disclosed herein preceded by a term such as "approximately", "about" and "substantially" as used herein represent the feature with some variability that still performs a desired function or achieves a desired result for that feature.

It should be emphasized that many variations and modifications may be made to the above-described embodiments, the elements of which are to be understood as being among other acceptable examples. All such modifications and variations are intended to be included herein within the scope of this disclosure and protected by the following claims.

(1) A positioning apparatus comprising: an acquisition unit configured to acquire a geodetic antenna position in the geodetic coordinates, which corresponds to an antenna position (Pa), calculated based on a GNSS signal received by an antenna mounted on a mobile body; a conversion unit configured to convert an offset amount of the mobile body coordinates corresponding to a positional difference between a reference position (Pb) on the mobile body and the antenna position (Pa) on the mobile body, into a geodetic offset amount, which is an offset amount in the geodetic coordinates, based on an attitude angle in the local coordinates on the mobile body; a generation unit configured to generate a corrected position, obtained by correcting the geodetic antenna position by adding the geodetic offset amount to the geodetic antenna position; and an output unit configured to output the generated corrected position to an output target as a positioning result.

(2) The positioning apparatus according to (1), wherein the output unit is further configured to notify the output target of the inability to output the correction position when the generation of the correction position by the generation unit is not possible.

(3) The positioning apparatus according to (1), wherein the output unit is further configured to output the geodetic antenna position as the positioning result to the output target when the acquisition unit acquires the geodetic antenna position and when the generation of the correction position by the generation unit is not possible.

(4) The positioning apparatus according to (3), wherein the output unit is further configured to output the positioning result to the output target, with specific information added to identify whether the positioning result is the correction position or the geodetic antenna position.

(5) The positioning apparatus according to (1), further comprising a sensor for detecting a sensor information for calculating the attitude angle.

(6) A positioning method (1) comprising: acquiring a geodetic antenna position in the geodetic coordinates, which corresponds to an antenna position (Pa), calculated based on a GNSS signal received by an antenna mounted on a mobile body; converting an offset amount in the mobile body coordinates, corresponding to a positional difference between a reference position (Pb) on the mobile body and the antenna position (Pa) on the mobile body, into a geodetic offset amount which is an offset amount in the geodetic coordinates, based on an attitude angle of a local coordinate on the mobile body; generating a corrected position, with the geodetic antenna position being corrected by adding the geodetic offset amount to the geodetic antenna position; and outputting the generated corrected position to an output target as a positioning result.

(7) A non-transient computer-readable medium containing program instructions for causing a computer to execute the method of: acquiring a geodetic antenna position in the geodetic coordinates, which corresponds to an antenna position (Pa), calculated based on a GNSS signal received by an antenna mounted on a mobile body; converting an offset amount in the mobile body coordinates, corresponding to a positional difference between a reference position (Pb) on the mobile body and the antenna position (Pa) on the mobile body into a geodetic offset amount, which is an offset amount in the geodetic coordinates, based on an attitude angle in the local coordinates on the mobile body; generating a corrected position, with the geodetic antenna position being corrected by adding the geodetic offset amount to the geodetic antenna position; and outputting the generated corrected position to an output target as a positioning result.

1 GNSS Receiver, 2 Communication Unit, 3 Control Unit, 31 Acceptance Unit, 32 Acquisition Unit, 33 Conversion Unit, 34 Generation Unit, 35 Output Unit, 4 Storage Unit, 5 Antenna, 6 Sensor, 100 Vehicle Controller, C Vehicle, Pa Antenna Position, Pb Reference Position

Patent literature 1: Japanese Patent No. 6569572

Claims

A positioning apparatus (1) comprising:
an acquisition unit (32) configured to acquire a geodetic antenna position in the geodetic coordinates, which corresponds to an antenna position (Pa), calculated based on a GNSS signal received by an antenna (5) mounted on a mobile body;
a conversion unit (33) configured to convert an offset amount of the mobile body coordinates corresponding to a positional difference between a reference position (Pb) on the mobile body and the antenna position (Pa) on the mobile body, into a geodetic offset amount, which is an offset amount in the geodetic coordinates, based on an attitude angle in the local coordinates on the mobile body;
a generation unit (34) configured to generate a corrected position, obtained by correcting the geodetic antenna position by adding the geodetic offset amount to the geodetic antenna position; and
an output unit (35) configured to output the generated corrected position to an output target (100) as a positioning result.
The positioning apparatus (1) according to the claim 1, wherein
the output unit is further configured to notify the output target (100) of the inability to output the correction position when the generation of the correction position by the generation unit (34) is not possible.
The positioning apparatus (1) according to the claim 1, wherein
the output unit is further configured to output the geodetic antenna position as the positioning result to the output target (100) when the acquisition unit (32) acquires the geodetic antenna position and when the generation of the correction position by the generation unit (34) is not possible.
The positioning apparatus (1) according to the claim 3, wherein
the output unit is further configured to output the positioning result to the output target (100), with specific information added to identify whether the positioning result is the correction position or the geodetic antenna position.
The positioning apparatus (1) according to the claim 1, further comprising a sensor (6) for detecting a sensor information for calculating the attitude angle.
A positioning method (1) comprising:
acquiring (32) a geodetic antenna position in the geodetic coordinates, which corresponds to an antenna position (Pa), calculated based on a GNSS signal received by an antenna (5) mounted on a mobile body;
converting (33) an offset amount in the mobile body coordinates, corresponding to a positional difference between a reference position (Pb) on the mobile body and the antenna position (Pa) on the mobile body, into a geodetic offset amount which is an offset amount in the geodetic coordinates, based on an attitude angle of a local coordinate on the mobile body;
generating (34) a corrected position, with the geodetic antenna position being corrected by adding the geodetic offset amount to the geodetic antenna position; and
outputting (35) the generated corrected position to an output target (100) as a positioning result.
A non-transient computer-readable medium containing program instructions for causing a computer to execute the method of:
acquiring (32) a geodetic antenna position in the geodetic coordinates, which corresponds to an antenna position (Pa), calculated based on a GNSS signal received by an antenna (5) mounted on a mobile body;
converting (33) an offset amount in the mobile body coordinates, corresponding to a positional difference between a reference position (Pb) on the mobile body and the antenna position (Pa) on the mobile body into a geodetic offset amount, which is an offset amount in the geodetic coordinates, based on an attitude angle in the local coordinates on the mobile body;
generating (34) a corrected position, with the geodetic antenna position being corrected by adding the geodetic offset amount to the geodetic antenna position; and
outputting (35) the generated corrected position to an output target (100) as a positioning result.