Honeywell G.m.b.h.

Carl P Graf

Karl M Fant

Patrenahalli M Narendra

Michael O Schroeder

George W Rusler

Kim M Fairchild

Methods and apparatus are provided for driving a vehicle from a remote control station achieving tele-operation of the vehicle. A television sensor mounted on the vehicle provides video image information which is reduced in bandwidth by a factor of approximately 1000:1 for transmission by narrow band RF data link to a remote control station. The large bandwidth reduction is accomplished by first sampling the video output of the sensor at a reduced frame rate and then compressing the data further by standard data compression techniques. Vehicle position and attitude data which may be derived from the vehicle's on board inertial reference unit are also transmitted via narrow band data link to the control station. At the control station, the data is first reconstructed by a technique which is the complement of the compression technique, and the instantaneous position and attitude data are used to compute transform coefficients that are used by a pipeline processor to extrapolate the frame data to generate a real time video display that enables an operator to drive the vehicle by transmitting appropriate control signals to the vehicle.

Human engineered remote driving system

The disclosure relates to a computer controlled imaging system involving a digital image processing and display system which has the ability to compose and construct a display scene from a library of images with sufficient processing speed to permit real-time or near real time analysis of the images by a human operator or a hardware/software equivalent thereof.

Computer generated synthesized imagery

Line of sight detecting apparatus such as an oculometer produces signals indicative of the direction along which an operator is looking. A display with predetermined positions thereon is positioned for viewing by the operator. A computer receives the signals from the line of sight detecting apparatus and utilizing a timing function determines when the operator's line of sight is directed toward one of the predetermined positions on the display for a predetermined length of time. Depending upon which of the predetermined positions is viewed by the operator for the predetermined time period, the computer produces a signal which is used to produce various images, such as indicator readings, or to produce various control functions for the operator.

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Forest Lake, MN, United States of America

Carl P Graf