SYSTEMS AND METHODS OF GEOMETRIC VEHICLE COLLISION EVALUATION
A method for evaluating a collision condition for a vehicle includes providing a first polygon representative of the vehicle, determining the existence of an object near the vehicle, providing a second polygon representative of the object, calculating the Minkowski Difference between the first polygon and the second polygon to create a convex hull, determining the minimum distance between the convex hull and an origin of a coordinate system in which the first polygon and the second polygon are overlayed, determining whether there is a collision condition based on whether the minimum distance is below a threshold value, and initiating a vehicle response if a collision condition is detected.
1 . A method for evaluating a collision condition for a vehicle, the method comprising:
providing a first polygon representative of the vehicle;
determining the existence of an object near the vehicle;
providing a second polygon representative of the object;
calculating the Minkowski Difference between the first polygon and the second polygon to create a convex hull;
determining the minimum distance between the convex hull and an origin of a coordinate system in which the first polygon and the second polygon are overlayed;
determining whether there is a collision condition based on whether the minimum distance is below a threshold value; and
initiating a vehicle response if a collision condition is detected.
2 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the first polygon is a rectangle.
3 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the object is a second vehicle near the vehicle.
4 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the determining step includes sensing the object with a sensor on the vehicle.
5 . The method as recited in claim 4 , wherein the sensor is a camera.
6 . The method as recited in claim 4 , wherein the sensor is a radar sensor.
7 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the first polygon and the second polygon are convex polygons.
8 . The method as recited in claim 1 , comprising:
determining whether there is a collision condition based on whether the slope of a plot of the Minkowski Difference value against time is below a threshold value.
9 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the vehicle response is to alert a driver of the vehicle.
10 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the vehicle response is to activate a braking system of the vehicle.
11 . A system for evaluating a collision condition for a vehicle, the method comprising:
a sensor for sensing the existence of an object near the vehicle; and
a controller configured to calculate the Minkowski Difference between a first polygon representative of the vehicle and a second polygon representative of the object to create a convex hull, to determine whether there is a collision condition based on whether the minimum distance from an origin of a coordinate system in which the first polygon and the second polygon are overlayed to the convex hull is below a threshold value, and to initiate a response if a collision condition is determined.
12 . The system as recited in claim 11 , wherein the sensor is a camera.
13 . The system as recited in claim 11 , wherein the sensor is a radar sensor.
14 . The system as recited in claim 11 , wherein the first polygon is a rectangle.
15 . The system as recited in claim 11 , wherein the object is a second vehicle near the vehicle.
16 . The system as recited in claim 11 , wherein the first polygon and the second polygon are convex polygons.
17 . The system as recited in claim 11 , wherein the controller is an electronic control unit on the vehicle.