Systems and methods for WiFi mapping in an industrial facility
Systems and methods for WiFi mapping an industrial facility are disclosed. The system comprises a self-driving vehicle having a WiFi transceiver. The self-driving vehicle communicates with a fleet-management using the WiFi transceiver, via a WiFi access point. The self-driving vehicle receives a mission from the fleet-management system, and moves to a destination location based on the mission, using autonomous navigation. While executing the mission, the self-driving vehicle simultaneously measures the received signal strength indication of the WiFi access point and other WiFi access points in the facility, and stores the received signal strength indication in association with the location at which the received signal strength indication was measured.
1. A self-driving vehicle operable to determine environmental characteristics in an industrial facility, the self-driving vehicle comprising:
at least one environmental sensor for sensing at least one environmental characteristic;
a drive system for moving the self-driving vehicle; and
a control system for autonomously navigating the self-driving vehicle, the control system comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium and a processor, the non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to:
receive a mission data comprising a destination location and a mission priority from a fleet-management system;
determine a path to the destination location;
determine at least one preferred measurement location, wherein the at least one preferred measurement location comprises a location associated with at least one previous measurement of the at least one environmental characteristic;
determine whether modifying the path to include the at least one preferred measurement location would cause the self-driving vehicle to exceed a mission completion time determined based on the mission priority;
in response to determining the modified path would not cause the self-driving vehicle to exceed the mission completion time, modify the path to include the at least one preferred measurement location as an intermediate location;
instruct the drive system to move the self-driving vehicle along the modified path to the destination location based on autonomous navigation;
obtain, with the at least one environmental sensor, a measurement of the at least one environmental characteristic when the self-driving vehicle is in proximity of the at least one preferred measurement location; and
store the measurement of the at least one environmental characteristic in association with the at least one preferred measurement location on the non-transitory computer readable medium.
2. The self-driving vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further operable to:
receive a second mission data comprising a second destination location from the fleet-management system;
subsequent to the self-driving vehicle moving to the destination location, instruct the drive system to move the self-driving vehicle to the second destination location based on autonomous navigation;
subsequent to obtaining the measurement of the at least one environmental characteristic, obtain a second measurement of the at least one environmental characteristic when the self-driving vehicle is in proximity of the at least one preferred measurement location; and
replace the stored measurement with the second measurement in association with the at least one preferred measurement location.
3. The self-driving vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further operable to:
obtain, with the at least one environmental sensor, a second measurement of the at least one environmental characteristic when the self-driving vehicle is remote from the at least one preferred measurement location;
determine a measurement location associated with a location of the self-driving vehicle when the second measurement is obtained; and
store the second measurement in association with the measurement location on the non-transitory computer readable medium.
4. The self-driving vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further operable to:
receive a current heat map of the facility, the current heat map comprising a plurality of previous measurements of the at least one environmental characteristic and a plurality of associated measurement locations;
determine the at least one preferred measurement location based on the current heat map; and
store an updated heat map based on the current heat map, the measurement of the at least one environmental characteristic, and the at least one preferred measurement location.
5. The self-driving vehicle of claim 4 , wherein the processor is further operable to:
determine the at least one preferred measurement location based on the current heat map and the destination location.
6. The self-driving vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the at least one environmental sensor comprises a thermal sensor and the at least one environmental characteristic comprises a temperature.
7. The self-driving vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the at least one environmental sensor comprises a humidity sensor and the at least one environmental characteristic comprises a relative humidity.
8. The self-driving vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the at least one environmental sensor comprises an optical sensor and the at least one environmental characteristic comprises an ambient light level.
9. The self-driving vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the at least one environmental sensor comprises a chemical absorbent sensor and the at least one environmental characteristic comprises an airborne toxin level.
10. The self-driving vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the at least one environmental sensor comprises a radiation sensor and the at least one environmental characteristic comprises a radiation magnitude.
11. A method for operating a self-driving vehicle to determining environmental characteristics in an industrial facility, the method comprising:
receiving a mission data from a fleet-management system, the mission data comprising a destination location and a mission priority;
determining a path to the destination location;
determining at least one preferred measurement location, wherein the at least one preferred measurement location comprises a location associated with at least one previous measurement of at least one environmental characteristic;
determining whether modifying the path to include the at least one preferred measurement location would cause the self-driving vehicle to exceed a mission completion time determined based on the mission priority;
in response to determining the modified path would not cause the self-driving vehicle to exceed the mission completion time, modifying the path to include the at least one preferred measurement location as an intermediate location;
moving the self-driving vehicle along the modified path to the destination location based on autonomous navigation;
during the operation of the self-driving vehicle along the modified path, using an environmental sensor of the self-driving vehicle to obtain a measurement of the at least one environmental characteristic when the self-driving vehicle is in proximity of the at least one preferred measurement location; and
storing the measurement at least one environmental characteristic in association with the at least one preferred measurement location.
12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
receiving a second mission data comprising a second destination location from the fleet-management system;
moving the self-driving vehicle to the second destination location based on autonomous navigation;
when the self-driving vehicle is in proximity of the at least one preferred measurement location, using the at least one environmental sensor of the self-driving vehicle to obtain a second measurement of the at least one environmental characteristic;
replacing the stored measurement with the second measurement in association with the at least one preferred measurement location.
13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
using the at least one environmental sensor of the self-driving vehicle to obtain a second measurement of the at least one environmental characteristic when the self-driving vehicle is remote from the at least one preferred measurement location;
determining a measurement location of the self-driving vehicle associated with a location of the self-driving vehicle when the second measurement of the at least one environmental characteristic is obtained; and
storing the second measurement in association with the measurement location.
14. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
receiving a current heat map of the facility, the current heat map comprising a plurality of previous measurements of the at least one environmental characteristic and a plurality of associated measurement locations;
determining the at least one preferred measurement location based on the current heat map; and
storing an updated heat map based on the current heat map, the measurement of the at least one environmental characteristic, and the at least one preferred measurement location.
15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
determining the at least one preferred measurement location based on the current heat map and the destination location.
16. The method of claim 11 , wherein the at least one environmental sensor comprises a thermal sensor and the at least one environmental characteristic comprises a temperature.
17. The method of claim 11 , wherein the at least one environmental sensor comprises a humidity sensor and the at least one environmental characteristic comprises a relative humidity.
18. The method of claim 11 , wherein the at least one environmental sensor comprises an optical sensor and the at least one environmental characteristic comprises an ambient light level.
19. The method of claim 11 , wherein the at least one environmental sensor comprises a chemical absorbent sensor and the at least one environmental characteristic comprises an airborne toxin level.
20. The method of claim 11 , wherein the at least one environmental sensor comprises a radiation sensor and the at least one environmental characteristic comprises a radiation magnitude.