SYSTEM FOR TRACKING CONVEYED OBJECTS

• Main Authors: MULDER, Yorrick, HAITJEMA, Sven-Erik
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 20.03.2024
• Subjects: ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION ORRERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; MEASURING; PHYSICS; RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; TESTING

A tracking system using a rangefinder, such as a Lidar sensor, to track objects conveyed on a belt conveyor. The rangefinder produces depth frames in a field of view encompassing a portion of a conveyor. The depth frames comprise an array of pixels whose values represent distances from the rangefinder to reflective surfaces in the field of view. The rectangular reflection surfaces of objects are identified and their dimensions and centroids are calculated so that the objects can be tracked from frame to frame. An object's trajectory angle Θi is computed and stored in a tracking buffer array. Conventional smoothing techniques can be used to convert the piecewise linear trajectory (30) into a smooth curved trajectory. If an object is being conveyed on a conveyor belt without slipping on the belt's surface, its component of velocity vx in the x direction can be used as an estimate of the speed of the conveyor belt. The orientation of the object can be tracked from frame to frame to reveal whether the conveyor belt is changing the object's orientation relative to the conveying direction.