Internship | Trailer articulation angle estimation using LiDAR data

Introduction The TNO Integrated Vehicle Safety department is working on a concept called Cost-efficient Yard Automation Solutions (CEYAS). The aim of CEYAS is to automate parts of the on-yard logistics process. This has the following advantages:

• Reduce personal cost
• Increase efficiency
• Reduce material damages

What will you be doing? The vehicle is equipped with LIDAR sensors to observe its surroundings. The LiDAR measurement is primarily used for localization. However, the measurements can also be used for other purposes. One of these is the angle between the vehicle and the trailer, the so-called articulation angle. This angle is especially important for reverse parking maneuvers with a trailer and swept path calculation.

Currently, a sensor in the fifth wheel (the joint that connects the trailer to the mover) measures the articulation angle directly using a hall-effect measurement principle. However, this approach requires modifying the trailer: a magnet needs to be placed in the kingpin. For scalability reasons, modification to the trailer must be avoided at all times. Therefore, it is desired to determine the articulation angle solely using sensors mounted on the vehicle.

The assignment is both theoretical and practical. You will develop an algorithm that uses the available LiDAR measurements to determine the articulation angle of the mover-trailer system. Datasets with all the relevant measurements, including ground truth information, are available. The expected outcome of your work will be a literature survey on this topic, followed by a working algorithm in ROS (written in C++ or Python). All results should be properly reported and presented.

What can you expect of your work situation? You will work at the Integrated Vehicle Safety department of TNO on the Automotive Campus in Helmond. In this department people are working on developing software for automated driving vehicles. The developed software is tested in pilots and on the public road.

The people are young, enthusiastic and driven. You will work in an open area, within your own team. One of our employees will be your mentor. He will help you to get acquainted with the department and give you guidelines for your research in order to help you to get the best out of it.