• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
• /
• v.11 no.3
• /
• pp.127-132
• /
• 2016

For a practical mobile robot team such as carrying out a search and rescue mission in a disaster area, the localization have to be guaranteed even in an environment where the network infrastructure is destroyed or a global positioning system (GPS) is unavailable. The proposed architecture supports localizing robots seamlessly by finding their relative locations while moving from a global outdoor environment to a local indoor position. The proposed schemes use a cooperative positioning system (CPS) based on the two-way ranging (TWR) technique. In the proposed TWR-based CPS, each non-localized mobile robot act as tag, and finds its position using bilateral range measurements of all localized mobile robots. The localized mobile robots act as anchors, and support the localization of mobile robots in the GPS-shadow region such as an indoor environment. As a tag localizes its position with anchors, the position error of the anchor propagates to the tag, and the position error of the tag accumulates the position errors of the anchor. To minimize the effect of error propagation, this paper suggests the new scheme of full-mesh based CPS for improving the position accuracy. The proposed schemes assuring localization were validated through experiment results.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
• /
• v.17 no.5
• /
• pp.1339-1355
• /
• 2023

Localization is a hot research spot for many areas, especially in the mobile robot field. Due to the weak signal of the global positioning system (GPS), the alternative schemes in an indoor environment include wireless signal transmitting and receiving solutions, laser rangefinder to build a map followed by a re-localization stage and visual positioning methods, etc. Among all wireless signal positioning techniques, Wi-Fi is the most common one. Wi-Fi access points are installed in most indoor areas of human activities, and smart devices equipped with Wi-Fi modules can be seen everywhere. However, the localization of a mobile robot using a Wi-Fi scheme usually lacks orientation information. Besides, the distance error is large because of indoor signal interference. Another research direction that mainly refers to laser sensors is to actively detect the environment and achieve positioning. An occupancy grid map is built by using the simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) method when the mobile robot enters the indoor environment for the first time. When the robot enters the environment again, it can localize itself according to the known map. Nevertheless, this scheme only works effectively based on the prerequisite that those areas have salient geometrical features. If the areas have similar scanning structures, such as a long corridor or similar rooms, the traditional methods always fail. To address the weakness of the above two methods, this work proposes a coarse-to-fine paradigm and an improved localization algorithm that utilizes Wi-Fi to assist the robot localization in a geometrically similar environment. Firstly, a grid map is built by using laser SLAM. Secondly, a fingerprint database is built in the offline phase. Then, the RSSI values are achieved in the localization stage to get a coarse localization. Finally, an improved particle filter method based on the Wi-Fi signal values is proposed to realize a fine localization. Experimental results show that our approach is effective and robust for both global localization and the kidnapped robot problem. The localization success rate reaches 97.33%, while the traditional method always fails.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
• /
• v.15 no.3
• /
• pp.293-299
• /
• 2009

This paper discusses an autonomous navigation system for urban environments. For the localization of the robot, EKF (Extended Kalman Filter) algorithm is used with odometry, angle sensor, and DGPS (Differential Global Positioning System) measurement. Especially in an urban environment, DGPS is often blocked by buildings and trees and the resulting inaccurate positioning prevents the robot from safe and reliable navigation. In addition to the global information from DGPS, the local information of the curb on the roadway is used to track a route when the global DGPS information is inaccurate. For this purpose, curb detection algorithm is developed and implemented in the developed navigation algorithm. Four different types of navigation strategies are developed and they are switched to adapt to different localization conditions according to the availability of DGPS and the existence of the curbs on the roadway. The experimental results show that the designed switching strategy improves the navigation performance adapting to the environment conditions.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
• /
• v.17 no.7
• /
• pp.674-684
• /
• 2011

More and more elderly and disabled people are using electric scooters instead of electric wheelchairs because of higher mobility. However, people with high levels of impairment or the elderly still have difficulties in driving the electric scooters safely. Semi-autonomous electric scooter system is one of the solutions for the safety: Either manual driving or autonomous driving can be used selectively. In this paper, we implement a semi-autonomous electric scooter system with functions of localization and path following. In order to recognize the pose of electric scooter in outdoor environments, we design an outdoor localization system based on the extended Kalman filter using DGPS (Differential Global Positioning System) and wheel encoders. We added an accelerometer to make the localization system adaptable to road condition. Also we propose a path following algorithm using two arcs with current pose of the electric scooter and a given path in the map. Simulation results are described to show that the proposed algorithms provide the ability to drive an electric scooter semi-autonomously. Finally, we conduct outdoor experiments to reveal the practicality of the proposed system.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SC
• /
• v.48 no.6
• /
• pp.82-90
• /
• 2011

This paper proposes an advanced outdoor localization algorithm of a GPS(global positioning system)-INS(inertial navigation system) integration system. In order to reduce noise from the internal INS sensors, discrete wavelet transform and variable threshold method are utilized. The UPF (unscented particle filter) combines GPS information and INS signals to implement precise outdoor localization algorithm and to reduce noise caused by the acceleration, deceleration, and unexpected slips. The conventional de-noising method is mainly carried out using a low pass filter and a high pass filter which essentially result in signal distortions. This newly proposed system utilizes the vibration information of actuator according to fluctuations of the velocity to minimize signal distortions. The UPF also resolves non-linearities of the actuator and non-normal distributions of noises. Effectiveness of the proposed algorithm has been verified through the real experiments and the results are demonstrated.

• Journal of Information Processing Systems
• /
• v.11 no.3
• /
• pp.370-388
• /
• 2015

The localization of multi-agents, such as people, animals, or robots, is a requirement to accomplish several tasks. Especially in the case of multi-robotic applications, localization is the process for determining the positions of robots and targets in an unknown environment. Many sensors like GPS, lasers, and cameras are utilized in the localization process. However, these sensors produce a large amount of computational resources to process complex algorithms, because the process requires environmental mapping. Currently, combination multi-robots or swarm robots and sensor networks, as mobile sensor nodes have been widely available in indoor and outdoor environments. They allow for a type of efficient global localization that demands a relatively low amount of computational resources and for the independence of specific environmental features. However, the inherent instability in the wireless signal does not allow for it to be directly used for very accurate position estimations and making difficulty associated with conducting the localization processes of swarm robotics system. Furthermore, these swarm systems are usually highly decentralized, which makes it hard to synthesize and access global maps, it can be decrease its flexibility. In this paper, a simple pyramid RAM-based Neural Network architecture is proposed to improve the localization process of mobile sensor nodes in indoor environments. Our approach uses the capabilities of learning and generalization to reduce the effect of incorrect information and increases the accuracy of the agent's position. The results show that by using simple pyramid RAM-base Neural Network approach, produces low computational resources, a fast response for processing every changing in environmental situation and mobile sensor nodes have the ability to finish several tasks especially in localization processes in real time.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Surveying, Geodesy, Photogrammetry and Cartography
• /
• v.37 no.5
• /
• pp.331-341
• /
• 2019

With the popularity of sensor-rich environments, smartphones have become one of the major platforms for obtaining and sharing information. Since it is difficult to utilize GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) inside the area with many buildings, the localization of smartphone in this case is considered as a challenging task. To resolve problem of localization using smartphone a four step image-based localization method and procedure is proposed. To improve the localization accuracy of smartphone datasets, MMS (Mobile Mapping System) and Google Street View were utilized. In our approach first, the searching for candidate matching image is performed by the query image of smartphone's using GNSS observation. Second, the SURF (Speed-Up Robust Features) image matching between the smartphone image and reference dataset is done and the wrong matching points are eliminated. Third, the geometric transformation is performed using the matching points with 2D affine transformation. Finally, the smartphone location and attitude estimation are done by PnP (Perspective-n-Point) algorithm. The location of smartphone GNSS observation is improved from the original 10.204m to a mean error of 3.575m. The attitude estimation is lower than 25 degrees from the 92.4% of the adjsuted images with an average of 5.1973 degrees.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
• /
• 2003.06a
• /
• pp.306-311
• /
• 2003

This paper presents a novel localization paradigm for mobile robots based on artificial and natural landmarks. A model-based object recognition method detects natural landmarks and conducts the global and topological localization. In addition, a metric localization method using artificial landmarks is fused to complement the deficiency of topology map and guide to action behavior. The recognition algorithm uses a modified local Zernike moments and a probabilistic voting method for the robust detection of objects in cluttered indoor environments. An artificial landmark is designed to have a three-dimensional multi-colored structure and the projection distortion of the structure encodes the distance and viewing direction of the robot. We demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed system through real world experiments using a mobile robot, KASIRI-III.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
• /
• v.17 no.6
• /
• pp.610-618
• /
• 2011

For improved localization around the indoor/outdoor transit area of buildings, this paper proposes an efficient algorithm combining the measurements from the WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) and the GPS (Global Positioning System) for. The proposed hybrid localization algorithm considers both multipath errors and NLOS (Non-Line-of-Sight) errors, which occur in most wireless localization systems. To detect and isolate multipath errors occurring in GPS measurements, the propose algorithm utilizes conventional multipath test statistics. To convert WLAN signal strength measurements to range estimates in the presence of NLOS errors, a simple and effective calibration algorithm is designed to compute conversion parameters. By selecting and combining the reliable GPS and WLAN measurements, the proposed hybrid localization algorithm provides more accurate location estimates. An experiment result demonstrates the performance of the proposed algorithm.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
• /
• 2004.11c
• /
• pp.493-495
• /
• 2004

In this paper, shows a research in accordance with the design the implementation of the localization system for mobile robot using INS(Inertial Navigation System) and GPS(Global Positioning System). First, a Strapdown Inertial Navigation System : SDINS is designed and implemented for low speed walking robot, by modifying Inertial Navigation System which is widely used for rocket, airplane, ship and so on. In addition, thesis proposes the localization of robot with the method of loosely coupled method by using Kalman Filter with INS/GPS integrated system to utilize assumed position and steed data from GPS.