• International Journal of Fuzzy Logic and Intelligent Systems
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.133-139
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• 2013

This paper proposes a vision-based indoor localization method for autonomous vehicles. A single upward-facing digital camera was mounted on an autonomous vehicle and used as a vision sensor to identify artificial landmarks and any natural corner features. An interest point detector was used to find the natural features. Using an optical flow detection algorithm, information related to the direction and vehicle translation was defined. This information was used to track the vehicle movements. Random noise related to uneven light disrupted the calculation of the vehicle translation. Thus, to estimate the vehicle translation, a Kalman filter was used to calculate the vehicle position. These algorithms were tested on a vehicle in a real environment. The image processing method could recognize the landmarks precisely, while the Kalman filter algorithm could estimate the vehicle's position accurately. The experimental results confirmed that the proposed approaches can be implemented in practical situations.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.20 no.11
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• pp.1098-1102
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• 2014

Localization of aerial vehicles and map building of flight environments are key technologies for the autonomous flight of small UAVs. In outdoor environments, an unmanned aircraft can easily use a GPS (Global Positioning System) for its localization with acceptable accuracy. However, as the GPS is not available for use in indoor environments, the development of a SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) system that is suitable for small UAVs is therefore needed. In this paper, we suggest a vision-based SLAM system that uses vision sensors and an AHRS (Attitude Heading Reference System) sensor. Feature points in images captured from the vision sensor are obtained by using GPU (Graphics Process Unit) based SIFT (Scale-invariant Feature Transform) algorithm. Those feature points are then combined with attitude information obtained from the AHRS to estimate the position of the small UAV. Based on the location information and color distribution, a Gaussian process model is generated, which could be a map. The experimental results show that the position of a small unmanned aircraft is estimated properly and the map of the environment is constructed by using the proposed method. Finally, the reliability of the proposed method is verified by comparing the difference between the estimated values and the actual values.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2006.04a
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• pp.318-320
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• 2006

Inaccurate localization exposes a robot to many dangerous conditions. It could make a robot be moved to wrong direction or damaged by collision with surrounding obstacles. There are numerous approaches to self-localization, and there are different modalities as well (vision, laser range finders, ultrasonic sonars). Since sensor information is generally uncertain and contains noise, there are many researches to reduce the noise. But, the correctness is limited because most researches are based on statistical approach. The goal of our research is to measure more exact robot location by matching between built VRML 3D model and real vision image. To determine the position of mobile robot, landmark-localitzation technique has been applied. Landmarks are any detectable structure in the physical environment. Some use vertical lines, others use specially designed markers, In this paper, specially designed markers are used as landmarks. Given known focal length and a single image of three landmarks it is possible to compute the angular separation between the lines of sight of the landmarks. The image-processing and neural network pattern matching techniques are employed to recognize landmarks placed in a robot working environment. After self-localization, the 2D scene of the vision is overlaid with the VRML scene.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.557-564
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• 2012

This paper presents UGV localization using multi-sensor fusion based on federated filter in outdoor environments. The conventional GPS/INS integrated system does not guarantee the robustness of localization because GPS is vulnerable to external disturbances. In many environments, however, vision system is very efficient because there are many features compared to the open space and these features can provide much information for UGV localization. Thus, this paper uses the scene matching and pose estimation based vision navigation, magnetic compass and odometer to cope with the GPS-denied environments. NR-mode federated filter is used for system safety. The experiment results with a predefined path demonstrate enhancement of the robustness and accuracy of localization in outdoor environments.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.206-210
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• 2011

Vision-based robot localization is challenging due to the vast amount of visual information available, requiring extensive storage and processing time. To deal with these challenges, we propose the use of features extracted from omni-directional panoramic images and present a method for localization of a mobile robot equipped with an omni-directional camera. The core of the proposed scheme may be summarized as follows : First, we utilize an omni-directional camera which can capture instantaneous $360^{\circ}$ panoramic images around a robot. Second, Nodes around the robot are extracted by the correlation coefficients of Circular Horizontal Line between the landmark and the current captured image. Third, the robot position is determined from the locations by the proposed correlation-based landmark image matching. To accelerate computations, we have assigned the node candidates using color information and the correlation values are calculated based on Fast Fourier Transforms. Experiments show that the proposed method is effective in global localization of mobile robots and robust to lighting variations.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.442-448
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• 2011

There are many research results about a self-localization technique of mobile robot. In this paper we present a self-localization technique based on the features of ceiling vision using a fisheye lens. The features obtained by SIFT(Scale Invariant Feature Transform) can be used to be matched between the previous image and the current image and then its optimal function is derived. The fisheye lens causes some distortion on its images naturally. So it must be calibrated by some algorithm. We here propose some methods for calibration of distorted images and design of a geometric fitness model. The proposed method is applied to laboratory and aile environment. We show its feasibility at some indoor environment.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2006.10c
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• pp.527-529
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• 2006

In this paper, we find a robot's path using a Virtual Reality Modeling Language and overlay vision. For correct robot's path we describe a method for localizing a mobile robot in its working environment using a vision system and VRML. The robt identifies landmarks in the environment, using image processing and neural network pattern matching techniques, and then its performs self-positioning with a vision system based on a well-known localization algorithm. After the self-positioning procedure, the 2-D scene of the vision is overlaid with the VRML scene. This paper describes how to realize the self-positioning, and shows the overlap between the 2-D and VRML scenes. The method successfully defines a robot's path.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.434-443
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• 2007

Presently, the exploration of an unknown environment is an important task for thee new generation of mobile service robots and mobile robots are navigated by means of a number of methods, using navigating systems such as the sonar-sensing system or the visual-sensing system. To fully utilize the strengths of both the sonar and visual sensing systems. This paper presents a technique for localization of a mobile robot using fusion data of multi-ultrasonic sensors and vision system. The mobile robot is designed for operating in a well-structured environment that can be represented by planes, edges, comers and cylinders in the view of structural features. In the case of ultrasonic sensors, these features have the range information in the form of the arc of a circle that is generally named as RCD(Region of Constant Depth). Localization is the continual provision of a knowledge of position which is deduced from it's a priori position estimation. The environment of a robot is modeled into a two dimensional grid map. we defines a vision-based environment recognition, phisically-based sonar sensor model and employs an extended Kalman filter to estimate position of the robot. The performance and simplicity of the approach is demonstrated with the results produced by sets of experiments using a mobile robot.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.18 no.8
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• pp.744-749
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• 2012

In this paper, we suggest that how to improve an accuracy of mobile robot's localization by using the sensor network information which fuses the machine vision camera, encoder and IMU sensor. The heading value of IMU sensor is measured using terrestrial magnetism sensor which is based on magnetic field. However, this sensor is constantly affected by its surrounding environment. So, we isolated template of ceiling using vision camera to increase the sensor's accuracy when we use IMU sensor; we measured the angles by pattern matching algorithm; and to calibrate IMU sensor, we compared the obtained values with IMU sensor values and the offset value. The values that were used to obtain information on the robot's position which were of Encoder, IMU sensor, angle sensor of vision camera are transferred to the Host PC by wireless network. Then, the Host PC estimates the location of robot using all these values. As a result, we were able to get more accurate information on estimated positions than when using IMU sensor calibration solely.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.368-373
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• 2010

A new indoor mobile robot localization method is presented. Robot recognizes well designed single color landmarks on the ceiling by vision system, as reference to compute its precise position. The proposed likelihood prediction based method enables the robot to estimate its position based only on the orientation of landmark.The use of single color landmarks helps to reduce the complexity of the landmark structure and makes it easily detectable. Edge based optical flow is further used to compensate for some landmark recognition error. This technique is applicable for navigation in an unlimited sized indoor space. Prediction scheme and localization algorithm are proposed, and edge based optical flow and data fusing are presented. Experimental results show that the proposed method provides accurate estimation of the robot position with a localization error within a range of 5 cm and directional error less than 4 degrees.