• Journal of Positioning, Navigation, and Timing
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.23-31
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• 2020

It is essential to estimate the vehicle localization for an autonomous safety driving. In particular, since LIDAR provides precise scan data, many studies carried out to estimate the vehicle localization using LIDAR and pre-generated map. The road marking always exists on the road because of provides driving information. Therefore, it is often used for map information. In this paper, we propose to generate the Gaussian mixture map based on road-marking information and localization method using this map. Generally, the probability distributions map stores the single Gaussian distribution for each grid. However, single resolution probability distributions map cannot express complex shapes when grid resolution is large. In addition, when grid resolution is small, map size is bigger and process time is longer. Therefore, it is difficult to apply the road marking. On the other hand, Gaussian mixture distribution can effectively express the road marking by several probability distributions. In this paper, we generate Gaussian mixture map and perform vehicle localization using Gaussian mixture map. Localization performance is analyzed through the experimental result.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.108-114
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• 2015

Automated driving systems require a high level of performance regarding environmental perception, especially in urban environments. Today's on-board sensors such as radars or cameras do not reach a satisfying level of development from the point of view of robustness and availability. Thus, map data is often used as an additional data input to support these systems. An accurate digital map is used as a powerful additional sensor. In this paper, we propose a new approach for vehicle localization using a lane map and a single-layer LiDAR. The maps are created beforehand using a highly accurate DGPS and a single-layer LiDAR. A pose estimation of the vehicle was derived from an iterative closest point (ICP) match of LiDAR's intensity data to the lane map, and the estimated pose was used as an observation inside a Kalmanfilter framework. The achieved accuracy of the proposed localization algorithm is evaluated with a highly accurate DGPS to investigate the performance with respect to lateral vehicle control.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.451-459
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• 2011

Fundamentally, there are 5 systems are needed for autonomous navigation of unmanned ground vehicle: Localization, environment perception, path planning, motion planning and vehicle control. Path planning and motion planning are accomplished based on result of the environment perception process. Thus, high reliability of localization and the environment perception will be a criterion that makes a judgment overall autonomous navigation. In this paper, via map matching using vehicle dynamic model and LIDAR sensors, replace high price localization system to new one, and have researched an algorithm that lead to robust autonomous navigation. Finally, all results are verified via actual unmanned ground vehicle tests.

• Journal of Auto-vehicle Safety Association
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.24-30
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• 2017

This paper presents the development of laser scanner based static obstacle detection algorithm for vehicle localization on lane lost section. On urban autonomous driving, vehicle localization is based on lane information, GPS and digital map is required to ensure. However, in actual urban roads, the lane data may not come in due to traffic jams, intersections, weather conditions, faint lanes and so on. For lane lost section, lane based localization is limited or impossible. The proposed algorithm is designed to determine the lane existence by using reliability of front vision data and can be utilized on lane lost section. For the localization, the laser scanner is used to distinguish the static object through estimation and fusion process based on the speed information on radar data. Then, the laser scanner data are clustered to determine if the object is a static obstacle such as a fence, pole, curb and traffic light. The road boundary is extracted and localization is performed to determine the location of the ego vehicle by comparing with digital map by detection algorithm. It is shown that the localization using the proposed algorithm can contribute effectively to safe autonomous driving.

• IEIE Transactions on Smart Processing and Computing
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.45-56
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• 2013

The precise identification of vehicle positions, known as the vehicle localization problem, is an important requirement for building intelligent vehicle ad-hoc networks (VANETs). To solve this problem, two categories of solutions are proposed: stand-alone and data fusion approaches. Compared to stand-alone approaches, which use single information including the global positioning system (GPS) and sensor-based navigation systems with differential corrections, data fusion approaches analyze the position information of several vehicles from GPS and sensor-based navigation systems, etc. Therefore, data fusion approaches show high accuracy. With the position information on a set of vehicles in the preprocessing stage, data fusion approaches is used to estimate the precise vehicular location in the local map building stage. This paper proposes an efficient local map building scheme, which increases the accuracy of the estimated vehicle positions via V2V communications. Even under the low ratio of vehicles with communication modules on the road, the proposed local map building scheme showed high accuracy when estimating the vehicle positions. From the experimental results based on the parameters of the practical vehicular environments, the accuracy of the proposed localization system approached the single lane-level.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.22 no.10
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• pp.803-810
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• 2016

This paper presents a study of localization methods based on particle filter using 2D laser sensor measurements and road feature map information, for autonomous vehicles. In order to navigate in an urban environment, an autonomous vehicle should be able to estimate the location of the ego-vehicle with reasonable accuracy. In this study, road features such as curbs and road markings are detected to construct a grid-based feature map using 2D laser range finder measurements. Then, we describe a particle filter-based method for accurate positional estimation of the autonomous vehicle in real-time. Finally, the performance of the proposed method is verified through real road driving experiments, in comparison with accurate DGPS data as a reference.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.22 no.12
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• pp.1046-1052
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• 2016

For the safe driving of autonomous vehicles, accurate position estimation is required. Generally, position error must be less than 1m because of lane keeping. However, GPS positioning error is more than 1m. Therefore, we must correct this error and a map matching algorithm is generally used. Especially, road marking intensity map have been used in many studies. In previous work, 3D LIDAR with many vertical layers was used to generate a local intensity map. Because it can be obtained sufficient longitudinal information for map matching. However, it is expensive and sufficient road marking information cannot be obtained in rush hour situations. In this paper, we propose a localization algorithm using an accumulated intensity local map. An accumulated intensity local map can be generated with sufficient longitudinal information using 3D LIDAR with a few vertical layers. Using this algorithm, we can also obtain sufficient intensity information in rush hour situations. Thus, it is possible to increase the reliability of the map matching and get accurate position estimation result. In the experimental result, the lateral RMS position error is about 0.12m and the longitudinal RMS error is about 0.19m.

• The Journal of The Korea Institute of Intelligent Transport Systems
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.186-201
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• 2021

As autonomous driving technology advances, the accuracy of the vehicle position is important for recognizing the environments around driving. Map-matching localization techniques based on high definition (HD) maps have been studied to improve localization accuracy. Because conventional map-matching techniques estimate the vehicle position based on an HD map reference dataset representing the center of the lane, the estimated position does not reflect the deviation of the lateral distance within the lane. Therefore, this paper proposes a localization system based on the reference lateral position dataset extracted using image processing and HD maps. Image processing extracts the driving lane number using inverse perspective mapping, multi-lane detection, and yellow central lane detection. The lane departure method estimates the lateral distance within the lane. To collect the lateral position reference dataset, this approach involves two processes: (i) the link and lane node is extracted based on the lane number obtained from image processing and position from GNSS/INS, and (ii) the lateral position is matched with the extracted link and lane node. Finally, the vehicle position is estimated by matching the GNSS/INS local trajectory and the reference lateral position dataset. The performance of the proposed method was evaluated by experiments carried out on a highway environment. It was confirmed that the proposed method improves accuracy by about 1.0m compared to GNSS / INS, and improves accuracy by about 0.04m~0.21m (7~30%) for each section when compared with the existing lane-level map matching method.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.98-109
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• 2010

This paper deals with a new method of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) recovery when a UAV fails to get a global positioning system (GPS) signal at an unprepared site. The proposed method is based on the simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) algorithm. It is a process by which a vehicle can build a map of an unknown environment and simultaneously use this map to determine its position. Extensive research on SLAM algorithms proves that the error in the map reaches a lower limit, which is a function of the error that existed when the first observation was made. For this reason, the proposed method can help an inertial navigation system to prevent its error of divergence with regard to the vehicle position. In other words, it is possible that a UAV can navigate with reasonable positional accuracy in an unknown environment without the aid of GPS. This is the main idea of the present paper. Especially, this paper focuses on path planning that maximizes the discussed ability of a SLAM algorithm. In this work, a SLAM algorithm based on extended Kalman filter is used. For simplicity's sake, a blimp-type of UAV model is discussed and three-dimensional pointed-shape landmarks are considered. Finally, the proposed method is evaluated by a number of simulations.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.679-687
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• 2019

This paper presents the autonomous swimming technology developed for an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) operating in the underwater jacket structure environment. To prevent the position divergence of the inertial navigation system constructed for the primary navigation solution for the vehicle, we've developed kinds of marker-recognition based underwater localization methods using both of optical and acoustic cameras. However, these two methods all require the artificial markers to be located near to the cameras mounted on the vehicle. Therefore, in the case of the vehicle far away from the structure where the markers are usually mounted on, we may need alternative position-aiding solution to guarantee the navigation accuracy. For this purpose, we develop a sonar image processing based underwater localization method using a Forward Looking Sonar (FLS) mounted in front of the vehicle. The primary purpose of this FLS is to detect the obstacles in front of the vehicle. According to the detected obstacle(s), we apply an Occupancy Grid Map (OGM) based path planning algorithm to derive an obstacle collision-free reference path. Experimental studies are carried out in the water tank and also in the Pohang Yeongilman port sea environment to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed autonomous swimming technology.