Dynamic Range-Only Localization for Multi-Robot Systems

• Main Authors: Yanjun Cao, Meng Li, Ivan Svogor, Shaoming Wei, Giovanni Beltrame
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 2018-01-01
• Series: IEEE Access
• Subjects: Multi-robot; range-only localization; UWB; EKF
• Online Access: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8443328/

The localization problem for multi-robot teams has been extensively studied with the goal of obtaining precise positioning information, such as required by a variety of robotic applications. This paper proposes a dynamic localization approach that exploits multiple robots equipped with range-only ultrawideband sensors to create and maintain a common self-adaptive coordinate system. For 2-D localization, we use three robots with relative range measurements to build a global coordinate system. We recursively apply an extended Kalman filter, which results in accurate position estimates over time. We also propose a reconfiguration approach that prevents error accumulation from ultra-wideband sensors. The applicability of our approach is tested through a campaign of simulations, which show promising results.