Mobile Robot Positioning - Sensors and Techniques

TLDR: This paper provides a review of relevant mobile robot positioning technologies and defines seven categories for positioning systems: Odometry, Inertial Navigation, Magnetic Compasses, Active Beacons, Global Positioning Systems, Landmark Navigation, and Model Matching.

Abstract: : Exact knowledge of the position of a vehicle is a fundamental problem in mobile robot applications. In the search for a solution, researchers and engineers have developed a variety of systems, sensors, and techniques for mobile robot positioning. This paper provides a review of relevant mobile robot positioning technologies. The paper defines seven categories for positioning systems: (1) Odometry, (2) Inertial Navigation, (3) Magnetic Compasses, (4) Active Beacons, (5) Global Positioning Systems, (6) Landmark Navigation, and (7) Model Matching. The characteristics of each category are discussed and examples of existing technologies are given for each category. The field of mobile robot navigation is active and vibrant, with more great systems and ideas being developed continuously. For this reason the examples presented in this paper serve only to represent their respective categories; they do not represent a judgment by the authors. Many ingenious approaches can be found in the literature, although, for reasons of brevity, not all could be cited in this paper. The appendix contains a tabular comparison of the positioning systems discussed in this review that includes system and description, features, accuracy (position), accuracy (orientation), effective range, and source of information. (47 refs.)