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A multi-robot positioning system using a multi-code ultrasonic sensor network and a Kalman filter

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Abstract

In multi-robot systems, each robot needs to have the position and pose information of itself and that of the other cooperative robots. This paper presents a synchronous distributed positioning system that uses a multi-code ultrasonic sensor network and a compensation algorithm using a Kalman filter. The bearings of robots are computed by using their position changes, and then compensated for by using the Kalman filter. The ZigBee sensor network protocol is used for communication among the robots and for the synchronization of the ultrasonic transmission timing. The experimental results show that our system positions multiple robots synchronously without any configured infrastructures. The results have a better accuracy and less accumulative error than those found in positioning systems without compensation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Electrical Engineering, Pusan National University, Jangjeon 2-dong, Geomjeong-gu, Busan, 609-735, Korea

    Woo-sung Moon, Bong Soo Cho, Jin Won Jang & Kwang Ryul Baek

Authors
  1. Woo-sung Moon
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  2. Bong Soo Cho
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  3. Jin Won Jang
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  4. Kwang Ryul Baek
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kwang Ryul Baek.

Additional information

Recommended by Editorial Board member Myotaeg Lim under the direction of Editor Jae-Bok Song. This work was supported by the Grant of the Korean Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (The Regional Core Research Program/Institute of Logistics Information Technology).

Woo-sung Moon received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in 2007 and 2009, respectively, and is currently working toward a Ph.D. degree in the School of Electrical Engineering, Pusan National University. His research interests include collective intelligent systems.

Bong Soo Cho received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in 2004 and 2006, respectively, and is currently working toward a Ph.D. degree in the school of Electrical Engineering, Pusan National University. His research interests include nonlinear control, adaptive control, and system identification

Jin Won Jang received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in 2005 and 2007, respectively, and is currently working toward a Ph.D. degree in the school of Electrical Engineering, Pusan National University. His research interests include vision system, and adaptive control.

Kwang Ryul Baek received his B.S. degree in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering from Pusan National University in 1984. He received his M.S and Ph.D. degrees from KAIST. He joined Turbotech Company as the head of development from 1989 to 1994. Now, he is a professor in Pusan National University. His research interests include digital signal processing, control system, and high-speed circuit systems.

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Moon, Ws., Cho, B.S., Jang, J.W. et al. A multi-robot positioning system using a multi-code ultrasonic sensor network and a Kalman filter. Int. J. Control Autom. Syst. 8, 1349–1355 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12555-010-0622-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12555-010-0622-9

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