A Redundant Configuration of Four Low-Cost GNSS-RTK Receivers for Reliable Estimation of Vehicular Position and Posture

Sensors (Basel). 2021 Aug 30;21(17):5853. doi: 10.3390/s21175853.

Abstract

This paper proposes a low-cost sensor system composed of four GNSS-RTK receivers to obtain accurate position and posture estimations for a vehicle in real-time. The four antennas of the receivers are placed so that every three-antennas combination is optimal to get the most precise 3D coordinates with respect to a global reference system. The redundancy provided by the fourth receiver allows to improve estimations even more and to maintain accuracy when one of the receivers fails. A mini computer with the Robotic Operating System is responsible for merging all the available measurements reliably. Successful experiments have been carried out with a ground rover on irregular terrain. Angular estimates similar to those of a high-performance IMU have been achieved in dynamic tests.

Keywords: GNSS receivers; RTK corrections; sensor redundancy; vehicle localization.

MeSH terms

  • Posture
  • Robotics*
  • Software*