Persistent Mapping of Sensor Data for Medium-Term Autonomy

Kevin Nickels; Jason Gassaway; Matthew Bries; David Anthony; Graham W Fiorani

doi:10.3390/s22145427

Persistent Mapping of Sensor Data for Medium-Term Autonomy

Sensors (Basel). 2022 Jul 20;22(14):5427. doi: 10.3390/s22145427.

Authors

Kevin Nickels¹, Jason Gassaway², Matthew Bries³, David Anthony², Graham W Fiorani⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Engineering Science, Trinity University, San Antonio, TX 78259, USA.
² Southwest Research Institute, 6220 Culebra Road, San Antonio, TX 78228, USA.
³ RC Mowers USA, 2146 E Deerfield Ave, Suamico, WI 54173, USA.
⁴ US Army CCDC Ground Vehicle Systems Center, 6305 E Eleven Mile Rd, Warren, MI 48092, USA.

Abstract

For vehicles to operate in unmapped areas with some degree of autonomy, it would be useful to aggregate and store processed sensor data so that it can be used later. In this paper, a tool that records and optimizes the placement of costmap data on a persistent map is presented. The optimization takes several factors into account, including local vehicle odometry, GPS signals when available, local map consistency, deformation of map regions, and proprioceptive GPS offset error. Results illustrating the creation of maps from previously unseen regions (a 100 m × 880 m test track and a 1.2 km dirt trail) are presented, with and without GPS signals available during the creation of the maps. Finally, two examples of the use of these maps are given. First, a path is planned along roads that have been seen exactly once during the mapping phase. Secondly, the map is used for vehicle localization in the absence of GPS signals.

Keywords: GPS-denied mapping; SLAM; localization; optimization; robotic mapping.

Grants and funding

This article reports research building on programs funded by Southwest Research Institute, the Office of Naval Research, the United States Army’s Combat Capability Development Command Ground Vehicle Systems Center (GVSC) (formerly TARDEC—The U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center), and DCS Corp.