Line-of-sight task-space sensing for the localization of autonomous mobile devices

In this paper, a multi line-of-sight (LOS) task-space sensing methodology is presented for guidance-based localization of mobile devices (e.g., autonomous vehicles and robots). The mobility requirement of the localization/docking application dictates the minimum number and the type (planar or spatial) of the lines of sight. It is envisioned that, a multi-LOS sensing system will be configured for the task at hand using several, one or two degree-of-freedom (dof), sensing modules. One such module is also proposed in this paper: it comprises a laser source, a (1 or 2 dof) galvanometer mirror and a photodetector. A guidance algorithm would only be invoked at the final stages of vehicle/robotic-end-effector motion after the long-range positioning phase has failed to locate the vehicle at its desired pose (position and orientation). By utilizing a multi-LOS based sensing system the guidance algorithm would successfully minimize the systematic errors of the vehicle, while allowing it to converge to its desired pose within the random noise limits. This has been verified in both simulation and experiments, as presented herein.