Robot Localisation Using UHF-RFID Tags: A Kalman Smoother Approach

Autonomous vehicles enable the development of smart warehouses and smart factories with an increased visibility, flexibility and efficiency. Thus, effective and affordable localisation methods for indoor vehicles are attracting interest to implement real-time applications. This paper presents an Extended Kalman Smoother design to both localise a mobile agent and reconstruct its entire trajectory through a sensor-fusion employing the UHF-RFID passive technology. Extensive simulations are carried out by considering the smoother optimal-window length and the effect of missing measurements from reference tags. Monte Carlo simulations are conducted for different vehicle trajectories and for different linear and angular velocities to evaluate the method accuracy. Then, an experimental analysis with a unicycle wheeled robot is performed in real indoor scenario, showing a position and orientation root mean square errors of 15 cm, and 0.2 rad, respectively.

Automated summary

This study introduces an Extended Kalman Smoother design utilizing UHF-RFID passive technology for sensor fusion to localize indoor vehicles and reconstruct their trajectories. Extensive simulations and experimental analysis demonstrate the accuracy and feasibility of the method for real-time localization.