Enhanced localization for team robot navigation using compass sensor and USN

This paper presents an enhanced localization for team robot navigation in an unknown environment. Localization information from encoder is subject to noise resulting from friction between road surface and wheels, or the error in motor itself, in the environment. In addition, the measured error is accumulative as a robot navigates. The mobility in disaster situations is more serious because of the unstable environment. In order to solve these problems, we proposed a localization and navigation system which is comprised of an 802.15.4a protocol based communication module to measure the distance between team robots and a compass sensor to get the heading angle of every robot. The proposed method is based on a modified Kalman Filter which is adapted in our system to improve the quality of 802.15.4a protocol and compass sensor for reducing the error in measurement process. From the experimental results, we will verify better performance of the proposed system for more practical localization and navigation in the disaster sites through the team robot cooperation.