A Study on Localization Technique Using Extended Kalman Filter for Model-Scale Autonomous Marine Mobility

Due to the low accuracy of measured data obtained from low-cost GNSS and IMU devices, it was hard to secure the required accuracy of the measured position and heading angle for autonomous navigation which was conducted by a model-scale marine mobility. In this paper, a localization technique using the Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) is proposed for coping with the issue. First of all, a position and heading angle estimator is developed using EKF with the assumption of a point mass model. Second, the measured data from GNSS and IMU, including position, heading angle, and velocity are used for the estimator. In addition, the heading angle is additionally obtained by comparing the LiDAR point cloud with map information for a temporal water tank. The newly acquired heading angle is integrated into the estimator as an additional measurement to correct the inaccuracy in the heading angle measured from the IMU. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is investigated using data acquired from preliminary tests of the model-scale autonomous marine mobility.