Accelerometer-Based Wheel Odometer for Kinematics Determination

Ahmed A Youssef,Mohamed Elhabiby,Naser El-Sheimy,Naif Al-Subaie

doi:10.3390/s21041327

Ahmed A Youssef, Mohamed Elhabiby + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/s21041327

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Abstract

Various high budget industries that utilize wheel-based vehicles rely on wheel odometry as an integral aspect of their navigation process. This research introduces a low-cost alternative for typical wheel encoders that are typically used to determine the on-track speed of vehicles. The proposed system is referred to as an Accelerometer-based Wheel Odometer for Kinematics determination (AWOK). The AWOK system comprises just a single axis accelerometer mounted radially at the center of any given wheel. The AWOK system can provide direct distances instead of just velocities, which are provided by typical wheel speedometers. Hence, the AWOK system is advantageous in comparison to typical wheel odometers. Besides, the AWOK system comprises a simple assembly with a highly efficient data processing algorithm. Additionally, the AWOK system provides a high capacity to handle high dynamics in comparison to similar approaches found in previous related work. Furthermore, the AWOK system is not affected by the inherited stochastic errors in micro-machined electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) inertial sensors, whether short-term or long-term errors. Above all, the AWOK system reported a relative accuracy of 0.15% in determining the distance covered by a car.

Highlights

The Accelerometer-based Wheel Odometer for Kinematics determination (AWOK) system can provide the vehicle’s on-track velocity as a by-product of the AWOK algorithm, which can be beneficial to acquire a better navigation solution when integrated with additional sensors
The results show that the AWOK system provides direct distance measurements instead of velocity measurements at high precision when compared to total station data
It can be concluded that the AWOK system provides a perfect replacement for typical wheel odometers

Summary

Introduction

Wheel odometry is considered a huge aspect for various industries that are dependent on wheel-based vehicles. Such applications include mobile mapping, self-driving cars, automotive industry safety applications, and various other high budget industries [1,2,3]. This section covers the scientific background behind the proposed AWOK system, including the derivation of the mathematical model that describes the acquired acceleration signal from a radially wheel-mounted accelerometer. The mathematical model provides the basis to construct the AWOK algorithm that is used to derive the wheeltravelled distance from the measurements of the radially wheel-mounted accelerometer. It is assumed that slipping or skidding conditions are not considered for the mathematical model, and for the preliminary phase of the AWOK algorithm

Methods

Results

Conclusion