Cooperative simultaneous localization and mapping for pedestrians using low-cost ultra-wideband system and gyroscope

Abstract

Ultra-wideband (UWB) is a promising technology for positioning systems that has undergone massive research development in recent years. Most UWB positioning systems assume prior knowledge on the positions of the UWB anchors. Without knowing the UWB anchor positions, an accurate position estimate of an UWB tag is difficult. Hence, this paper presents a novel cooperative pedestrian simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) algorithm using an UWB positioning system without the necessity to have the prior information on the UWB anchor positions. To obtain accurate estimates of the UWB anchor positions, the estimations of the UWB anchor positions are shared between different mobile units. An increased accuracy of the estimated UWB anchor position relates directly to a more accurate position estimate of the mobile unit position. We evaluate the proposed algorithm based on measurements with multiple mobile units and fixed anchors with unknown positions. The evaluations show that an accurate position estimation of both the mobile units and the anchors is possible without any prior knowledge on the UWB anchor positions.