The control of field robots in varying and uncertain terrain conditions presents a challenge for autonomous navigation. Online estimation of the wheel-terrain slip characteristics is essential for generating the accurate control predictions necessary for tracking trajectories in off-road environments. Receding horizon estimation (RHE) provides a powerful framework for constrained estimation, and when combined with receding horizon control (RHC), yields an adaptive optimisation-based control method. Presently, such methods assume slip to be constant over the estimation horizon, while our proposed structured blocking approach relaxes this assumption, resulting in improved state and parameter estimation. We demonstrate and compare the performance of this method in simulation, and propose an overlapping-block strategy to ameliorate some of the limitations encountered in applying noise-blocking in a receding horizon estimation and control (RHEC) context.
The impact of slip has also been modelled as a white-noise velocity perturbation @cite_25 , and an EKF with vehicle model constraints was used to improve the vehicle's inertial estimate in the absence of GPS data.
@cite_25
2056358962 2070420170 2293058369 2134349615
In this paper, we focus on the problem of motion tracking in unknown environments using visual and inertial sensors. We term this estimation task visual-inertial odometry (VIO), in analogy to the well-known visual-odometry problem. We present a detailed study of extended Kalman filter (EKF)-based VIO algorithms, by comparing both their theoretical properties and empirical performance. We show that an EKF formulation where the state vector comprises a sliding window of poses (the multi-state-constraint Kalman filter (MSCKF)) attains better accuracy, consistency, and computational efficiency than the simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) formulation of the EKF, in which the state vector contains the current pose and the features seen by the camera. Moreover, we prove that both types of EKF approaches are inconsistent, due to the way in which Jacobians are computed. Specifically, we show that the observability properties of the EKF's linearized system models do not match those of the underlying system, which causes the filters to underestimate the uncertainty in the state estimates. Based on our analysis, we propose a novel, real-time EKF-based VIO algorithm, which achieves consistent estimation by (i) ensuring the correct observability properties of its linearized system model, and (ii) performing online estimation of the camera-to-inertial measurement unit (IMU) calibration parameters. This algorithm, which we term MSCKF 2.0, is shown to achieve accuracy and consistency higher than even an iterative, sliding-window fixed-lag smoother, in both Monte Carlo simulations and real-world testing. We evaluate a mobile application that assesses driving behavior based on in-vehicle acceleration measurements and gives corresponding feedback to drivers. In the insurance business, such applications have recently gained traction as a viable alternative to the monitoring of drivers via "black boxes" installed in vehicles, which lacks interaction opportunities and is perceived as privacy intrusive by policyholders. However, pose uncertainty and other noise-inducing factors make smartphones potentially less reliable as sensor platforms. We therefore compare critical driving events generated by a smartphone with reference measurements from a vehicle-fixed IMU in a controlled field study. The study was designed to capture driver variability under real-world conditions, while minimizing the influence of external factors. We find that the mobile measurements tend to overestimate critical driving events, possibly due to deviation from the calibrated initial device pose. While weather and daytime do not appear to influence event counts, road type is a significant factor that is not considered in most current state-of-the-art implementations. Abstract This paper researched an estimation method based on the Minimum Model Error (MME) criterion combing with the Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) for 4WD vehicle states. A general 5-input–3-output and 3 states estimation system was established, considering both the arbitrary nonlinear model error and the white Gauss measurement noise. Aiming at eliminating the estimation error caused by the arbitrary nonlinear model error, the prediction algorithm for the dynamic tire force error was deduced based on the MME criterion, based on which the system model can be effectively updated for higher estimation accuracy. The estimation algorithm was applied to a two-motor-driven vehicle during a double-lane-change process with varying speed under simulative experimental condition. The results showed that the dynamic tire force error could be effectively found for updating the system model, and higher estimation accuracy of the vehicle states were achieved, when compared with the traditional EKF estimator. Skid-steered mobile robots are widely used because of their simple mechanism and high reliability. Understanding the kinematics and dynamics of such a robotic platform is, however, challenging due to the complex wheel ground interactions and kinematic constraints. In this paper, we develop a kinematic modeling scheme to analyze the skid-steered mobile robot. Based on the analysis of the kinematics of the skid-steered mobile robot, we reveal the underlying geometric and kinematic relationships between the wheel slips and locations of the instantaneous rotation centers. As an application example, we also present how to utilize the modeling and analysis for robot positioning and wheel slip estimation using only low-cost strapdown inertial measurement units. The robot positioning and wheel slip-estimation scheme is based on an extended Kalman filter (EKF) design that incorporates the kinematic constraints for accuracy enhancement. The performance of the EKF-based positioning and wheel slip-estimation scheme are also presented. The estimation methodology is tested and validated experimentally on a robotic test bed.