Self-Localization with Ultrasonic Sensor Array

We have developed a positioning system that uses a phased array sensor to measure the distance and direction of multiple landmarks relative to the position of a mobile robot so that the robot can self-localize. The positioning system can control the strength and the width of the beam from the phased array sensor and observe the multiple landmarks at the same time. By using the distance and direction of plural landmarks, our positioning system is able to use various self-localizing methods. A main part of our work has been incorporating our various techniques for making a robot positioning error smaller into a system in which the most suitable self-localizing method is selected on the basis of sensitivity, which is defined as the ratio between localizing and sensor errors. We propose using a set of indices to evaluate the accuracy of self-localizing methods. The indices are derived from the sensitivity. We used these indices to compare the accuracy of three methods for the self-localizing of a mobile robot using landmarks, and we demonstrated a rational way to minimize a localizing error.