A Novel GIS Platform for UGV Application in the Unknown Environment

Recently, the UGV (Unmanned Ground Vehicle) receives more and more attention from the public with the application in deep space exploration, national defense, and riot relief. Moreover, how to describe the driving environment of UGV with the sensor data objectively and share these data with other UGV efficiently becomes the focus of the research of the UGV. To solve the above problems, a novel GIS platform for UGV application in the unknown environment is proposed in this paper based on the features of UGV. First, the GIS database is redesigned and the properties such as road width, lane number, lane info, and if_traffic are proposed. The data structure of the database is redesigned to fit the need of UGV to describe the environment simply and explicitly. Then a two-line road model is proposed to model the feature of the road network clearly. This model can meet the driving need of UGV and represent the traffic rules of the urban environment. Moreover, the turning path in the intersection is designed to be an arc instead of a right angle path considering the dynamic features of UGV. Finally a cost map for navigating the UGV locally is generated with the road model and the environment information from the sensors. The GIS platform designed in this paper proves to be able to offer guidance and help to UGV for driving through the unknown environment wisely and quickly without human intervention. And it shows promising application of sharing data with other UGV efficiently by using cost map instead of the original sensor data.