Radio-Based Multi-Robot Odometry and Relative Localization
Andrés MartÃnez-Silva, David Alejo, Luis Merino, Fernando Caballero
AI summary
Problem
Vision and LiDAR sensors often fail in harsh or cluttered GPS-denied environments, while existing radio-based multi-robot localization methods lack real-time capability, 3D applicability, and robust fusion of redundant onboard sensors.
Approach
The system estimates inter-robot relative poses using a nonlinear least-squares optimization of UWB anchor-tag distances, then fuses these with radar-derived ego-motion and standard odometry in a multi-robot pose-graph optimizer.
Key results
- Real-time 4-DOF relative transformation estimation via UWB nonlinear least squares
- Radar odometry module adapted for multi-robot scenarios with loosely coupled ego-motion estimation
- Unified pose-graph optimization fusing UWB, radar, IMU, and wheel encoder data
- Custom Gazebo UWB simulation plugin validated against real sensor data
Why it matters
Enables reliable cooperative navigation for heterogeneous robot teams in GPS-denied or adverse conditions using low-cost, readily available radio sensors.
Abstract
Radio-based methods such as Ultra-Wideband (UWB) and RAdio Detection And Ranging (radar), which have traditionally seen limited adoption in robotics, are experiencing a boost in popularity thanks to their robustness to harsh environmental conditions and cluttered environments. This work proposes a multi-robot UGV-UAV localization system that leverages the two technologies with inexpensive and readily- available sensors, such as Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) and wheel encoders, to estimate the relative position of an aerial robot with respect to a ground robot. The first stage of the system pipeline includes a nonlinear optimization framework to trilaterate the location of the aerial platform based on UWB range data, and a radar pre-processing module with loosely coupled ego-motion estimation which has been adapted for a multi-robot scenario. Then, the pre-processed radar data as well as the relative transformation are fed to a pose-graph optimization framework with odometry and inter- robot constraints. The system, implemented for the Robotic Operating System (ROS 2) with the Ceres optimizer, has been validated in Software-in-the-Loop (SITL) simulations and in a real-world dataset. The proposed relative localization module outperforms state-of-the-art closed-form methods which are less robust to noise. Our SITL environment includes a custom Gazebo plugin for generating realistic UWB measurements modeled after real data. Conveniently, the proposed factor graph formulation makes the system readily extensible to full Simultaneous Localization And Mapping (SLAM). Finally, all the code and experimental data is publicly available to support reproducibility and to serve as a common open dataset for benchmarking.