Collaborative localization with ultra-wideband ranging sensors

Collaborative localization is the sharing of navigation information among agents in a system to improve the navigation solutions for each agent. It does this by combining each agent’s own estimate of its location with some type(s) of relative measurement(s) with the other agents. Together, the additional information allows the agents to heighten the precision and robustness of their solutions. With these improved navigation solutions, autonomous agents are able to work in more sensitive environments as well as more reliably in groups. One such measurement device that is commonly used in collaborative localization is a ranging sensor. However, in order to incorporate such ranging sensors in the research initiatives led by Professor Grace Gao, the firmware had to be adapted to operate with more agents. In order to accomplish this, the communication protocols, state machines, and calibrations all had to be designed such that each agent can get its range to each of the other agents in the system. In this work, we discuss how this update in firmware was accomplished.U of I Onlyundergraduate senior thesis not recommended for open acces