• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.65 no.10
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• pp.1738-1745
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• 2016

In this paper, we present localization and autonomous navigation method using GPU(Graphics Processing Unit)-based SIFT(Scale-Invariant Feature Transform) algorithm and virtual force method for mobile robots. To do this, at first, we propose the localization method to recognize the landmark using the GPU-based SIFT algorithm and to update the position using extended Kalman filter. And then, we propose the A-star algorithm for path planning and the virtual force method for autonomous navigation of the mobile robot. Finally, we demonstrate the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed method through some experiments using the mobile robot with OPRoS(Open Platform for Robotic Services).

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.20 no.11
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• pp.1098-1102
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• 2014

Localization of aerial vehicles and map building of flight environments are key technologies for the autonomous flight of small UAVs. In outdoor environments, an unmanned aircraft can easily use a GPS (Global Positioning System) for its localization with acceptable accuracy. However, as the GPS is not available for use in indoor environments, the development of a SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) system that is suitable for small UAVs is therefore needed. In this paper, we suggest a vision-based SLAM system that uses vision sensors and an AHRS (Attitude Heading Reference System) sensor. Feature points in images captured from the vision sensor are obtained by using GPU (Graphics Process Unit) based SIFT (Scale-invariant Feature Transform) algorithm. Those feature points are then combined with attitude information obtained from the AHRS to estimate the position of the small UAV. Based on the location information and color distribution, a Gaussian process model is generated, which could be a map. The experimental results show that the position of a small unmanned aircraft is estimated properly and the map of the environment is constructed by using the proposed method. Finally, the reliability of the proposed method is verified by comparing the difference between the estimated values and the actual values.