A new approach to sonar based indoor mapping localization

Vehicle localization and environment mapping are the most essential parts of the robot navigation in unknown environments. Since the problem of localization in indoor environments is directly related to the problem of online map generation, in this paper a new and efficient algorithm for simultaneous localization and map generation is proposed and novel results for real environments are achieved. This new algorithm interprets and validates the raw sonar measurements in first step, and applies them to the environment map in the next step. There are various adjustable parameters which make the algorithm flexible for different sonar types. This algorithm is efficient and is robust to sonar failure; if sonar does not work properly data can be discarded. These abilities make the algorithm efficient for sonar navigation in flat environments even by poor sonar and odometers perception data. This algorithm has the ability of matching with various types of sonar and even to be used with laser scanner data, whenever each laser scanner data is treated as multiple sonar detections with narrow beam detection patterns.