This paper presents a novel approach to mobile robot localization using sonar sensors. This approach is based on the use of particle filters. Each particle is augmented with local environment information which is updated during the mission execution. An experimental characterization of the sonar sensors used is provided in the paper. A probabilistic measurement model that takes into account the...

Panoramic sweeps produced by a scanning range sensor often defy interpretation using conventional line-of-sight models, particularly when the environment contains curved, specularly reflective surfaces. Combining multiple scans from different vantage points provides geometric constraints necessary to solve this problem, but not without introducing new difficulties. Existing multiple scan implem...

With the offshore development off the Newfoundland and Labrador coast, the environment becomes the key factor to the production. Each year hundreds of icebergs depart from the Greenland and drift towards the Newfoundland and Labrador. Icebergs in the vicinity of the offshore structure have a potential of causing production downtime, scouring the pipeline on the sea floor, and destroy the infras...

This work explores techniques for sonar sensor fusion in the context of environmental feature detection and identification for navigation tasks. By detecting common features in indoor environments and using them as landmarks, a robot can navigate reliably, recovering its pose when necessary. Preliminary results on a multiple hypothesis testing procedure for feature localization and identificati...

We have recently introduced a novel approach to sonarbased object recognition for robotics. The sonar recognition system—consisting of a Polaroid sonar coupled with an A/D data acquisition board in a LINUX-based PC— uses a fuzzy ARTMAP neural network classification system to recognize objects at varying distances. In this article we report additional results in which we test systematically reco...

This paper investigates the problem of concurrent mapping and localization (CML) using forward look sonar data. Results are presented from processing of an oceanic data set from an 87 kHz US Navy forward look imaging sonar using the stochastic mapping method for CML. The goal is to detect objects on the seabed, map their locations, and concurrently compute an improved trajectory for the vehicle...

Opportunistic observations of behavioral responses by delphinids to incidental mid-frequency active (MFA) sonar were recorded in the Southern California Bight from 2004 through 2008 using visual focal follows, static hydrophones, and autonomous recorders. Sound pressure levels were calculated between 2 and 8 kHz. Surface behavioral responses were observed in 26 groups from at least three specie...

In this paper, we are interested in inferring the sources of various types of sonar features typically observed by a mobile robot. After a brief discussion of terrestrial sonar sensing, we develop a set of operators that associates arc-shaped features extracted from sonar scans with real world primitives. Our classiication scheme is probabilistic and is based on empirical data: the con-dence of...

This paper describes a geometric approach to underwater environmental modeling using sonar. We classify and localize geometric features of man-made objects by combining the boundary constraints of sonar returns obtained from multiple vantage points. The approach builds on our previous use of Reid's multiple hypothesis tracking (MHT) algorithm in order to resolve data association and motion corr...