Localizing Ground-Penetrating Radar
Abstract
The development of self-driving vehicles is being pursued worldwide. The use of autonomous cars could improve the flow of traffic and also decrease the number of accidents caused by drivers' errors. The military is interested in deploying autonomous ground vehicles (AGV) for operations in areas that pose risks to personnel. However, current AGVs are not mature enough for widespread adoption. Most of the AGV sensors cannot determine the vehicles location when adverse conditions, such as heavy rain or fog, snow-covered roads, or lost GPS signals, hamper the functioning of their sensors, since those sensors rely on traditional roadmap-based information(e.g., lane markers, curbs, stop lines).MIT Lincoln Laboratory has developed a sensor that provides real-time estimates of a vehicles position even in challenging weather and road conditions. The Localizing Ground-Penetrating Radar (LGPR) uses very high frequency (VHF) radar reflections of underground features to generate baseline maps and then matches current GPR reflections to the baseline maps to predict a vehicles location. The LGPR uses relatively deep subsurface features as points of reference because they are inherently stable and less susceptible to erosion or damage overtime. It utilizes VHF radio waves because they can penetrate rain, fog, dust, and snow.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 01, 2014
- Accession Number
- AD1033593
Entities
Organizations
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology