Preprint.pdf (2.48 MB)
Evaluation of Battery-free UHF-RFID Sensor Wireless Signals for In-pipe Robotic Applications
preprint
posted on 2021-09-09, 03:53 authored by Amal Gunatilake, Karthick ThiyagarajanKarthick Thiyagarajan, sarath kodagodaA reliable robotic localization method is required
for comparing three-dimensional pipe maps obtained via laser
scans at various times for accurately monitoring the evolution of
internal pipe surface defects. Existing robotic localization methods have limitations when visual features vanish due to changes
in the pipe environment or when encoder data becomes highly
uncertain due to long-distance robotic traverses. To address
this issue, we leverage battery-free ultra-high frequency radio
frequency identification (UHF-RFID) sensors for transmitting
wireless signals to a two-antenna reader integrated mobile robotic
system. Although there are literature on the investigation of UHFRFID behaviors and their applications in indoor environments,
analysis of the same for in-pipe scenarios was not well studied.
In this paper, we evaluate the UHF-RFID sensor signals inside
a field extracted pipeline. Firstly, we examine the UHF-RFID
sensor signal patterns through repeated robotic scans. Secondly,
we examine how the placement of UHF-RFID reader antennas
affects the transmission of UHF-RFID sensor signals, as well as
we study the effects of robotic traverse direction and speed on the
UHF-RFID wireless signals. Finally, we examine whether identical UHF-RFID sensors generate the same pattern when placed
in a pipeline. Overall, the experimental evaluation demonstrates
that the use of two-antenna UHF-RFID readers can ameliorate
the capabilities of robotic localization in the pipeline.
History
Email Address of Submitting Author
Karthick.Thiyagarajan@uts.edu.auSubmitting Author's Institution
University of Technology SydneySubmitting Author's Country
- Australia