Abstract
Navigation in an unknown environment without any preexisting positioning
infrastructure has always been hard for mobile robots. This paper
presents a self-deployable ultra wideband UWB infrastructure by mobile
agents, that permits a dynamic placement and runtime extension of UWB
anchors infrastructure while the robot explores the new environment. We
provide a detailed analysis of the uncertainty of the positioning system
while the UWB infrastructure grows. Moreover, we developed a genetic
algorithm that minimizes the deployment of new anchors, saving energy
and resources on the mobile robot and maximizing the time of the
mission. Although the presented approach is general for any class of
mobile system, we run simulations and experiments with indoor drones.
Results demonstrate that maximum positioning uncertainty is always
controlled under the user’s threshold, using the Geometric Dilution of
Precision (GDoP).