ALO: An ultrasound system for localization and orientation based on angles

Abstract

This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Microelectronics Journal. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Microelectronics Journal, Vol 44, Issue 10, (October 2013). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mejo.2013.01.001This paper presents a low cost system based on ultrasound transducers to obtain the localization and orientation information of a mobile node, such as a robot, in a 2D indoor space. The system applies a new differential time of arrival (DTOA) technique with reduced computational cost, which is called ALO (angle localization and orientation). Instead of directly calculating its position, the system calculates the direction of arrival of the received ultrasonic signal and, through it, its position and orientation. A prototype of a robot has been built in order to show the validity of the method through experimental results