Particle Filter Based Localization of Autonomous Vehicle

The fundamental task in an autonomous vehicle navigation system is localization from the available sensor measurements. GPS in the vehicles locates it with error of 1 to 10 meters so localization process should be performed to avoid fatal accidents. The realization of algorithms to estimate our vehicle’s position precisely is Localization. Odometry, Kalman Filter, Particle Filter and SLAM(Simultaneous Localization And Mapping) are the techniques used in an autonomous vehicle to localize itself in the map. Among these the particle filter is widely employed in the localization of autonomous vehicles as it provides accurate position of the vehicle in the environment. This paper aims at a localization technique for autonomous vehicles or robots using Particle Filter algorithm. The position estimator is implemented using the GPS and IMU sensor measurements. The map contains specific landmarks identified such as buildings and poles which assist the vehicle to know its position accurately by matching the distance between them in the particle filtering process. The results show that this algorithm can deliver accurate vehicle positioning even in erroneous GPS data.