• Login
    About WHOAS
    View Item 
    •   WHOAS Home
    • Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
    • Academic Programs
    • WHOI Theses
    • View Item
    •   WHOAS Home
    • Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
    • Academic Programs
    • WHOI Theses
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Browse

    All of WHOASCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesKeywordsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesKeywords

    My Account

    LoginRegister

    Statistics

    View Usage Statistics

    Toward lifelong visual localization and mapping

    Thumbnail
    View/Open
    Johannsson_thesis.pdf (16.32Mb)
    Date
    2013-06
    Author
    Johannsson, Hordur  Concept link
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Citable URI
    https://hdl.handle.net/1912/5980
    DOI
    10.1575/1912/5980
    Keyword
     Robotics; Underwater navigation 
    Abstract
    Mobile robotic systems operating over long durations require algorithms that are robust and scale efficiently over time as sensor information is continually collected. For mobile robots one of the fundamental problems is navigation; which requires the robot to have a map of its environment, so it can plan its path and execute it. Having the robot use its perception sensors to do simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) is beneficial for a fully autonomous system. Extending the time horizon of operations poses problems to current SLAM algorithms, both in terms of robustness and temporal scalability. To address this problem we propose a reduced pose graph model that significantly reduces the complexity of the full pose graph model. Additionally we develop a SLAM system using two different sensor modalities: imaging sonars for underwater navigation and vision based SLAM for terrestrial applications. Underwater navigation is one application domain that benefits from SLAM, where access to a global positioning system (GPS) is not possible. In this thesis we present SLAM systems for two underwater applications. First, we describe our implementation of real-time imaging-sonar aided navigation applied to in-situ autonomous ship hull inspection using the hovering autonomous underwater vehicle (HAUV). In addition we present an architecture that enables the fusion of information from both a sonar and a camera system. The system is evaluated using data collected during experiments on SS Curtiss and USCGC Seneca. Second, we develop a feature-based navigation system supporting multi-session mapping, and provide an algorithm for re-localizing the vehicle between missions. In addition we present a method for managing the complexity of the estimation problem as new information is received. The system is demonstrated using data collected with a REMUS vehicle equipped with a BlueView forward-looking sonar. The model we use for mapping builds on the pose graph representation which has been shown to be an efficient and accurate approach to SLAM. One of the problems with the pose graph formulation is that the state space continuously grows as more information is acquired. To address this problem we propose the reduced pose graph (RPG) model which partitions the space to be mapped and uses the partitions to reduce the number of poses used for estimation. To evaluate our approach, we present results using an online binocular and RGB-Depth visual SLAM system that uses place recognition both for robustness and multi-session operation. Additionally, to enable large-scale indoor mapping, our system automatically detects elevator rides based on accelerometer data. We demonstrate long-term mapping using approximately nine hours of data collected in the MIT Stata Center over the course of six months. Ground truth, derived by aligning laser scans to existing floor plans, is used to evaluate the global accuracy of the system. Our results illustrate the capability of our visual SLAM system to map a large scale environment over an extended period of time.
    Description
    Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution June 2013
    Collections
    • Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering (AOP&E)
    • WHOI Theses
    Suggested Citation
    Thesis: Johannsson, Hordur, "Toward lifelong visual localization and mapping", 2013-06, DOI:10.1575/1912/5980, https://hdl.handle.net/1912/5980
     

    Related items

    Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.

    • Thumbnail

      Seismic constraints on shallow crustal processes at the East Pacific Rise 

      Christeson, Gail L. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 1994-02)
      This thesis is concerned with understanding how oceanic crust is emplaced at mid-ocean ridges. The emphasis is upon fast-spreading ridges, and the use of seismic techniques to image the uppermost several hundred meters ...
    • Thumbnail

      When an eddy encounters shelf-slope topography 

      Cherian, Deepak A. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2016-09)
      Eddies in the ocean move westwards. Those shed by western boundary currents must then interact with continental shelf-slope topography at the western boundary. The presence of other eddies and mean lows complicates this ...
    • Thumbnail

      Biological-physical interactions on Georges Bank : plankton transport and population dynamics of the ocean quahog, Arctica islandica 

      Lewis, Craig V. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 1997-06)
      Advective losses of bank water during winter because of strong wind forcing were hypothesized to be a significant factor limiting recruitment of Georges Bank cormnunities. This hypothesis was examined using biological-physical ...
    All Items in WHOAS are protected by original copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated. WHOAS also supports the use of the Creative Commons licenses for original content.
    A service of the MBLWHOI Library | About WHOAS
    Contact Us | Send Feedback | Privacy Policy
    Core Trust Logo