Self-Localization Using UWB Timestamps for Low-Latency Robot Positioning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current UWB localization systems are unsuitable for mobile robots due to high latency, susceptibility to signal interference, and limited scalability, making them inadequate for safety-critical applications and environments with complex geometries.
Innovation Solution
A self-localizing apparatus that receives timestampable UWB signals from multiple transceivers to determine its own 3D position without emitting signals, allowing for real-time localization with high accuracy and update rates, even in GPS-denied environments, and enabling operation in complex geometries with improved robustness and scalability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a centralized UWB localization system is used where tags emit signals and a central server computes locations, then the system can maintain a centralized database of assets and their locations, but the system introduces significant communication latency and is unsuitable for safety-critical robot applications
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the location computation function from the centralized server and places it directly in the mobile robot device. The device now independently determines its own location using received UWB signals from multiple transceivers, eliminating the need to wait for centralized processing and communication back to the device, thus resolving the latency issue while maintaining system robustness
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a distributed architecture where multiple stationary UWB transceivers act as intermediaries to provide location information directly to mobile devices. This eliminates the single-point bottleneck of the centralized server, reducing communication latency while maintaining robustness through distributed signal sources
2Reliability
If multiple UWB tags are deployed in a centralized system, then asset tracking coverage is improved, but the update rate decreases because multiple signals cannot overlap
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of having mobile tags emit signals that must be received and processed centrally, the patent inverts the architecture: stationary transceivers emit signals and mobile devices passively receive and process them. This allows multiple transceivers to transmit simultaneously without collision, as each mobile device independently processes signals from multiple sources, thereby maintaining high update rates even with many tags deployed
Solution Approach 2:
The mobile device performs self-service by independently computing its own location using received signals from multiple transceivers. This eliminates the centralized bottleneck where update rate was inversely proportional to the number of tags, allowing the system to maintain high update rates regardless of the number of deployed transceivers
3Device complexity
If current UWB localization architecture is used for mobile robots, then centralized database management is achieved, but the system architecture introduces higher risk of lost signals and lower system robustness
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the centralized localization system into distributed components: multiple independent UWB transceivers and autonomous mobile devices that each independently determine their own location. This segmentation eliminates the single-point failure risk of the centralized server, improving robustness while maintaining architectural simplicity through standardized device-transceiver interactions
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system achieves real-time, high-accuracy localization with reduced latency and increased robustness, enabling mobile robots to operate effectively in complex environments with improved scalability and energy efficiency, and enhanced privacy through local data processing.
Implementation Method 1
A self-localizing apparatus that receives timestampable UWB signals from multiple transceivers to determine its own 3D position
Data Source
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Figure 2A
AI summary
A self-localizing apparatus uses timestampable signals transmitted by transceivers that are a part of a distributed localization system to compute its position relative to the transceivers. Transceivers and self-localizing apparatuses are arranged for highly accurate timestamping using digital and analog reception and transmission electronics as well as one or more highly accurate clocks, compensation units, localization units, position calibration units, scheduling units, or synchronization units. Transceivers and self-localizing apparatuses are further arranged to allow full scalability in the number of self-localizing apparatuses and to allow robust self-localization with latencies and update rates useful for high performance applications such as autonomous mobile robot control.