4 Sensors

Contents
Bibliography:
Mobile Robots
4) Sensors
Sensor classification Sensor characterization Wheel/motor encoders Heading/orientation sensors Ground-based beacons Active ranging Motion/speed sensors Vision (sensors, depth from focus, stereovision, optic flow)
Introduction to Autonomous Mobile Robots (ch.4) R. Siegwart, and I. Nourbakhsh, MIT Press, 2004 Sensors for Mobile Robots, Theory and Applications H.R. Everett, A K Peters Ltd., 1995
Sep-29-10
Mobile Robots - EPFL - J.-C. Zufferey
Sep-29-10
Classification of sensors for mobile robots

What:
Proprioceptive sensors
measure the internal state of the system (robot) e.g. motor speed, joint position, wheel load, battery status, etc.
General classification (1)
Exteroceptive sensors
information about the robots environment distances to objects, intensity of the ambient light, etc.
How:
Passive sensors
energy coming from the environment
Active sensors
emit their own energy and measure the reaction better performance, but some influence on the environment and generally consumes more energy
Sep-29-10 Mobile Robots - EPFL - J.-C. Zufferey (adapted from Siegwart & Nourbakhsh, 2004, ch. 4)
Sep-29-10
Mobile Robots - EPFL - J.-C. Zufferey (adapted from Siegwart & Nourbakhsh, 2004, ch. 4)
General classification (2)

Beacon-based!
Sensor characteristics (1)

~ ~ ~
Size, weight, power consumption, voltage, interface Field of view (FOV) Range (or full scale)
lower and upper limits e.g. triangulation range finder may provide unpredictable values outside its working range
Dynamic range (e.g. camera pixels)

ratio between the smallest and largest possible values of a changeable quantity (e.g., sound, light, etc.) often specified in decibels (ratio between powers) e.g. power measurement from 1mW to 20W:
Resolution
smallest input change that can be detected (due to noise, physical limitations or determined by the A/D conversion)
Sep-29-10

Linearity
variation of output signal as function of the input signal sometimes expressed as % of full scale

sensitivity to other environmental parameters influence of other active sensors
High accuracy, but low precision High precision, but low accuracy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accuracy_and_precision
Cross-sensitivity (and cross-talk)
Hysteresis
path-dependency (e.g. thermostats, some tactile sensors)
Accuracy (exactitude, opposite of error)
Bandwidth or Frequency
the speed at which a sensor can provide a stream of readings usually there is an upper limit depending on the sensor and the sampling rate one has also to consider delay (phase) of the signal
!
degree of conformity between the measurement and true value often expressed as a portion of the true value:
! ! ! ! m = measured value v = true value
Probability density
Precision (or repeatability)

relates to reproducibility of sensor results:
or simply 1/! ! = standard deviation
Sensitivity
ratio of output change to input change
!
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Kinds of errors
Systematic errors: deterministic
caused by factors that can (in theory) be modeled and predicted e.g. distortion caused by the optics of a camera
Wheel / motor encoders

Measure position or speed of the wheels or steering. Integrate wheel movements to get an estimate of the position -> odometry Optical encoders are proprioceptive sensors thus the position estimation in relation to a fixed reference frame is only valuable for short movements. Typical resolutions: 64 - 2048 increments per revolution.
Random errors: non-deterministic

no prediction possible however, they may be described probabilistically e.g. hue instability of camera, black level noise of photoreceptors, non-returning echoes in ultrasonic sensors, etc.
Others
cross-sensitivity of sensors, motion blurr rarely possible to model -> appear as random errors but are neither systematic nor random systematic errors and random errors might be well defined in controlled environment. This is often not the case for mobile robots!
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Magnetic compasses
Since over 2000 B.C.
when Chinese suspended a piece of naturally magnetite from a silk thread and used it to guide a chariot over land.
Gyroscopes
The goal of gyroscopic systems is to measure changes in vehicle orientation by taking advantage of physical laws that produce predictable effects under rotation. Three functioning principles:
Mechanical Optical Micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS)
often called strapdown
Magnetic field on earth

absolute measure of orientation.
Large variety of solutions to measure the earth magnetic field

mechanical magnetic compass direct measure of the magnetic field: Hall-effect, Flux Gate, magnetoresistive sensors
Two categories
E.g.: HMC1043 is a miniature three-axis magnetoresistive magnetometer of only 3x3 mm
Major drawback
weakness of the Earth magnetic field (0.3-0.6 T) easily disturbed by magnetic objects or other sources not working in indoor environments (except locally)
Orientation -> directly measure angles (very rare in robotics!) Rate gyros -> measure rotation velocity, which can be integrated
Often used in attitude sensing

A problem common to all gyroscopes is that of drift => unless the error is corrected through reference to some alternate measurement, the drift will eventually exceed the required accuracy of the system.
Sep-29-10 Mobile Robots - EPFL - J.-C. Zufferey
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Mechanical gyroscopes
Rely on angular momentum (gyroscopic inertia): the tendency of a rotating object to keep rotating at the same angular speed about the same axis of rotation in the absence of an external torque. Reactive torque ! is proportional to the spinning speed ", the rate of precession # and the wheels inertia I. # = I" ! No torque can be transmitted from the outer pivot to the wheel axis => spinning axis will therefore be space-stable. Nevertheless, remaining friction in the bearings of the gyro axis introduce some errors over time (drift). A high-quality mechanical gyro can cost up to $100000 and drift may be kept as low as 0.02/h Mechanically complex => not much used in mobile robotics.
Optical gyroscopes
Based on the behavior of an optical standing wave in a rotating frame (the Sagnac effect). Optical gyroscopes use the interference of light to detect mechanical rotation:
two light beams travel (e.g. along an optical fiber of up to 5 km in length) in opposite directions the beam traveling against the rotation experiences a slightly shorter path than the other beam the resulting phase shift affects how the beams interfere with each other when they are combined the intensity of the combined beam then depends on the rotation rate of the device
Resolution can be smaller than 0.0001/s

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MEMS rate gyros

Based on vibrating mechanical elements to sense Coriolis acceleration. Coriolis acceleration is the apparent acceleration that arises in a rotating frame of reference: Various possible MEMS structure: tuning-fork, vibrating wheel, wineglass resonator
Accelerometers and pressure sensors

Accelerometers / inclinometers
Conceptually, an accelerometer behaves as a damped mass on a spring. MEMS are based on a cantilever beam with a proof mass. The way of measuring the beam deflection is often capacitive or piezoresistive. MEMS accelerometers can have three axes => inclinometers.
Pressure / airspeed / altitude

Deforming membrane (piezoresistive, capacitive, optical, electromagnetic, etc.) Either absolute or differential (Pitot tube) Example of the Freescale MPX:
resolution of 4 cm in altitude variations due to atmospheric pressure changes over one day: up to 45 m
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aeropic board (lis.epfl.ch/smavs)
Drawing from Everett (1995)
MEMS gyros have no rotating parts, have low-power consumption requirements, and are small => they are quickly replacing mechanical and optical gyros in robotic applications.
Sep-29-10 Mobile Robots - EPFL - J.-C. Zufferey (adapted from the Handbook of Robotics, 2008, ch.20.4)
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Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) or Inertial Navigation System (INS)

A device that utilizes sensors such as gyroscopes and accelerometers to estimate the relative position (velocity, and acceleration) of a vehicle in motion. A complete IMU/INS maintains a 6 DOF estimate of the vehicle pose: position (x,y,z) and orientation (yaw, pitch and roll). This requires integrating information from the sensors in real time.
Beacon-based positioning
Beacons are signaling devices with a precisely known position. Beacon-based navigation is used since the humans started to travel
Natural beacons (landmarks) like stars, mountains or the sun Artificial beacons like lighthouses
The recently introduced Global Positioning System (GPS) revolutionized modern navigation technology
Already one of the key sensors for outdoor mobile robotics For indoor robots GPS is not applicable
IMU/INS are extremely sensitive to measurement errors => an external source of information such as GPS and/or magnetometer is often required to correct this (cf. ch. 8 for more information on sensor fusion). List of IMU/INS products: http://damien.douxchamps.net/research/imu/
Mobile Robots - EPFL - J.-C. Zufferey (adapted from the Handbook of Robotics, 2008, ch.20.4)
Major drawback with the use of beacons indoors:

Beacons require changes in the environment -> costly Limit flexibility and adaptability to changing environments
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Passive optical beacons

Passive retroreflective beacons of known position Distance and heading of at least two beacons are measured (e.g. using a scanning laser range finder)
Active ultrasonic beacons

Robots must know the emitter locations Using time of flight (TOF), they can deduce their position Time synchronization is required (e.g. RF or IR)
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Global positioning system (GPS) (1)

Facts:
Developed for military use by the US (NAVSTAR) Recently became accessible for commercial applications 24 satellites (including three spares) orbiting the Earth every 12 hours at a height of 20190 km 4 satellites are located in each of six planes inclined by 55 with respect to the plane of the Earths equator Location of any GPS receiver is determined through a time of flight measurement
Technical challenges:
Time synchronization between the individual satellites and the GPS receiver Real-time update of the exact location of the satellites Precise measurement of the time of flight Interferences with other signals, reflections
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Mobile Robots - EPFL - J.-C. Zufferey (adapted from Everett, 1995, section 14.2)
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Time synchronization:
ultra-precision time synchronization is extremely important roughly 0.3m/ns => position accuracy proportional to precision of time measurement atomic clocks on each satellite
TOF range sensors (1)

Range information:
key element for obstacle avoidance, localization and environment modeling
Real time update of the exact location of the satellites:

monitoring the satellites from a number of widely distributed ground stations master station analyses all the measurements and transmits the actual position to each of the satellites
Exact measurement of the time of flight

the receiver correlates a pseudocode with the same code coming from the satellite the delay time for best correlation represents the time of flight quartz clock on the GPS receivers are not very precise the range measurement with four satellites allows to identify the three values (x, y, z) for the position and the clock correction !T
Ultrasonic sensors as well as laser range sensors make use of propagation speed of sound or electromagnetic waves respectively. The traveled distance of a sound or electromagnetic wave is given by
d = c !t
Where
d = distance traveled (usually round-trip) c = speed of wave propagation t = time of flight
Recent commercial GPS receivers have a position accuracy within 20 m (typ. 10 m) in the horizontal plane and 45 m in the vertical plane, depending on the number of satellites within line of sight and multipath issues. WAAS allows to get close to 1-2 m accuracy. The update rate is typically between 1 and 4 Hz only.
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TOF range sensors (2)

Important to keep in mind:
Propagation speed of sound: 0.3m/ms Propagation speed of of electromagnetic signals: 0.3m/ns 3 meters correspond to 10ms for an ultrasonic system versus only 10ns for a laser range sensor
=> time of flight with electromagnetic signals involves very fast electronics => laser range sensors are more expensive and delicate to design
Ultrasonic sensors (1)

Transmit a packet of (ultrasonic) pressure waves Distance d of the echoing object can be calculated based on the propagation speed of sound c and the time of flight t.
d=
The quality of TOF range sensors mainly depends on:

Uncertainties about the exact time of arrival of the reflected signal Inaccuracies in the time of fight measure (laser range sensors) Opening angle of transmitted beam (especially ultrasonic range sensors) Interaction with the target (surface, diffuse/specular reflections) Variation of propagation speed (sound) Speed of mobile robot and target (if not at stand still)
c !t 2
The speed of sound c in air is given by
c = " ! R !T
where $ : ratio of specific heats or adiabatic index (1.402 for air) R: gas constant (287.05 J"kg-1"K-1 for air) T: temperature in Kelvin
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Typical frequency: 40 - 180kHz Generation of sound wave: piezo transducer
transmitter and receiver can be separated or not
Sound beam propagates in a cone (approx.)

opening angles around 20 to 70 degrees regions of constant depth segments of an arc -30 (sphere for 3D)
-60 0
measurement cone
30
60
Amplitude [dB]
Typical intensity distribution of a ultrasonic sensor

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Other problems for ultrasonic sensors
soft surfaces that absorb most of the sound energy surfaces that are fare from being perpendicular to the direction of the sound => specular reflection
Laser rangefinders (1)

Also known as laser radar or LIDAR (LIght Detection And Ranging) Transmitted and received beams are coaxial Transmitter illuminates a target with a collimated beam (laser) Diffuse reflection with most surfaces because wavelength is typ. 824nm Receiver detects the time needed for round-trip An optional mechanism sweeps the light beam to cover the required scene (in 2D or 3D).
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Laser rangefinders (2)

Time of flight measurement is generally achieved using one of the following methods:
Pulsed laser (e.g. Sick)
direct measurement of time of flight requires resolving picoseconds (3m = 10ns)
Amplitude [V]
Phase-shift laser rangefinders (3)

Phase [m] 0
! "
Transmitted Beam Reflected Beam
Phase shift measurement (e.g. Hokuyo)

sensor transmits 100% amplitude modulated light at a known frequency and measures the phase shift between the transmitted and reflected signals technically easier than the above method
Sick Inc., Germany
Distance D, between the beam splitter and the target is given by # (Woodbury, et al., 1993): D= ! 4" where % is the phase difference between transmitted and reflected beam and ! =
c with c the speed of light, f the modulating frequency f
Hokuyo, Japan
Confidence in the range (phase/time estimate) is inversely proportional to the square of the received signal amplitude. Hence dark, distant objects will not produce as good range estimates as closer, brighter objects.
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Examples of scanning laser rangefinders

Hokuyo URG-04LX (cf. laboratory B)
1x 240, up to 4m 2.5W, 160g
Example outputs
Output examples
Velodyne LIDAR
Sick LMS 200

1x 180, up to 80m 20W, 9kg
Hokuyo, Japan Sick Inc., Germany
IBEO
4x 160
Velodyne HDL-64E

Sep-29-10
64x 360 (27 vertical) 0.1 angular resolution 5-15Hz update rate >1.333M points per second 50 120m range 2cm accuracy 20W, 13kg 75000 USD !! (as of 2008)
Velodyne Inc., CA 33
Sick laser range finder

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Example of 3D laser rangefinder

Helicopter used for low altitude flight in urban environment
Yamaha Rmax with a payload of 29 kg 3D-scanning LIDAR weighs 3 kg and is able to detect sub-cm wires at up to 100 m in a field of view of 30 x 40
3D TOF range sensor

MESA SR4000 (CSEM spin-off)
- -
176 x 144 pixels Up to 8 m Up to 54 fps 12V, max. 1A 1W of emitted light 500 g Designed for indoor use Resolution is inversely proportional to frame rate
http://www.mesa-imaging.ch
Sep-29-10
Mobile Robots - EPFL - J.-C. Zufferey (adapted from Scherer et al., 2007)
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Doppler-effect sensors
1D triangulation sensors
d !
Diffuse ! reection !
b ! u ! f !
d= f
Appears either if transmitter (or receiver) is moving or when reflecting from an object. if transmitter is moving if receiver is moving
b u
A factor 2 needs to be introduced in the reflecting case to account for the round-trip. Doppler frequency shift: Relative speed:
Both collimated LED or lasers are used to emit a visible or infrared (IR) beam. Position-Sensing Detectors (PSD) are the simplest and fastest way to measure the position of the centroid of a light spot. PSDs are based on a lateral-effect diode that converts the position of incident radiation into signal currents that are directly proportional to the light's position on the active area of the detector. Another approach consists of using a linear camera.
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where " is the relative angle between the direction of motion and beam axis. Sound waves (ultrasonic): e.g. industrial process control, security, measure of ground speed. Electromagnetic waves (RF, laser): e.g. radar systems, object tracking, e.g. the VORAD sensor (http://www.roadranger.com) can detect cars up to 150m away, has a range of 0 to 160km/h with a 1km/h resolution.
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Structured light (2D triangulation)

b
General triangulation principle

One dimensional schematic of the principle. From the figure, geometry of similar triangles shows that:
a
u
H = D " tan !
A light source projects a known pattern or structured light onto the environment. The image is then processed to identify the patterns reflection. Size of object (in the z-axis) can be directly determined. Range to an illuminated point can then be determined from simple geometry (see next slide).
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Properties of triangulation sensors

The triangulation gain Gp of a triangulation sensor is defined as follows (Pear & Probert, 1992):
Vision sensors
CCD (Charge Coupled Device)
few (usually 1) charge to voltage converter large pixels -> high fill factor good pixel uniformity 2048 x 2048 CCD array
Sony DFW-X700
For a given image resolution:

range resolution is inversely proportional to the square of z range resolution is proportional to the base-line b, however
the smaller b is the more compact the sensor for large b, chances that an illuminated point is not visible (occluded) from the receiver increases. a smaller f gives a larger field of view at the expense of accuracy.
CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor technology)

each pixel has its own charge-to-voltage conversion lower pixel uniformity, higher noise additional functionalities on chip (e.g. windowing), but lower fill factor requires less off-chip circuitry -> smaller system size
Orangemicro iBOT Firewire
Cannon IXUS 300
Fujitsu CMOS camera module
For a more detailed comparison, see http://www.dalsa.com/markets/ccd_vs_cmos.asp

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Ranging with passive vision

2D projections lack information about the 3D structure of the environment => need for additional information. Single image => need for partial knowledge about the scene
Actual size of objects -> triangulation Light source location -> using shadows for depth perception
Depth from (de)focus (1)

Image properties not only change as a function of the scene, but also as a function of the camera parameters:
L R
Pairs of images
Changing camera geometry: depth from (de)focus Using (at least) 2 cameras: stereo vision Using a sequence of images (while moving): optic flow
thin lens formula:
1st approximation of blur radius:
where L is the diameter of the lens or aperture

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Depth from (de)focus (2)

Depth from focus: optical parameters (e.g. image plane position through focusing) are actively searched for the best sharpness => slow process Techniques for measuring images sharpness:
Depth from defocus (3)

Using some maths & processing, depth can be estimated at every pixel:
point spread function h: amount of irradiance from point (xf,yf) in the focused image f that contributes to point (xg,yg) in the observed (defocused) image:
each pixel in the image can then be reconstructed as:
observed image
point spread function
focused image
this equation relates the depth of scene points via R to the observed image g solving for R would provide us with the depth map, but f is another unknown Depth from defocus: depth is recovered based on a series of images that have been taken with known camera geometries (cf. next slide).
this issue can be solved by taking at least two images of the same scene with different &, since f would be constant.
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Depth from defocus (4)
Stereo vision
Idealized camera geometry for stereo vision
Disparity between two images -> computing of depth
disparity
http://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/rbf/CVonline/LOCAL_COPIES/FAVARO1/dfdtutorial.html Sep-29-10 Mobile Robots - EPFL - J.-C. Zufferey (adapted from Siegwart & Nourbakhsh, 2004, ch. 4)
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Stereo vision
Distance is inversely proportional to disparity
Closer objects can be measured more accurately (nonlinear resolution).
Stereo vision - correspondence problem

Calculation of depth
The key problem in stereo is how to solve the correspondence problem.
Feature-based approach
Feature extraction (edges, line termination, etc.). Rely on the following constraints:
Limited search space: an element in the left image is sought only within a specific region of the right image, in particular on the epipolar line. Feature attributes: look for the same type (e.g., edge, end of line) and same characteristics (e.g., color, polarity of contrast). Ordering constraints: each element in the left image is assigned to exactly one element in the right image & respect sequence.
Disparity is proportional to the baseline b

For a given disparity error, the accuracy of the depth estimate increases with increasing baseline b. However, as b increases, some objects may appear in one camera, but not in the other (occlusion).
A point visible from both cameras is a conjugate pair

Conjugate pairs lie on epipolar lines (parallel to the x-axis for the arrangement in the figure of the previous line).
Interpolation techniques may be used to fill the gaps.
Intensity-based approach
Using all pixel values. Measure of similarity between shifted image patches from left and right camera (much like some optic-flow techniques).
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Motion field & optic flow

Motion field (a purely geometrical concept)
Object in the
Examples of motion fields
2D projection onto a retina of the relative 3D motion of scene direction di points. Lets assume a spherical visual system in a stationary Di! T! environment. A specific viewing direction is indexed with i and the unit vector di whereas Di represents the distance between pi! R! the visual system and an object viewed in this direction. When di! the system moves with translation T and rotation R, the resulting motion field is the set of vectors pi is given by (Koenderink & van Spherical vision system Doorn, 1987):
This allows to estimate distances, if egomotion (rotation and translation) is known. This is called structure from motion. Or time to contact (TTC) in case of pure translation, i.e. TTC=D/||T|| .! Or estimate egomotion, given certain assumptions on surrounding distances.
Optic flow (depends on image intensities)

Apparent motion of the image intensities. Ideally, the optical flow will correspond to the motion field, but this is not always the case (e.g., with uniform surfaces). A number of algorithms exist to compute optical flow (see e.g. Barron et al. 1994).
Figure from: Krapp, H.G., Hengstenberg, R. (1996) Estimation of self-motion by optic flow processing in single visual interneurons. Nature, 5 December 1996, vol 384.
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Estimation of image patch displacement

Intensity-based techniques exploit the fact that image patches around corresponding points have similar intensity patterns => we need a measure of similarity to be minimized, e.g.
sum of squared differences:
Optic flow sensors and applications

Some optic flow sensors can be found off-the-shelf:
High speed camera with DSP, e.g. optical mouse sensors aVLSI chips (e.g. Centeye)
(Hrabar et al., 2005)
Examples of applications:
USC helicopter LIS indoor microflyer LIS outdoor flying wing TP robotique at LIS
correlation:
where I(x,y,t) is the irradiance of the image point (x,y) at time t and vx(x,y)=Dx/Dt and vy(x,y)=Dy/Dt are the optic flow components at that point.
Feature-based (or feature tracking) techniques consist of identifying objects in an image looking for the same in the next image.
Note: these techniques are very similar to the ones used in stereo vision. What happens when patches contain no texture?
Mobile Robots - EPFL - J.-C. Zufferey (adapted from Russell & Norvig, 2003, ch. 24)
(Beyeler, Zufferey and Floreano, 2009)
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Typical exam questions

Classification of sensors for mobile robots & examples. Characterizing sensor performance: range, resolution, linearity, bandwith, sensitivity, accuracy and precision. Of what kind of error a sensor can suffer? What can roboticists do to take them into account? Heading and orientation sensors. Functioning principle of an IMU. Beacon-based positioning (including GPS).
Typical exam questions (contd)

Ultrasonic sensors. Laser rangefinders. 3D time-of-flight range sensor. 1D triangulation ranging. Structured light (2D triangulation ranging). Doppler effect sensors. Types of vision sensors. Ranging with passive vision. Depth from (de)focus. Stereo vision. Motion field and optic flow.
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Contents

Mobile Robots - EPFL - J.-C. Zufferey

Mobile Robots - EPFL - J.-C. Zufferey

Classification of sensors for mobile robots

General classification (1)

General classification (2)

Sensor characteristics (1)

Dynamic range (e.g. camera pixels)

Sensor characteristics (2)

Sensor characteristics (3)

Cross-sensitivity (and cross-talk)

Accuracy (exactitude, opposite of error)

Precision (or repeatability)

Wheel / motor encoders

Random errors: non-deterministic

Magnetic field on earth

Large variety of solutions to measure the earth magnetic field

Often used in attitude sensing

Resolution can be smaller than 0.0001/s

MEMS rate gyros

Accelerometers and pressure sensors

Pressure / airspeed / altitude

aeropic board (lis.epfl.ch/smavs)

Drawing from Everett (1995)

Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) or Inertial Navigation System (INS)

Major drawback with the use of beacons indoors:

Passive optical beacons

Active ultrasonic beacons

Global positioning system (GPS) (1)

Global positioning system (GPS) (2)

Global positioning system (GPS) (3)

TOF range sensors (1)

Real time update of the exact location of the satellites:

Exact measurement of the time of flight

TOF range sensors (2)

Ultrasonic sensors (1)

The quality of TOF range sensors mainly depends on:

The speed of sound c in air is given by

Ultrasonic sensors (2)

Ultrasonic sensors (3)

Sound beam propagates in a cone (approx.)

Typical intensity distribution of a ultrasonic sensor

Ultrasonic sensors (4)

Laser rangefinders (1)

Laser rangefinders (2)

Phase-shift laser rangefinders (3)

Phase shift measurement (e.g. Hokuyo)

Sick Inc., Germany

c with c the speed of light, f the modulating frequency f

Examples of scanning laser rangefinders

Sick LMS 200

Sick laser range finder

Example of 3D laser rangefinder

3D TOF range sensor

Mobile Robots - EPFL - J.-C. Zufferey

Structured light (2D triangulation)

General triangulation principle

Properties of triangulation sensors

For a given image resolution:

CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor technology)

Orangemicro iBOT Firewire

Cannon IXUS 300

Fujitsu CMOS camera module