Ground vehicle odometry using a non-intrusive inertial speed sensor

TL;DR

This paper introduces a non-intrusive inertial speed sensor for ground vehicles that offers a reliable alternative to optical speedometers, with proven accuracy and applicability to localization tasks.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel, easy-to-assemble inertial speed sensor that replaces traditional optical sensors and enables factor graph-based localization.

Findings

Sensor accuracy comparable to optical encoders

Easy assembly and disassembly from tyre rims

Successful implementation of localization using the sensor

Abstract

This paper describes the design and development of a non-intrusive inertial speed sensor that can be reliably used to replace a conventional optical or hall effect-based speedometer on any kind of ground vehicle. The design allows for simple assembly-disassembly from tyre rims. The sensor design and data flow are explained. Algorithms and filters for pre-processing and processing the data are detailed. Comparison with a real optical encoder proves the accuracy of the proposed sensor. Finally, it is shown that factor graph-based localization is possible with the developed sensor.