Robust Self-Tuning Data Association for Geo-Referencing Using Lane Markings

TL;DR

This paper introduces a robust, self-tuning data association method for geo-referencing using lane markings in aerial imagery, effectively resolving ambiguities and improving localization accuracy in urban and rural environments.

Contribution

It presents a novel self-tuning data association pipeline that adapts search areas based on measurement entropy, enhancing robustness in geo-referenced localization tasks.

Findings

Significant improvement over state-of-the-art outlier mitigation methods.

Effective in both urban and rural scenarios around Karlsruhe.

Enhanced localization accuracy and ambiguity resolution.

Abstract

Localization in aerial imagery-based maps offers many advantages, such as global consistency, geo-referenced maps, and the availability of publicly accessible data. However, the landmarks that can be observed from both aerial imagery and on-board sensors is limited. This leads to ambiguities or aliasing during the data association. Building upon a highly informative representation (that allows efficient data association), this paper presents a complete pipeline for resolving these ambiguities. Its core is a robust self-tuning data association that adapts the search area depending on the entropy of the measurements. Additionally, to smooth the final result, we adjust the information matrix for the associated data as a function of the relative transform produced by the data association process. We evaluate our method on real data from urban and rural scenarios around the city of Karlsruhe in Germany. We compare state-of-the-art outlier mitigation methods with our self-tuning approach, demonstrating a considerable improvement, especially for outer-urban scenarios.