Giovanni Indiveri

Nicola Ivan Giannoccaro, Giovanni Indiveri, Luigi Spedicato

This paper introduces a new algorithm for accurately reconstructing two smooth orthogonal surfaces by processing ultrasonic data. The proposed technique is based on a preliminary analysis of a waveform energy indicator in order to classify the data as belonging to one of the two flat surfaces. The following minimization of a nonlinear cost function, inspired by the mathematical definition of Gibbs entropy, allows to estimate the plane parameters robustly with respect to the presence of outlying data. These outliers are mainly due to the effect of multiple reflections arising in the surfaces intersection region. The scanning system consists of four inexpensive ultrasonic sensors rotated by means of a precision servo digital motor in order to obtain distance measurements for each orientation. Experimental results are presented and compared with the classic Least Squares Method demonstrating the potentiality of the proposed approach in terms of precision and reliability.

Giovanni Indiveri, Gianfranco Parlangeli

The issue of single range based observability analysis and observer design for the kinematics model of a 3D vehicle subject to a constant unknown drift velocity is addressed. The proposed method departs from alternative solutions to the problem and leads to the definition of a linear time invariant state equation with a linear time varying output that can be used to globally solve the original nonlinear state estimation problem with a standard Kalman filter. Simple necessary and sufficient observability conditions are derived. Numerical simulation examples are described to illustrate the performance of the method.