Experimental investigation on RFID-odometer-based localization of an automated shunting vehicle

Continuous information on the current location of a vehicle in its infrastructure is essential for automated driving. However, industrial railways and shunting operations may entail boundary conditions which are not suitable for widespread satellite-based positioning. Hence, this paper presents a positioning system, based on radio-frequency identification (RFID) and odometer, which was developed and tested on an automated road-rail vehicle for shunting at low velocities. The achieved accuracy for discrete positioning with RFID was estimated at 0.22 m. In quasi-continuous positioning between consecutive RFID tags, the odometer exhibited an error of −2.2% to 0.7% of travelled distance depending on the investigated stationary driving states and sensor data evaluation. Apart from enhancement potentials for the RFID system, the results also indicated the odometer to be prone to the shunting vehicle dynamics when the rotation of its rail wheels is measured. Furthermore, the shunting vehicle appears to run constantly with a notable lateral displacement even on straight tracks due to the property of its running gear, causing a systematic underestimation of the travelled distance.