A new method of position and heading measurement of ground vehicle by use of laser and corner cubes

This paper proposes an experimental system of position and heading finding of the ground vehicle by use of the laser and the corner cube prisms. This system is composed of; 1) three corner cubes are set on three reference points, and their co-ordinates are known previously. 2) the laser beam scanner, the laser beam receiver, the scanning angle measuring apparatus, and the micro-processor are set on the ground vehicle. 3) position and heading of vehicle are determined from the positioning informations of three reference points known previously, and the angle data of them measured using this system on the vehicle. Further, our experimental results using our proto-type experimental system are presented. Simulation results reveal that the movement of vehicle introduces the angle and positional errors, and some comments on reduction of these errors are also mentioned with discussions.