waveSLAM: Empowering Accurate Indoor Mapping Using Off-the-Shelf Millimeter-Wave Self-Sensing

The paper presents the design, implementation and evaluation of waveSLAM, a low-cost mobile robot system that uses the mmWave communication radios already mounted on the robot to improve indoor mapping where optical sensors struggle, such as low-visibility areas or glass and mirror walls. While the robot moves, its 60 GHz commercial off-the-shelf radios periodically exchange angle and distance estimates with each other by bouncing signals off the environment (self-sensing), and these estimates are fused with LiDAR and odometry. Experiments show centimetre-level accuracy, with errors below 22 cm and 20° in orientation, comparable to LiDAR when building indoor maps.

Citation

P. Picazo, M. Groshev, A. Blanco, C. Fiandrino, A. de la Oliva, and J. Widmer, “waveSLAM: Empowering Accurate Indoor Mapping Using Off-the-Shelf Millimeter-Wave Self-Sensing,” in Proc. IEEE 98th Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC2023-Fall), Hong Kong, 2023, pp. 1–7, doi: 10.1109/VTC2023-Fall60731.2023.10333840.

Authors from IE Research Datalab