抄録
We propose a new navigation system for Automatic Guided Vehicles (AGV) used as a carrier in the factory. The guided marker of the navigation system is composed of ultrasonic transducers instead of the traditional markers such as electromagnetic tape, light reflective tape and so on. The proposed system is available to be used not only indoors but also outdoors and adaptable to a temporary route. The ultrasonic sensor is generically susceptible to noise, so that we make the following propositions. First, a phased array of the ultrasonic sensors is employed in searching a land marker to improve the signal-to-noise ratio. Second, the specific ID with 7bits is assigned as the land marker to avoid the system errors ascribable to an ultrasonic interference. In addition, the proposed system is quite compact in virtue of the embedded technology of a microcomputer and Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). This paper reports the development of the proto-type system of navigation system and confirmation of its fundamental performances.
