Mapping support for the OSU DARPA grand challenge vehicle

The navigation of the robot vehicles in the GPS way points-defined corridors required the availability of a geographic database as well as a sophisticated sensor system to stay on track and avoid collisions or even to pass another vehicle. The latter sensing capability is practically identical to a state-of-the-art mobile mapping system's ability, except in the autonomous vehicle case the real-time processing is a necessity. This paper provides an analysis of the overall mapping effort, including the development of a geospatial database, path-planning, interactive route analysis and the real-time mapping effort through the eyes of the OSU DGC group that raced as TerraMax team in 2004 and Desert Buckeye in 2005