Set-Membership Position Estimation With GNSS Pseudorange Error Mitigation Using Lane-Boundary Measurements

Model-based positioning methods involve nonlinear equations as is the case when using satellite pseudoranges on global navigation satellite systems (GNSSs) and local measurements on road features. As these are nonlinear models, classical estimation methods cannot provide guaranteed position estimation and can converge to local optima, sometimes far away from the global optimum or the true value. Based on interval analysis, set inversion, and constraints propagation on real values provide a framework that guarantees to find the true position with a characterized confidence domain. This paper describes an error bounded set membership algorithm that computes the absolute position of a road vehicle by using raw GNNS pseudoranges, lane boundary measurements, and a 2D road network map as geometric constraints. The algorithm is based on set inversion using interval analysis, and bounds are set on the measurements by taking into account a chosen risk. The GNSS pseudoranges errors are modeled carefully, and road constraints are formalized to provide additional information in the data fusion process. The proposed algorithm, named lane boundary augmented set-membership GNSS positioning (LB-ASGP), provides a novel and inexpensive approach to improve position estimation performance for road vehicles guaranteeing the enclosure of the computed solution with high confidence. Results from simulations and field experiments show that the LB-ASGP significantly reduces GNSS errors in the direction perpendicular to the lane thanks to the lane boundary measurements.