SOLVING THE FAILING TRACK MARKER PROBLEM IN AUTOMATED GUIDED VEHICLE SYSTEMS – A CASE STUDY

Abstract

This paper is a case study of the development of a localization and positioning subsystem of an Automated Guided Vehicle-based transportation system. The described system uses primarily RFID markers for localization. In some deployments, those markers occasionally fail, mostly due to being crushed by cargo platforms operated by a human or due to internal defects. Those failures are not common enough to warrant switching from marker-based localization to a more sophisticated technique, but they require additional effort from maintenance staff. In this case study, we present our solution to this problem – a self-tuning algorithm that is able to detect marker failures and, in most cases, keep the system operational. The paper briefly discusses business circumstances under which such a solution is reasonable and then describes in detail the entire technical process, including data acquisition, verification, algorithm development and finally, the result of deploying the system in production.