A Navigation Method for Multiple Robots Based on a Single Mobile Node

To satisfy the requirements of independent navigation in low cost multiple robots,a navigation frame of masterslave robots with only one master robot is introduced briefly.A range-only navigation algorithm for slave robots of low cost is presented for the navigation in unknown current.This algorithm only needs a master robot.The master is just a single mobile node which has high navigation performance.Observability of this master-salve system is theoretically analyzed.The conditions of slave robot trajectory under which observability is guaranteed are evaluated by a slave robot in real-time.The slave takes appropriate action to control its heading to achieve observability if observability is lost on the current trajectory.The navigation algorithm is implemented by a standard extended Kalman filter,and it is able to acquire accurate estimation of robot’s position.The simulation results show its effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.