Radar-based navigation gives infrastructure-free autonomy

Developed in a partnership between Oxbotica and Navtech, the so-called multi-module localisation system - consisting of radar, vision and laser - will allow end users to deploy autonomy in on-road and off-road locations in weather conditions where standard GPS or lidar cannot function.

According to an Oxbotica spokesperson, the radar-based navigation technology is being developed for deployment on vehicles ranging from airport cargo pods, mining trucks, on-road cars, and delivery shuttles. In use, the radar will have a range of approximately 300m.

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Set for launch this year, the solution from Oxbotica and Navtech can operate independently or be fused with other location services driven by GPS, lidar or laser vision.

“The incorporation of radar into Oxbotica’s localisation stack provides robustness to weather (e.g., snow and heavy rain), dust clouds, low/no light conditions, and regions with little or ambiguous geometry,” said the Oxbotica spokesperson. “The primary challenge with implementing a multi-modal localisation system - vision, laser and radar - is intelligently deciding which mode to rely on to provide the best pose estimate at a given moment in time.”