Landmark configuration for absolute positioning of autonomous vehicles

Landmark navigation is a common positioning method of material handling vehicles operating in industrial environments. The position is calculated based on relative measurements to landmarks, the locations of which are known in advance. This paper presents a nonlinear optimization model used to determine the position of the minimum number of beacons required by a shop floor to guarantee accurate and reliable performance of automated guided vehicles. This position is based on guidelines developed by a previous error analysis study. The model is later converted to a binary linear programming model which is used as a lower bound to a heuristic solution procedure. Finally, two examples are used to illustrate the procedure.