LiDAR-Based Initial Global Localization Using Two-Dimensional (2D) Submap Projection Image (SPI)

Yanhao Li, Hao Li

Abstract: Initial global localization is important to mobile robotics in terms of navigation initialization (or re-initialization) and loop closure in SLAM. 3D LiDARs are commonly used for mobile robotics, yet LiDAR-based initial global localization (especially at large scale such as in outdoor environments) is still challenging due to lack of salient features in LiDAR range data. Inspired by visual SLAM oriented initial global localization methods, we propose a method of LiDAR-based initial global localization using 2D submap projection image (SPI). For this, global descriptors from SPIs are extracted for place recognition; pose estimation is realized by feature point matching between the queried SPI and SPIs from a global map database. The proposed initial global localization module runs at 2.4 Hz with precision of 1.2 m and for translation and 1.2° for rotation, which can serve as a suitable initial estimate for subsequent pose estimation refinement via existing mature point cloud registration methods.