Look to Locate: Vision-Based Multisensory Navigation with 3-D Digital Maps for GNSS-Challenged Environments

In Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)-denied environments such as indoor parking structures or dense urban canyons, achieving accurate and robust vehicle positioning remains a significant challenge. This paper proposes a cost-effective, vision-based multi-sensor navigation system that integrates monocular depth estimation, semantic filtering, and visual map registration (VMR) with 3-D digital maps. Extensive testing in real-world indoor and outdoor driving scenarios demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed system, achieving sub-meter accuracy of 92% indoors and more than 80% outdoors, with consistent horizontal positioning and heading average root mean-square errors of approximately 0.98 m and 1.25 {\deg}, respectively. Compared to the baselines examined, the proposed solution significantly reduced drift and improved robustness under various conditions, achieving positioning accuracy improvements of approximately 88% on average. This work highlights the potential of cost-effective monocular vision systems combined with 3D maps for scalable, GNSS-independent navigation in land vehicles.

TRATSS: Transformer-Based Task Scheduling System for Autonomous Vehicles

Efficient scheduling remains a critical challenge in various domains, requiring solutions to complex NP-hard optimization problems to achieve optimal resource allocation and maximize productivity. In this paper, we introduce a framework called Transformer-Based Task Scheduling System (TRATSS), designed to address the intricacies of single agent scheduling in graph-based environments. By integrating the latest advancements in reinforcement learning and transformer architecture, TRATSS provides a novel system that outputs optimized task scheduling decisions while dynamically adapting to evolving task requirements and resource availability. Leveraging the self-attention mechanism in transformers, TRATSS effectively captures complex task dependencies, thereby providing solutions with enhanced resource utilization and task completion efficiency. Experimental evaluations on benchmark datasets demonstrate TRATSS's effectiveness in providing high-quality solutions to scheduling problems that involve multiple action profiles.

The NavINST Dataset for Multi-Sensor Autonomous Navigation

The NavINST Laboratory has developed a comprehensive multisensory dataset from various road-test trajectories in urban environments, featuring diverse lighting conditions, including indoor garage scenarios with dense 3D maps. This dataset includes multiple commercial-grade IMUs and a high-end tactical-grade IMU. Additionally, it contains a wide array of perception-based sensors, such as a solid-state LiDAR - making it one of the first datasets to do so - a mechanical LiDAR, four electronically scanning RADARs, a monocular camera, and two stereo cameras. The dataset also includes forward speed measurements derived from the vehicle's odometer, along with accurately post-processed high-end GNSS/IMU data, providing precise ground truth positioning and navigation information. The NavINST dataset is designed to support advanced research in high-precision positioning, navigation, mapping, computer vision, and multisensory fusion. It offers rich, multi-sensor data ideal for developing and validating robust algorithms for autonomous vehicles. Finally, it is fully integrated with the ROS, ensuring ease of use and accessibility for the research community. The complete dataset and development tools are available at https://navinst.github.io.