Low-complexity UWB-based collision avoidance system for automated guided vehicles

This paper describes a low-complexity collision avoidance system for automated guided vehicles (AGVs) based on active ultra-wide band (UWB) modules. In particular, we consider an industrial warehouse where all the AGVs and target nodes (TNs) (e.g., people) are equipped with active UWB modules. A communication session between a pair of UWB modules permits the exchange of information and the estimation of the distance between them. The UWB module positioned on an AGV is connected to an on-board computer; whenever the UWB module on an AGV receives a message from a TN, it communicates all the received data to the on-board computer that can decide to stop the AGV if the range estimate is below a given threshold. This prevents undesired collisions between the AGV and the TN. In this paper, we present the experimental results of the proposed collision avoidance system obtained using the UWB modules, PulsON 410 ranging and communication modules (P410 RCMs), produced by Time Domain.