Integrate gmapping and navigation stack with Wi-Fi data

Question

I am using gmapping and navigation stack (just like Turtlebot) to create an autonomous robot. However, I have worked on an additional parameter - Wi-Fi which gives me a unique ID at each point in the building (assuming a point to be a 10cm X 10cm box/grid). I want to integrate this unique ID (at each point) to the gmapping to get an even accurate map and use it later in the navigation stack to decrease the uncertainty of the robot. Any idea how can I go about this? Any kind of help is appreciated.

HELP!!

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Originally posted by pallavbakshi on ROS Answers with karma: 39 on 2017-02-02

Post score: 0

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Original comments

Comment by Humpelstilzchen on 2017-02-03:
May I ask what node you are using for wifi position?

Try one of the kalman filter nodes for the sensor fusion.

Comment by pallavbakshi on 2017-02-03:
I was thinking of creating my own node. Is there any already existing package I can use? I will read the tutorial on the link you forwarded. Thanks. If there is any other module I could use then please share. I already have a database which contains unique ID for each specific point in the floor map

Answer 1

An idea would be to create an additional costmap layer, and use it for your WiFi data. I have not tested it myself, but I think it should help you get started.

You can get an idea on how to create a new layer here: http://wiki.ros.org/costmap_2d/Tutorials/Creating%20a%20New%20Layer

As you can see, costmap overlays are not meant to help with localization. You will have to integrate the layer generation into gmapping and then have the localization node check for that layer too.

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Originally posted by gstavrinos with karma: 641 on 2017-02-03

This answer was ACCEPTED on the original site

Post score: 0

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Original comments

Comment by pallavbakshi on 2017-02-03:
thanks for the costmap idea. I didn't know anything about that. I will have a look at it and it's implementation. It looks I need to edit gmapping and acml heavily to add that layer. Is there anything similar already done by someone in your knowledge?

Comment by gstavrinos on 2017-02-03:
I haven't seen anything like it, sorry.

Comment by pallavbakshi on 2017-02-07:
@gstavrinos - I checked out the possibility of costmap. I think I can use two maps - one generated using the gmapping and the other using the costmap. However, I want to create a costmap with its z coordinate being the Wi-Fi data rather than the occupancy grid info. How to make such a costmap?

Comment by gstavrinos on 2017-02-07:
I think that messing with the z coordinate is too hacky. I would use a x,y pair for each of the different wifi data values.

Comment by pallavbakshi on 2017-02-07:
yeah! that is a better way. In that case I can simply create a 2D array with the indexes being the x,y co-ordinate of the map and the value being the Wi-Fi unique ID. What do you suggest?

Comment by gstavrinos on 2017-02-08:
I think this is the best way to do it. Good luck!