Observer Path Planning for Bearings-Only Localization Considering Limited Field of View

Optimal control of an observer trying to localize a stationary target is presented. The objective is to generate the control signal in order to reduce the position estimate error. The trace of estimation error covariance matrix at final time is selected as the optimality criterion. This problem is solved by presenting a control policy which relates the observer course to the target bearing. In addition to generating paths in real-time which are very close to the optimal path، the advantage of the proposed method is its ability to consider the observer’s field of view. In comparison to a similar method، the performance of the proposed method is shown using various simulations. This method is also applied to the control of a mobile robot.