The Bayes Tree: Enabling Incremental Reordering and Fluid Relinearization for Online Mapping
Author(s)
Kaess, Michael; Dellaert, Frank; Roberts, Richard; Ila, Viorela
DownloadMIT-CSAIL-TR-2010-021.pdf (527.1Kb)
Other Contributors
Robotics, Vision & Sensor Networks
Advisor
John Leonard
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
In this paper we present a novel data structure, the Bayes tree, which exploits the connections between graphical model inference and sparse linear algebra. The proposed data structure provides a new perspective on an entire class of simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) algorithms. Similar to a junction tree, a Bayes tree encodes a factored probability density, but unlike the junction tree it is directed and maps more naturally to the square root information matrix of the SLAM problem. This makes it eminently suited to encode the sparse nature of the problem, especially in a smoothing and mapping (SAM) context. The inherent sparsity of SAM has already been exploited in the literature to produce efficient solutions in both batch and online mapping. The graphical model perspective allows us to develop a novel incremental algorithm that seamlessly incorporates reordering and relinearization. This obviates the need for expensive periodic batch operations from previous approaches, which negatively affect the performance and detract from the intended online nature of the algorithm. The new method is evaluated using simulated and real-world datasets in both landmark and pose SLAM settings.
Date issued
2010-01-29Series/Report no.
MIT-CSAIL-TR-2010-021
Keywords
sparse nonlinear optimization, sparse linear algebra, iSAM, SLAM, junction tree, probabilistic inference, graphical models, mobile robotics, smoothing and mapping