Localization of underground pipe jacking machinery: A reliable, real-time and robust INS/OD solution

• Published in: Control engineering practice Vol. 141; p. 105711
• Main Authors: Zhao, Shunyi, Zhou, Zheng, Zhang, Chengxi, Wu, Jin, Liu, Fei, Shi, Guangyi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.12.2023
• Subjects: INS/OD scheme; Pipe jacking machine; UFIR filter; Underground localization; Pipe jacking machine; INS/OD scheme; Underground localization; UFIR filter
• ISSN: 0967-0661; 1873-6939
• DOI: 10.1016/j.conengprac.2023.105711

Accurate positioning is important for guidance control in pipeline construction, but traditional approaches fail in GPS-denied environments. This paper addresses the underground localization problem for the pipe jacking machine by presenting an Inertial Navigation System (INS)/ODometry (OD) scheme. It is a loosely coupled navigation system that combines an INS and an OD to provide reliable, real-time, and robust location estimation in an enclosed and restricted space. The combination is achieved by a multi-sensor fusion algorithm to avoid the divergence of standalone INS. Compared with the traditional localization technologies, the advantage of the INS/OD scheme is that there is no performance degradation or service failure despite severe blockage of the thick soil layer due to the selection of dead reckoning-based sensors. Moreover, an Unbiased Finite Impulse Response (UFIR) filter serves as the fusion mechanism to improve the robustness against a prior knowledge of noise, considering unknown and time-varying noise statistics in practice. The INS/OD scheme is verified through a numerical simulation and employed on-site in a real underground sewage pipeline construction project. Despite the construction site being more than 10 meters deep underground, the INS/OD scheme continues to perform reliably and robustly in real-time, significantly benefiting the engineering guidance enterprise.