LASER SCANNER WITH REAL-TIME, ONLINE EGO-MOTION ESTIMATION

1 . A method comprising:

receiving data from an IMU device at a first computational module at a first frequency and computing, based at least in part on the received IMU data, a first estimated position of a mobile mapping system;

receiving the first estimated position and visual-inertial data at a second computational module at a second frequency and computing, based at least in part on the first estimated position and visual-inertial data, a second estimated position of the mobile mapping system; and

receiving the second estimated position and laser scan data at a third computational module at a third frequency and computing, based at least in part on the second estimated position and laser scan data, a third estimated position of the mobile mapping system.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the each of the first frequency, the second frequency and the third frequency are different from one another.

3 . The method of claim 2 where in the frequency is greater than the second frequency and the second frequency is greater than the third frequency.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the operation of at least one computational module is bypassed.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the estimated positions computed by each of the remaining non-bypassed modules are combined in a linear fashion.

6 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the estimated positions computed by each of the remaining non-bypassed modules are combined in a non-linear fashion.

7 . The method of claim 4 , wherein when the first computational module is bypassed, the second estimated position is computed from the visual inertial data without reference to a first estimated position.

8 . The method of claim 4 , wherein when the second computational module is bypassed, the third estimated position is computed from the laser scan data and the first estimated position.

9 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining a degraded subspace in a problem state space and computing an estimated position in the degraded subspace.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the subspace is a well conditioned subspace.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the estimated position computed by at least one of the second computational module or the third computational module is received as input by a previous computational module.

12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the system is adapted to operate at high angular speeds.

13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the high angular speeds comprise rotational rates as high as 360 degrees/second.

14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the system is adapted to operate at high linear speeds.

15 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the high linear speeds comprise speeds as high as 100 kilometers/hour.

16 . A mobile mapping system comprising:

a first computational module adapted to receive data from an IMU device at a first frequency and compute, based at least in part on the received IMU data, a first estimated position of the mobile mapping system;

a second computational module adapted to receive the first estimated position and visual-inertial data at a second frequency and compute, based at least in part on the first estimated position and visual-inertial data, a second estimated position of the mobile mapping system; and

a third computational module adapted to receive the second estimated position and laser scan data at a third frequency and compute, based at least in part on the second estimated position and laser scan data, a third estimated position of the mobile mapping system.

17 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the each of the first frequency, the second frequency and the third frequency are different from one another.

18 . The system of claim 17 where in the frequency is greater than the second frequency and the second frequency is greater than the third frequency.

19 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the operation of at least one computational module is bypassed.

20 . The system of claim 19 , wherein the estimated positions computed by each of the remaining non-bypassed modules are combined in a linear fashion.

21 . The system of claim 19 , wherein the estimated positions computed by each of the remaining non-bypassed modules are combined in a non-linear fashion.

22 . The system of claim 19 , wherein when the first computational module is bypassed, the second estimated position is computed from the visual inertial data without reference to a first estimated position.

23 . The system of claim 19 , wherein when the second computational module is bypassed, the third estimated position is computed from the laser scan data and the first estimated position.

24 . The system of claim 16 , further comprising determining a degraded subspace in a problem state space and computing an estimated position in the degraded subspace.

25 . The system of claim 24 , wherein the subspace is a well conditioned subspace.

26 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the estimated position computed by at least one of the second computational module or the third computational module is received as input by a previous computational module.

27 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the system is adapted to operate at high angular speeds.

28 . The system of claim 27 , wherein the high angular speeds comprise rotational rates as high as 360 degrees/second.

29 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the system is adapted to operate at high linear speeds.

30 . The system of claim 27 , wherein the high linear speeds comprise speeds as high as 100 kilometers/hour.