Cooperative Localization

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Overview

Cooperative localization studies how multiple agents estimate their positions and orientations by combining their own motion data with observations of one another. Methods include decentralized Kalman filters, factor-graph optimization, consensus and message passing, using measurements such as UWB or acoustic ranges, visual bearings, LiDAR, and inertial data. It supports navigation in GNSS-denied or infrastructure-free settings, from indoor robot teams and aerial formations to underwater vehicles and wearable devices. A central challenge is balancing accuracy and consistency against limited, delayed, or unreliable communication, while weak observability and shared position errors can make relative measurements insufficient without an absolute reference.

Latest papers

CardsList

42 papers8 papers in the last four weeks, up 167% on the four weeks before. 0.0% of all new papers.

  1. Localization-Uncertainty-Aware UAV Swarm Search for GNSS-Denied Maritime Surveillance

    Oct 26, 2026Siyuan Yang, Junning Lyu, Xiaoyu He +2Swarm RoboticsMulti-Robot Systems

    School of Aerospace Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China · Professor Emeritus with King’s College London, London WC2R 2LS, United Kingdom

  2. Enhancing Lunar PNT Performance Through Surface Station Enabled Radiometric Observables

    Oct 19, 2026Toshiki Tanaka, Satoshi IkariCooperative Localization

    Intelligent Space Systems Laboratory, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.

  3. CoWear: Towards Collaborative Wearable Inertial Localization with Multiple Smart Devices

    Oct 14, 2026Zhuoyuan She, Zhanpeng Zhang, Yapeng Chen +3Cooperative LocalizationInertial Navigation

    School of Electronic and Information Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, China. · School of Automation Science and Electrical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, China. · School of Space and Earth Sciences, Beihang University, Beijing, China. +1

  4. Distributed Relative Localization for Homogeneous Multi-Robot Systems through UWB Ranging and Limited Communications

    Oct 8, 2026Zhiqiang Cao, Ran Liu, Billy Pik Lik Lau +2Relative Pose EstimationCooperative Localization

    Engineering Product Development, Singapore University of Technology and Design, Singapore 487372 · School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798

  5. Distributed Relative Localization Based on Ultra-WideBand and LiDAR for Multi-robot with Limited Communication

    Oct 8, 2026Zhiqiang Cao, Ran Liu, Billy Pik Lik Lau +2Cooperative LocalizationMulti-Robot Systems

    Engineering Product Development, Singapore University of Technology and Design, Singapore 487372 · School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798

  6. Pathwise Information Certificates for Decentralized Adaptive Sensing

    Oct 7, 2026Theodoros TsiligkaridisAdaptive SensingActive Sensing

    MIT Lincoln Laboratory

  7. Borrowed Eyes: Markerless Nano-UAV Flight with an Active Quadruped Observer

    Oct 7, 2026Alejandro Lorite Mora, Dimitrios Arapis, Andrés FaíñaUAV NavigationGNSS-Denied Localization

    IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark · Novo Nordisk A/S, Hillerød, Denmark

  8. Towards Quadruped-Provided Localization and Active Tracking for Micro-UAVs

    Oct 5, 2026Alejandro Lorite Mora, Andrés FaíñaUAV NavigationCooperative Localization

    IT University of Copenhagen, Rued Langgaards Vej 7, Copenhagen 2300, Denmark · Helix Lab, Campus Kalundborg 3, 4400 Kalundborg, Denmark · Novo Nordisk A/S, Hallas Alle 1, 4400 Kalundborg, Denmark

  9. Resilient Multi-Agent Target Localization and Tracking via BAG-Aware Mutual Information Maximization under False Data Injection Attacks

    Oct 2, 2026Bibek Adhikari, Samrat Chaulagain, Kamesh SubbaraoMulti-Agent System SecurityFalse Data Injection Attacks

    Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, The University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX 76019 USA

  10. Characterizing Refraction-Induced Ranging Bias in Underwater Collaborative Localization

    Sep 16, 2026Timothy Kogucki, Alan PapaliaCooperative Localization

    KTH Royal Institute of Technology Stockholm, Sweden · University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI, USA

  11. Set-membership localization of intermittent RF sources using a fleet of collaborating UAVs

    Sep 15, 2026Jacques Bois, Raul de Lacerda, Michel KiefferCooperative LocalizationWireless Localization

    Universit´e Paris-Saclay, CNRS, CentraleSup´elec, Laboratoire des Signaux et Syst`emes, 91192, Gif-sur-Yvette, France.

  12. EVPeriscope: Extended Perception across Aerial and Ground Vehicles with Event-based Propeller Tracking

    Sep 10, 2026Dexter Ong, Vijay Kumar, Pratik ChaudhariAerial RoboticsRelative Pose Estimation

    General Robotics, Automation, Sensing and Perception (GRASP) Laboratory, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA 19104, USA

  13. Multi-Observer Vehicle Localization Case Study with Roadside Radar and Connected Vehicle Sensing

    Aug 17, 2026Aleksi Pippuri, Nilusha Jayawickrama, Risto OjalaRadar-LiDAR FusionMultimodal Sensor Fusion

    Department of Mechanical Engineering, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland

  14. AMR-Pose: An Active LED Marker-Based Relative Pose Estimation Framework With Probabilistic Switching PnP for Cooperative AUVs

    Aug 13, 2026Zeyu Sha, Xiaorui Wang, Mingyang Yang +1Relative Pose EstimationCamera Pose Estimation

    Robotics and Control Laboratory, School of Advanced Manufacturing and Robotics, and the State Key Laboratory of Turbulence and Complex Systems, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

  15. Rigid-Covert GNSS Spoofing of UAV Swarms: A Structural Blind Spot, Its Detection Limit, and Absolute-Anchor Defenses

    Aug 7, 2026Minseok Park, Joon Soo YooUAV NavigationCooperative Localization

    Jeonbuk National University · Dept. of Electronic Engineering · Jeonju, Republic of Korea +1

  16. Contact-Driven Localization in a Freeform Robotic Self-Assembled Structure

    Aug 3, 2026Mohammadali Rashidioun, Michael Sosa, Petras SwisslerModular RoboticsSwarm Robotics

    Institute of Technology · Industrial and Mechanical Engineering Department, New Jersey Institute of Technology

  17. Task-Oriented Sensing and Covert Transmissions for Collaborative Multi-AUV Systems

    Jul 15, 2026Xueyao Zhang, Bo Yang, Chenyang Yan +6Cooperative LocalizationUnderwater Robotics

    School of Computer Science, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, 710129, China · School of Cyber Engineering, Xidian University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, 710071, China · Harbin Engineering University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, 150001, China +3

  18. D-CLIPSE: Distributed Consensus-based Localization with Passive Listening on Shared State Exchange

    Jul 9, 2026Kyle Biron-Gricken, James Richard ForbesCooperative LocalizationRobot State Estimation

  19. Delay-Aware Active Triangulation with Uncertainty-Driven Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning for Counter-UAS

    Jul 7, 2026Seungwook Lee, David Hyunchul ShimAge of InformationActive Sensing

    Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Korea

  20. AUSLUN: A Fixed-Hover UAV--USV System for GNSS-Denied Maritime Search and Navigation

    Jun 29, 2026Siyuan Yang, Zikai Jia, Hailiang Kuang +4Robot NavigationGNSS-Denied Localization

    School of Aerospace Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China · Khalifa University Center for Autonomous Robotic Systems (KUCARS), Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi 127788, United Arab Emirates

  21. Normalizing Flow-Enhanced Message Passing for Multirobot Collaborative Localization

    Jun 29, 2026Han Shen, Guanghui Wen, Liangming Chen +1Bayesian InferenceCooperative Localization

    Department of Systems Science, Southeast University, Nanjing 211189, China · School of Automation, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China · School of Automation and Intelligent Manufacturing and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Fully Actuated System Control Theory and Technology, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China +1

  22. Privacy-Preserving Decentralized Cooperative Localization with Range-Only Measurements: A Convex Optimization Based Approach

    Jun 29, 2026Nitesh Kumar, Reyshwanth Ganeshan, Sixu Li +2Cooperative LocalizationRobot Localization

    Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA · Zachry Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA · Computer Science & Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843 USA

  23. A Closed-Form 4-DoF Inter-Robot Pose Estimator using Bearing-only Measurements

    Jun 25, 2026Qixin De, Ao Zhuang, Yechen Zhang +2Cooperative LocalizationRobot State Estimation

    Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China

  24. Swazure: Swarm Measurement of Pose for Flying Light Specks

    Jun 23, 2026Hamed Alimohammadzadeh, Shahram GhandeharizadehAerial RoboticsMulti-Robot Systems

    University of Southern California · Los Angeles, California, USA

  25. An Infrastructure-less, Control-Independent Solution to Relative Localisation of a Team of Mobile Robots using Ranging Measurements

    Jun 18, 2026Paolo Golinelli, Tommaso Faraci, Daniele FontanelliCooperative LocalizationRobot Localization

    Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Trento, Trento, Italy · Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science, University of Trento, Trento, Italy

  26. Uncertainty-Aware 3D Position Refinement for Multi-UAV Systems

    May 13, 2026Hosam Alamleh, Damir PulatovMulti-Robot SystemsUAV Navigation

    Computer Science University of North Carolina Wilmington Wilmington, North Carolina, USA

  27. Greedy Kalman-Swarm: Improving State Estimation in Robot Swarms in Harsh Environments

    Apr 18, 2026Phunyapa Suksomboon, Paulo GarciaKalman FilteringMulti-Robot Systems

    International School of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand

  28. BIND-USBL: Bounding IMU Navigation Drift using USBL in Heterogeneous ASV-AUV Teams

    Apr 13, 2026Pranav Kedia, Rajini Makam, Heiko Hamann +1Autonomous Underwater NavigationCooperative Localization

    Dept of Computer and Information Science, University of Konstanz, Germany · Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, Germany · Dept of Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India

  29. An Asynchronous Two-Speed Kalman Filter for Real-Time UUV Cooperative Navigation Under Acoustic Delays

    Apr 3, 2026Shuyue Li, Miguel López-Benítez, Eng Gee Lim +5Kalman FilteringGNSS-Denied Localization

    School of Advanced Technology, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou, China · School of Computer Science and Informatics, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK · ARIES Research Centre, Universidad Antonio de Nebrija, Madrid, Spain +3

  30. 3-D Relative Localization for Multi-Robot Systems with Angle and Self-Displacement Measurements

    Apr 2, 2026Chenyang Liang, Liangming Chen, Baoyi Cui +1MAP EstimationRelative Pose Estimation

    School of Intelligence Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, China. · School of Automation and Intelligent Manufacturing, and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Fully Actuated System Control Theory and Technology, Southern University of Science and Technology, China. · Guangdong Key Laboratory of Intelligent Morphing Mechanisms and Adaptive Robotics, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, China.