System and method for determining a position of a vehicle with compensation for noise or measurement error

A system for determining the position of a vehicle, the system comprising:

• a mobile transmitter for transmitting a transmission signal from a vehicle to beacons associated with the work area;
• an estimator for determining elapsed times for corresponding propagation paths between the vehicle and the beacons, each propagation path including at least one of a first propagation duration and a second propagation duration;
• the first propagation duration referring to a propagation time of the transmission signal from the vehicle to the particular beacon;
• the second propagation duration referring to a propagation time of a return signal from the particular beacon to the vehicle;
• a compensator for compensating for noise or measurement error associated with a corresponding propagation path by invoking a linear fit scheme, the linear fit scheme applying a generally linear fit over fixed intervals of noisy measurements such that the noisy position measurements generally conform to a linear portion of a path plan of a vehicle;
• and
• a data processor for estimating a position of a vehicle at a confluence or intersection of the position curves or temporal curves based on elapsed times for the propagation paths.