Patent ID: 8751147

Claim:
A method for operating a sensor system for an automated guide vehicle (AGV), comprising the steps of: (a) providing a sensor system having a plurality of magnetic sensor elements that interact with a magnetic indicating system that is laid out on the ground and follows a pre-determined path; (b) obtaining sensor readings for each of the magnetic sensor elements; (c) storing the sensor readings for each of the magnetic sensor elements at a memory device; and (d) using a known location of each of at least some of the magnetic sensor elements on the sensor system along with the stored sensor readings associated with the at least some of the magnetic sensor elements to determine a center of field value that represents the center or centroid of a corresponding magnetic field produced by the magnetic indicating system, wherein, for each of the at least some magnetic sensor elements, the known location of the sensor elements is weighted with the magnitude of the associated stored sensor reading.