Keywords

aerial robotics, GPS-denied, navigation

Abstract

Many current approaches for navigation of micro air vehicles (MAVs) in GPS-degraded environments use a globally-referenced state for estimation and control, even though this state is not observable when GPS is unavailable. By working with respect to a local reference frame, the relative navigation (RN) framework presented in this paper ensures that the state maintains observability and that the uncertainty remains bounded, consistent, and normally-distributed. RN further insulates flight-critical estimation and control processes from the large global updates common in GPS-degraded MAV flight. This paper provides a thorough description of the details needed to successfully implement the RN framework on a MAV. The practicality of RN is demonstrated in several long flight tests in unknown, GPS-denied and GPS-degraded environments. The relative front end is shown to produce low-drift estimates and smooth, stable control while leveraging off-the-shelf algorithms. The system runs in real time with onboard processing, fuses a variety of vision sensors, works indoors and outdoors, and does not require special tuning for particular sensors or environments. RN is also shown to produce globally-consistent, metric, and localized maps by incorporating loop closures and intermittent GPS measurements. This map is used to demonstrate autonomous completion of mission objectives. By subtly restructuring the estimation framework, RN promotes a paradigm shift that avoids many issues inherent in GPS-degraded navigation.

Document Type

Working Paper

Publication Date

2017-08-18

Permanent URL

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/3918

Language

English

College

Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering and Technology

Department

Electrical and Computer Engineering

University Standing at Time of Publication

Graduate Student

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