Advanced GPS-based Attitude Estimation Scheme for Various IMU Failure Scenarios of Low-Cost UAV

Heekwon No, Changdon Kee, Am Cho, Byungwoon Park

Abstract: In this paper, we propose an advanced GPS-based attitude estimation method that can achieve high attitude estimation performance in response to various IMU failure scenarios of small and low-cost UAV. Since low-cost UAVs are sensitive to the cost of system construction, they have insufficient measures against IMU failures. Therefore, IMU failure can seriously degrade navigation performance and threaten system survival. The single-antenna GPS-based attitude estimation method is useful as a backup navigation system against the IMU failure of the GPS / INS integrated navigation system by enabling the determination of the attitude by GPS alone without additional sensor. However, since this method determines the attitude based on the ground velocity from GPS receiver, when the wind is blown or maneuver of UAV is performed, the attitude error increases. In order to compensate for the disadvantages of single antenna GPS-based attitude, this paper combines the measurements of magnetometer and available IMU measurement of partial IMU failure. Construction of filter is proposed to estimate the error of single antenna GPS-based attitude using magnetic field vector measurements. It prevents the error of the single-antenna GPS attitude from increasing due to the strong wind or the sudden maneuver. And it is also possible to improve the attitude estimation performance by using the available IMU measurement when a partial failure occurs in the IMU. The proposed method is verified through simulation and flight tests. The results show that the proposed method was able to estimate the attitude error through the magnetic field vector measurement, and the attitude estimation performance was improved. In the case of partial failure of the IMU, the accuracy of the attitude estimation was improved by using the available IMU measurements.
Published in: Proceedings of the 30th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2017)
September 25 - 29, 2017
Oregon Convention Center
Portland, Oregon
Pages: 3061 - 3070
Cite this article: No, Heekwon, Kee, Changdon, Cho, Am, Park, Byungwoon, "Advanced GPS-based Attitude Estimation Scheme for Various IMU Failure Scenarios of Low-Cost UAV," Proceedings of the 30th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2017), Portland, Oregon, September 2017, pp. 3061-3070. https://doi.org/10.33012/2017.15224
Full Paper: ION Members/Non-Members: 1 Download Credit
Sign In