Positioning Autonomy of a Fixed-Wing UAV through VDM/INS Integration with Experimental Results

Mehran Khaghani and Jan Skaloud

Peer Reviewed

Abstract:	In this paper, practical realization of a previously proposed VDM based integrated navigation for UAVs is presented. This method utilizes the vehicle dynamic model (VDM) fed by autopilot control commands as main process model within the navigation filter and treats IMU, GNSS or other sensory data as observations. Extensive Monte Carlo simulation results utilizing this approach in previous publications suggested significant improvement in navigation accuracy during long GNSS outages, attitude determination for photogrammetry applications, and robustness in different wind profiles. Preliminary experimental results are presented in this paper on positioning autonomy of an in-house fixed-wing UAV with MEMS IMU onboard during 3 minutes of GNSS outage, revealing more than 20 times improvement in positioning autonomy compared to conventional INS/GNSS integration.
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:	2332 - 2337
Cite this article:	Khaghani, Mehran, Skaloud, Jan, "Positioning Autonomy of a Fixed-Wing UAV through VDM/INS Integration with Experimental Results," Proceedings of the 30th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2017), Portland, Oregon, September 2017, pp. 2332-2337. https://doi.org/10.33012/2017.15271
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