Improving low-cost GPS/MEMS-based INS Integration for Autonomous MAV Navigation by Visual Aiding

S. Winkler, H.-W. Schulz, M. Buschmann, T. Kordes and P. Vorsmann

Abstract:	Today, Micro Air Vehicles are primarily planned to be used in order to provide real-time images from the surrounding area. But to carry out more sophisticated missions, like wind measuring or cartography, and to improve the flight performance of autonomous aircraft a robust state determination is necessary. Here the attitude is of primary importance. In this paper satellite and inertial navigation will be integrated within a tightly-coupled Kalman Filter using satellite ranges and delta-ranges. It will be investigated if the accuracy of the integrated GPS/INS system can be improved by additional visual aiding. The visual aiding source is the horizon line extracted from images taken by an on-board video camera. The corresponding horizon determination algorithm will be described. The research on the horizon-aided system will be focused on periods of GPS jamming. It will be quantitatively shown how the navigation performance changes when going from a GPS/INS to a horizon-aided GPS/INS integrated navigation system. The results presented are based on real flight measurement data for the micro electromechanical inertial sensors and on simulated GPS measurements and camera images.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 17th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS 2004) September 21 - 24, 2004 Long Beach Convention Center Long Beach, CA
Pages:	1069 - 1075
Cite this article:	Winkler, S., Schulz, H.-W., Buschmann, M., Kordes, T., Vorsmann, P., "Improving low-cost GPS/MEMS-based INS Integration for Autonomous MAV Navigation by Visual Aiding," Proceedings of the 17th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS 2004), Long Beach, CA, September 2004, pp. 1069-1075.
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