Integration of an Inertial Measurement Unit and 3D Imaging Sensor for Urban and Indoor Navigation of Unmanned Vehicles

Maarten Uijt de Haag, Don Venable, and Mark Smearcheck

Abstract:	This paper discusses various steps involved in the integration of Inertial measurements with measurements from a three-dimensional (3D) imaging sensor for position and attitude determination of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) or autonomous ground vehicles (AGV) in urban or indoor environments. In urban and indoor environments a GPS position capability may not only be unavailable due to shadowing, significant signal attenuation or multipath, but also due to intentional denial or deception. Under these conditions a backup positioning system such as the one discussed in this paper could be essential for a reliable and continuous navigation capability. The proposed algorithm converts the 3D imaging measurements to a point cloud that represents the vehicle’s 3D environment. Planar features are extracted from this point cloud and used to estimate change in position and change in attitude from one frame to the next. This paper will discuss the performance of the proposed system using both simulator data and data collected from a moving platform in an indoor environment. The former consists of data from a simulated IMU and 3D imaging sensor / Flash Ladar installed on an aerial vehicle for various trajectories through an urban environment. The latter consists of measurements from a CSEM Swissranger 3D imaging sensor and a MicroStrain lowcost IMU. Data was collected with a manually operated aerial vehicle inside the Ohio University School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science building.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 2007 National Technical Meeting of The Institute of Navigation January 22 - 24, 2007 The Catamaran Resort Hotel San Diego, CA
Pages:	829 - 840
Cite this article:	de Haag, Maarten Uijt, Venable, Don, Smearcheck, Mark, "Integration of an Inertial Measurement Unit and 3D Imaging Sensor for Urban and Indoor Navigation of Unmanned Vehicles," Proceedings of the 2007 National Technical Meeting of The Institute of Navigation, San Diego, CA, January 2007, pp. 829-840.
Full Paper:	ION Members/Non-Members: 1 Download Credit Sign In