Flight Test Results of a Video-Aided GPS/Inertial Navigation System

Alison Brown, Bruce Bockius, Bruce Johnson, Heather Holland and Dave Wetlesen

Abstract:	NAVSYS Corporation has been developing a navigation system that can apply aiding to an inertial navigation solution using video-updates to provide a back-up navigation mode in the event that GPS is unavailable. Tactical UAVs carry onboard video sensors that are being used to provide situational awareness on the battlefield. By using NAVSYS’ integrated GPS/inertial/video (GIEye) technology, we are able to use this onboard sensor data to provide navigation augmentation during periods of GPS dropouts. The video updates are performed by networking georegistered images from the UAV to the ground station where we run our Web-based GeoReferenced Image Manager (WebGRIM™) software. WebGRIM includes the capability to compare visible landmarks within the GI-Eye images to reference imagery stored in the WebGRIM database. The offset between the two provides an observation of the position error in the onboard navigation solution of this waypoint. This is then sent as a Waypoint update (WUPT) to the UAV’s onboard inertial navigation system. This provides a reliable, robust back-up navigation mode during GPS dropouts that can be used with inexpensive tactical grade or MEMS Inertial Measurement Units (IMU). The videoaided system design and test results are presented in this paper.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 20th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS 2007) September 25 - 28, 2007 Fort Worth Convention Center Fort Worth, TX
Pages:	1111 - 1117
Cite this article:	Brown, Alison, Bockius, Bruce, Johnson, Bruce, Holland, Heather, Wetlesen, Dave, "Flight Test Results of a Video-Aided GPS/Inertial Navigation System," Proceedings of the 20th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS 2007), Fort Worth, TX, September 2007, pp. 1111-1117.
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