Localization System for Lightweight Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Inspection Tasks

This paper presents a localization system for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) especially designed to be used in infrastructure inspection, where the UAVs have to fly in challenging conditions, such as relatively high altitude (e.g., 15 m), eventually with poor or absent GNSS (Global Navigation Satell...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Benjumea Gayango, Diego Jesús, Alcántara Marín, Alfonso, Ramos Hurtado, Agustín, Torres González, Arturo Eugenio, Sánchez Cuevas, Pedro Jesús, Capitán Fernández, Jesús, Heredia Benot, Guillermo, Ollero Baturone, Aníbal
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Sevilla (US)
Repositorio:idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla
OAI Identifier:oai:idus.us.es:11441/137351
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/11441/137351
https://doi.org/10.3390/s21175937
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
Localization
Infrastructure inspection
Descripción
Sumario:This paper presents a localization system for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) especially designed to be used in infrastructure inspection, where the UAVs have to fly in challenging conditions, such as relatively high altitude (e.g., 15 m), eventually with poor or absent GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) signal reception, or the need for a BVLOS (Beyond Visual Line of Sight) operation in some periods. In addition, these infrastructure inspection applications impose the following requirements for the localization system: defect traceability, accuracy, reliability, and fault tolerance. Our system proposes a lightweight solution combining multiple stereo cameras with a robotic total station to comply with these requirements, providing full-state estimation (i.e., position, orientation, and linear and angular velocities) in a fixed and time-persistent reference frame. Moreover, the system can align and fuse all sensor measurements in real-time at high frequency. We have integrated this localization system in our aerial platform, and we have tested its performance for inspection in a real-world viaduct scenario, where the UAV has to operate with poor or absent GNSS signal at high altitude.

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