Cooperative monocular-based SLAM for multi-UAV systems in GPS-denied environments

This work presents a cooperative monocular-based SLAM approach for multi-UAV systems that can operate in GPS-denied environments. The main contribution of the work is to show that, using visual information obtained from monocular cameras mounted onboard aerial vehicles flying in formation, the obser...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Trujillo, Juan Carlos, Munguía Alcalá, Rodrigo Francisco, Guerra Paradas, Edmundo|||0000-0002-6696-0982, Grau Saldes, Antoni|||0000-0003-4112-3325
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2018
País:España
Institución:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Repositorio:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/117359
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/117359
https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s18051351
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Global Positioning System
state estimation
unmanned aerial vehicle
monocular vision
localization
mapping
observability
cooperative
Sistema de posicionament global
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Informàtica::Automàtica i control
Descripción
Sumario:This work presents a cooperative monocular-based SLAM approach for multi-UAV systems that can operate in GPS-denied environments. The main contribution of the work is to show that, using visual information obtained from monocular cameras mounted onboard aerial vehicles flying in formation, the observability properties of the whole system are improved. This fact is especially notorious when compared with other related visual SLAM configurations. In order to improve the observability properties, some measurements of the relative distance between the UAVs are included in the system. These relative distances are also obtained from visual information. The proposed approach is theoretically validated by means of a nonlinear observability analysis. Furthermore, an extensive set of computer simulations is presented in order to validate the proposed approach. The numerical simulation results show that the proposed system is able to provide a good position and orientation estimation of the aerial vehicles flying in formation.