Visual-based SLAM configurations for cooperative multi-UAV systems with a lead agent: an observability-based approach

In this work, the problem of the cooperative visual-based SLAM for the class of multi-UA systems that integrates a lead agent has been addressed. In these kinds of systems, a team of aerial robots flying in formation must follow a dynamic lead agent, which can be another aerial robot, vehicle or eve...

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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:2117/126676
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/126676
https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s18124243
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:cooperative SLAM
aerial robots
state estimation
observability
Classificació INSPEC::Automation::Robots
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Informàtica::Robòtica
Descripción
Sumario:In this work, the problem of the cooperative visual-based SLAM for the class of multi-UA systems that integrates a lead agent has been addressed. In these kinds of systems, a team of aerial robots flying in formation must follow a dynamic lead agent, which can be another aerial robot, vehicle or even a human. A fundamental problem that must be addressed for these kinds of systems has to do with the estimation of the states of the aerial robots as well as the state of the lead agent. In this work, the use of a cooperative visual-based SLAM approach is studied in order to solve the above problem. In this case, three different system configurations are proposed and investigated by means of an intensive nonlinear observability analysis. In addition, a high-level control scheme is proposed that allows to control the formation of the UAVs with respect to the lead agent. In this work, several theoretical results are obtained, together with an extensive set of computer simulations which are presented in order to numerically validate the proposal and to show that it can perform well under different circumstances (e.g., GPS-challenging environments). That is, the proposed method is able to operate robustly under many conditions providing a good position estimation of the aerial vehicles and the lead agent as well.