Unmanned Aircraft System Navigation in the Urban Environment: A Systems Analysis

摘要

Unmanned aircraft system navigation in urban environments requires consideration of which combination ofsensors can provide the most accurate navigation results in a dynamically changing environment. The traditionalGlobal Positioning System, although useful in open spaces, degrades severely when in urban canyons requiring othercomplementary sensors to provide position and velocity measurements when necessary. One well-known solution isvision-based sensors that provide measurements through optical flow. Another possibility is the long-term evolutionnetwork that is currently used for cellular voice and data transmission as well, as coarse Global-Positioning-Systemindependentnavigation. This paper reviews sensor accuracy and availability as a function of environmentcharacteristics. A simulation framework integrates these different types of sensors to allow for efficient high-leveltesting of sensor combinations and fusion algorithms. Results show that long-term evolution slightly improvesposition accuracy unless another exteroceptive position sensor such as vision is available. Sinusoidal trajectories thatrise above the urban environment also show increases in accuracy as Global Positioning System navigation becomesavailable during these short windows.