SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR USING GLOBAL NAVIGATION SATELLITE SYSTEM (GNSS) NAVIGATION AND VISUAL NAVIGATION TO RECOVER ABSOLUTE POSITION AND ATTITUDE WITHOUT ANY PRIOR ASSOCIATION OF VISUAL FEATURES WITH KNOWN COORDINATES

摘要

An apparatus includes a global navigation satellite system antenna, a global navigation satellite system receiver, a camera, and a processor. The mobile global navigation satellite system receiver produces a set of carrier-phase measurements from a global navigation satellite system. The camera produces an image. The processor determines an absolute position and an absolute attitude of the apparatus solely from three or more sets of data and a rough estimate of the absolute position of the apparatus without any prior association of visual features with known coordinates. Each set of data includes the image and the set of carrier-phase measurements. In addition, the processor uses either a precise orbit and clock data for the global navigation satellite system or another set of carrier-phase measurements from another global navigation satellite system antenna at a known location in each set of data.