Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Localization Using Angle of Departure from a
Single Base Station and Dead-Reckoning
Abstract
Localization in GNSS-denied environments for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
(UAVs) has recently gained significant interest from the research
community. Most of the research is focused primarily on visual
localization. This paper, examines an algorithm which employs Angle of
Departure (AoD) and UAVs payload sensor data for UAV localization. First
the algorithm uses multiple AoDs from a single base station and a travel
calculated by applying dead-reckoning on the UAVs Inertial Measurement
Unit (IMU), to compute UAV location in two-dimensional (2D) coordinates.
The 2D location estimate is then fed into a modified Extended Kalman
Filter (EKF), which employs the estimate, IMU and barometer data to
compute the three-dimensional (3D) coordinates for UAV. For the
simulation, we applied Simulation-in-the-Loop (SITL) accompanied by
Arducopter and MAVLink to simulate different trajectories and collect
the required data for the algorithm. We validated our algorithm by
comparing the EKF estimates with IMU dead-reckoned positions. Three
simulations were performed, consisting of linear, zigzag and curved
trajectories. We achieved a 90th percentile error of 2.5m and 4m for the
x-coordinate and y-coordinate, respectively, on the zigzag and curved
trajectories. Interestingly, the linear trajectory showed a larger
localization error in its y-coordinate.