Robust Target-Relative Localization with Ultra-Wideband Ranging and Communication

Abstract

In this paper we propose a method to achieve relative positioning and tracking of a target by a quadcopter using Ultra-wideband (UWB) ranging sensors, which are strategically installed to help retrieve both relative position and bearing between the quadcopter and target. To achieve robust localization for autonomous flight even with uncertainty in the speed of the target, two main features are developed. First, an estimator based on Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) is developed to fuse UWB ranging measurements with data from onboard sensors including inertial measurement unit (IMU), altimeters and optical flow. Second, to properly handle the coupling of the target's orientation with the range measurements, UWB based communication capability is utilized to transfer the target's orientation to the quadcopter. Experiment results demonstrate the ability of the quadcopter to control its position relative to the target autonomously in both cases when the target is static and moving.

Enhanced Relative Localization Based on Persistent Excitation for Multi-UAVs in GPS-Denied Environments

“…Saska et al adopted onboard cameras to estimate relative positions [16]. Nguyen et al installed multiple UWB modules on UAVs, to estimate RL with the unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) [30] [31]. Persistent excitation based RL to be discussed in the next section is another typical example.…”

Small-Range High-Precision Positioning Based on Two-Point Coordination for Robot

“…Moreover, time-based ranging technology was used in UWB positioning system, and several handshaking processes are needed to get the range between two nodes, which makes the positioning frequency low, and it cannot meet the requirements of some applications. Many research studies have been done on UWB-based localization [5][6][7][8] to enhance positioning stability. Some research studies employed filters to enhance the positioning accuracy [8], some research studies were focused on the ranging error elimination [5], and others attempted to fuse the data such as moving state and IMU data with the UWB positing data to eliminate the unstability [6,7], and the problem is not solved yet.…”

“…Many research studies have been done on UWB-based localization [5][6][7][8] to enhance positioning stability. Some research studies employed filters to enhance the positioning accuracy [8], some research studies were focused on the ranging error elimination [5], and others attempted to fuse the data such as moving state and IMU data with the UWB positing data to eliminate the unstability [6,7], and the problem is not solved yet. is paper proposed a two-point positioning data-fusing algorithm for the applications with more than one target nodes on an object [9].…”

Ranging-based adaptive navigation for autonomous micro aerial vehicles

“…Therefore, to achieve the relative localization capability, many researchers have looked into distance-based techniques due to several advantages [38,[69][70][71]. Compared to relative localization techniques using external localization such as GPS and motion capture system, the distance-based method only relies on a single onboard sensor, thus is not affected by coverage of GPS signal or restricted to a specific location.…”