An Integrated Localization-Navigation Scheme for Distance-Based Docking of UAVs

Abstract

In this paper we study the distance-based docking problem of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) by using a single landmark placed at an arbitrarily unknown position. To solve the problem, we propose an integrated estimation-control scheme to simultaneously achieve the relative localization and navigation tasks for discrete-time integrators under bounded velocity: a nonlinear adaptive estimation scheme to estimate the relative position to the landmark, and a delicate control scheme to ensure both the convergence of the estimation and the asymptotic docking at the given landmark. A rigorous proof of convergence is provided by invoking the discrete-time LaSalle's invariance principle, and we also validate our theoretical findings on quadcopters equipped with ultra-wideband ranging sensors and optical flow sensors in a GPS-less environment.The authors are with the

Novel Solutions to the Three-Anchor ToA-Based Three-Dimensional Positioning Problem

“…Two kinds of navigation scenarios were investigated [115]: (1) the target pursuit scenario [116][117][118], e.g., autonomous docking, in which the UAV is required to navigate to a predetermined position; (2) the circumnavigation scenario [119,120], in which the UAV circles around a stationary (or moving) target position. In the target pursuit scenario, two paths were considered: (1) a 3D linear path, Section 5.1; (2) a horizontal linear path, Section 5.2.…”

Single Landmark Distance-Based Navigation

“…In this section, we shall design an integrated localization and navigation scheme to simultaneously solve the relative localization and docking problem. To be detailed, an adaptive estimator based on distance and odometry measurements is designed to achieve the relative localization, then based on which ūk is designed in a particular form to solve the docking problem (1). See Sections III-A and III-B for details.…”

“…Recommended by Associate Editor T. Shima. This paper was partially presented at 2018 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Madrid, Spain, October 2018 [1]. (Corresponding author: Zhirong Qiu.…”

Relative Docking via Range-only Measurements

“…However, the GPS signal may be not precise enough (meter accuracy, RTK-GPS can enjoy centimeter-level accuracy but is expensive) or even unavailable (e.g., indoor environment and urban environment with high buildings), and other positioning systems (e.g., UWB, VICON and WiFi) require extra infrastructures (e.g., anchors or cameras which are expensive), extensive labors and costs (e.g., deployment, calibration and maintenance). Recently, the authors in [14] introduced an integrated localization and navigation scheme as a discrete-time counterpart of [12], where the designed controller is bounded and only requires range and self-displacement (odometry) measurements. However, docking to a position with a known displacement w.r.t.…”

“…Motivated by the above observations, this work aims to generalize the distance-based docking [14] to distance-based relative docking. This generalization is non-trivial since the distance measurement in the former can directly indicate whether the mission has been completed, which is not the case for the latter.…”