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Single and Multi-UAV Relative Position Estimation Based on Natural Landmarks

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Advances in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Part of the book series: Intelligent Systems, Control and Automation: Science and Engineering ((ISCA,volume 33))

Abstract

The localization problem is usually solved in aerial robotics by means of GPS, Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) and compass sensors, which are fused to provide UAV position estimation in a global frame. However, GPS estimates are often subject to inaccuracies and errors related to GPS failure or degradation. Also, GPS cannot be directly used for relative positioning of a UAV with respect to other objects, as for example for landing on mobile platforms or for wall following in building inspection.

This Chapter is the outgrowth of the authors’ paper “Multi-UAV Localization Based on Blob Features for Exploration Missions”, published in the IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine, Vol. 13, No. 3, September 2006. This research has been conducted under the framework of the project COMETS: “Real-time coordination and control of multiple heterogeneous unmanned aerial vehicles”, IST-2001-34304, funded by the 1ST Programme of the European Commission. Cooperation of all partners and particularly the teams of the Technical University of Berlin (TUB), the Laboratoire d’Architecture et d’Analyse des Systèmes (LAAS) and Helivision is acknowledged. The work of the Spanish team has also been also funded by projects AWARE (European Commission IST-2006-3379) and AEROSENS (Spanish National R&D Program DPI2005-02293).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Escuela Politécnica Superior, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, 41013, Sevilla, Spain

    L. Merino

  2. Escuela Superior de Ingenieros, Universidad de Sevilla, 41092, Sevilla, Spain

    F. Caballero, J. Ferruz & A. Ollero

  3. Laboratory for Computational Intelligence Department of Computer Science, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada

    P. Forssen, A. Moe & K. Nordberg

  4. Computer Vision Laboratory Department of Electrical Engineering, Linköping University, SE-581 83, Linköping, Sweden

    J. Wiklund

Authors
  1. L. Merino
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  2. F. Caballero
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  3. P. Forssen
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  4. J. Wiklund
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  5. J. Ferruz
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  6. J. R. Martihez-de-Dios
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  7. A. Moe
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  8. K. Nordberg
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  9. A. Ollero
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  1. University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA

    Kimon P. Valavanis

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Merino, L. et al. (2007). Single and Multi-UAV Relative Position Estimation Based on Natural Landmarks. In: Valavanis, K.P. (eds) Advances in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. Intelligent Systems, Control and Automation: Science and Engineering, vol 33. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-6114-1_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-6114-1_9

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-6113-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-6114-1

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