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JRM Vol.35 No.2 pp. 328-337
doi: 10.20965/jrm.2023.p0328
(2023)

Paper:

Autonomous Flight Using UWB-Based Positioning System with Optical Flow Sensors in a GPS-Denied Environment

Yoshiyuki Higashi* ORCID Icon and Kenta Yamazaki**

*Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Kyoto Institute of Technology
Goshokaido-cho, Matsugasaki, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, Kyoto 606-8585, Japan

**Division of Mechanodesign, Kyoto Institute of Technology
Goshokaido-cho, Matsugasaki, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, Kyoto 606-8585, Japan

Received:
October 7, 2022
Accepted:
February 15, 2023
Published:
April 20, 2023
Keywords:
UWB, optical flow sensor, navigation, drone, sensor fusion
Abstract

This study presents the positioning method and autonomous flight of a quadrotor drone using ultra-wideband (UWB) communication and an optical flow sensor. UWB communication obtains the distance between multiple ground stations and a mobile station on a robot, and the position is calculated based on a multilateration method similar to global positioning system (GPS). The update rate of positioning using only UWB communication devices is slow; hence, we improved the update rate by combining the UWB and inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensor in the prior study. This study demonstrates the improvement of the positioning method and accuracy by sensor fusion of the UWB device, an IMU, and an optical flow sensor using the extended Kalman filter. The proposed method is validated by hovering and position control experiments and also realizes a sufficient rate and accuracy for autonomous flight.

Position control using UWB communication

Position control using UWB communication

Cite this article as:
Y. Higashi and K. Yamazaki, “Autonomous Flight Using UWB-Based Positioning System with Optical Flow Sensors in a GPS-Denied Environment,” J. Robot. Mechatron., Vol.35 No.2, pp. 328-337, 2023.
Data files:
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