Multiple optical flow sensors aiding inertial systems for UAV navigation
This paper exploits the idea of integrating the outputs of several optical flow sensors (OFSs) and a micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) inertial measurement unit (IMU). Several optical flow sensors are fixed on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Their locations and orientations are different so as to detect the optical flow from different directions. By fusing the optical flow information and inertial navigation system (INS) measurements using an extended Kalman filter (EKF), the INS errors can be estimated and compensated. The integration of optical flow sensors and MEMS-based IMU provides a small size, low cost and self-contained scheme for UAVs navigation at low height above the ground in GPS denied environments. The preliminary simulation results presented in this article illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed integrated navigation scheme.