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Design for graceful degradation and recovery from GNSS interruptions | IEEE Journals & Magazine | IEEE Xplore

Design for graceful degradation and recovery from GNSS interruptions


Abstract:

In guidance, navigation, and control (GN&C) of small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), estimates of the vehicle's kinematic states are generated by an integrated navigatio...Show More

Abstract:

In guidance, navigation, and control (GN&C) of small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), estimates of the vehicle's kinematic states are generated by an integrated navigation system. In current applications, the system of choice is an inertial navigation system (INS) aided by measurements from a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver. One of the shortcomings of these integrated GNSS/INSs is the problem of temporary or prolonged GNSS outages. These outages can occur because of temporary signal loss due to obstructions, a prolonged outage due to interference or jamming, or deliberate action by the GN&C system to isolate a failed receiver or reject an anomalous signal in space. In these instances, the position, velocity, and attitude solutions generated by processing the inertial measurement unit (IMU) outputs alone in INSs quickly drift. To mitigate this drift, alternate aiding signals such as cameras, radars , light detection and ranging (LIDAR), or other signals of opportunity have been used. When the only kinematic state of interest is attitude (e.g., UAV stabilization), IMUs aided by magnetometers and airspeed sensors have been used to mechanize attitude heading reference systems (AHRSs). A system architecture that uses an AHRS and airspeed measurements to mechanize a dead-reckoning (DR) navigator aided by the relative range measurement between cooperating vehicles is discussed in the works of Mohtarzadeh (2014) and Gebre-Egziabher et. al (2004). The purpose of this article is to present a decentralized filtering approach to design an integrated navigation system for small UAVs that seamlessly switches between GNSS-available and GNSS-denied modes of operation. When GNSS services are denied, it gracefully degrades to a less optimal operational mode while maintaining sufficient accuracy to allow continued guidance and control of a small UAV. When GNSS services are restored, it smoothly transitions back to a high-accuracy operational mode. The decentralized ...
Published in: IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine ( Volume: 32, Issue: 9, September 2017)
Page(s): 4 - 17
Date of Publication: 27 October 2017

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