Pose estimation based on laser range finder for a quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle in GPS-denied environment

The feedback of position and attitude information are important for the autonomous control of a quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). But in the GPS-denied environments, it is hard to obtain the quadrotor UAV's position. The pose estimation problem for a quadrotor UAV is addressed in this paper. A miniature laser range finder and a miniature attitude heading reference system (AHRS) unit are employed as the main onboard sensors. And a new pose estimation algorithm is developed to provide accurate estimation for the UAV's position and attitude which can be utilized for the flight controller in the GPS-denied environments.