The Use of a Robotic Total Station for Verifying the Accuracy of UAV Navigation

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are increasingly pivotal in both civil and military domains, frequently involving autonomous operations. High-precision navigation is crucial for accurate positioning. However, in military contexts, GNSS signals are susceptible to interference or spoofing. This study explores the potential of the Trimble S7 robotic total station for independent verification of UAV navigation system accuracy in environments with possible GNSS interference. The UAV platform “Greenhorn” was utilized for testing. Two experiments were conducted: a static test to verify the accuracy of the UAV navigation system at fixed points, and a dynamic test to track the UAV along a predetermined path using the robotic total station, aimed at validating the proposed method’s capabilities. The static test results indicated that the onboard UAV navigation system provides data consistent with the declared accuracy. The dynamic test results confirmed that the selected robotic total station is a suitable tool for independent verification of a flying UAV’s position. However, altitude data deviations were observed during the dynamic test. Further experiments will be necessary to identify the causes of these deviations. The study substantiates the effectiveness of using a robotic total station for independent UAV position tracking and its potential application for verifying navigation system positions in training environments with electromagnetic interference prior to actual deployment UAV.