Navigation aiding using on-line mosaicking

This paper presents a procedure for improving the performance of an inertial navigation airborne system that uses the information obtained from an on-board camera and an algorithm for building on-line a mosaic of the scene observed by the camera. The system considered in the paper consists of a flying platform provided with a pan-tilt camera that scans the region over which the platform flies. The sequence of images obtained from the camera are "pasted" together using an image processing algorithm that results in a mosaic of the scanned terrain. Since the sequence of image is a result of the platform and camera motion, and the camera motion is assumed to be known, the calculations involved in computing the mosaic encode information on the motion of the platform. A measurement model is specified that uses the mosaic construction process to update the navigation algorithm and hence reduce navigation errors. Performance study is presented as a proof of concept for the procedure using a realistic model for the inertial measurement unit.