Joint Indoor Localization and Navigation of UAVs for Network Formation Control

TL;DR

This paper presents a joint indoor localization and navigation algorithm enabling UAV swarms to deploy accurately in specific formations within indoor environments without relying on existing infrastructure.

Contribution

It introduces a novel algorithm that combines localization and navigation for UAV swarms, allowing formation deployment in indoor settings without external positioning systems.

Findings

UAVs achieve accurate formation deployment indoors.

The algorithm ensures safe navigation around obstacles.

UAVs successfully estimate positions without infrastructure.

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a joint indoor localization and navigation algorithm to enable a swarm of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to deploy in a specific spatial formation in indoor environments. In the envisioned scenario, we consider a static user acting as a central unit whose main task is to acquire all the UAV measurements carrying position-dependent information and to estimate the UAV positions when there is no existing infrastructure for positioning. Subsequently, the user exploits the estimated positions as inputs for the navigation control with the aim of deploying the UAVs in a desired formation in space (formation shaping). The user plans the trajectory of each UAV in real time, guaranteeing a safe navigation in the presence of obstacles. The proposed algorithm guides the UAVs to their desired final locations with good accuracy.