Collaborative multiple micro air vehicles' localization and target tracking in GPS-denied environment from range–velocity measurements. Issue 2 (June 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Sarras, Ioannis; Marzat, Julien; Bertrand, Sylvain; Piet-Lahanier, Hélène
• Other Names: Marzat Julien guest-editor.; de Croon Guido guest-editor.; Fraundorfer Friedrich guest-editor.; Morin Pascal guest-editor.; Tsourdos Antonios guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: International journal of micro air vehicles. Volume 10:Issue 2(2018)
• Page Start: 225
• Page End: 239
• Publication Date: 2018-06
• Subjects: Collaborative tracking -- noncooperative target -- localization -- multiple micro air vehicles -- Global Positioning System-denied environment; Aerosonde (Drone aircraft) -- Periodicals; Aerospace engineering -- Periodicals; Aerosonde (Drone aircraft); Aerospace engineering; Periodicals; 623.746905
• DOI: 10.1177/1756829317745317
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1756-8293

Abstract

We treat the problem of simultaneous collaborative multiple micro air vehicles' localization and target tracking using time-varying range and (relative and absolute) velocity measurements. The proposed solution combines robustly local nonlinear observers that estimate the relative positions between agents and their neighbors, and cooperative filters that fuse each agent's local estimates to globally localize them with respect to the target (and therefore to each other). These estimates are then introduced in a dynamic consensus-type control law that ensures the global collective target tracking while simultaneously estimating the target's velocity, without needing any external reference which makes it applicable in GPS-denied environments. Finally, a simulation scenario is studied in order to show the efficiency of the proposed solution.