UAV Position and Attitude Sensoring in Indoor Environment Using Cameras

There are great advantages of indoor experiment for UAVs. Test flights of UAV in laboratory is more convenient, more cost effective, and safer than outdoor test in general. However, the position sensors widely used in UAVs are GPS based, which depends on satellite signals only receivable in open ground. Moreover, the accuracy of off-shelf GPS sensor is in meters, which does not qualify in small scale UAV test. The method proposed in this paper adapts cameras as sensors, and utilizes computer vision technics to processes visual information and extracts UAV’s position and attitude. This method is implemented on Microsoft Windows platform and tested in Clemson University UAV laboratory. The test results shows satisfying accuracy.