Abstract:

The VIVE lighthouse system is evaluated for indoor positioning of micro unmanned aerial vehicles (MUAVs). A detailed mathematical analysis is provided, including a CramerRao bound derivation and performance analysis of the MUAV state estimate. The lighthouse measurements are fused with inertial measurements in a multiplicative extended Kalman filter (MEKF). We consider two implementations, one with and the other without nonlinear LS pre-filtering, and demonstrate both in a real-time implementation. The results indicate that subcentimeter accuracy in the MUAV positioning, rivalling the best positioning systems on the market at a comparatively low price.