On the performance of UWB technology on indoor UAV localization

Abstract

With GPS being unreliable in indoor environments for mapping and navigation, an alternative solution had to be derived and one of the potential solutions is the usage of UWB technology. UWB stands for Ultra-Wide Band frequency which works well in short range and is useful for indoor navigation, localization and mapping. This thesis has levaraged this technology to estimate the position of a UAV in an indoor environment simulated in Gazebo along with ROS and Ardupilot flight controller. The UWB technology works by placing its anchors on the walls of the indoor environment and communicating with the UAV by sending and receiving the distance data constantly. A simulation has been conducted in which a trajectory was made for the UAV to follow and data has been collected. A kalman filter has been applied on this distance data to get the estimated position of the UAV in the simulated environment. Once estimated position of the UAV through kalman filter localization has been collected, it was compared against the ground truth data of the UAV collected from the Gazebo environment. Detailed analysis has been made and documented in the results section of the report.