지평선을 이용한 영상기반 위치 추정 방법 및 위치 추정 오차

Abstract

GPS(Global Positioning System) is widely used for the position estimation of an aerial vehicle. However, GPS may not be available due to hostile jamming or strategic reasons. A vision-based position estimation method can be effective if GPS does not work properly. In mountainous areas without any man-made landmark, a horizon is a good feature for estimating the position of an aerial vehicle. In this paper, we present a new method to estimate the position of the aerial vehicle equipped with a forward-looking infrared camera. It is assumed that INS(Inertial Navigation System) provides the attitudes of an aerial vehicle and a camera. The horizon extracted from an infrared image is compared with horizon models generated from DEM(Digital Elevation Map). Because of a narrow field of view of the camera, two images with a different camera view are utilized to estimate a position. The algorithm is tested using real infrared images acquired on the ground. The experimental results show that the method can be used for estimating the position of an aerial vehicle.