Estimation of UAV position using LiDAR images for autonomous navigation over the ocean

Abstract

The use of autonomous navigation in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles is growing every day, in many areas, due to the low cost of its deployment and also does not require a pilot in a ground station. The most applied technique for autonomous navigation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles is the joint use of Global Navigation Satellite System with Inertial Navigation System, an alternative for this technique is the autonomous navigation through image processing. To perform the autonomous navigation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles through image processing are used usually images that has landmarks in the ground to guide the trajectory. But, still is a challenge perform the autonomous navigation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles through image processing, without Global Navigation Satellite System combined with Inertial Navigation System, over regions without landmarks, such as the ocean. Therefore, this research presents a methodology to perform the estimation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles position in LiDAR images to allow that it performs the autonomous navigation over the ocean.