Abstract
High-precision, real-time, and long-range target geo-location is crucial to UAV reconnaissance and target strikes. Traditional geo-location methods are highly dependent on the accuracies of GPS/INS and the target elevation, which restricts the target geo-location accuracy for LRORS. Moreover, due to the limitations of laser range and the common, real time methods of improving the accuracy, such as laser range finders, DEM and geographic reference data are inappropriate for long-range UAVs. To address the above problems, a set of work patterns and a novel geo-location method are proposed in this paper. The proposed method is not restricted by conditions such as the accuracy of GPS/INS, target elevation, and range finding instrumentation. Specifically, three steps are given, to perform as follows: First, calculate the rough geo-location of the target using the traditional method. Then, according to the rough geo-location, reimage the target. Due to errors in GPS/INS and target elevation, there will be a re-projection error between the actual points of the target and the calculated projection ones. Third, a weighted filtering algorithm is proposed to obtain the optimized target geo-location by processing the reprojection error. Repeat the above process until the target geo-location estimation converges on the true value. The geo-location accuracy is improved by the work pattern and the optimization algorithm. The proposed method was verified by simulation and a flight experiment. The results showed that the proposed method can improve the geo-location accuracy by 38.8 times and 22.5 times compared with traditional methods and DEM methods, respectively. The results indicate that our method is efficient and robust, and can achieve high-precision target geo-location, with an easy implementation.
Highlights
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have attracted widespread attention, with the advantages of good timeliness and flexibility
In order to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, targets G1 and G2 were measured by the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) real time kinematic (RTK) method
In order to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, target2s0 oGf 216 and G measured by the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) real time kinematic methodI.nTohredemr teoavseurirfiyntgheeeqffueciptivmeneensts wofathsespurrovpeoyse-dgrmaedtheoGd,NtaSrgSetrseGce1iavnedrsG2I7w0emre ade by NAVm.eTashuerepdobsyittihoengalloabaclcunarvaicgyatfioonr stahtellpitoeisnytsstewma(sGlNesSsS)threaanl t0im.1emkinaenmdatcican(RbTeK)viewed stanmdeatrhdodv.aTlhueem
Summary
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have attracted widespread attention, with the advantages of good timeliness and flexibility. The simulation and the flight-test results demonstrated that when the off-nadir looking angle is 80 degrees and the target ground elevation is 100 m, the geo-location accuracy can be improved, from the 600 m of the traditional method, to 180 m with the DEM method. Methods based on geographic reference data [23–26] and cooperative localization between UAVs [27–30] have been proposed to improve the accuracy of the target geolocation These methods are inappropriate for real-time target geo-location because of the need for pre-obtained geo-referenced images and high flight cost. Focusing on these above mentioned problems, we propose a novel geo-location method for long-range UAVs, which uses multiple observations on the same target by a single UAV to improve the geo-location accuracy.
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