Precise UAV navigation with cellular carrier phase measurements

Abstract

This paper presents two frameworks for precise unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) navigation with cellular carrier phase measurements. The first framework relies on a mapping UAV and a navigating UAV sharing carrier phase measurements. Experimental results show that a 63.06 cm position root mean-square error (RMSE) is achieved with this framework. The second framework leverages the relative stability of cellular base transceiver station (BTS) clocks, which alleviates the need of a mapper. It was shown through experimental data that the beat frequency stability of cellular BTSs approaches that of atomic standards and may be exploited for precise navigation with cellular carrier phase measurements. Performance bounds are derived for this framework. Experimental data demonstrate a single UAV navigating with sub-meter level accuracy for more than 5 minutes, with one experiment showing 36.61 cm position RMSE and another showing 88.58 cm position RMSE.