Visual Structure from Motion for UAV Indoor Localization

Abstract

Due to the limitation of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), it cannot work properly without direct line of sight to GNSS satellites such as in urban and indoor environments. Visual processing such as Visual Odometry (VO) and Structure-From-Motion (SFM) is usually used for the indoor navigation or localization. SFM was introduced in 1990 and had been successfully used for reconstruction of unordered images, and in the process of reconstruction, the SFM would estimate the position of the camera for each image at the same time. This paper introduces three most common SFM tools and suggests a positioning method for small UAVs equipped with vision cameras in indoor environment. Each stage of the SFM algorithms is studied to analysis the impact on the final positioning accuracy. The output from different feature detection, feature matching, initial pair setting, and the reconstructions are compared with an indoor reference localization system based on infrared cameras. The objective of this paper is to suggest a positioning and navigation method for small UAVs equipped with vision cameras in indoor environment. In this research, we will study the impact of different stages of SFM algorithm on the final positioning accuracy. Several objects such as chairs or boxes would be placed randomly in a lab room to build a feature-based environment without any special landmarks. In our experiment, an indoor localization system based on infrared cameras will be used as the reference navigation result to evaluate the final performance of the suggested algorithm.