Towards an Optical Aircraft Navigation System

Abstract

Navigation by means that are fully self contained, without the weight and cost of high performance inertial navigation units is highly desirable in many applications both military and civilian. In this paper we introduce a suite of sensors and behaviors that include: the means to reduce lateral drift due to wind using optical flow, detection of a constellation of landmarks using a machine vision system, and a polarization compass that is reliable at extreme latitudes based on polarization. In a series of flight trials and detailed simulations we have demonstrated that a combination of these functions achieves purely optical navigation with simplicity and robustness.