Dynamic Landing of an Autonomous Quadrotor on a Moving Platform in Turbulent Wind Conditions

Autonomous landing on a moving platform presents unique challenges for multirotor vehicles, including the need to accurately localize the platform, fast trajectory planning, and precise/robust control. Previous works studied this problem but most lack explicit consideration of the wind disturbance, which typically leads to slow descents onto the platform. This work presents a fully autonomous vision-based system that addresses these limitations by tightly coupling the localization, planning, and control, thereby enabling fast and accurate landing on a moving platform. The platform's position, orientation, and velocity are estimated by an extended Kalman filter using simulated GPS measurements when the quadrotor-platform distance is large, and by a visual fiducial system when the platform is nearby. The landing trajectory is computed online using receding horizon control and is followed by a boundary layer sliding controller that provides tracking performance guarantees in the presence of unknown, but bounded, disturbances. To improve the performance, the characteristics of the turbulent conditions are accounted for in the controller. The landing trajectory is fast, direct, and does not require hovering over the platform, as is typical of most state-of-the-art approaches. Simulations and hardware experiments are presented to validate the robustness of the approach.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures, ICRA2020 accepted pape

Evaluating indoor positioning systems in a shopping mall : the lessons learned from the IPIN 2018 competition

The Indoor Positioning and Indoor Navigation (IPIN) conference holds an annual competition in which indoor localization systems from different research groups worldwide are evaluated empirically. The objective of this competition is to establish a systematic evaluation methodology with rigorous metrics both for real-time (on-site) and post-processing (off-site) situations, in a realistic environment unfamiliar to the prototype developers. For the IPIN 2018 conference, this competition was held on September 22nd, 2018, in Atlantis, a large shopping mall in Nantes (France). Four competition tracks (two on-site and two off-site) were designed. They consisted of several 1 km routes traversing several floors of the mall. Along these paths, 180 points were topographically surveyed with a 10 cm accuracy, to serve as ground truth landmarks, combining theodolite measurements, differential global navigation satellite system (GNSS) and 3D scanner systems. 34 teams effectively competed. The accuracy score corresponds to the third quartile (75th percentile) of an error metric that combines the horizontal positioning error and the floor detection. The best results for the on-site tracks showed an accuracy score of 11.70 m (Track 1) and 5.50 m (Track 2), while the best results for the off-site tracks showed an accuracy score of 0.90 m (Track 3) and 1.30 m (Track 4). These results showed that it is possible to obtain high accuracy indoor positioning solutions in large, realistic environments using wearable light-weight sensors without deploying any beacon. This paper describes the organization work of the tracks, analyzes the methodology used to quantify the results, reviews the lessons learned from the competition and discusses its future

Relative Transformation Estimation Based on Fusion of Odometry and UWB Ranging Data

In this work, the problem of 4 degree-of-freedom (3D position and heading) robot-to-robot relative frame transformation estimation using onboard odometry and inter-robot distance measurements is studied. Firstly, we present a theoretical analysis of the problem, namely the derivation and interpretation of the Cramer-Rao Lower Bound (CRLB), the Fisher Information Matrix (FIM) and its determinant. Secondly, we propose optimization-based methods to solve the problem, including a quadratically constrained quadratic programming (QCQP) and the corresponding semidefinite programming (SDP) relaxation. Moreover, we address practical issues that are ignored in previous works, such as accounting for spatial-temporal offsets between the ultra-wideband (UWB) and odometry sensors, rejecting UWB outliers and checking for singular configurations before commencing operation. Lastly, extensive simulations and real-life experiments with aerial robots show that the proposed QCQP and SDP methods outperform state-of-the-art methods, especially in geometrically poor or large measurement noise conditions. In general, the QCQP method provides the best results at the expense of computational time, while the SDP method runs much faster and is sufficiently accurate in most cases

Exploiting graph structure in Active SLAM

Aplicando análisis provenientes de la teoría de grafos, la teoría espectral de grafos, la exploración de grafos en línea, generamos un sistema de SLAM activo que incluye la planificación de rutas bajo incertidumbre, extracción de grafos topológicos de entornos y SLAM activo \'optimo.En la planificación de trayectorias bajo incertidumbre, incluimos el análisis de la probabilidad de asociación correcta de datos. Reconociendo la naturaleza estocástica de la incertidumbre, demostramos que planificar para minimizar su valor esperado es más fiable que los actuales algoritmos de planificación de trayectorias con incertidumbre.Considerando el entorno como un conjunto de regiones convexas conectadas podemos tratar la exploración robótica como una exploración de grafos en línea. Se garantiza una cobertura total si el robot visita cada región. La mayoría de los métodos para segmentar el entorno están basados en píxeles y no garantizan que las regiones resultantes sean convexas, además pocos son algoritmos incrementales. En base a esto, modificamos un algoritmo basado en contornos en el que el entorno se representa como un conjunto de polígonos que debe segmentarse en un conjunto de polígonos pseudo convexos. El resultado es un algoritmo de segmentación que produjo regiones pseudo-convexas, robustas al ruido, estables y que obtienen un gran rendimiento en los conjuntos de datos de pruebas.La calidad de un algoritmo se puede medir en términos de cuan cercano al óptimo está su rendimiento. Con esta motivación definimos la esencia de la tarea de exploración en SLAM activo donde las únicas variables son la distancia recorrida y la calidad de la reconstrucción. Restringiendo el dominio al grafo que representa el entorno y probando la relación entre la matriz asociada a la exploración y la asociada al grafo subyacente, podemos calcular la ruta de exploración óptima.A diferencia de la mayoría de la literatura en SLAM activo, proponemos que la heurística para la exploración de grafos consiste en atravesar cada arco una vez. Demostramos que el tipo de grafos resultantes tiene un gran rendimiento con respecto a la trayectoria \'optima, con resultados superiores al 97 \% del \'optimo en algunas medidas de calidad.El algoritmo de SLAM activo TIGRE integra el algoritmo de extracción de grafos propuesto con nuestra versión del algoritmo de exploración incremental que atraviesa cada arco una vez. Nuestro algoritmo se basa en una modificación del algoritmo clásico de Tarry para la búsqueda en laberintos que logra el l\'imite inferior en la aproximación para un algoritmo incremental. Probamos nuestro sistema incremental en un escenario de exploración típico y demostramos que logra un rendimiento similar a los métodos fuera de línea y también demostramos que incluso el método \'optimo que visita todos los nodos calculado fuera de línea tiene un peor rendimiento que el nuestro.<br /

적분 및 매개변수 기법 융합을 이용한 스마트폰 다중 동작에서 보행 항법

학위논문 (박사) -- 서울대학교 대학원 : 공과대학 기계항공공학부, 2020. 8. 박찬국.In this dissertation, an IA-PA fusion-based PDR (Pedestrian Dead Reckoning) using low-cost inertial sensors is proposed to improve the indoor position estimation. Specifically, an IA (Integration Approach)-based PDR algorithm combined with measurements from PA (Parametric Approach) is constructed so that the algorithm is operated even in various poses that occur when a pedestrian moves with a smartphone indoors. In addition, I propose an algorithm that estimates the device attitude robustly in a disturbing situation by an ellipsoidal method. In addition, by using the machine learning-based pose recognition, it is possible to improve the position estimation performance by varying the measurement update according to the poses. First, I propose an adaptive attitude estimation based on ellipsoid technique to accurately estimate the direction of movement of a smartphone device. The AHRS (Attitude and Heading Reference System) uses an accelerometer and a magnetometer as measurements to calculate the attitude based on the gyro and to compensate for drift caused by gyro sensor errors. In general, the attitude estimation performance is poor in acceleration and geomagnetic disturbance situations, but in order to effectively improve the estimation performance, this dissertation proposes an ellipsoid-based adaptive attitude estimation technique. When a measurement disturbance comes in, it is possible to update the measurement more accurately than the adaptive estimation technique without considering the direction by adjusting the measurement covariance with the ellipsoid method considering the direction of the disturbance. In particular, when the disturbance only comes in one axis, the proposed algorithm can use the measurement partly by updating the other two axes considering the direction. The proposed algorithm shows its effectiveness in attitude estimation under disturbances through the rate table and motion capture equipment. Next, I propose a PDR algorithm that integrates IA and PA that can be operated in various poses. When moving indoors using a smartphone, there are many degrees of freedom, so various poses such as making a phone call, texting, and putting a pants pocket are possible. In the existing smartphone-based positioning algorithms, the position is estimated based on the PA, which can be used only when the pedestrian's walking direction and the device's direction coincide, and if it does not, the position error due to the mismatch in angle is large. In order to solve this problem, this dissertation proposes an algorithm that constructs state variables based on the IA and uses the position vector from the PA as a measurement. If the walking direction and the device heading do not match based on the pose recognized through machine learning technique, the position is updated in consideration of the direction calculated using PCA (Principal Component Analysis) and the step length obtained through the PA. It can be operated robustly even in various poses that occur. Through experiments considering various operating conditions and paths, it is confirmed that the proposed method stably estimates the position and improves performance even in various indoor environments.본 논문에서는 저가형 관성센서를 이용한 보행항법시스템 (PDR: Pedestrian Dead Reckoning)의 성능 향상 알고리즘을 제안한다. 구체적으로 보행자가 실내에서 스마트폰을 들고 이동할 때 발생하는 다양한 동작 상황에서도 운용될 수 있도록, 매개변수 기반 측정치를 사용하는 적분 기반의 보행자 항법 알고리즘을 구성한다. 또한 타원체 기반 자세 추정 알고리즘을 구성하여 외란 상황에서도 강인하게 자세를 추정하는 알고리즘을 제안한다. 추가적으로 기계학습 기반의 동작 인식 정보를 이용, 동작에 따른 측정치 업데이트를 달리함으로써 위치 추정 성능을 향상시킨다. 먼저 스마트폰 기기의 이동 방향을 정확하게 추정하기 위해 타원체 기법 기반 적응 자세 추정을 제안한다. 자세 추정 기법 (AHRS: Attitude and Heading Reference System)은 자이로를 기반으로 자세를 계산하고 자이로 센서오차에 의해 발생하는 드리프트를 보정하기 위해 측정치로 가속도계와 지자계를 사용한다. 일반적으로 가속 및 지자계 외란 상황에서는 자세 추정 성능이 떨어지는데, 추정 성능을 효과적으로 향상시키기 위해 본 논문에서는 타원체 기반 적응 자세 추정 기법을 제안한다. 측정치 외란이 들어오는 경우, 외란의 방향을 고려하여 타원체 기법으로 측정치 공분산을 조정해줌으로써 방향을 고려하지 않은 적응 추정 기법보다 정확하게 측정치 업데이트를 할 수 있다. 특히 외란이 한 축으로만 들어오는 경우, 제안한 알고리즘은 방향을 고려해 나머지 두 축에 대해서는 업데이트 해줌으로써 측정치를 부분적으로 사용할 수 있다. 레이트 테이블, 모션 캡쳐 장비를 통해 제안한 알고리즘의 자세 성능이 향상됨을 확인하였다. 다음으로 다양한 동작에서도 운용 가능한 적분 및 매개변수 기법을 융합하는 보행항법 알고리즘을 제안한다. 스마트폰을 이용해 실내를 이동할 때에는 자유도가 크기 때문에 전화 걸기, 문자, 바지 주머니 넣기 등 다양한 동작이 발생 가능하다. 기존의 스마트폰 기반 보행 항법에서는 매개변수 기법을 기반으로 위치를 추정하는데, 이는 보행자의 진행 방향과 기기의 방향이 일치하는 경우에만 사용 가능하며 일치하지 않는 경우 자세 오차로 인한 위치 오차가 크게 발생한다. 이러한 문제를 해결하기 위해 본 논문에서는 적분 기반 기법을 기반으로 상태변수를 구성하고 매개변수 기법을 통해 나오는 위치 벡터를 측정치로 사용하는 알고리즘을 제안한다. 만약 기계학습을 통해 인식한 동작을 바탕으로 진행 방향과 기기 방향이 일치하지 않는 경우, 주성분 분석을 통해 계산한 진행방향을 이용해 진행 방향을, 매개변수 기법을 통해 얻은 보폭으로 거리를 업데이트해 줌으로써 보행 중 발생하는 여러 동작에서도 강인하게 운용할 수 있다. 다양한 동작 상황 및 경로를 고려한 실험을 통해 위에서 제안한 방법이 다양한 실내 환경에서도 안정적으로 위치를 추정하고 성능이 향상됨을 확인하였다.Chapter 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Motivation and Background 1 1.2 Objectives and Contribution 5 1.3 Organization of the Dissertation 6 Chapter 2 Pedestrian Dead Reckoning System 8 2.1 Overview of Pedestrian Dead Reckoning 8 2.2 Parametric Approach 9 2.2.1 Step detection algorithm 11 2.2.2 Step length estimation algorithm 13 2.2.3 Heading estimation 14 2.3 Integration Approach 15 2.3.1 Extended Kalman filter 16 2.3.2 INS-EKF-ZUPT 19 2.4 Activity Recognition using Machine Learning 21 2.4.1 Challenges in HAR 21 2.4.2 Activity recognition chain 22 Chapter 3 Attitude Estimation in Smartphone 26 3.1 Adaptive Attitude Estimation in Smartphone 26 3.1.1 Indirect Kalman filter-based attitude estimation 26 3.1.2 Conventional attitude estimation algorithms 29 3.1.3 Adaptive attitude estimation using ellipsoidal methods 30 3.2 Experimental Results 36 3.2.1 Simulation 36 3.2.2 Rate table experiment 44 3.2.3 Handheld rotation experiment 46 3.2.4 Magnetic disturbance experiment 49 3.3 Summary 53 Chapter 4 Pedestrian Dead Reckoning in Multiple Poses of a Smartphone 54 4.1 System Overview 55 4.2 Machine Learning-based Pose Classification 56 4.2.1 Training dataset 57 4.2.2 Feature extraction and selection 58 4.2.3 Pose classification result using supervised learning in PDR 62 4.3 Fusion of the Integration and Parametric Approaches in PDR 65 4.3.1 System model 67 4.3.2 Measurement model 67 4.3.3 Mode selection 74 4.3.4 Observability analysis 76 4.4 Experimental Results 82 4.4.1 AHRS results 82 4.4.2 PCA results 84 4.4.3 IA-PA results 88 4.5 Summary 100 Chapter 5 Conclusions 103 5.1 Summary of the Contributions 103 5.2 Future Works 105 국문초록 125 Acknowledgements 127Docto