Nonlinear Deterministic Observer for Inertial Navigation Using Ultra-Wideband and IMU Sensor Fusion

Abstract

Navigation in Global Positioning Systems (GPS)-denied environments requires robust estimators reliant on fusion of inertial sensors able to estimate rigid-body's orientation, position, and linear velocity. Ultra-wideband (UWB) and Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) represent low-cost measurement technology that can be utilized for successful Inertial Navigation. This paper presents a nonlinear deterministic navigation observer in a continuous form that directly employs UWB and IMU measurements. The estimator is developed on the extended Special Euclidean Group \mathbb{SE}_{2}\mathbb{SE}_{2} (3) and ensures exponential convergence of the closed loop error signals starting from almost any initial condition. The discrete version of the proposed observer is tested using a publicly available real-world dataset of a drone flight.