Integrating IMU and optical flow sensors for enhanced drone velocity control

This paper proposes a vision-aided system to control the horizontal velocity of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). It fuses data from an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) and optical flow sensor to measure horizontal velocity. The IMU provides angular rate and acceleration data, while the optical flow sensor provides a two-dimensional incremental displacement of the scene in view. Fusing these complementary data sources facilitates velocity control without Global Positioning System (GPS) dependency. A series of simulations validated the system's effectiveness, performed at lower altitudes where the optical flow sensor functions best. Results demonstrate that fusing the sensors enables accurate horizontal velocity control, reducing position drift and navigation error compared to using inertial data alone.