Integrated Navigation System for a Low-Cost Quadrotor Aerial Vehicle in the Presence of Rotor Influences

The performance of navigation sensors may be seriously affected by the operating rotors of a drone. To address this kind of disturbance, a low-cost multisensor integrated navigation system was developed for a quadrotor aerial vehicle (QAV). The navigation board integrates a global positioning system (GPS) module, triaxial gyroscope, accelerometer, magnetometer, and a digital barometer. The sensors’ outputs were mathematically modeled and subsequently used in the integration Kalman filter. The data processing consisted of several steps: prefiltering, centralized filtering, and feedback. On the basis of onboard tests, the stochastic models of sensors were established in the presence of vibration, revolution, and ventilation caused by the QAV rotor’s operation, and in particular, its electromagnetic and aerodynamic characteristics. Flight experiments indicate that the proposed integrated navigation system can significantly improve flight accuracy and reliability.