Enhanced Model-Based Dead Reckoning via Disturbance Estimation

In global navigation satellite system (GNSS)-denied environments, auxiliary navigation sensors are commonly employed for position estimation. However, in multirotors with limited payload, cost, and computational resources, the use of additional sensors may be constrained. As an alternative, dynamics-model-based dead reckoning can be applied. Under real-world conditions, disturbances such as wind can cause dead reckoning errors to accumulate. Therefore, dedicated sensors such as anemometers may be required to obtain disturbance information. This paper proposes a model-based indirect disturbance estimation algorithm that estimates disturbances during GNSS-available periods using only inertial measurement unit(IMU), GNSS receiver and dynamics model. The estimated disturbance is then used to compensate for dead reckoning during GNSS outages. Simulation results show that compensating for the disturbance estimated by the proposed algorithm improves dead reckoning performance.