Research on collaborative localization technology of UAVs based on INS and UWB

Abstract The trend of miniaturization and low-cost development in cluster systems restricts the ability of all UAVs within the cluster system to be equipped with expensive high-precision navigation equipment. Relying solely on their low-precision INS (inertial navigation system) will cause navigation errors to quickly diverge. To improve the navigation accuracy of UAVs, a distributed collaborative localization method combining leader and wingman is proposed, and the corresponding mathematical model is derived. The wingman obtains the position information and distance information of the leader through UWB (Ultra-Wide Band) devices and then applies the Kalman filter algorithm to fuse it with its inertial navigation solution information, thereby improving the positioning accuracy of the wingman. On this basis, to address the issue of height channel divergence when the number of leaders decreases, it is proposed to add a barometer and maintain collaborative positioning accuracy by introducing height information assistance. Finally, the feasibility of this method was verified through mathematical simulation, and the simulation results show that compared with inertial navigation, the collaborative navigation and positioning method is more suitable for long-endurance navigation.