Phased Array Radio Navigation System on UAVs: Real-Time Implementation of In-flight Calibration

Abstract

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) require an alternative positioning system to the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) for safety-critical operations since GNSS is prone to unintentional or malicious electromagnetic interference. As a possible redundant positioning solution independent of GNSS, the phased array radio system (PARS) has proved its potential as a local navigation system for UAVs. Previous work suggested an automatic calibration algorithm to estimate the precise PARS ground antenna orientation to improve PARS positioning accuracy. This algorithm was then integrated with PARS- and barometer-aided inertial navigation system (INS) based on multiplicative extended Kalman filter (MEKF) to enable in-flight calibration when GNSS is available. This paper presents the implementation of the previously suggested aided-INS with in-flight calibration mode for real-time operation.