Analysis of an Improved IMU-Based Observer for Multirotor Helicopters

Multirotor helicopters are increasingly popular platforms in the robotics community. Making them fully autonomous requires accurate state estimation. We review an improved dynamic model for multirotor helicopters and analyze the observability properties of an estimator based on this model. The model allows better use of IMU data to facilitate accurate state estimates even when updates from a sensor measuring position become less frequent and less accurate. We demonstrate that the position update rate can be cut in half versus typical approaches while maintaining the same accuracy. We also J. Macdonald · R. Beard Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, USA Tel.: +1-801-422-4012 Fax: +1-801-422-0201 J. Macdonald E-mail: [email protected] R. Beard E-mail: [email protected] R. Leishman · T. McLain Department of Mechanical Engineering, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, USA Tel.: +1-801-422-2625 Fax: +1-801-422-0516 R. Leishman E-mail: [email protected] T. McLain E-mail: [email protected] 2 John Macdonald et al. find that velocity estimates are at least twice as accurate independent of the position update rate.