Principles of Fusion of Inertial Navigation and Dynamic Vision

The possibility of fusion of navigation data obtained by two separate navigation systems (strapdown inertial one and dynamic vision based one) is considered in this paper. The attention is primarily focused on principles of validation of separate estimates before their use in a combined algorithm. The inertial navigation system (INS) based on sensors of medium level quality has been analyzed on one side, while a visual navigation method is based on the analysis of a sequence of images of ground landmarks produced by an on-board TV camera. The accuracy of INS estimations is being improved continuously by optimal estimation of a flying object's angular orientation while the visual navigation system offers discrete corrections during the intervals of presence of landmarks inside the camera's field of view. The concept is illustrated by dynamic simulation of a realistic flight scenario