Targeted Autonomous Indoor Flight of a Rotary-Wing MAV

The paper is focused on the development of algorithms for Autonomous Rotary-Wing Micro Aerial Vehicles (RW MAVs) in indoor GPS-denied environments. In such missions, GPS may be unavailable and the map of the environment is a priory unknown. This paper presents a modular system consisted of the required components for flying RW MAVs in indoor environments. These components include the methods for MAV’s position estimation, planning a flight path toward a target location while taking into account detected obstacles and maneuverability limitations of the vehicle, and for calculating flight commands to fly along the planed path. The methodology is based on a lightweight laser range finder as a sole onboard sensor. Moreover, only one of the system components requires knowledge about the MAV’s dynamic model. The simulation results illustrate the effectiveness of the system modules.