3D Mapping for Autonomous Quadrotor Aircraft

Abstract

Autonomous navigation in global positioning system (GPS)-denied environments is one of the challenging problems in robotics. For small flying robots, autonomous navigation is even more challenging. These robots have limitations such as fast dynamics and limited sensor payload. To develop an autonomous robot, many challenges including two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) perception, path planning, exploration, and obstacle avoidance should be addressed in real-time and with limited resources. In this paper, a complete solution for autonomous navigation of a quadrotor rotorcraft is presented. The proposed solution includes 2D and 3D mapping with several autonomous behaviors such as target localization and displaying maps on multiple remote tablets. Multiple tests were performed in simulated and indoor/outdoor environments to show the effectiveness of the proposed solution.