Unit dual quaternion-based pose optimisation for visual runway observations

Abstract

This study addresses the pose estimation problem of an aircraft runway using visual observations in a landing approach scenario. The authors utilised the fact that the geodetic coordinates of most runways are known precisely with highly visible markers. Thus, the runway observations can increase the level of situational awareness during the landing approach, providing additional redundancy of navigation and less reliance on global positioning system. A novel pose optimisation algorithm is proposed utilising unit dual quaternion for the runway corner observations obtained from a monocular camera. The estimated runway pose is further fused with an inertial navigation system in an extended Kalman filter. An open-source flight simulator is used to collect and process the visual and flight dataset during the landing approach, demonstrating reliable runway pose estimates and the improved inertial navigation solution.

Keywords

• aircraft
• pose estimation
• inertial navigation
• aerospace simulation
• nonlinear filters
• global positioning system
• kalman filters
• unit dual quaternion-based
• visual runway observations
• estimation problem
• aircraft runway
• visual observations
• landing approach scenario
• geodetic coordinates
• runways
• highly visible markers
• situational awareness
• additional redundancy
• less reliance
• global positioning system
• optimisation algorithm
• runway corner observations
• estimated runway
• inertial navigation system
• open-source flight simulator
• visual flight dataset
• reliable runway
• improved inertial navigation solution