Review of UAV positioning in indoor environments and new proposal based on US measurements

Abstract

The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has increased dramatically in recent years because of their huge potential in both civil and military applications and the decrease in prize of UAVs products. Location detection can be implemented through GNSS technology in outdoor environments, nevertheless its accuracy could be insufficient for some applications. Usability of GNSS in indoor environments is limited due to the signal attenuation as it cross through walls or the absence of line of sight. Considering the big market opportunity of indoor UAVs many researchers are devoting their efforts in the exploration of solutions for their positioning. Indoor UAV applications include location based services (LBS), advertisement, ambient assisted living environments or emergency response. This work is an update survey in UAV indoor localization, so it can provide a guide and technical comparison perspective of different technologies with their main advantages and drawbacks. Finally, we propose an approach based on an ultrasonic local positioning system.