A low-cost attitude estimation system for UAV application

Abstract

In this paper, a low-cost attitude estimation system is introduced. The system is developed with MEMS sensors including rate gyros and accelerometers. Composition and principle of the system are described. The rigid body kinematics is modeled with quaternion, such that eliminates attitude estimation singularities. The real-time Kalman filter is designed. Experiments were conducted in both static and dynamic conditions. The experimental results demonstrate that the algorithm and hardware are feasible and suitable for the application where critical accuracy and real-time requirements are needed.