Optical Measurement Methods for Attitude Determination of Unmanned Aerial Systems

Abstract

This article deals with a concept of attitude and position determination of ultra-small airplanes. We aim on evaluation of airfoil characteristics for very low Reynolds numbers. The work is significant for airplane performance evaluation especially with application of swarms of UAVs being released from bigger airplanes. We use a time-of-flight camera to determine the position and orientation of an ultra-small airplane. In the article, we evaluate multiple optical measurement methods, the principle of the airplane performance evaluation from the flight data and precision of this method using a time-of-flight camera.