FWAF-VID: A Flapping-Wing Aggressive Flight Benchmark Dataset for Visual-Inertial Localization

Accurate state estimation of micro aerial vehicles (MAVs) in high-speed and dynamic environments poses a significant challenge for visual-inertial odometry (VIO) algorithms. Flapping-wing aerial vehicles (FWAVs), as an emerging flight platform, have attracted significant attention for stealth capabilities and efficient flight characteristics. Despite the availability of numerous MAV visual-inertial datasets for six-degree-of-freedom (6-DoF) state estimation, these datasets are not applicable for FWAVs with pronounced vibrations and agile maneuverability. To address this gap, we propose a large-scale flapping-wing aggressive flight visual-inertial dataset FWAF-VID. It contains diverse integrations of synchronized onboard cameras and IMU sensors. A total of 28 sequences include static flapping, calibration, and real-world flights collected in outdoor and indoor environments. The 17 flight sequences feature variations in illuminations, speeds, trajectories, camera perspectives, and flight modalities. We provide precisely aligned ground truth RTK and UWB measurements for algorithm evaluation. Furthermore, a comprehensive benchmark comparison is conducted, qualitatively and quantitatively evaluating the positioning accuracy of state-of-the-art VIO algorithms. The experimental results indicate that despite the degradation in localization accuracy in high-dynamic environments, FWAF-VID can effectively support the further development of VIO algorithms for FWAVs. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first onboard benchmark dataset tailored for aggressive flight in flapping-wing airborne platforms.