Autonomous UAV navigation in a GPS-denied outdoor environment using discontinuous visual contact with fiducial markers: auburn REU on SMART UAVs 2021 technical report#CSSE21-01

Autonomous navigation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) has become an increasingly popular area of study as technology has advanced over the years. One technology that has been developed for use in the autonomous navigation of UAVs is fiducial markers. Fiducial markers are a type of physical tag that can be placed in an environment to assist with UAV localization, navigation, and landing. A UAV can identify and scan a fiducial marker with an onboard camera and take appropriate action based on the data received from the marker. Previous research using only fiducial markers and onboard sensors for UAV navigation in a GPS-denied environment requires the camera to have constant visual contact with at least one marker. This paper explores the use of fiducial markers for outdoor UAV navigation in a GPS-denied environment without the restriction of constant visual contact with a marker. Physical implementation and formal methods are used to study the performance and overall viability of this solution.