Synthetic GNSS for drone navigation

Purpose and goal

There are limitations in existing solutions for GNSS-free drone navigation. They can be heavy, expensive or sensitive to adverse conditions. I-Conic has done a feasibility study which showed that we have a software technology that is relatively cheap and can overcome some of the problems that existing image-based navigation technologies struggle with. The proposed project intends to take the technology from feasibility study to prototype to enable deeper business discussions with larger actors (OEM) in the field.

Expected effects and result

The project aims to validate the technology by transforming existing software into a prototype that matches the 3D models to achieve position determination. In addition to synthetic GNSS navigation, an alternative support for the inertial system is also created. By supplementing existing methods with I-CONICs technology, we want to show that drone navigation can be made more reliable and used in more situations than is otherwise possible. This can be the basis for discussions with larger actors on the market for further product development.

Planned approach and implementation

We have planned the following activities in the project: Requirements analysis, system design Based on dialogue with actors in drone navigation, collect requirements and make an overall system design Surface model in real time Based on existing software, create surface models in real time. Surface model matching Based on existing software for image matching, matching between drone surface models and reference surface model. Compute Synthetic GNSS Navigation Implementation Implementation of the entire chain to a finished prototype, field tests, accuracy analysis