An open-source navigation system for micro aerial vehicles

This paper presents an open-source indoor navigation system for quadrotor micro aerial vehicles (MAVs), implemented in the ROS framework. The system requires a minimal set of sensors including a planar laser range-finder and an inertial measurement unit. We address the issues of autonomous control, state estimation, path-planning, and teleoperation, and provide interfaces that allow the system to seamlessly integrate with existing ROS navigation tools for 2D SLAM and 3D mapping. All components run in real time onboard the MAV, with state estimation and control operating at 1 kHz. A major focus in our work is modularity and abstraction, allowing the system to be both flexible and hardware-independent. All the software and hardware components which we have developed, as well as documentation and test data, are available online.