Unmanned ground vehicle state estimation using an unmanned air vehicle

Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs) have several advantages and disadvantages compared with Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs). Both systems have different mobility and perception abilities. UAV systems have extended perception, tracking, and mobility capabilities compared with UGVs. UGVs have more intimate mobility and manipulation capabilities. This paper presents the research that has been conducted in the collaboration of UAVs and UGVs. This research demonstrates the use of a passive UAV system for tracking and state estimation of a UGV. This paper presents the UAV sensors and avionics, the algorithms for combining the UGV kinematics equations, and the geo-positioning algorithms used on the UAV to form a robust UGV state estimation. Experimental results are presented.