On autonomous indoor flights: High-quality real-time localization using low-cost sensors

Indoor hovering objects such as quadrotors need to be controlled continuously to hold their position in space. In order to support fully autonomous flights of these copters, the necessary position control including all related information transfers have to be provided in a fully decentralized and autonomous manner. We discuss challenges related to flight control based on our Autonomous Localization Framework (ALF), which provides scalable and decentralized localization in GPS-denied areas. Using a sensor network based on the IEEE 802.15.4 communication protocol, continuous position maintenance is feasible but, unfortunately, in no way stable. Therefore, we introduce a low-cost sensor array, which reduces the system dynamics and allows a robust position control of the platform.