Hybrid Positioning Method for Quadcopter Indoor/Outdoor Positioning Using Ultra-Wide Band and Global Positioning System

Supported by the miniaturization and cost reduction of electronic components, the development of indoor autonomous and safe drones for humans continues to evolve. This development also demands the use of drones to transition between indoor and outdoor environments. However, the commonly used GPS technology in drones has low accuracy indoors due to weak signals obstructed by objects. Therefore, the sensor fusion method between Ultra-Wide Band (UWB) and GPS is employed to overcome the limitations of GPS, namely low accuracy in complex environments, as well as to address the limitations of UWB, where accuracy decreases with increasing distance between UWB devices. This method aims to reduce position error compared to single GPS measurements. However, this technology is still rare in drones. Therefore, the author designed a Hybrid Positioning Method for Indoor/Outdoor Positioning on Quadcopters using Ultra-Wide Band (UWB) and Global Positioning System. The research was conducted in areas with variables such as open, semi-open, and closed roofs Trials included stationary tests and missions transitioning from outdoor to indoor and indoor to outdoor. The results showed an RMS error of 14.77 cm, 8.14 cm, and 8.67 cm for outdoor, semioutdoor, and indoor areas, respectively from the stationary tests. Following that, there was an improvement of 68.13% in autonomous quadcopter missions from outdoor to indoor conditions and 85.08% in missions from indoor to outdoor.