The new navigation system for UAVs will work an order of magnitude more accurately than GPS

ITMO employees have created a local navigation system for drones, which was named Vostok. The invention calculates the drone's speed and position with very high accuracy, which is an order of magnitude higher than that of GPS.

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The development can be used where conventional satellite navigation systems do not operate. For example, in conditions of dense urban development, enclosed spaces or tunnels. In addition, such precise positioning makes it possible to perform particularly complex tasks, such as boarding a moving icebreaker in heavy fog.

"Our method is based on the classical principles of radio navigation and direction finding and is similar to talking to two people who are standing in one place and talking through megaphones. If you want to hear one, stand in front of his megaphone, stand in front of the other, and if you need to hear both, stand in the middle," said Timofey Melnikov, the project leader and a first—year graduate student at the ITMO Information Technology Security Faculty.

He explained that in Vostok, two LEDs are used as megaphones, which are turned against each other at a certain angle. They send light signals at different frequencies to the photodetectors of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

"Photodetectors receive signals, and a special module amplifies and processes them, calculates the coordinates of the drone and transmits the data directly on board to the on-board computer. In real time, we see the exact location of the drone, as well as changes in the height and angles of inclination of the sides," Melnikov said.

Currently, drones navigate and plot a route using satellite data (for example, GPS or GLONASS), however, in difficult conditions, this system can operate with high error.

Read more in the exclusive Izvestia article:

Light on the way: the new navigation system for UAVs will work an order of magnitude more accurately than GPS