UAV attitude estimation using Unscented Kalman Filter and TRIAD

A main problem in autonomous vehicles in general, and in acpUAV in particular, is the determination of the attitude angles. A novel method to estimate these angles using off-the-shelf components is presented. This paper introduces an acAHRS based on the acUKF using the acTRIAD algorithm as the observation model. The performance of the method is assessed through simulations and compared to an acAHRS based on the acEKF. The paper presents field experiment results using a real fixed-wing acUAV. The results show good real-time performance with low computational cost in a microcontroller.