# RaD-VIO: Rangefinder-aided Downward Visual-Inertial Odometry

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1810.08704 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1810.08704/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 19 Oct 2018.

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [RP-VIO: Robust Plane-based Visual-Inertial Odometry for Dynamic Environments](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.10400/) (2021)
- [Structure-Invariant Range-Visual-Inertial Odometry](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.04633/) (2024)

## Abstract (arXiv)

State-of-the-art forward facing monocular visual-inertial odometry algorithms are often brittle in practice, especially whilst dealing with initialisation and motion in directions that render the state unobservable. In such cases having a reliable complementary odometry algorithm enables robust and resilient flight. Using the common local planarity assumption, we present a fast, dense, and direct frame-to-frame visual-inertial odometry algorithm for downward facing cameras that minimises a joint cost function involving a homography based photometric cost and an IMU regularisation term. Via extensive evaluation in a variety of scenarios we demonstrate superior performance than existing state-of-the-art downward facing odometry algorithms for Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs).