Federated filter based multi-sensor fault-tolerant altitude determination system for UAV

An altitude determination system for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is presented in this paper, in which a multi-sensor measurement system is designed by using barometric altitude sensor, GPS, and accelerometer, and the UAV altitude is determined by the federated filter based fusion estimation method. The measurement information fusion problem of the sensors with different output frequency is resolved by designing the subsystems respectively. Calculation method for initial value is presented based on the information fusion theory. The re-initialization time after fault isolation of the system is reduced greatly. The simulation results show that the altitude determination system is characterized by high precision, good reliability, and fast fault restoration.