Lightweight GNSS/IRS integrated navigation system for UAV vehicles

The advent of new sensors allows to create smaller and lighter inertial systems than ever before: thanks to their compact size, low cost and low power consumption, they can be installed on flying platforms such as UAV systems, to improve the reliability of autonomous navigation. The merging of the Inertial Reference System (IRS) and GNSS data through the Kalman filter gives a significantly improve to the autonomous navigation performance both in terms of accuracy and integrity. This paper is focused on the methods and techniques of GNSS integrated with an Inertial Reference System and their applications in UAV autonomous navigation systems.