Surfel-based lightweight LiDAR-inertial SLAM system for UAV pose estimation

The easily occluded nature of satellite signals poses significant challenges to the pose estimation of small unmanned aerial vehicles. In this paper, a lightweight LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) -inertial SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) system specifically tailored for UAV pose est...

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Main Authors: LIU Chang, ZHAO Zixu, SHANG Yuanfeng, QIU Dawei, SHI Jinglin, LIU Jie, JIANG Ji
Format: Article
Language:zho
Published: Editorial Department of Advances in Aeronautical Science and Engineering 2025-06-01
Series:Hangkong gongcheng jinzhan
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Online Access:http://hkgcjz.cnjournals.com/hkgcjz/article/abstract/2023224
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author LIU Chang
ZHAO Zixu
SHANG Yuanfeng
QIU Dawei
SHI Jinglin
LIU Jie
JIANG Ji
author_facet LIU Chang
ZHAO Zixu
SHANG Yuanfeng
QIU Dawei
SHI Jinglin
LIU Jie
JIANG Ji
author_sort LIU Chang
collection DOAJ
description The easily occluded nature of satellite signals poses significant challenges to the pose estimation of small unmanned aerial vehicles. In this paper, a lightweight LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) -inertial SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) system specifically tailored for UAV pose estimation is proposed. The proposed surfel-based LiDAR point cloud registration algorithm achieves point cloud registration and pose estimation by minimizing the distance between points and surfels, while reducing the algorithm′s computational complexity and ensuring lightweight operation by discarding un-stable surface elements. The framework of integrating this algorithm into the error-state Kalman filter based LiDAR-inertial SLAM system is also designed at the same time. The proposed SLAM system is evaluated through experiments conducted on experimental datasets. The results demonstrate superior pose estimation accuracy compared to existing LiDAR-Inertial navigation systems. Furthermore,while maintaining the performance in terms of runtime, the proposed technique reduces the average position deviation by 37.63% and the average attitude deviation by 33.94% in outdoor satellite signal denied environments.
format Article
id doaj-art-6b62bb40552d47e9ae5da5878f191af0
institution DOAJ
issn 1674-8190
language zho
publishDate 2025-06-01
publisher Editorial Department of Advances in Aeronautical Science and Engineering
record_format Article
series Hangkong gongcheng jinzhan
spelling doaj-art-6b62bb40552d47e9ae5da5878f191af02025-08-20T03:11:51ZzhoEditorial Department of Advances in Aeronautical Science and EngineeringHangkong gongcheng jinzhan1674-81902025-06-0116312413110.16615/j.cnki.1674-8190.2025.03.13hkgcjz-16-3-124Surfel-based lightweight LiDAR-inertial SLAM system for UAV pose estimationLIU Chang0ZHAO Zixu1SHANG Yuanfeng2QIU Dawei3SHI Jinglin4LIU Jie5JIANG Ji6Wireless Communication Technology Research Center, Institute of Computing Technology, CAS, Beijing 100190, ChinaWireless Communication Technology Research Center, Institute of Computing Technology, CAS, Beijing 100190, ChinaWireless Communication Technology Research Center, Institute of Computing Technology, CAS, Beijing 100190, ChinaWireless Communication Technology Research Center, Institute of Computing Technology, CAS, Beijing 100190, ChinaWireless Communication Technology Research Center, Institute of Computing Technology, CAS, Beijing 100190, ChinaCollaborative Innovation Center for Management and Application Technology of UAV, Yunnan Police College, Kunming 650223, ChinaCollaborative Innovation Center for Management and Application Technology of UAV, Yunnan Police College, Kunming 650223, ChinaThe easily occluded nature of satellite signals poses significant challenges to the pose estimation of small unmanned aerial vehicles. In this paper, a lightweight LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) -inertial SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) system specifically tailored for UAV pose estimation is proposed. The proposed surfel-based LiDAR point cloud registration algorithm achieves point cloud registration and pose estimation by minimizing the distance between points and surfels, while reducing the algorithm′s computational complexity and ensuring lightweight operation by discarding un-stable surface elements. The framework of integrating this algorithm into the error-state Kalman filter based LiDAR-inertial SLAM system is also designed at the same time. The proposed SLAM system is evaluated through experiments conducted on experimental datasets. The results demonstrate superior pose estimation accuracy compared to existing LiDAR-Inertial navigation systems. Furthermore,while maintaining the performance in terms of runtime, the proposed technique reduces the average position deviation by 37.63% and the average attitude deviation by 33.94% in outdoor satellite signal denied environments.http://hkgcjz.cnjournals.com/hkgcjz/article/abstract/2023224uav pose estimationlightweight lidar-inertial slammulti-sensor fusionpoint cloud registration
spellingShingle LIU Chang
ZHAO Zixu
SHANG Yuanfeng
QIU Dawei
SHI Jinglin
LIU Jie
JIANG Ji
Surfel-based lightweight LiDAR-inertial SLAM system for UAV pose estimation
Hangkong gongcheng jinzhan
uav pose estimation
lightweight lidar-inertial slam
multi-sensor fusion
point cloud registration
title Surfel-based lightweight LiDAR-inertial SLAM system for UAV pose estimation
title_full Surfel-based lightweight LiDAR-inertial SLAM system for UAV pose estimation
title_fullStr Surfel-based lightweight LiDAR-inertial SLAM system for UAV pose estimation
title_full_unstemmed Surfel-based lightweight LiDAR-inertial SLAM system for UAV pose estimation
title_short Surfel-based lightweight LiDAR-inertial SLAM system for UAV pose estimation
title_sort surfel based lightweight lidar inertial slam system for uav pose estimation
topic uav pose estimation
lightweight lidar-inertial slam
multi-sensor fusion
point cloud registration
url http://hkgcjz.cnjournals.com/hkgcjz/article/abstract/2023224
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AT zhaozixu surfelbasedlightweightlidarinertialslamsystemforuavposeestimation
AT shangyuanfeng surfelbasedlightweightlidarinertialslamsystemforuavposeestimation
AT qiudawei surfelbasedlightweightlidarinertialslamsystemforuavposeestimation
AT shijinglin surfelbasedlightweightlidarinertialslamsystemforuavposeestimation
AT liujie surfelbasedlightweightlidarinertialslamsystemforuavposeestimation
AT jiangji surfelbasedlightweightlidarinertialslamsystemforuavposeestimation