A Distributed Radio Beacon/IMU/Altimeter Integrated Localization Scheme with Uncertain Initial Beacon Locations for...

Area of Science:

• Space exploration
• Robotics and autonomous systems
• Navigation and control

Background:

• Lunar missions increasingly rely on ground infrastructure like radio beacons for navigation.
• Existing localization methods often fail to account for uncertainties in initial beacon locations, a common practical issue.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a robust localization scheme for lunar landers that accommodates uncertain initial radio beacon locations.
• To simultaneously estimate the lander's position and update beacon configurations.

Main Methods:

• Proposed a radio beacon/inertial measurement unit (IMU)/altimeter localization scheme.
• Designed a sparse extended information filter (SEIF) for simultaneous lander localization and beacon configuration updates.
• Devised an adaptive iterated sparse extended hybrid filter (AISEHF) by modifying SEIF with hybrid propagation and damping iteration.

Main Results:

• The proposed AISEHF method significantly reduced position estimation errors caused by uncertain beacon locations.
• Demonstrated an effective trade-off between estimation accuracy and computational efficiency.
• Validated the robustness of the localization scheme under uncertain initial conditions.

Conclusions:

• The developed AISEHF offers a robust and efficient solution for lunar lander localization with uncertain beacon data.
• This method is a promising candidate for enhancing the precision and reliability of future lunar exploration missions.