Autonomous drone control using UWB indoor positioning and communication.

Abstract: This thesis aims to develop and test a autonomous drone system with the use of Ultrawideband(UWB)-indoor positioning system and communication. New indoor positioning technologies are the key to autonomous vehicles where existing once such as GPS is not available in the indoor environments. The drone is an agile and stable air craft able to fly in the areas and spaces of a broad range of sizes in both outdoor and indoor situations. The goals of this thesis is to build a prototype for an autonomous drone capable of receiving a signal over UWB communication and then fly to the received location using a UWB positioning system. The finished prototype was tested. The results show that it can find its own location with an accuracy of around 10 cm inside the UWB positioning system consisting of four anchors. It was also able to receive a new location over UWB communication link and send back its own current location in the two way communication. The drone can compare its current location to the wanted received one and adjust the signals to the motors accordingly to fly to that position. Adding more sensors such as a magnetometer, barometer or another UWB tag while cutting down the weight of the drone would be a big improvement in the future. This would allow the drone to fly for a longer time.