Optical multi-camera UAV positioning system via ArUco fiducial markers

In this paper, a multi-camera positioning system for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) via ArUco fiducial markers is proposed. Alternatively to the commonly used Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) technology, or to the positioning services provided by the mobile networks, the proposed system makes use of a set of optical cameras and a set of ArUco fiducial markers embedded in the UAV's frame. This offers a simple and scalable system in which a variable amount of cameras can detect any number of UAVs. A static analysis of the system has been carried out, in which a set of cameras mounted on the ground look at the target from different distances. The collected results exhibit a promising performance in terms of the precision of the system. Moreover, the effect of a weighted average between different camera estimates has been investigated, showing that it effectively compensates for the effect of the increasing distance between cameras and a target.