Patent attributes
A vision-aided inertial navigation system (VINS) comprises an image source for producing image data along a trajectory. The VINS further comprises an inertial measurement unit (IMU) configured to produce IMU data indicative of motion of the VINS and an odometry unit configured to produce odometry data. The VINS further comprises a processor configured to compute, based on the image data, the IMU data, and the odometry data, state estimates for a position and orientation of the VINS for poses of the VINS along the trajectory. The processor maintains a state vector having states for a position and orientation of the VINS and positions within the environment for observed features for a sliding window of poses. The processor applies a sliding window filter to compute, based on the odometry data, constraints between the poses within the sliding window and compute, based on the constraints, the state estimates.
