Aerospace Instrument-Making Annotation << Back RECURSIVE MAXIMUM LIKELIHOOD ESTIMATION OF UAV INERTIAL NAVIGATION SYSTEM POSITIONING ERRORS IN TERRAIN AIDED NAVIGATION I.V. Solovev This paper presents a novel recursive algorithm of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) terrain aided navigation intended to correct the positioning errors of inertial navigation system. The algorithm uses a numerical approximation of likelihood function and determination of its maximum value and provides the estimates of the errors as well as the corresponding covariance matrix. The algorithm does not impose any constraints on UAV motion within the region mapped in the terrain elevation database. Maximum likelihood estimation ensures the algorithmic and computational simplicity of the algorithm in comparison with those based on the Bayesian approach and makes it possible to obtain a Cramér – Rao lower bound for estimate covariance for a given terrain. The simulation results show that the algorithm provides fast convergence and high accuracy and can be useful in the onboard software of prospective UAV. Keywords: unmanned aerial vehicle, terrain aided navigation. Contacts: E-mail: i.solovieff@yandex.ru Pp. 09-22.