Magnetic Field Aided Vehicle Localization with Acceleration Correction

This paper presents a novel approach for vehicle localization by leveraging the ambient magnetic field within a given environment. Our approach involves introducing a global mathematical function for magnetic field mapping, combined with Euclidean distance-based matching technique for accurately estimating vehicle position in suburban settings. The mathematical function based map structure ensures efficiency and scalability of the magnetic field map, while the batch processing based localization provides continuity in pose estimation. Additionally, we establish a bias estimation pipeline for an onboard accelerometer by utilizing the updated poses obtained through magnetic field matching. Our work aims to showcase the potential utility of magnetic fields as supplementary aids to existing localization methods, particularly beneficial in scenarios where Global Positioning System (GPS) signal is restricted or where cost-effective navigation systems are required.

Learning Flight Control Systems from Human Demonstrations and Real-Time Uncertainty-Informed Interventions

This paper describes a methodology for learning flight control systems from human demonstrations and interventions while considering the estimated uncertainty in the learned models. The proposed approach uses human demonstrations to train an initial model via imitation learning and then iteratively, improve its performance by using real-time human interventions. The aim of the interventions is to correct undesired behaviors and adapt the model to changes in the task dynamics. The learned model uncertainty is estimated in real-time via Monte Carlo Dropout and the human supervisor is cued for intervention via an audiovisual signal when this uncertainty exceeds a predefined threshold. This proposed approach is validated in an autonomous quadrotor landing task on both fixed and moving platforms. It is shown that with this algorithm, a human can rapidly teach a flight task to an unmanned aerial vehicle via demonstrating expert trajectories and then adapt the learned model by intervening when the learned controller performs any undesired maneuver, the task changes, and/or the model uncertainty exceeds a threshold