ACCURACY EVALUATION OF THE POSITIONING OF RPA BY IMAGE

The objective of this work is to evaluate the accuracy of the positioning calculation and the guidance of Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) using concepts of photogrammetry from images generated by onboard cameras, aiming at autonomous air navigation. The technique of image navigation uses orthomosaic and Digital Surface Models (DSM) as a reference and images obtained by the onboard camera during flight. When corresponding points are found between these images and the orthomosaic it is possible to calculate the position and attitudes of the perspective center of the camera. With the applied methodology it was possible to verify average errors in the order of 0.5 meters in the positioning and 0.5º in the angle of attitudes of the camera. So the navigation through the image can reach values equal to or higher than the GNSS receivers without differential correction. Therefore, navigating through the image is a good alternative to enable autonomous navigation.