Enhanced UAV Navigation Systems through Sensor Fusion with Trident Quaternions

Integrated Navigation (IN) techniques have emerged as a promising solution by combining multiple sensor measurements, such as those obtained from Inertial Measurement Units (IMU), Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), and vision-based sensors. IN approaches offer significant advantages, including robustness, improved accuracy, and the ability to overcome the limitations of individual sensors. Among the various mathematical tools employed in IN, quaternions have garnered considerable attention for estimating a vehicle's attitude (orientation). Quaternions provide an elegant and compact representation of orientation, avoiding the limitations of traditional Euler angles, such as singularities and ambiguity.