UAV Inertial–Vision–GNSS Integrated Navigation System: Product Overview & Technical Guide

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are becoming increasingly autonomous, intelligent, and mission-capable. As missions expand into complex airspace and demand higher reliability, the need for accurate, stable, and redundant navigation methods has grown sharply. Traditional GNSS-only navigation can no longer meet the requirements of high-precision flight, especially in environments where satellite signals are weak, blocked, or intentionally interfered with.

To address these challenges, our company has developed a lightweight, compact, and highly reliable Inertial–Vision–GNSS Integrated Navigation System, designed specifically for UAVs requiring accurate attitude, velocity, and position information during all stages of flight.

1. System Overview

Built on our advanced research capabilities in inertial navigation and onboard image processing, the system integrates inertial sensing, visible-light vision processing, and GNSS positioning into one compact module.

This integrated approach ensures:

• High-precision navigation under various visibility conditions

• Stable autonomous flight even when GNSS performance degrades

• Reliable operation throughout takeoff, cruising, and landing

Engineered for UAV platforms, the product features:

• Lightweight and compact structure

• Low power consumption

• High reliability and cost-effective performance

This makes it ideal for small and medium UAVs performing reconnaissance, mapping, inspection, and autonomous landing tasks.

2. Core Functions & Capabilities

2.1 Main Functions

The system provides several advanced onboard capabilities:

• Visible-light imaging & onboard image processing
  Real-time scene capture and processing for visual feature extraction.

• Multi-source integrated navigation

  • Inertial Navigation

  • Vision-based Scene-Matching Navigation

  • Inertial–Vision–GNSS Fusion Navigation

• Autonomous Navigation Outputs

  • Attitude

  • Velocity

  • Position
    These outputs enable the UAV to complete autonomous missions with high stability and accuracy.

3. Technical Specifications

Under normal UAV cruising and landing visibility conditions (visibility >10 km, clear runway or feature targets), the system offers the following performance:

3.1 Navigation Accuracy

• Autonomous Positioning Accuracy:
  ≤ 100 m (RMS) when operating at 1–5 km flight altitude.

This level of accuracy ensures safe and dependable autonomous landing, even without perfect GNSS availability.

3.2 Physical Characteristics

With its compact footprint and low power draw, the system can be integrated into a wide range of UAV platforms without overloading the aircraft.

4. System Architecture

The UAV Inertial–Vision–GNSS Integrated Navigation System consists of three major subsystems:

1. Visible-Light Camera Unit
   Captures external scenes for feature matching and landing guidance.

2. Data-Processing Unit
   Executes image processing, scene matching, and multi-sensor fusion algorithms.

3. Inertial Navigation Unit
   Provides attitude, angular rate, and acceleration measurements for continuous navigation.

These components work together seamlessly to deliver robust, real-time navigation data.

5. External Interfaces

5.1 Mechanical Interface

• System dimensions: 170 mm × 142 mm × 116 mm

• Weight: ~2 kg

The product supports two installation methods:

• Bottom mounting

• Side mounting

Each installation surface includes:

• Four M4 mounting holes, arranged with a spacing of 134 mm × 60 mm

• The UAV airframe secures the device using four M4 screws

This flexible mounting design supports integration with fixed-wing, rotary-wing, and VTOL UAV platforms.

6. Application Scenarios

This integrated navigation system is suitable for UAV missions requiring stable and reliable navigation performance, including:

• Autonomous takeoff and landing

• Long-range or high-altitude cruising

• Reconnaissance and surveillance

• Power line, pipeline, or maritime inspection

• Mapping and photogrammetry

• UAVs operating in GNSS-challenged environments

By combining inertial, visual, and satellite navigation techniques, the system offers robust performance even in complex real-world environments.

Conclusion

Our UAV Inertial–Vision–GNSS Integrated Navigation System represents a next-generation solution for intelligent and autonomous UAV navigation. With its compact design, low power consumption, and advanced multi-source fusion algorithms, it ensures precise and stable navigation throughout the entire flight envelope—from takeoff to landing.

If your UAV applications require high reliability, accurate positioning, and strong resilience to GNSS degradation, this integrated navigation system provides a powerful and cost-effective solution.