Integrity of Visual Navigation - Developments, Challenges, and Prospects

Abstract

Camera based visual navigation has great potentials for various applications, especially in satellite-signal-degenerated environments. However, the lack of integrity protections has constrained its utilization in safety-critical applications. Integrity characterizes the quality of the information that a navigation system delivers. Integrity frameworks have been developed since decades for satellite navigation, and are playing an essential role for safety-critical applications like civil aviation. Nevertheless, there are several challenges to quantify the risks associated with visual navigation. Over the last few years, several approaches to tackle some challenges have been investigated. These developments are first steps towards a reliable visual positioning framework with integrity monitoring capabilities. In this paper, we review the current status, the particular challenges, and the development trends in visual positioning integrity monitoring. In addition, we propose a preliminary framework so that the future developments on visual navigation integrity can benefit from a systematic approach.