Localisation for autonomous UAV systems in underground mines

Purpose and goal
The goal of the pre-study was to identify and analyse existing technologies for localisation, as well as identifying which further developments are needed in order to develop autonomous UAV solutions for underground mining. The goal has been met.

Structure and implementation
The approach used in the project has worked well. Agio has made use of their knowledge of LKAB’s production process in the mine and LTU has provided knowledge and research for UAV technologies. LKAB has been an important part of the process in order to provide facts about the mine environment and possible scenarios for UAVs in the production process. The field trials were important in order to identify practical limitations and to evaluate the sensors for localisation.

Results
From the obtained results, the project team has decided that the project goals and results have been all in line with the aim of this pre-study, which was to perform an initial study of the existing localisation techniques in a demanding environment, as the production areas in the mines. In fact, the project team, instead of only surveying and theoretically studying this problem, has utilised the existing pre-study to also perform field trials where the most common utilised sensors in robotics for navigation purposes have been evaluated and analysed.