Relative Navigation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Based on Data Link Ranging and Partial Guidance Information

In GNSS-denied environments, precise relative navigation between unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is a key technology for achieving cooperative tasks. The relative navigation method based on data link ranging information combines altitude, airspeed measurements, and attitude information to ensure the observability of UAVs’ relative states. However, due to the significant constraints imposed by observability conditions, a novel approach is proposed that utilizes partial guidance information from the UAV swarm towards the target as additional measurements. This approach enhances the observability capability of relative navigation and alleviates the constraints imposed by the observability conditions.