A new visual-inertial odometry scheme for unmanned systems in unified framework of zeroing neural networks

In recent years, multi-sensor fusion has gained significant attention from researchers and is used extensively in simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) applications, such as visual-inertial odometry (VIO). This technology primarily utilizes visual and odometry measurements for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to estimate their position, orientation, and environment. However, in most previous works, the input error data of sensors in the system were considered independent. To improve system precision and fully utilize sensor data, a new method called Multi-State Constraint Kalman Filter with NearSAC (MSCKF-NearSAC), based on the MSCKF, is proposed. This method eliminates outliers by limiting the range of selected points, which significantly improves the success rate of feature point matching in the front-end. Furthermore, the MSCKF-ZNN method is proposed for the back-end, and combines zeroing neural network (ZNN) (originated from the Hopfield-type neural network) and error state, resulting in an exponentially converging output trajectory error, thus improving the trajectory precision of the SLAM system. The proposed algorithms, MSCKF-NearSAC and MSCKF-ZNN, are used in the excellent work of the stereo multi-state constraint Kalman filter system (S-MSCKF). A plethora of comparison experiments, utilizing precise measurement and calibration techniques, are conducted on open-source datasets and real-world environments. Experimental results demonstrate that the introduced approach exhibits higher stability in contrast to other algorithms. • A visual-inertial odometry scheme is developed via zeroing neural networks. • MSCKF-NearSAC is proposed for eliminating front and back feature points. • Zeroing neural networks are integrated with the system’s error state. • MSCKF-NearSAC and MSCKF-ZNN are verified by theoretical analysis and data sets. • The stereo camera is calibrated and fitted to an unmanned vehicle.