使用 ecl EKF

什么是 ecl EKF?

ECL(Estimation and Control Library，估计与控制库）使用EKF(Extended Kalman Filter，扩展卡尔曼滤波器)算法来处理传感器测量信息并为下面的状态提供估计：

• 四元数，定义为从地球NED(北东地)坐标系到机体坐标系X,Y,Z的旋转四元数
• 速度，关于IMU - 北，东，地 (m/s)
• 位置，关于IMU - 北，东，地 (m)
• 速度偏移估计，关于IMU - X,Y,Z (m/s)
• 地磁分量 - 北，东，地 (gauss)
• 磁偏量，关于飞行器本身 - X,Y,Z (gauss)
• 风速 - 北，东 (m/s)

EKF在一个延迟的fusion time horizon上运行，以允许传感器在每次测量时相对于IMU存在不同的时间延迟。 每个传感器的数据都是FIFO缓存的并由EKF从缓存中检索，得以在正确的时候使用。每个传感器的延迟补偿由参数EKF2_*_DELAY控制。

EKF仅使用IMU的数据进行状态预测。IMU的数据不会用作EKF推导过程中的量测值。协方差预测、状态更新以及协方差更新的代数方程都是使用Matlab符号工具箱导出的，可以在这里找到：Matlab Symbolic Derivation

ecl EKF使用何种传感器测量值？

惯性测量单元（IMU）

• 惯性测量单元的三轴位置固定，用于采集单位角增量和速度增量数据，最低采样频率为100Hz。

磁力计

• 使用倾斜估计和磁偏角将磁力计测量值转换为偏航角。该偏航角被用作EKF的观测量。这种方法不太准确并且没有考虑机体坐标系的磁场偏移，然而其对于磁异常和大的陀螺仪初始偏移更加鲁棒。它是飞行器刚启动还停留在地面上时使用的默认方法。
• 磁力计的XYZ三轴读数用作单独测观测值。这种方法更准确，并且允许机体坐标系的偏移。但假定地磁场环境只是缓慢变化，这种方法在存在巨大的外部磁异常时性能较差。这是当飞行器在空中并爬升超过1.5米高度时的默认方法。

GPS

• GPS通过质量检查。这些检查由EKF2_GPS_CHECK和 EKF2_REQ<>参数控制
• 通过EKF2_HGT_MODE参数的设置，EKF可以直接使用GPS高度。

光流

• 有效的测距仪数据可用。
• 光流传感器返回的质量度量大于由EKF2_OF_QMIN参数设置的最小要求

外部视觉系统

• 如果EKF2_HGT_MODE参数设置为3，则将使用外部视觉系统垂直位置数据。

相比其他估计器ecl EKF有什么优缺点?

缺点

• ecl EKF是一个复杂的算法，需要很好地了解扩展卡尔曼滤波理论及其在导航问题中的应用才能更好的进行参数调节。因此，对于没有获得良好效果地用户来说，知道要改变什么则更为困难。
• ecl EKF使用更多的RAM和闪存空间
• ecl EKF使用更多的日志空间
• ecl EKF具有较少的飞行时间

优点

• ecl EKF能够以数学上一致的方式融合来自具有不同时间延迟和采样频率的传感器的数据，在正确地设置了时间延迟参数的情况下，该算法将提高动态操纵精度。
• ecl EKF能够融合大范围的不同传感器类型。
• ecl EKF检测并报告传感器数据统计中显著的不一致情况，可协助诊断传感器错误。
• 对于固定翼操作，无论是否使用空速传感器，ecl EKF都能够用于估计风速，并且能够使用估计的风速结合空速测量以及侧滑假设来延长可用的航位推算时间(如果在飞行中丢失GPS信号)。
• ecl EKF估计3轴加速度计偏差，这提高了立式起落飞行器(tailsitters)和其他飞行器在飞行阶段经历大的姿态变化时的精度。
• The federated architecture (combined attitude and position/velocity estimation) means that attitude estimation benefits from all sensor measurements. This should provide the potential for improved attitude estimation if tuned correctly.
• 联合架构（将姿态和位置/速度估计结合起来）意味着姿态估计会受益于所有传感器测量。 如果适当调节，这将提供改进姿态估计的潜力。

我需要如何检查EKF的执行效果？

.ulog格式文件可以在python中使用PX4 pyulog library来进行分析。

Output Data（输出数据）

• Attitude output data is found in the vehicle_attitude message.（姿态数据）
• Local position output data is found in the vehicle_local_positionmessage.（位置数据）
• Control loop feedback data is found in the the control_state message.（控制环反馈数据）
• Global (WGS-84) output data is found in the vehicle_global_position message.（全球位置数据）
• Wind velocity output data is found in the wind_estimate message.（风速数据）

States（状态）

• [0 ... 3] Quaternions
• [4 ... 6] Velocity NED (m/s)
• [7 ... 9] Position NED (m)
• [10 ... 12] IMU delta angle bias XYZ (rad)
• [13 ... 15] IMU delta velocity bias XYZ (m/s)
• [16 ... 18] Earth magnetic field NED (gauss)
• [19 ... 21] Body magnetic field XYZ (gauss)
• [22 ... 23] Wind velocity NE (m/s)
• [24 ... 32] Not Used

State Variances（状态的变化量）

• [0 ... 3] Quaternions
• [4 ... 6] Velocity NED (m/s)^2
• [7 ... 9] Position NED (m^2)
• [10 ... 12] IMU delta angle bias XYZ (rad^2)
• [13 ... 15] IMU delta velocity bias XYZ (m/s)^2
• [16 ... 18] Earth magnetic field NED (gauss^2)
• [19 ... 21] Body magnetic field XYZ (gauss^2)
• [22 ... 23] Wind velocity NE (m/s)^2
• [24 ... 28] Not Used

Observation Innovations

• Magnetometer XYZ (gauss) : Refer to mag_innov[3] in ekf2_innovations.
• Velocity and position innovations : Refer to vel_pos_innov[6] in ekf2_innovations. The index map for vel_pos_innov[6] is as follows:
• [0 ... 2] Velocity NED (m/s)
• [3 ... 5] Position NED (m)
• True Airspeed (m/s) : Refer to airspeed_innov in ekf2_innovations.
• Synthetic sideslip (rad) : Refer to beta_innov in ekf2_innovations.
• Optical flow XY (rad/sec) : Refer to flow_innov in ekf2_innovations.
• Height above ground (m) : Refer to hagl_innov in ekf2_innovations.

Observation Innovation Variances

• Magnetometer XYZ (gauss^2) : Refer to mag_innov_var[3] in ekf2_innovations.
• Yaw angle (rad^2) : Refer to heading_innov_var in the ekf2_innovations message.
• Velocity and position innovations : Refer to vel_pos_innov_var[6] in ekf2_innovations. The index map for vel_pos_innov_var[6] is as follows:
• [0 ... 2] Velocity NED (m/s)^2
• [3 ... 5] Position NED (m^2)
• True Airspeed (m/s)^2 : Refer to airspeed_innov_var in ekf2_innovations.
• Synthetic sideslip (rad^2) : Refer to beta_innov_var in ekf2_innovations.
• Optical flow XY (rad/sec)^2 : Refer to flow_innov_var in ekf2_innovations.
• Height above ground (m^2) : Refer to hagl_innov_var in ekf2_innovations.

Output Complementary Filter（输出互补滤波器）

The output complementary filter is used to propagate states forward from the fusion time horizon to current time. To check the magnitude of the angular, velocity and position tracking errors measured at the fusion time horizon, refer to output_tracking_error[3] in the ekf2_innovations message. The index map is as follows:

• [0] Angular tracking error magnitude (rad)
• [1] Velocity tracking error magntiude (m/s). The velocity tracking time constant can be adjusted using the EKF2_TAU_VEL parameter. Reducing this parameter reduces steady state errors but increases the amount of observation noise on the NED velocity outputs.
• [2] Position tracking error magntiude (m). The position tracking time constant can be adjusted using the EKF2_TAU_POS parameter. Reducing this parameter reduces steady state errors but increases the amount of observation noise on the NED position outputs.

EKF Errors

The EKF constains internal error checking for badly conditioned state and covariance updates. Refer to the filter_fault_flags in estimator_status.

Observation Errors

There are two categories of observation faults:

• Loss of data. An example of this is a range finder failing to provide a return.
• The innovation, which is the difference between the state prediction and sensor observation is excessive. An example of this is excessive vibration causing a large vertical position error, resulting in the barometer height measurement being rejected.

Both of these can result in observation data being rejected for long enough to cause the EKF to attempt a reset of the states using the sensor observations. All observations have a statistical confidence check applied to the innovations. The number of standard deviations for the check are controlled by the EKF2_<>_GATE parameter for each observation type.

Test levels are available in estimator_status as follows:

• mag_test_ratio : ratio of the largest magnetometer innovation component to the innovation test limit
• vel_test_ratio : ratio of the largest velocity innovation component to the innovation test limit
• pos_test_ratio : ratio of the largest horizontal position innovation component to the innovation test limit
• hgt_test_ratio : ratio of the vertical position innovation to the innovation test limit
• tas_test_ratio : ratio of the true airspeed innovation to the innovation test limit
• hagl_test_ratio : ratio of the height above ground innovation to the innovation test limit

For a binary pass/fail summary for each sensor, refer to innovation_check_flags in estimator_status.

GPS Quality Checks

The EKF applies a number of GPS quality checks before commencing GPS aiding. These checks are controlled by the EKF2_GPS_CHECK and EKF2_REQ<> parameters. The pass/fail status for these checks is logged in the estimator_status.gps_check_fail_flags message. This integer will be zero when all required GPS checks have passed. If the EKF is not commencing GPS alignment, check the value of the integer against the bitmask definition gps\check_fail_flags in estimator_status.

EKF Numerical Errors

The EKF uses single precision floating point operations for all of its computations and first order approximations for derivation of the covariance prediction and update equations in order to reduce processing requirements. This means that it is possible when re-tuning the EKF to encounter conditions where the covariance matrix operations become badly conditioned enough to cause divergence or significant errors in the state estimates.

To prevent this, every covariance and state update step contains the following error detection and correction steps:

• If the innovation variance is less than the observation variance (this requires a negative state variance which is impossible) or the covariance update will produce a negative variance for any of the states, then:
• The state and covariance update is skipped
• The corresponding rows and columns in the covariance matrix are reset
• The failure is recorded in the estimator_status filter_fault_flags messaage
• State variances (diagonals in the covariance matrix) are constrained to be non-negative.
• An upper limit is applied to state variances.
• Symmetry is forced on the covariance matrix.

After re-tuning the filter, particularly re-tuning that involve reducing the noise variables, the value of estimator_status.gps_check_fail_flags should be checked to ensure that it remains zero.

What should I do if the height estimate is diverging?

The most common cause of EKF height diverging away from GPS and altimeter measurements during flight is clipping and/or aliasing of the IMU measurements caused by vibration. If this is occurring, then the following signs should be evident in the data

The recommended first step is to esnure that the autopilot is isolated from the airframe using an effective isolatoin mounting system. An isolaton mount has 6 degrees of freedom, and therefore 6 resonant frequencies. As a general rule, the 6 resonant frequencies of the autopilot on the isolation mount should be above 25Hz to avoid interaction with the autopilot dynamics and below the frequency of the motors.

An isolation mount can make vibration worse if the resonant frequncies coincide with motor or propeller blade passage frequencies.

The EKF can be made more resistant to vibration induced height divergence by making the following parameter changes:

• Double the value of the innovation gate for the primary height sensor. If using barometeric height this is EK2_EKF2_BARO_GATE.
• Increase the value of EKF2_ACC_NOISE to 0.5 initially. If divergence is still occurring, increase in further increments of 0.1 but do not go above 1.0

Note that the effect of these changes will make the EKF more sensitive to errors in GPS vertical velocity and barometric pressure.

What should I do if the position estimate is diverging?

The most common causes of position divergence are:

• High vibration levels.

• Fix by improving mechanical isolation of the autopilot.
• Increasing the value of EKF2_ACC_NOISE and EKF2_GYR_NOISE can help, but does make the EKF more vulnerable to GPS glitches.
• Large gyro bias offsets.

• Fix by re-calibrating the gyro. Check for excessive temperature sensitivity (> 3 deg/sec bias change during warm-up from a cold start and replace the sensor if affected of insulate to to slow the rate of temeprature change.

• Check the magntometer calibration and alignment.
• Check the heading shown QGC is within within 15 deg truth
• Poor GPS accuracy

• Check for interference
• Improve separation and shielding
• Check flying location for GPS signal obstructions and reflectors (nearboy tall buildings)
• Loss of GPS

Determining which of these is the primary casue requires a methodical approach to analysis of the EKF log data:

During normal operation, all the test ratios should remain below 0.5 with only occasional spikes above this as shown in the example below from a successful flight:

The following plot shows the EKF vibration metrics for a multirotor with good isolation. The landing shock and the increased vibration during takeoff and landing can be seen. Insifficient data has been gathered with these metrics to provide specific advice on maximum thresholds.

The above vibration metrics are of limited value as the presence of vibration at a frequency close to the IMU sampling frequency (1kHz for most boards) will cause offsets to appear in the data that do not show up in the high frequency vibration metrics. The only way to detect aliasing errors is in their effect on inertial navigation accuracy and the rise in innovation levels.

In addition to generating large position and velocity test ratios of > 1.0, the different error mechanisms affect the other test ratios in different ways:

Determination of Excessive Vibration

High vibration levels normally affect vertical positiion and velocity innovations as well as the horizontal components. Magnetometer test levels are only affected to a small extent.

(insert example plots showing bad vibration here)

Determination of Excessive Gyro Bias

Large gyro bias offsets are normally characterised by a change in the value of delta angle bias greater than 5E-4 during flight (equivalent to ~3 deg/sec) and can also cause a large increase in the magnetometer test ratio if the yaw axis is affected. Height is normally unaffected other than extreme cases. Switch on bias value of up to 5 deg/sec can be tolerated provided the filter is given time time settle before flying . Pre-flight checks performed by the commander should prevent arming if the position is diverging.

(insert example plots showing bad gyro bias here)

Determination of Poor Yaw Accuracy

Bad yaw alignment causes a velocity test ratio that increases rapidly when the vehicle starts moving due inconsistency in the direction of velocity calculatde by the inertial nav and the GPS measurement. Magnetometer innovations are slightly affected. Height is normally unaffected.

(insert example plots showing bad yaw alignment here)

Determination of Poor GPS Accuracy

Poor GPS accuracy is normally accompanied by a rise in the reported velocity error of the receiver in conjunction with a rise in innovations. Transient errors due to multipath, obscuration and interference are more common causes. Here is an example of a temporary loss of GPS accuracy where the multi-rotor started drifting away from its loiter location and had to be corrected using the sticks. The rise in estimator_status.vel_test_ratio) to greater than 1 indicates the GPs velocity was inconsistent with other measurements and has been rejected.

This is accompanied with rise in the GPS receivers reported velocity accuracy which indicates that it was likely a GPS error.

If we also look at the GPS horizontal velocity innovations and innovation variances, we can see the large spike in North velocity innovation that accompanies this GPS 'glitch' event.

Determination of GPS Data Loss

Loss of GPS data will be shown by the velocity and position innvoation test ratios 'flat-lining'. If this occurs, check the oher GPS status data in vehicle_gps_position for further information.

(insert example plosts showing loss of GPS data here)