Abstract: Disclosed are technologies for autonomous tracking. An initial coordinate of a beacon device carried by a user is registered as a dead reckoning waypoint with a drone configured to track the user. The drone receives IMU measurements from the beacon as the user moves. For each IMU measurement, a displacement vector characterizing user movement is calculated. Estimated beacon locations are calculated by dead reckoning, based on the displacement vectors and the dead reckoning waypoint. Later, an updated dead reckoning waypoint is calculated by obtaining the current location coordinate of the drone and performing optical triangulation to determine a relative position of the user with respect to the drone. The updated dead reckoning waypoint does not depend on previously estimated beacon locations, and accumulated IMU/estimation error is eliminated. Tracking continues, where subsequent estimated locations of the beacon are calculated by dead reckoning based on the updated dead reckoning waypoint.

Abstract: Disclosed are technologies for autonomous tracking. An initial coordinate of a beacon device carried by a user is registered as a dead reckoning waypoint with a drone configured to track the user. The drone receives IMU measurements from the beacon as the user moves. For each IMU measurement, a displacement vector characterizing user movement is calculated. Estimated beacon locations are calculated by dead reckoning, based on the displacement vectors and the dead reckoning waypoint. Later, an updated dead reckoning waypoint is calculated by obtaining the current location coordinate of the drone and performing optical triangulation to determine a relative position of the user with respect to the drone. The updated dead reckoning waypoint does not depend on previously estimated beacon locations, and accumulated IMU/estimation error is eliminated. Tracking continues, where subsequent estimated locations of the beacon are calculated by dead reckoning based on the updated dead reckoning waypoint.