Navigation by optical flow

A new navigation method based on measurements of image token positions and Kalman filtering is presented. An image token is the central projection of a landmark, a point on the terrain surface. This surface being described by a topographical map, the Kalman filter processes the measurements to update estimates of camera position and orientation, and landmark positions. Tests of an implementation for aeroplane navigation indicate a performance comparable to, or better than, that of satellite navigation systems. The implemented algorithm also seems to have a high tolerance against noise and modelling errors.<<ETX>>