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Operation in GPS denied environments is imperative for a variety of mission scenarios including surveillance, search and rescue, and biological chemical agent detection using unmanned vehicles. These mission scenarios require accurate position information and mapping capability of the operational area. For an unmanned Micro Aerial Vehicle (MAV), assuming position information is given (GPS, beacons etc.), on board sensory data (eg laser scanner) can be combined to build a map (since the position information input is independent of sensor’s readings). On the other hand, if the map is known a priori, the MAV can position itself inside the known map using sensory data and appropriate tools (such as scan matching). These techniques are quite robust as the map is known and serves as a deterministic anchor in the estimation process.

However, when both the map and position are unknown, the MAV requires …