Autonomous Navigation and Mapping for Inspection of Penstocks and Tunnels With MAVs.

In this paper, we address the estimation, control, navigation and mapping problems to achieve autonomous inspection of penstocks and tunnels using aerial vehicles with on-board sensing and computation. Penstocks and tunnels have the shape of a generalized cylinder. They are generally dark and featureless. State estimation is challenging because range sensors do not yield adequate information and c...