A Sim-to-Real Deep Learning-Based Framework for Autonomous Nano-Drone Racing

Abstract

Autonomous drone racing competitions are a proxy to improve unmanned aerial vehicles' perception, planning, and control skills. The recent emergence of autonomous nano-sized drone racing imposes new challenges, as their $\sim$$\text{10} \,\text{c}\text{m}$ form factor heavily restricts the resources available onboard, including memory, computation, and sensors. This letter describes the methodology and technical implementation of the system winning the first autonomous nano-drone racing international competition: the 'IMAV 2022 Nanocopter AI Challenge.' We developed a fully onboard deep learning approach for visual navigation trained only on simulation images to achieve this goal. Our approach includes a convolutional neural network for obstacle avoidance, a sim-to-real dataset collection procedure, and a navigation policy that we selected, characterized, and adapted through simulation and actual in-field experiments. Our system ranked $1\text{st}$ among six competing teams at the competition. In our best attempt, we scored $\text{115} \,\text{m}$ of traveled distance in the allotted 5-minute flight, never crashing while dodging static and dynamic obstacles. Sharing our knowledge with the research community, we aim to provide a solid groundwork to foster future development in this field.