WONG WEI MING

Due to the limitations of GPS signals in enclosed environments, indoor autonomous drone localization has attracted growing attention in the research of UAVs. This study investigates the detection accuracy and localization ability of three fiducial markers, namely QR Code, ArUco Marker and AprilTag, using a DJI Tello drone in indoor applications. The experiment was carried out using 5 × 5 cm markers placed at distances from 100 cm to 800 cm, where estimated distances obtained by computer vision techniques were compared to actual measured distances. The results indicated that the QR Code markers achieved the lowest performance with the largest estimation errors and limited detection range. On the contrary, AprilTag gained the most stable and longest detection range, and ArUco markers presented better consistency and less estimation errors. However, some detection failure was also noticed at some distances due to factors like marker size and camera limitations. Results show that AprilTag and ArUco markers are more reliable for indoor autonomous drone localization where AprilTag provides better detection in longer distances while ArUco provides a more balanced localization performance. The present work contributes to improve vision-based indoor UAV localization systems for future applications in autonomous navigation.

TAN KAH WEI, NAZREEN SHAH BIN ABD JALIL, WONG WEI MINGFIRA World Summit 2026Submitted 5 Jun 2026

Autonomous indoor drone localization has gained increasing attention in UAV research due to the limitations of GPS signals in enclosed environments. This study investigates the detection accuracy and localization capability of three fiducial markers, namely QR Code, ArUco Marker, and AprilTag, using a DJI Tello drone for indoor applications. The experiment was carried out using 5 × 5 cm markers positioned at distances between 100 cm and 800 cm, where the estimated distances obtained through computer vision techniques were compared with actual measured distances. The findings revealed that QR Code markers showed the weakest performance with higher estimation errors and limited detection range. In contrast, AprilTag achieved the most stable and longest detection range, while ArUco markers demonstrated better consistency and lower estimation errors. Several detection failures were also identified at certain distances due to factors such as marker size and camera limitations. Overall, the results suggest that AprilTag and ArUco markers are more reliable for indoor autonomous drone localization, with AprilTag offering superior long-distance detection and ArUco providing a more balanced localization performance. This study contributes to the improvement of vision-based indoor UAV localization systems for future autonomous navigation applications.

WONG WEI MING, TAN KAH WEI, NAZREEN SHAH BIN ABD JALILFIRA World Summit 2026Submitted 26 May 2026