Title :
A robust vision system on an unmanned helicopter for ground target seeking and following
Author :
Lin, Feng ; Chen, Ben M. ; Lum, Kai Yew ; Lee, Tong H.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Nat. Univ. of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
Abstract :
In this paper, we present a systematic design and implementation of a robust real-time embedded vision system for an unmanned helicopter for ground target seeking and following. The on-board software system is developed based on a multithread technology capable of coordinating multiple tasks. To realize the autonomously ground target seeking and following, a sophisticated vision algorithm is proposed to detect the target and estimate relative distance to the target using on-board color camera and navigation sensors. The vision feedback is integrated with the flight control system to guide the unmanned helicopter to follow the ground target in-flight. The overall vision system has been tested in actual flight missions, and the results obtained show that the overall system is very robust and efficient.
Keywords :
aircraft control; embedded systems; helicopters; mobile robots; multi-threading; navigation; object detection; remotely operated vehicles; robot vision; target tracking; color camera; flight control system; ground target seeking; multithread technology; navigation sensor; onboard software system; real time embedded vision system; target following; unmanned helicopter; vision feedback; Cameras; Image color analysis; Machine vision; Robustness; Servomotors; Target tracking; Unmanned aerial vehicles;
Conference_Titel :
Intelligent Control and Automation (WCICA), 2010 8th World Congress on
Conference_Location :
Jinan
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-6712-9
DOI :
10.1109/WCICA.2010.5554995