Vision-Based Control and Flight Optimization of a Rotorcraft UAV

<p>A Rotorcraft UAV provides an ideal experimental platform for vision-based navigation. This thesis describes the flight tests of the US Army PALACE pro ject, which implements Moravec's pseudo-normalized correlation tracking algorithm. The tracker uses the movement of the landing site in the camera, a laser range, and the aircraft attitude from an IMU to estimate the relative motion of the UAV. The position estimate functions as a GPS equivalent to enable the rotorcraft to maneuver without the aid of GPS. Flight tests were performed with obstacles and over concrete, asphalt, and grass in daylight conditions with a safe landing area determined by a separate method. The tracking algorithm and position estimation performance are compared to GPS. Accurate time synchronization of the inputs to the position estimation algorithm directly affect the closed-loop stability of the system, proportional with altitude. By identifying the frequency response of each input and adding filters to delay some of the inputs, the closed-loop system maintains stable flight above 18 m above ground, where the system was unstable without the additional filters.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

MS

Grantor dc:publisher

Brigham Young University - Provo

Author dc:creator

• Hubbard, David Christian

• Computer Vision
• Real Time
• Rotorcraft
• Helicopter
• UAV
• Computer Sciences

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/1198

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarsarchive.byu.edu:etd-2197