Real Time Implementation of a Vision-Based UAV Detection and Tracking System for UAV-Navigation Aiding

Abstract

This paper focuses on the real time implementation of cooperative navigation aiding for a small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) based on vision systems on board unmanned ground vehicles (UGV). In urban environments the signal quality of global satellite navigation systems (GNSS) often is bad or signals are even lost, so that the navigation solution of a UAV is affected. Especially in such situations the UAV's geo-referenced position has to be known to ensure a safe guidance. A team of UGVs can overcome the problem of no GNSS position solution by the detection and tracking of the UAV in its on board images and the subsequent geo-localization. The determination of the UAV's geo-referenced position can be achieved with several algorithms, depending on the number of UGVs. To integrate these position measurements in the UAV's on board navigation computer the quality of the detection and geo-localization has to be estimated. All parts are implemented on embedded PC platforms. To allow real time usage on board the UGVs special algorithms have to be used for the most tasks, as image processing needs high computational power. The particular parts of this setup as well as the whole system are tested with experimental data.