Biologically Inspired Strategies, Algorithms and Hardware for Visual Guidance of Autonomous Helicopters

Abstract

This project has designed, developed and field-tested biologically inspired strategies, algorithms and hardware for vision-based guidance of aircraft for the performance of a variety of tasks, listed below. i) Control of aircraft altitude and attitude, and terrain following are achieved by using a novel principle of `virtual optic flow' to monitor and regulate the height and the orientation of the aircraft relative to the ground. ii) Obstacle detection and avoidance are achieved by using virtual optic flow to sense and steer away from objects that are dangerously close to the flight path. iii) Algorithms have been developed and tested for stabilizing and controlling aircraft attitude by monitoring the horizon profile. iv) Algorithms, based on analysis of optic flow, have been developed for the detection of moving targets by a moving vision system.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 02, 2011
Accession Number
ADA544651

Entities

People

  • Mandyam Veerambudi Srinivasan
  • Michael Ibbotson

Organizations

  • Australian National University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Autonomy
  • Human Systems
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aircrafts
  • Altitude
  • Birds
  • Collision Avoidance
  • Computer Stereo Vision
  • Detection
  • Engineering
  • Flow Fields
  • Guidance
  • Measurement
  • Military Applications
  • Moving Targets
  • Navigation
  • Robotics
  • Students
  • Terrain Following
  • Three Dimensional

Readers

  • Aviation Safety and Air Traffic Management
  • Human-Computer Interaction (HCI).
  • Radar Systems Engineering.

Technology Areas

  • Space
  • Space - Space Objects
  • Space - Spacecraft Maneuvers