Abstract
This paper represents the development of feature following control and distributed navigation algorithms for visual surveillance using a small unmanned aerial vehicle equipped with a low-cost imaging sensor unit. An efficient map-based feature generation and following control algorithm is developed to make an onboard imaging sensor to track a target. An efficient navigation system is also designed for real-time position and velocity estimates of the unmanned aircraft, which is used as inputs for the path following controller. The performance of the proposed autonomous path following capability with a stabilized gimbaled camera onboard a small unmanned aerial robot is demonstrated through flight tests with application to target tracking for real-time visual surveillance.
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Recommended by Guest Editor Seong G. Kong. This work was supported by SOCOM under NPS-SOCOM TNT cooperative. The research of the first author is supported by the National Research Council Associateship tenured at the Center for Autonomous Vehicle Research at the Naval Postgraduate School.
Deok-Jin Lee received his Ph.D. degree in Aerospace Engineering from Texas A&M University in May 2005. He worked for Agency for Defense Development (ADD) from 2006 to 2007. He is currently an adjunct research professor at the Center for Autonomous Vehicle Research, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA, U.S.A. His research interests include autonomous robotic vehicle control, sensor fusion and sensor networks, decentralized cooperative control, and integrated navigation and localization.
Isaac Kaminer received his Ph.D. degree in Aerospace Engineering Sciences from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1992. He is currently co-director at the Center for Autonomous Vehicle Research, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA, U.S.A. His research interests include unmanned aerial vehicles, adaptive control, and real-time flight control systems.
Vladimir Dobrokhodov received his Ph.D. degree in Aerospace Engineering Sciences from Zhukovskiy Air Force Engineering Academy, Moscow, 1999. He is currently a research assistant professor at the Center for Autonomous Vehicle Research, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA, U.S.A. His research interests include guidance, navigation and control of unmanned aerial vehicles, applied nonlinear control, and real-time embedded flight control systems.
Kevin Jones received his Ph.D. degree in Aerospace Engineering Sciences from University of Colorado in May 1993. He is currently a research associate professor at the Center for Autonomous Vehicle Research, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA, U.S.A. His research interests include micro unmanned aerial vehicles, multidisciplinary design and optimization, fluid mechanics, and aircraft design.
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Lee, DJ., Kaminer, I., Dobrokhodov, V. et al. Autonomous feature following for visual surveillance using a small unmanned aerial vehicle with gimbaled camera system. Int. J. Control Autom. Syst. 8, 957–966 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12555-010-0504-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12555-010-0504-1