In this research we addressed the problem of obstacle detection for low altitude rotorcraft flight. In particular, the problem of detecting thin wires in the presence of image clutter and noise was studied. Wires present a serious hazard to rotorcrafts. Since they are very thin, their detection early enough so that the pilot has enough time to take evasive action is difficult, as their images can be less than one or two pixels wide. After reviewing the line detection literature, an algorithm for sub-pixel edge detection proposed by Steger was identified as having good potential to solve the considered task. The algorithm was tested using a set of images synthetically generated by combining real outdoor images with computer generated wire images. The performance of the algorithm was evaluated both, at the pixel and the wire levels. It was observed that the algorithm performs well, provided that the wires are not too thin (or distant) and that some post processing is performed to remove false alarms due to clutter.


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    Title :

    Obstacle Detection Algorithms for Rotorcraft Navigation


    Contributors:
    R. Kasturi (author) / O. I. Camps (author) / Y. Huang (author) / A. Narasimhamurthy (author) / N. Pande (author)

    Publication date :

    2001


    Size :

    29 pages


    Type of media :

    Report


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English




    Obstacle Detection Algorithms for Rotorcraft Navigation

    Kasturi, Rangachar / Camps, Octavia I. / Huang, Ying et al. | NTRS | 2001


    Obstacle detection algorithms for rotorcraft navigation [4713-10]

    Pande, N. / Huang, Y. / Narasimhamurthy, A. et al. | British Library Conference Proceedings | 2002


    Obstacle detection systems for the rotorcraft

    Emerald Group Publishing | 2001