This paper demonstrates that computer vision techniques can estimate the heading of a small fixed pitch four rotor helicopter. Heading estimates are computed using the optical flow technique of phase correlation on images captured using a down facing camera. The camera is fitted with an omnidirectional lens and the images are transformed into the log-polar domain before the main computational step. The vision algorithm runs at 10 Hz on a single board computer (SBC) mounted aboard the craft. Experimental performance of this system is compared with results obtained from a traditional inertial measurement unit (IMU). It is found that the yaw rate computed from the optical flow is comparable to the IMU and thus appropriate for use in controlling the helicopter.


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    Title :

    Optical Flow for Heading Estimation of a Quadrotor Helicopter


    Contributors:

    Published in:

    Publication date :

    2009-12-01


    Size :

    11 pages




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English





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