A machine perception system for aircraft and helicopters using multiple sensor data for state estimation is presented. By combining conventional aircraft sensors like gyros, accelerometers, artificial horizon, aerodynamic measuring devices and GPS with vision data taken by conventional CCD-cameras mounted on a pan and tilt platform, the position of the craft can be determined as well as the relative position to runways and natural landmarks. The vision data of natural landmarks are used to improve position estimates during autonomous missions. A built-in landmark management module decides which landmark should be focused on by the vision system, depending on the distance to the landmark and the aspect conditions. More complex landmarks like runways are modeled with different levels of detail that are activated dependent on range. A supervisor process compares vision data and GPS data to detect mis-tracking of the vision system e.g. due to poor visibility and tries to reinitialize the vision system or to set focus on another landmark available. During landing approach obstacles like trucks and airplanes can be detected on the runway. The system has been tested in real-time within a hardware-in-the-loop simulation. Simulated aircraft measurements corrupted by noise and other characteristics sensor errors have been fed into the machine perception system; the image processing module for relative state estimation was driven by computer generated imagery. Results from real-time simulation runs are given.


    Access

    Access via TIB

    Check availability in my library

    Order at Subito €


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    A vision based navigation system for autonomous aircraft


    Additional title:

    Ein bildbasiertes Navigationssystem für autonome Flugzeuge


    Contributors:

    Published in:

    Publication date :

    1999


    Size :

    12 Seiten, 13 Bilder, 8 Quellen




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Print


    Language :

    English




    Vision Navigation with Salient Features for Autonomous Aircraft

    Yu, Jun Wei ;Liu, Nan ;Wang, Gui Cai | Trans Tech Publications | 2013


    Autonomous aircraft navigation

    ACKNIN CHARLES / MULLER JONATHAN PLINIO | European Patent Office | 2019

    Free access

    AUTONOMOUS DRONE NAVIGATION BASED ON VISION

    FLISZAR DAVID G / PATTON RUSSELL DOUGLAS | European Patent Office | 2023

    Free access