A Novel Motion Blur Resistant vSLAM Framework for Micro/Nano-UAVs

Abstract

Localization and mapping technologies are of great importance for all varieties of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to perform their operations. In the near future, it is planned to increase the use of micro/nano-size UAVs. Such vehicles are sometimes expendable platforms, and reuse may not be possible. Compact, mounted and low-cost cameras are preferred in these UAVs due to weight, cost and size limitations. Visual simultaneous localization and mapping (vSLAM) methods are used for providing situational awareness of micro/nano-size UAVs. Fast rotational movements that occur during flight with gimbal-free, mounted cameras cause motion blur. Above a certain level of motion blur, tracking losses exist, which causes vSLAM algorithms not to operate effectively. In this study, a novel vSLAM framework is proposed that prevents the occurrence of tracking losses in micro/nano-UAVs due to the motion blur. In the proposed framework, the blur level of the frames obtained from the platform camera is determined and the frames whose focus measure score is below the threshold are restored by specific motion-deblurring methods. The major reasons of tracking losses have been analyzed with experimental studies, and vSLAM algorithms have been made durable by our studied framework. It has been observed that our framework can prevent tracking losses at 5, 10 and 20 fps processing speeds. vSLAM algorithms continue to normal operations at those processing speeds that have not been succeeded before using standard vSLAM algorithms, which can be considered as a superiority of our study.