Affiliation:
1. Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah 84602
Abstract
In this paper we present a novel approach to controlling small unmanned aircraft in third-person perspective scenarios. Our approach uses monocular imagery to mimic the human ability to perceive and control a remote aircraft. This allows for the autonomous control of a wide variety of aircraft with minimal on-board sensors. We improve upon other 2D single-shot detection methods by estimating a 3D box containing the aircraft, which allows us to capture a vehicle’s position and attitude as measurements. Using a constant-jerk Kalman filter, we then estimate the complete aircraft state from these measurements. Finally a proportional-integral-derivative controller is used to provide closed-loop autonomous flight of an aircraft from a remote location. Hardware experiments of a completely autonomous vehicle flying waypoints illustrate the validity of this method.
Funder
NDSEG GRADUATE FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM
Publisher
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)
Subject
Electrical and Electronic Engineering,Computer Science Applications,Aerospace Engineering