Abstract

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are expected to serve as aerial robotic vehicles
to perform tasks on their own. Computer vision is applied in UAVs to improve
their autonomies both in flight control and perception of environment around
them. A survey of researches in such a field is presented.
Based on images and videos captured by on-board camera(s), vision measures,
such as stereo vision, optical flow fields etc. extract useful features which can be
integrated with flight control system to form visual servoing. Aiming at the use of
hand gestures for human- computer interaction, this paper presents a novel
approach for hand gesture-based control of UAVs. The research was mainly
focused on solving some of the most important problems that current HRI
(Human-Robot Interaction) systems fight with.
Presenting a simple approach to recognizing gestures through image processing
techniques and web cameras, the problem of hand gestures recognition has
been addressed using motion detection and algorithm based on histograms,
which makes it efficient in unconstrained environments, easy to implement and
fast enough. Highly flexible manufacturing (HFM) is a methodology that
integrates vision and flexible robotic grasping.
The proposed set of hand grasping shapes presented here is based on the
capabilities and mechanical constraints of the robotic hand. Pre-grasp shapes for
a Barrett Hand are studied and defined using finger spread and flexion. In
addition, a simple and efficient vision algorithm is used to servo the robot and to
select the pre-grasp shape in the pick-and-place task of 9 different vehicle
handle parts. Finally, experimental results evaluate the ability of the robotic hand
to grasp both pliable and rigid parts and successfully control the UAV
Visual Navigation:
GPS and inertial sensors are typically combined to estimate UAVs state and form
a navigation solution. However, in some circumstances, such as urban or
lowaltitude areas, GPS signal may be very weak or even lost. Under these
situations, visual data can be used as an alternative orsubstitute to GPS
measurements for theformulation of a navigation solution. This section describes
vision-based UA V navigation. A. Autonomous Landing Autonomous landing is a
crucial capability andrequirement for UAVautonomous navigation. It gives basic
idea and method for UA V autonomy. Generally, UAVs are classified into Vertical
Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) UAVs and fixed-wing UAVs. As to VTOL UA V vision-
based landing, Sharp et al.
Designed a landing target with simple pattern, on which comer points can be
easily detected and tracked. By tracking these comers, UAV could determine its
relative position to landing target using computer vision method. Details are
described as follows. Given the comer points, estimating the UA V state is an
optimization problem. The equation relating a point in the landing pad coordinate
frame to the image of that point in the camera frame is given by Geometry ofthe
coordinate frames and Euclidean motions involved in the vision-based state
estimation problem Fixed -wing UA V's autonomous landing is similar to that of
VTOL in theory but more complicated in practice.
Vision subsystem should recognize runway and keepstracking on it during
landing. Kalman filter is introduced to keep stability of tracking.Horizon also
needs detecting. According to runway and horizon, vision subsystem could
estimate UAV's state , I.e. location (x,y,z), attitude (pitch, roll, yaw) etc
Autonomous Refuelling
The deployment of UAVs has been tested in overseas conflicts. People found that
one of the biggest limitations of UAVs is their limited range. To enlarge their
range, UAVs are expected capable of Autonomous Aerial Refuelling (AAR). There
are two ways for aerial refuelling, i.e. refuelling boom and "probe and drogue".
Very similar to auto landing, vision -based method for UA V keeping pose and
position to flying tanker during docking and refuelling receives great attention.
AAR also needs considering some reference frames, such as UA V, tanker,
camera frame etc. But AAR is much more sensitive and facing more subtle air
disturbance. It requires 0.5 to 1.0 cm accuracy in the relative position.
A fixed number of visible optical markers are assumed to be available to help
vision subsystem detect. However, temporary loss of visibility may occur
because of hardware failures and/or physical interference. Fravolini et al.
Proposed a specific docking control scheme featuring a fusion of GPS and MV
distance measurements to tacklethis problem. Such studies are still under stage
of simulation.
Autonomous Flight
Auto flight is the extension of auto landing. Ideally, it means that UA V is capable
of high level environmentunderstanding and decision making e.g. Defining its
position, attitude estimation, obstacle detecting and avoidance, path planning
etc. without outside instruction, guidance and intervention. Some studies related
to UA V auto manoeuvring considered different conditions, including GPSsignal
failure, unstructured or unknown flying zone etc. Madison et al. discussed
miniature UAV's visual navigation in GPS -challenged environment, e.g. indoor.
Vision subsystem geo--locates some landmarks while GPS provides accurate
navigation. Once GPS is unavailable, vision subsystem geo-locates new
landmarks withpredefined landmarks. Using these landmarks, VISiOn subsystem
provides information for navigation. Tests show that visionaided navigation drift
is significantly lower than under inertialonly navigation. NASA Ames Research
Centre runs a PrecisionAutonomous Landing Adaptive Control Experiment
State diagram for the motion of UAV
Conclusion
In conclusion it is to be mentioned that the remote operation was successfully
implemented for which a very secure IRS Data Link for communication to the
robot was used. Computer vision usefully applied in UAV allowed us to
understand the nature of elements on ground from a distant height. The Gesture
control used to control the UAV allowed various operations to be performed using
hand gestures and the corresponding motion in the UAV could be achieved. The
Robot Hand Grasping technology, was very accurate in operation of the UAV as
human finger-like minute details were observed. In all the operation of the UAV
was successfully formulated and this may help the military greatly in their
various operations.