Ground Target Detection Using Cooperative Unmanned Aerial Systems

Author(s):  
George York ◽  
Daniel J. Pack
Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ajmal Hinas ◽  
Roshan Ragel ◽  
Jonathan Roberts ◽  
Felipe Gonzalez

Small unmanned aerial systems (UASs) now have advanced waypoint-based navigation capabilities, which enable them to collect surveillance, wildlife ecology and air quality data in new ways. The ability to remotely sense and find a set of targets and descend and hover close to each target for an action is desirable in many applications, including inspection, search and rescue and spot spraying in agriculture. This paper proposes a robust framework for vision-based ground target finding and action using the high-level decision-making approach of Observe, Orient, Decide and Act (OODA). The proposed framework was implemented as a modular software system using the robotic operating system (ROS). The framework can be effectively deployed in different applications where single or multiple target detection and action is needed. The accuracy and precision of camera-based target position estimation from a low-cost UAS is not adequate for the task due to errors and uncertainties in low-cost sensors, sensor drift and target detection errors. External disturbances such as wind also pose further challenges. The implemented framework was tested using two different test cases. Overall, the results show that the proposed framework is robust to localization and target detection errors and able to perform the task.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 1255
Author(s):  
Ahmad Salahuddin Mohd Harithuddin ◽  
Mohd Fazri Sedan ◽  
Syaril Azrad Md Ali ◽  
Shattri Mansor ◽  
Hamid Reza Jifroudi ◽  
...  

Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) has many advantages in the fields of SURVAILLANCE and disaster management compared to space-borne observation, manned missions and in situ methods. The reasons include cost effectiveness, operational safety, and mission efficiency. This has in turn underlined the importance of UAS technology and highlighted a growing need in a more robust and efficient unmanned aerial vehicles to serve specific needs in SURVAILLANCE and disaster management. This paper first gives an overview on the framework for SURVAILLANCE particularly in applications of border control and disaster management and lists several phases of SURVAILLANCE and service descriptions. Based on this overview and SURVAILLANCE phases descriptions, we show the areas and services in which UAS can have significant advantage over traditional methods.


Shore & Beach ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 44-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Sciaudone ◽  
Liliana Velasquez-Montoya

Less than two weeks after Hurricane Florence made landfall in North Carolina (NC), a team of researchers from NC State University traveled to Dare County to investigate the storm’s effects on beaches and dunes. Using available post-storm imagery and prior knowledge of vulnerabilities in the system, the team identified several locations to visit in the towns of Kitty Hawk, Nags Head, Rodanthe, Buxton, and Hatteras, as well as a number of locations within the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge (Figure 1). Data collected included topographic profiles, still imagery and video from unmanned aerial systems, sediment samples, and geo-located photography. This Coastal Observations piece presents some of the data and photos collected; the full report is available online (Sciaudone et al. 2019), and data collected will be made available to interested researchers upon request.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter Ochieng ◽  
Tun Ye ◽  
Christina M. Scheel ◽  
Aun Lor ◽  
John M. Saindon ◽  
...  

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