Obstacle Detection for Small Autonomous Aircraft Using Sky Segmentation

– A vision-based obstacle detection system for small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is presented. Obstacles are detected by segmenting the image into sky and non-sky regions and treating the non-sky regions as obstacles. The feasibility of this approach is demonstrated by using the vision output to steer a small unmanned aircraft towards an obstacle. The experiment was first verified in a hardware in the loop (HIL) simulation and then successfully implemented on a small modified remote control plane using a large inflatable balloon as the obstacle.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2005
• Where: ICRA
• Authors: Tim G. McGee, Raja Sengupta, J. Karl Hedrick
• Keywords: ICRA 2005, Non-sky Regions, Robotics, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Vision-based Obstacle Detection