Rapid Development of Vision-Based Control for MAVs through a Virtual Flight Testbed

— We seek to develop vision-based autonomy for small-scale aircraft known as Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs). Development of such autonomy presents signiÞcant challenges, in no small measure because of the inherent instability of these ßight vehicles. Therefore, we propose a virtual ßight testbed that seeks to mitigate these challenges by facilitating the rapid development of new vision-based control algorithms that would have been, in its absence, substantially more difÞcult to transition to successful ßight testing. The proposed virtual testbed is a precursor to a more complex HardwareIn-the-Loop (HILS) facility currently being constructed at the University of Florida. These systems allow us to experiment with vision-based algorithms in controlled laboratory settings, thereby minimizing loss-of-vehicle risks associated with actual ßight testing. In this paper, we Þrst discuss our testbed system, both virtual and real. Second, we present our vision-based approaches to MAV stabiliza...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2005
• Where: ICRA
• Authors: Jason Grzywna, Ashish Jain, Jason Plew, Michael C. Nechyba
• Keywords: ICRA 2005, Robotics, ßight Testing, Testbed, Vision-based Autonomy