Vision-Based Localization and Guidance for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

195 Pages·2009·1.84 MB·English

Link¨opingStudiesinScienceandTechnology
DissertationNo.1260
Vision-Based Localization and Guidance for
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
by
Gianpaolo Conte
DepartmentofComputerandInformationScience
Link¨opinguniversitet
SE-58183Link¨oping,Sweden
Link¨oping2009
Copyright(cid:13)c 2009 GianpaoloConte
ISBN 978-91-7393-603-3
ISSN 0345-7524
PrintedbyLiU-Tryck,Link¨oping,Sweden
To Antonio.

Preface
The thesis has been developed as part of the requirements for a PhD de-
gree at the Artificial Intelligence and Integrated Computer System divi-
sion (AIICS) in the Department of Computer and Information Sciences at
Link¨oping University.
The work focuses on issues related to Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)
navigation, in particular in the areas of guidance and vision-based au-
tonomous flight in situations of short and long term GPS outage.
Thethesisisdividedintotwoparts. Part I (Simulation and Guidance)
describes a helicopter simulator and a path following control mode devel-
oped and implemented on an experimental helicopter platform. Part II
(Vision-based Navigation) presents an approach to the problem of vision-
based state estimation for autonomous aerial platforms which makes use
of geo-referenced images for localization purposes. The problem of vision-
based landing is also addressed with emphasis on fusion between inertial
sensors and video camera using an artificial landing pad as reference pat-
tern. In the last chapter, a solution to a vision-based ground object geo-
location problem using a fixed-wing micro aerial vehicle platform is pro-
posed.
Thehelicopterguidanceandvision-basednavigationmethodsdeveloped
in the thesis have been implemented and tested in real flight-tests using a
Yamaha Rmax helicopter. Extensive experimental flight-test results are
presented.
Link¨oping, May 2009
Gianpaolo Conte
The work in this thesis is supported in part by grants from the Wallen-
berg Foundation, the SSF MOVIII strategic center, the NFFP04-031 ”Au-
tonomous flight control and decision making capabilities for Mini-UAVs”
project grants and LinkLab, a Saab-LiU Center for Future Aviation Sys-
tems.

Related publications
The content of this thesis is based on the following publications:
Paper I G. Conte, P. Doherty. Vision-based Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
Navigation Using Geo-referenced Information. Accepted for publi-
cation in the EURASIP Journal of Advances in Signal Processing,
2009.
Paper II G. Conte, P. Doherty. An Integrated UAV Navigation Sys-
tem Based on Aerial Image Matching. In Proceedings of the IEEE
Aerospace Conference. Big Sky, Montana, 2008.
Paper III G. Conte, M. Hempel, P. Rudol, D. Lundstr¨om, S. Duranti,
M. Wzorek, and P. Doherty. High Accuracy Ground Target Geo-
location Using Autonomous Micro Aerial Vehicle Platforms. In Pro-
ceedings of the AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference
and Exhibit. Honolulu, Hawaii, 2008.
Paper IV S.Duranti, G.Conte. In-flightIdentificationoftheAugmented
Flight Dynamics of the Rmax Unmanned Helicopter. In Proceed-
ings of the 17th IFAC Symp. on Automatic Control in Aerospace.
Toulouse, 2007.
Paper V M. Wzorek, G. Conte, P. Rudol, T. Merz, S. Duranti, P. Do-
herty. From Motion Planning to Control - A Navigation Framework
foranAutonomousUnmannedAerialVehicle. 21thBristolUAVSys-
tems Conference, 2006.
Paper VI G. Conte, S. Duranti, T. Merz. Dynamic 3D Path Following
for an Autonomous Helicopter. In Proceedings of the IFAC Sympo-
sium on Intelligent Autonomous Vehicles. Lisbon, 2004.
Paper VII T. Merz, S. Duranti, and G. Conte. Autonomous Landing of
anUnmannedAerialHelicopterBasedonVisionandInertialSensing.
In Proceedings of the 9th International Symposium on Experimental
Robotics (ISER). Singapore, 2004.

Acknowledgements
When I had the opportunity to come to Sweden to work with unmanned
helicopters I realized that, what I had been doing as hobby for the past
twentyyearswasgoingtobecomemywork. Ididnothavetothinktoolong
about packing my clothes and moving to Sweden to begin this experience.
I have to thank my family which has supported me in taking such an
important decision and I have to say that their role has been essential
throughout the several peaks and valleys which one inevitably encounters
during one’s PhD studies. A special thanks goes to Roberta, the sunshine
of my life, who can make the sun appear even in the middle of the night.
I also would like to express my gratitude to:
my supervisor Patrick Doherty for believing in my potential and giving me
the opportunity to work in such a stimulating workplace;
Simone and Torsten for sharing their experience and talent with me and
for the never ending, challenging discussions;
Mariusz and Piotr for always being helpful and sharing their skills in ad-
dition to the daily fun of working with UAVs;
Bj¨orn,David,Fredrik(thanksforcheckingovererrorsinthethesis),Jonas,
Karol,Lukasz,Maria,Martin,Per-Magnus,PerNyblom,Piero,Robertand
Tommy for making the workplace always friendly and enjoyable;
finally, my flatmates throughout the years and all my friends!