Multi-UAV-based stereo vision system without GPS for ground obstacle mapping to assist path planning of UGV

• Published in: Electronics letters Vol. 50; no. 20; pp. 1431 - 1432
• Main Authors: Kim, Jin Hyo, Kwon, Ji-Wook, Seo, Jiwon
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: The Institution of Engineering and Technology 25.09.2014
• Subjects: altitude estimation; autonomous aerial vehicles; collision avoidance; Control engineering; global path planning; GPS; ground obstacle mapping; image processing; mobile robots; multiagent formation control; multiUAV; multiunmanned aerial vehicle; multi‐robot systems; relative position; robot vision; stereo image processing; stereo vision system; UGV; unmanned ground vehicle; image processing; collision avoidance; UGV; multi-robot systems; robot vision; multiUAV; multiunmanned aerial vehicle; mobile robots; GPS; stereo vision system; altitude estimation; autonomous aerial vehicles; global path planning; ground obstacle mapping; multiagent formation control; relative position; stereo image processing; unmanned ground vehicle
• ISSN: 0013-5194; 1350-911X; 1350-911X
• DOI: 10.1049/el.2014.2227

A multi-unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based stereo vision system is proposed to assist global path planning of an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) even in GPS-denied environments. The proposed system can optimally generate the depth map of ground objects and robustly detect obstacles. The proposed multi-UAV-based system with a movable baseline overcomes the limitations of a single-UAV-based stereo vision system with a fixed baseline. Thus, the performance of the proposed system does not degrade significantly based on the altitude of UAVs. The relative position and altitude estimation, multi-agent formation control and image processing techniques are considered to implement a prototype system. The experimental results demonstrate the performance of the implemented system for various baseline conditions between UAVs.