reedchristiansen
Oct 13, 2006, 10:55 PM
Hello,
A while ago I posted some shot using a 2 axis gimbal on one of our flying wing UAVs. Lately, we have been doing allot of work involving image stabilization(on the ground, real time) and target tracking, much like the "auto track" in the very expensive gimbals of the news helicopter variety. We are very pleased with the results.
We can click on an object in the video, the tracker will lock on providing pixel coordinates. The pixel coordinates and combined with GPS, and imu information from the UAV telemetry (timed synced) and converted to gps coordinate estimates. The uav then points the gimbal at the gps coordinates and shifts its flight path to keep the uav close to the object being tracked. This all happens automatically from when the user clicks on the object of interest.
If the object becomes ocluded and drops out of the field of view, the user must re-aquire, and the click on the objec again. Noise can also confuse the tracker. However, it works dang well for a system that is less the $15k for everything. You will also notice image mosaicing.
The individual estimates of the gps coordinates of the target are withen 10-20 meters of truth. If the object becomes stationary, and the uav is allowed to orbit the object for once, the average error is less then 5 meters (most of this is caused by the inacuracies of GPS itself.
The tracking algorithm also provides estimates of target speed and heading.
So, after that long-winded explination, here are the video links:
http://www.procerusuav.com/video/TargetFollowingLong.wmv
http://www.procerusuav.com/video/TargetFollowStopVHover.wmv
http://www.procerusuav.com/video/TrackManHole.wmv
Now, the next question is what can we use this technology for? I see some obvious military uses, but maybe their are some civilian applications as well.
I would be interested to hear what the group has to say about potential applications.
Reed
A while ago I posted some shot using a 2 axis gimbal on one of our flying wing UAVs. Lately, we have been doing allot of work involving image stabilization(on the ground, real time) and target tracking, much like the "auto track" in the very expensive gimbals of the news helicopter variety. We are very pleased with the results.
We can click on an object in the video, the tracker will lock on providing pixel coordinates. The pixel coordinates and combined with GPS, and imu information from the UAV telemetry (timed synced) and converted to gps coordinate estimates. The uav then points the gimbal at the gps coordinates and shifts its flight path to keep the uav close to the object being tracked. This all happens automatically from when the user clicks on the object of interest.
If the object becomes ocluded and drops out of the field of view, the user must re-aquire, and the click on the objec again. Noise can also confuse the tracker. However, it works dang well for a system that is less the $15k for everything. You will also notice image mosaicing.
The individual estimates of the gps coordinates of the target are withen 10-20 meters of truth. If the object becomes stationary, and the uav is allowed to orbit the object for once, the average error is less then 5 meters (most of this is caused by the inacuracies of GPS itself.
The tracking algorithm also provides estimates of target speed and heading.
So, after that long-winded explination, here are the video links:
http://www.procerusuav.com/video/TargetFollowingLong.wmv
http://www.procerusuav.com/video/TargetFollowStopVHover.wmv
http://www.procerusuav.com/video/TrackManHole.wmv
Now, the next question is what can we use this technology for? I see some obvious military uses, but maybe their are some civilian applications as well.
I would be interested to hear what the group has to say about potential applications.
Reed