Visual Determination of UAV Attitude In-Flight.PDF

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV’s) are finding increased application in both domestic and military applications. Most end users of UAV’s are not particularly interested in the flying platform itself, but rather in the destination, the timing, the cost and objectives of a particular mission. Many end users have very little training in aircraft flight, including model or remote controlled aircraft. The idea of a UAV that can be used in a ‘set and forget’ manner is very appealing, particularly in applications where the user is in a remote location such as outback Australia or the Antarctic. In such cases, having an experienced pilot on standby may be prohibitively expensive. Unfortunately there are substantial risks involved in both launching and landing a UAV. Any damage to the airframe or to sensitive payload equipment may make the use of UAV’s in such applications prohibitively expensive. This research examines the use of a typical domestic video camera and Commercial off-theshelf video capture hardware for determining the attitude of a small, under 5kg UAV, while in flight. This research was completed as part of an undergraduate thesis project at Monash University.