A full flight data and video real-time data acquisition system was developed in C++ for the University of Sydney Jabiru Flight Test Laboratory Program.
Horizon Detection for Attitude Determination The horizon appearance is a strong visual indication of the attitude of an aircraft, so a vision based system should be able to detect the horizon and use its appearance to extract attitude measurements. Past methods have made the assumption that the horizon is straight, this neglects possible navigational and attitude information. This reserach project investigated developing a real-time capabile horizon detection method which allows for the actual horizon profile shape to be extracted. The horizon profile shape can then be used for attitude determination and other localisation processes.
Vision Systems for Flight Guidance This research program seeks to develop and demonstrate a completely passive, independent vision based navigation system for use in aerial environments. The objective is for the system to be independent of external infrastructure (e.g. GPS) and passive to minimise risk of detection in hostile environments. The system would be applicable to autonomous vehicles as well as to aid navigation in manned systems.
Description Significance There has been much focus recently on developing robust navigation systems in robotics to work in GPS denied and/or unstructured environments. This proposal does not seek to solve the generic problem of navigation in an unstructured environment, but rather to provide a reliable solution for use in the common and well ordered aerial situation where visual navigation information is rich, but nevertheless remain independent of external navigation infrastructure for robust and low-observable operations. Such a system is realisable, and promises a great leap-forward in aerial navigation for manned and unmanned systems.