Vision based GPS-denied Object Tracking and following for unmanned aerial vehicles

• DOI: 10.1109/ssrr.2013.6719359
• Publication Date: 2014-01-24T21:24:07Z
• Authors: Jesus Pestana; Jose Luis Sanchez...; Pascual Campoy; Srikanth Saripalli
• Keywords: : Computer science [C05] [Engineering, computing & technology]; 0209 industrial biotechnology; 02 engineering and technology; : Sciences informatiques [C05] [Ingénierie, informatique & technologie]

We present a vision based control strategy for tracking and following objects using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. We have developed an image based visual servoing method that uses only a forward looking camera for tracking and following objects from a multi-rotor UAV, without any dependence on GPS systems. Our proposed method tracks a user specified object continuously while maintaining a fixed distance from the object and also simultaneously keeping it in the center of the image plane. The algorithm is validated using a Parrot AR Drone 2.0 in outdoor conditions while tracking and following people, occlusions and also fast moving objects; showing the robustness of the proposed systems against perturbations and illumination changes. Our experiments show that the system is able to track a great variety of objects present in suburban areas, among others: people, windows, AC machines, cars and plants.