Integrated Obstacle Detection System based on Radar and Optical Sensors

This paper focuses on an airborne multi-sensor system for autonomous detection and tracking of flying obstacles. The hardware/software prototype integrating Detect, Sense, and Avoid capability has been designed and realized by the Italian Aerospace Research Center and the Department of Aerospace Engineering of the University of Naples “Federico II”. The sensing subsystem is comprised of a Ka-band airborne pulsed radar, a visible panchromatic high-resolution camera, a visible color high-resolution camera, two thermal infrared cameras, and two processing units for image processing and sensor data fusion. Algorithms for object detection in optical images and real time multi-sensor tracking are described in detail. Then, results from flight tests with an intruder aircraft are presented and analyzed. Obstacle detection performance in terms of detection range, accuracy, and reliability, is discussed both for the radar and the panchromatic camera. Finally, first experimental results about standalone radar and radar/electro-optical tracking are analyzed. They demonstrate the potential of sensor fusion for Unmanned Aerial Systems collision avoidance.

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