Vision-Based Navigation in Autonomous Close Proximity Operations using Neural Networks

Tight unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) autonomous missions such as formation flight (FF) and aerial refueling (AR) require an active controller that works in conjunction with a precise sensor that is able to identify an in-front aircraft and to estimate its relative position and orientation. Among possible choices vision sensors are of interest because they are passive in nature and do not require the cooperation of the in-front aircraft in any way. In this paper new vision-based estimation and navigation algorithms based on neural networks is developed. The accuracy and robustness of the proposed algorithm have been validated via a detailed modeling and a complete virtual environment based on the six degrees of freedom (6-DOF) nonlinear simulation of aircraft dynamics in an autonomous aerial refueling (AAR) mission. In addition a full-state time-variant tracking controller based on the pole placement method is designed to generate required commands for aircraft control surfaces and engine during an AAR. The performance of the system in the presence of noise has also been examined.

[1]  Kenneth Levenberg.  A METHOD FOR THE SOLUTION OF CERTAIN NON – LINEAR PROBLEMS IN LEAST SQUARES , 1944 .

[2]  John L. Crassidis,et al.  VISION-BASED RELATIVE NAVIGATION FOR FORMATION FLYING OF SPACECRAFT , 2000 .

[3]  Per Enge,et al.  The Global Positioning System , 1999 .

[4]  Wright-Patterson Afb,et al.  Automated Aerial Refueling: Extending the Effectiveness of Unmanned Air Vehicles , 2005 .

[5]  Philip D. Wasserman,et al.  Advanced methods in neural computing , 1993, VNR computer library.

[6]  F. Saghafi,et al.  Vision-Based Trajectory Tracking Controller for Autonomous Close Proximity Operations , 2008, 2008 IEEE Aerospace Conference.

[7]  D. Marquardt.  An Algorithm for Least-Squares Estimation of Nonlinear Parameters , 1963 .

[8]  Katsuhiko Ogata,et al.  Modern Control Engineering , 1970 .

[9]  Mario G. Perhinschi,et al.  Development of Modelling and Control Tools for Aerial Refueling for Uavs , 2003 .

[10]  Richard L. Brunson,et al.  Linear Control System Analysis and Design , 1988, IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics.

[11]  Thomas S. Huang,et al.  A fast two-dimensional median filtering algorithm , 1979 .

[12]  M. L. Fravolini,et al.  Feature Matching Algorithms for Machine Vision Based Autonomous Aerial Refueling , 2006, 2006 14th Mediterranean Conference on Control and Automation.

[13]  Martin T. Hagan,et al.  Neural network design , 1995 .

[14]  Anthony J. Calise,et al.  An Adaptive Approach to Vision-based Formation Control , 2003 .

[15]  Mario Innocenti,et al.  Vision Algorithms for Formation Flight and Aerial Refueling with Optimal Marker Labeling , 2005 .

[16]  John F. Canny,et al.  A Computational Approach to Edge Detection , 1986, IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence.

[17]  Monish D. Tandale,et al.  Vision-Based Sensor and Navigation System for Autonomous Air Refueling , 2005 .

[18]  Mario G. Perhinschi,et al.  AUTONOMOUS AERIAL REFUELING FOR UAVS USING A COMBINED GPS-MACHINE VISION GUIDANCE , 2004 .

[19]  N. K. Philip,et al.  Relative position and attitude estimation and control schemes for the final phase of an autonomous docking mission of spacecraft , 2003 .

[20]  Mario Innocenti,et al.  Dynamic and control issues of formation flight , 2004 .

[21]  Jeffrey L. Stephenson.  The Air Refueling Receiver That Does Not Complain , 2012 .

[22]  Frank Carlin Weimer,et al.  Linear Control System Analysis and Design, Conventional and Modern , 1978 .

[23]  Monish D. Tandale,et al.  Trajectory Tracking Controller for Vision-Based Probe and Drogue Autonomous Aerial Refueling , 2005 .

[24]  Peter H. Zipfel.  Modeling and Simulation of Aerospace Vehicle Dynamics (Aiaa Education) , 2003 .

[25]  Sivasankar Ramarasu.  Vision based navigation for an unmanned aerial vehicle , 2007 .

[26]  Fariborz Saghafi,et al.  Aircraft Visual Identification by Neural Networks , 2008 .

[27]  M. Kayton,et al.  Global positioning system: signals, measurements, and performance [Book Review] , 2002, IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine.

[28]  David Turner,et al.  Extended Kalman Filter Applications to Multi-Vehicle UAV Cooperative Controls , 2003 .

[29]  Mohammed Zaki,et al.  EMBOT: An enhanced motion-based object tracker , 2004, J. Syst. Softw..