UAV Downwash Dynamic Texture Features for Terrain Classification on Autonomous Navigation

The information generated by a computer vision system capable of labelling a land surface as water, vegetation, soil or other type, can be used for mapping and decision making. For example, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) can use it to find a suitable landing position or to cooperate with other robots to navigate across an unknown region. Previous works on terrain classification from RGB images taken onboard of UAVs shown that only static pixel-based features were tested with a considerable classification error. This paper proposes a robust and efficient computer vision algorithm capable of classifying the terrain from RGB images with improved accuracy. The algorithm complement the static image features with dynamic texture patterns produced by UAVs rotors downwash effect (visible at lower altitudes) and machine learning methods to classify the underlying terrain. The system is validated using videos acquired onboard of a UAV.