STTR Phase I: Collaborative Relative Navigation System for Autonomous UAV Following

该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力在于提高美国执法、搜救和消防等公共安全行动的安全性和效率，因为个人无人机与用户一起自主操作，而不管操作环境如何。即使是小型的公共安全实体也将能够获得和操作这样的系统，因为不需要熟练和专业的操作员，从而大大降低了无人机操作的成本。空中支援将不再局限于大型公共安全管辖区，而是在全国范围内以低成本提供，并直接向个人响应者提供信息。在机器人技术和辅助技术领域，能够自主跟随移动的用户和物体的个人无人机是一项变革性技术，其适用性远远超出公共安全操作。它直接适用于自主空中投送、业余和专业运动员的摄像、电影摄影、重工业（例如，采矿和基础设施检查。这些市场预计将在未来几年内增长到数亿美元。该STTR项目将提供可靠的GPS独立相对导航和避障能力，以释放这些应用。该小企业技术转让（STTR）第一阶段项目将展示创新的协作相对导航系统（CORENav）的可行性，该系统使小型无人机（UAV）能够自主跟踪和中继真实的-当地面人员在室内和室外、开阔或密闭空间、白天或夜晚进行机动时，个人无人机将携带各种有效载荷（例如，电子光学/热成像摄像机），并将原始和/或处理过的信息真实的实时广播给他们所支助的个人，提供个性化的当地空中支助，这将从根本上提高所有应急行动的安全性和效率。CORENav解决了无人机在接近地面和相对于移动的用户自主操作时所带来的导航、制导和控制挑战。该技术使小型无人机能够准确地解决相对于其用户的位置，方向，速度和加速度，而无论操作环境如何。它还完全解决了障碍物检测和规避的挑战，即使是有效载荷能力有限的小型无人机。无人机将完全自主操作，因此用户可以保持任务专注，同时通过当地航空传感器接收关键的实时信息。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is in the increased safety and efficiency of public safety operations in law enforcement, search-and-rescue, and firefighting throughout the U.S. as the personal UAVs operate autonomously alongside users regardless of the operating environment. Even small public safety entities will be able to acquire and operate such systems as skilled and dedicated operators will not be necessary, dramatically decreasing the cost of UAV operations. Aerial support will no longer be limited to large public safety jurisdictions, but will be made available at low-cost nationwide, with the information provided directly to the individual responder. In the technology area of robotics and assistive technologies, personal UAVs that can autonomously follow mobile users and objects is a transformative technology with applicability that goes far beyond public safety operations. It has direct applicability to autonomous aerial delivery, videography for amateur and professional athletes, cinematography, heavy industry (e.g., mining), and infrastructure inspection. These markets are expected to grow to hundreds of millions of dollars within the next few years. This STTR project will provide the reliable GPS-independent relative navigation and obstacle avoidance capabilities necessary to unleash these applications.This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project will demonstrate the feasibility of an innovative collaborative relative navigation system (CORENav) enabling small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to autonomously follow and relay real-time information to ground personnel with multiple sensors as they maneuver indoors and outdoors, in wide-open or confined spaces, by day or night. The personal UAVs will carry a variety of payloads (e.g., electro optical/thermal imaging cameras) and broadcast raw and/or processed information in real time to the individual they support, providing individualized local aerial support that will radically improve the safety and efficiency of all response operations. CORENav addresses the navigation, guidance and control challenges posed by operating UAVs autonomously close to the ground and relative to mobile users. This technology enables small UAVs to accurately solve for position, orientation, velocity, and acceleration relative to their user regardless of the operating environment. It also fully addresses the obstacle detection and avoidance challenge, even for small UAVs with limited payload capacity. The UAV will operate completely autonomously so the user can remain mission-focused, while receiving critical real-time information through local aerial sensing.