Development of computer vision-based intelligent control system for drones

AltumView Systems Inc.是一家位于大温哥华地区的快速发展公司，拥有一支10多人的强大研发团队，在图像和视频编码和处理、计算机视觉、人工智能和相机设计方面具有互补的专业知识。AltumView正在为机器视觉、安防监控、智能交通等应用开发创新的智能摄像头产品和解决方案。AltumView现在的目标是将开发的摄像系统集成到各种无人机系统中，以实现更有意义的应用。然而，该公司目前在无人机导航和控制领域没有足够的开发专业知识。在合作项目中，我们计划为AltumView的无人机客户开发基于计算机视觉的智能控制系统。根据公司发现的两个问题，本项目将在六个月的时间框架内针对以下两项任务：(1)开发基于计算机视觉的无人机目标跟踪算法，(2)开发基于计算机视觉的无人机避障算法。通过将先进的控制技术与计算机视觉技术相结合，使无人机系统在使用廉价的视觉传感器，甚至在gps拒绝等恶劣工作条件下也能获得令人满意的控制性能，从而扩大了范围，提高了商用或工业应用的性能。通过这个项目，我们将建立起新的、牢固的合作关系。本课题将填补理论与实践之间的空白；它将为控制工程师开发无人机飞行控制系统提供新的、有效的、跨学科的技术工具；最后，这将有利于加拿大的相应行业。在申请人和AltumView导师（DesignEngineer）的指导下，两名研究生将从该项目中接受研究培训并获得实际的控制系统设计经验。

AltumView Systems Inc. is a fast-growing company in metro Vancouver, and has assembled a strong R&Dteam of more than 10 people with complementary expertise in image and video coding and processing,computer vision, artificial intelligence, and camera design. AltumView is developing innovative intelligentcamera products and solutions for applications such as machine vision, security and surveillance, intelligenttransportation, etc. AltumView is now aiming at integrating the developed camera system into various dronesystems to enable more meaningful applications. However, the company currently does not have enoughdevelopment expertise in the drone navigation and control areas. In the collaborative project we plan todevelop the computer vision-based intelligent control system for AltumView's drone customers.According to the two identified problems from the company, this project will target at the following two tasksduring the six-month time-frame: (1) To develop the computer vision-based object tracking algorithm for thedrone, and (2) to develop the computer vision-based obstacle avoidance algorithm for the drone. By integratingadvanced control technology with computer vision technology, the drone system can achieve satisfactorycontrol performance with inexpensive vision sensors and even in severe working condition such asGPS-denied, which broaden the range and enhance the performance in commercial or industrial applications.New and strong collaborative relationship will be established through this project. The proposed project wouldfill in the gap between theory and practice; it would provide new, effective and cross-disciplinary technicaltools for control engineers in developing the drone flight control systems; finally, it would benefit thecorresponding industry in Canada. Under the supervision of the applicant and the AltumView mentor (DesignEngineer), two graduate students will receive research training and gain hands-on control system designexperience from this project.