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A concept of laser scanner designed to realize 3D obstacle avoidance for a fixed-wing UAV

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 June 2014

Cezary Kownacki
Cezary Kownacki*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Bialystok University of Technology, ul. Wiejska 45C, 15-351 Bialystok, Poland
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: c.kownacki@pb.edu.pl
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Summary

This paper presents a concept of a laser scanner framework designed for obstacle avoidance used on mini fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) flying in outdoor environments. The innovation is a conical field of view that guarantees tri-dimensional (3D) obstacle detection and localization at any pitch or roll angle. This advantage is very important for the case of fixed-wing UAV flights where the attitude is changing rapidly. Measurement sequences create a map that is represented by a circular grid with the center fitted to the x-axis of the UAV's body, lying in the plane normal to the velocity vector and projected in the front of UAV. This means that the map cells contain differences between the safety zone radius and distances acquired from area in close proximity to the flight path. Actual UAV attitude can be compensated by rotation and shift of two masks of gains that are applied to the map to determine pitch and roll commands. Results of the simulation research conducted on the designed concept are very promising, as they present a combination of lateral and vertical obstacle avoidance. Based on the experience with laser rangefinders operating on a real UAV, it can be convincingly determined that the concept of the laser scanner is able to be brought into reality.

Keywords

Laser scannerLIDARUnmanned aerial vehicleObstacle avoidanceMappingSLAM
Type
Articles
Information
Robotica , Volume 34 , Issue 2 , February 2016 , pp. 243 - 257
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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