SOAR - Stereo Obstacle Avoidance Rig

The ultimate goal of the SOAR program is to develop robust hardware and algorithms for low light, passive terrain sensing. The SOAR system will provide the Navy, other DoD agencies, and even consumers with a solution for real-time obstacle avoidance for large and small airborne platforms. During Phase-I, we will collect images with all of the leading low-light camera technologies. The image data will be used to derive, test, and enhance a passive terrain sensing algorithm based-on existing, state-of-the-art visual odometry and dense stereo algorithms. At the end of Phase-I, we will recommend the optimal camera(s), algorithm, and computing platform for full prototype development during Phase-II. The factors used to make the recommendation include cost, range accuracy, size, power consumption, algorithm execution time, etc.