Vision Based Navigation for SUGV

Accurate calculation of vehicle motion is difficult to accomplish; especially when travelling on rough terrain at high speeds. Motion sensing devices, such as a Global Positioning System (GPS) and an Inertial Navigation System (INS), are readily available but have undesirable disadvantages. Numerous situations exist in which robotic exploration is desired but without motion sensing such exploration is not possible. Therefore, alternative motion sensing capabilities are necessary. A visual motion sensing solution that is efficient in size, power consumption and performance is an approach to equip unmanned vehicles with such capabilities. The purposed solution will combine landmark detection/tracking and motion sensing image processing techniques with an optimal optical and electronic design to create a vision-based motion-sensing device that produces accurate motion calculations with minimal power consumption.