VISUAL MOTION FOR ROTORCRAFT GUIDANCE

FOR ROTORCRAFT IN A NAP-OF-THE-EARTH (NOE) FLIGHT REGIME, COLLISION WITH WIRES PRESENTS A SIGNIFICANT THREAT TO SAFETY. WIRE DETECTION AND AVOIDANCE IS THUS AN IMPORTANT PART OF SAFE NOE GUIDANCE. WIRE DETECTION CAN BE DIFFICULT:WIRES ARE OFTEN NOT STRONGLY SPATIALLY EVIDENT, DANGEROUS WIRES OFTEN OCCUR AT THE FOCUS-OF-EXPANSION (FOE), THERE IS OFTEN SIGNIFICANT BACKGROUND CLUTTER AND NOISE, AND THE DETECTION TASK IS ON-GOING AND MUST BE FAST ENOUGH TO PERMITEVASIVE MANEUVERS. THIS EFFORT EXAMINES INNOVATIVE WIRE-DETECTION AND TRACKING TECHNIQUES THAT ADDRESS THESE ISSUES. WIRES ARE TREATED AS MOVING EDGES IN DENSELY SAMPLED IMAGERY, AND THESE EDGES ARE THEN TRACKED USING LOCAL COMPUTATIONAL MECHANISMS THAT ARE AMENABLE TO FULLY PARALLEL IMPLEMENTATION WITH VLSI TO IMPROVE TRACKING AND COMPUTE MOTION PROPERTIES, TRACKER-CONTROL METHODS THAT INTEGRATE NUMERIC INFORMATION FROM KNOWN PARAMETERS OF CAMERA MOTION PRODUCED BY GYROS WITH SYMBOLIC AND RULE-BASEDINFORMATION BASED UPON AGGREGATES OF IMAGE FEATURES WILL BE EXPLORED. THESE TRACKED EDGES PROVIDE IMPORTANT DESCRIPTIONS OF MOVING WIRES (E. G., MEASURES OF STABILITY AND MOTION) THAT CAN BE USED FOR AVOIDANCE AND GUIDANCE. FOR ROTORCRAFT IN A NAP-OF-THE-EARTH (NOE) FLIGHT REGIME, COLLISION WITH WIRES PRESENTS A SIGNIFICANT THREAT TO SAFETY. WIRE DETECTION AND AVOIDANCE IS THUS AN IMPORTANT PART OF SAFE NOE GUIDANCE. WIRE DETECTION CAN BE DIFFICULT:WIRES ARE OFTEN NOT STRONGLY SPATIALLY EVIDENT, DANGEROUS WIRES OFTEN OCCUR AT THE FOCUS-OF-EXPANSION (FOE), THERE IS OFTEN SIGNIFICANT BACKGROUND CLUTTER AND NOISE, AND THE DETECTION TASK IS ON-GOING AND MUST BE FAST ENOUGH TO PERMITEVASIVE MANEUVERS. THIS EFFORT EXAMINES INNOVATIVE WIRE-DETECTION AND TRACKING TECHNIQUES THAT ADDRESS THESE ISSUES. WIRES ARE TREATED AS MOVING EDGES IN DENSELY SAMPLED IMAGERY, AND THESE EDGES ARE THEN TRACKED USING LOCAL COMPUTATIONAL MECHANISMS THAT ARE AMENABLE TO FULLY PARALLEL IMPLEMENTATION WITH VLSI TO IMPROVE TRACKING AND COMPUTE MOTION PROPERTIES, TRACKER-CONTROL METHODS THAT INTEGRATE NUMERIC INFORMATION FROM KNOWN PARAMETERS OF CAMERA MOTION PRODUCED BY GYROS WITH SYMBOLIC AND RULE-BASEDINFORMATION BASED UPON AGGREGATES OF IMAGE FEATURES WILL BE EXPLORED. THESE TRACKED EDGES PROVIDE IMPORTANT DESCRIPTIONS OF MOVING WIRES (E. G., MEASURES OF STABILITY AND MOTION) THAT CAN BE USED FOR AVOIDANCE AND GUIDANCE.