Ground Asset Navigation using Aerial Guidance in Contested Environments

In contested and challenging environments, visual line of sight to intruder or target ground vehicles is restricted for ground based tracker vehicles equipped with EO sensors. Under such conditions, aerial support provides an abundance of information as the intruding vehicles can be efficiently identified and tracked from above accurately. However, there are certain difficulties with this approach such as lack of reliable GPS information, lack of EO sensors or mal-functioning EO sensors on ground vehicles, and difference in reference frame for information exchange. In order to solve these issues, in this Phase I UtopiaCompression along with University of Cincinnati propose to solve the following problems: Ground target tracking using gimbal-based camera by an aerial vehicle. Use of environmental information for state estimation of the aerial vehicle in case GPS is not reliable. Estimation of the ground target pose by the aerial vehicle Ground target pose communicated to tracker vehicles on the ground. Cooperation among the ground tracker vehicles to rendezvous at the target location at the same time.