Novel Lightweight Sensors for Indoor Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

The increased demand for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) has led to an increased variety of UAV deployment scenarios and tasks. One such demand is the use of UAVs in indoor environments. It is critical that indoor UAVs have the capability to sense obstacles quickly to perform tasks successfully and safely in such environments. MaXentric is proposing a solution to meet this need, codenamed E-MAX (Environment Map eXtraction) sensor. The E-MAX sensor will use commercially available automotive radar devices to provide environment mapping data to the UAV, enabling collision avoidance and mapping. By using radar, rather than lidar as is done in traditional UAV mapping applications, MaXentric will be able to ensure performance in practical scenarios where occlusion by dust is a possibility. The E-MAX sensor will have the additional ability to detect glass and other visually transparent obstacles as well, unlike lidar. MaXentric will focus on providing a lightweight package that is easily swappable with currently used lidar alternatives. Onboard super resolution algorithms (SRAs) and hardware will also be leveraged to resolve thin obstacles, such as wires. The outcome of the program will be an E-MAX sensor that can provide data for collision avoidance and mapping in real-world environments.