Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER
9
Flight Control Using Biomimetic
Optical Sensors
Javaan Chahl
a
and
Akiko Mizutani
b
a
School of Engineering, University of South Australia, Adelaide,
SA 5001, Australia
b
Odonatrix Pty. Ltd., One Tree Hill, SA 5114, Australia
Prospectus
Insects are dependent on the spatial, spectral, and tem-
poral distributions of light in the environment for flight
control and navigation. This chapter reports on flight
trials of implementations of insect-inspired behaviors
on unmanned aerial vehicles. Optical-flow methods
for maintaining a constant height above ground and
a constant course have been demonstrated to provide
navigational capabilities that are impossible using con-
ventional avionics sensors. Precision control of height
above ground and ground course were achieved over
long distances. Other demonstrated vision-based tech-
niques include a biomimetic stabilization sensor that
uses the ultraviolet and green bands of the spectrum
and a sky polarization compass. Both of these sensors
were tested over long trajectories in different directions,
in each case showing performance similar to low-cost
inertial heading and attitude systems.
9.1 INTRODUCTION
The key principles of insect vision have been
deduced over decades of biological research
[1,
2]
. A common theme that has emerged is the reli-
ance by insects on the spatial and temporal distri-
bution of light in the environment for controlling
flight. Computational foundations and con-
trol laws derived from insects
[3]
have become
increasingly well formulated. The specialization
of an insect's sensors to the environment in which
it operates is an important principle in reverse
engineering insect sensory systems.
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have
emerged as a revolution in air power. UAVs are
not as autonomous as we would like. They are
dependent on artificial external signals for posi-
tion information and do not operate close to obsta-
cles. They are also typified by a strong dependence
on a small number of reliable and accurate sensors
that are each critical for operation. As we attempt
to miniaturize UAVs, scaling problems emerge
Keywords
Autopilot, Dragonfly, Insect, Locust, Navigation,
Optical flow, Polarization, Sensors, Spectral opponency,
Sun detector, Unmanned aerial vehicle
