Our recent UAV research projects

It is often challenging to carry out Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) flight missions at low altitudes in cluttered environments where trees and other obstacles exist. It is even more difficult to fly UAVs in spaces with moving objects. Current technology is severely limited in solving these problems adequately, with even extremely expensive solutions not capable of satisfactory performance.

We recently conducted research into an autonomous UAV platform that is aimed at addressing these problems. Under this research project, we designed and built a maneuverable UAV that relies on machine vision for navigation in such challenging scenarios as described. We designed the aircraft with flight characteristics that enable us to carry out field experiments under various conditions. The system uses artificial intelligence to process camera data that enables it to “see” desired spaces to fly without collision. 

It is expected that when fully developed, such a capability can enhance several critical missions such as search-and-rescue or property inspection in unfriendly environments.

Link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666827022000913