Low Cost Alternative to Motion Capture Systems for Indoor Flight Testing Using On-board Computer Vision

Abstract

Currently, flight testing of unmanned aircraft system (UAS) outdoors is heavily restricted and obtaining a certificate of authorization from the FAA is quite cumbersome, and indoor flight testing can be cost prohibitive because of the relatively high expense of motion capture systems. An alternative solution was developed and tested in which an on-board camera is used to provide the absolute position of the vehicle in an indoor environment for significantly less cost than any commercial motion capture system. For this system, an on-board camera is attached to the underside of a UAS and is used tracks markers that are placed on the surface below the UAS in a known pattern. Using the camera and developed software, the UAS can gather absolute positioning information by measuring its position relative to the markers. One of the discussed configurations of the system can be implemented for $119.99 on nearly any UAS capable of lifting a 0.26 kg payload. Flight test verification was performed in which the inexpensive positioning system was compared with a commercial motion capture system. Results demonstrate the camera system is capable of providing high accuracy at a fraction of the cost of other systems.