Control of a UAV to follow a moving target

• Main Author: Heng, Gavin Wai Jin
• Other Authors: Wang Jianliang
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Electrical and electronic engineering::Applications of electronics
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/64755
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are becoming increasingly common around the world in a myriad of applications. UAVs used to only be found in militaries, however miniaturisation and technology advancement means that it is now also affordable to the common man. Companies have shown interest in using UAVs in their business operations to perform tasks such as package delivery. Photographers have also found interests in UAVs to perform aerial photography. There is potential for using UAVs to perform other missions such as Search & Rescue and policing. UAVs will be better employed in the various applications if they can perform these missions autonomously. This project’s objective is to explore the autonomous following capability of a UAV. Various methods of tracking another UAV were explored and visual tracking was selected for this project. This project demonstrated the possibility of using a visual marker to identify a leading UAV for a second UAV to track and follow. With optimisation of the algorithm, improvements to the on-board processing capabilities and hardware, the autonomous target following capability of UAVs should find application in various scenarios.