UAV navigation system using line-based sensor pose estimation

Abstract

This work presents a mapping and tracking system based on images to enable a small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) to accurately navigate in indoor and GPS-denied outdoor environments. A method is proposed to estimate the UAV’s pose (i.e., the 3D position and orientation of the camera sensor) in real-time using only the on-board RGB camera as the UAV travels through a known 3D environment (i.e., a 3D CAD model). Linear features are extracted and automatically matched between images collected by the UAV’s onboard RGB camera and the 3D object model. The matched lines from the 3D model serve as ground control to estimate the camera pose in real-time via line-based space resection. The results demonstrate that the proposed model-based pose estimation algorithm provides sub-meter positioning accuracies in both indoor and outdoor environments. It is also that shown the proposed method can provide sparse updates to correct the drift from complementary simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM)-derived pose estimates.     

Multi-criteria optimal structural design under uncertainty

A general framework for multi-criteria optimal design is presented which is well suited for performance-based design of structural systems operating in an uncertain dynamic environment. A decision theoretic approach is used which is based on aggregation of preference functions for the multiple, possibly conflicting, design criteria. This allows the designer to trade off these criteria in a controlled manner during the optimization. Reliability-based design criteria are used to maintain user-specified levels of structural safety by properly taking into account the uncertainties in the modelling and seismic loads that a structure may experience during its lifetime. Code-based requirements are also easily incorporated into this optimal design process. The methodology is demonstrated with a simple example involving the design of a three-storey steel-frame building for which the ground motion uncertainty is characterized by a probabilistic response spectrum which is developed from available attenuation formulas and seismic hazard models. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Production of high-resolution remote sensing images for navigation information infrastructures

This paper introduces the image fusion approach of multi-resolution analysis-based intensity modulation (MRAIM) to produce the high-resolution multi-spectral images from high-resolution panchromatic image and low-resolution multi-spectral images for navigation information infrastructure. The mathematical model of image fusion is derived according to the principle of remote sensing image formation. It shows that the pixel values of a high-resolution multi-spectral images are determined by the pixel values of the approximation of a high-resolution panchromatic image at the resolution level of low-resolution multi-spectral images, and in the pixel valae computation the M-band wavelet theory and the d trous algorithm are then used. In order to evaluate the MRAIM approach, an experiment has been carried out on the basis of the IKONOS 1 m panchromatic image and 4 m multi-spectral images. The result demonstrates that MRAIM image fusion approach gives promising fusion results and it can be used to produce the high-resolution remote sensing images required for navigation information infrastructures.     

1/f noise in the UV solar spectral irradiance

The investigation of the intrinsic properties of the solar spectral irradiance as a function of the ultraviolet (UV) wavelength is attempted by exploiting rare observations performed at the Villard St. Pancrace station of the Lille University of Sciences and Technology ranging from 278 to 400 nm with a step of 0.05 nm every half an hour from nearly sunrise to sunset. To achieve this goal, the modern method of the detrended fluctuation analysis was applied on the solar spectral irradiance values versus wavelength. This analysis revealed that the solar incident flux at the top of the atmosphere and the solar spectral irradiance at the ground during two overcast sky days fluctuate with the UV wavelength exhibiting persistent long-range power-law behavior. More interestingly, the exponent of the power-law relationship between the fluctuations of the solar spectral irradiance versus UV wavelength at both the top of the atmosphere and the ground is consistently close to unity (of 1/f-type) throughout the day. This 1/f behavior has been detected in many complex dynamical systems, but despite much effort to derive a theory for its widespread occurrence in nature, it remains unexplained so far. According to the above-mentioned findings we speculate that the 1/f property of the incident solar UV flux at the top of the atmosphere could probably drive both the 1/f behavior depicted in the atmospheric components and the solar UV irradiance at the Earth's surface. The latter could influence the UV-sensitive biological ecosystems, giving rise to a 1/f-type variability in the biosphere, which has already been proven by recent observational data. We finally propose that Wien approximation could be multiplied by a 1/f function of wavelength (e.g., of the type of the fractional Brownian motion) in order to reproduce the aforementioned 1/f feature of the solar UV flux.     

Urban impacts of ice storms: Toronto December 2013

In late December 2013, Eastern Canada was hit by a severe ice storm that covered Southern Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritimes. Toronto, the largest city of Canada, was among the hardest hit. The freezing rain lasted for 3 days, leaving up to 30 mm coat of ice covering the ground and infrastructure. The urban forestry was badly hit as the ice accretion caused major tree failures and damage to the trees. Trees snapped as they were dormant and fragile during winter weather. In addition, tree limbs with branches heavily coated with ice brought down power lines. About 300,000 power customers (over a million people) were left without power for almost 3 days and tens of thousands for more than a week. The damages from the ice storm cost the city of Toronto over $106 million, while the cost of insured losses was in the range of $200 million. This short paper gives a brief overview of the ice storm, its impact on the city of Toronto, and the response and recovery measures that followed.     

Production of high-resolution remote sensing images for navigation information infrastructures

This paper introduces the image fusion approach of multi-resolution analysis-based intensity modulation (MRAIM) to produce the high-resolution multi-spectral images from high-resolution panchromatic image and low-resolution multi-spectral images for navigation information infrastructure. The mathematical model of image fusion is derived according to the principle of remote sensing image formation. It shows that the pixel values of a high-resolution multi-spectral images are determined by the pixel values of the approximation of a high-resolution panchromatic image at the resolution level of low-resolution multi-spectral images, and in the pixel valae computation the M-band wavelet theory and the à trous algorithm are then used. In order to evaluate the MRAIM approach, an experiment has been carried out on the basis of the IKONOS 1 m panchromatic image and 4 m multi-spectral images. The result demonstrates that MRAIM image fusion approach gives promising fusion results and it can be used to produce the high-resolution remote sensing images required for navigation information infrastructures.     

Laboratory experiments of tsunami runup on a circular island

Laboratory experiments of a 7.2-m-diameter conical island were conducted to study three-dimensional tsunami runup. The 62.5-cm tall island had 1 on 4 side slopes and was positioned in the center of a 30-m-wide by 25-m-long flat-bottom basin. Solitary waves with height-to-depth ratios ranging from 0.05 to 0.20 and source lengths ranging from 0.30 to 7.14 island diameters were tested in water depths of 32 and 42 cm. Twenty-seven capacitance wave gages were used to measure surface wave elevations at incident and four radial transects on the island slope. Maximum vertical runup measurements were made at 20 locations around the perimeter of the island using rod and transit. A new runup gage was located on the back or lee side of the island to record runup time series.     

Radio VHF Precursors of Earthquakes

On the basis of our analysis of a number of continuous observations made by the monitoring network on Crete, we assume that electrically active clouds are produced in an atmosphere above the sea on the eve of earthquake. These electrically active clouds, which occur at heights of 0.1–10 km, create the conditions for electrical discharges in an atmosphere that may be the source of the very high frequency (VHF) radio-emissions registered on Crete. We further suggest possible mechanisms of thunder electricity generation. We present the model of convection transport in which the first condition in the generation of thunder electricity is an atmosphere with a horizontal gradient of temperature. Base on this model, the occurrence of electrical charges on the surface of the sea and their transportation further upwards to heights of up to 10 km is due to pollution energy allocated within the bottom of the sea as gases and heat injection. The average flux density and power estimations of the VHF precursors were made for the Crete net situation to compare with published VHF data and radio star sources.