Engineering UAS Applications: Sensor Fusion, Machine Vision and Mission Management

Book excerpt: Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) have evolved rapidly in recent years thanks to advances in microelectromechanical components, navigation, perception, and artificial intelligence, allowing for a fast development of autonomy. This book presents general approaches to develop, test, and evaluate critical functions such as navigation, obstacle avoidance and perception, and the capacity to improve performance in real and simulated scenarios. It provides the practical knowledge to install, analyze and evaluate UAS solutions working in real systems; illustrates how to use and configure complete platforms and software tools; and reviews the main enabling technologies applied to develop UAS, possibilities and evaluation methodology. You will get the tools you need to evaluate navigation and obstacle avoidance functions, object detection, and planning and landing alternatives in simulated conditions. The book also provides helpful guidance on the integration of additional sensors (video, weather, meteorological) and communication networks to build IoT solutions. This is an important book for practitioners and researchers interested in integrating advanced techniques in the fields of AI, sensor fusion and mission management, and anyone interest in applying and testing advanced algorithms in UAS platforms.