Low altitude sense and avoid for MUAV based on stereo vision

The performance of SAA (Sense and Avoid) for UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) is the key function to ensure the UAV's autonomous flight safety. Due to the limitation of payload and size, the micro UAV can't equip large sensors such as radar, etc. Toward the challenging operation condition in low altitude flight environment, we proposed a complete stereo vision based SAA solution suitable for MUAV (Micro Unmanned Aerial Vehicle). By processing the stereo vision data onboard the micro UAV, the proposed method is able to efficiently detect obstacle, evaluate threat level and perform collision avoid maneuver. Experimental results show that the SAA method based on stereo vision can achieve accurate obstacles sensing and effective avoidance maneuver in low altitude airspace, The proposed SAA method can be a practical resolution to ensure low altitude SUAV's safety.