Implementation of a sensor guided flight algorithm for target tracking by small UAS
Gaemus E. Collins, Chris Stankevitz, Jeffrey Liese · Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE · 2011
Small xed-wing UAS (SUAS) such as Raven and Unicorn have limited power, speed, and maneuverability. Their missions can be dramatically hindered by environmental conditions (wind, terrain), obstructions (buildings, trees) blocking clear line of sight to a target, and/or sensor hardware limitations (xed stare, limited gimbal motion, lack of zoom). Toyon's Sensor Guided Flight (SGF) algorithm was designed to account for SUAS hardware shortcomings and enable long-term tracking of maneuvering targets by maintaining persistent eyes-on-target. SGF was successfully tested in simulation with high-delity UAS, sensor, and environment models, but real- world ight testing with 60 Unicorn UAS revealed surprising second order challenges that were not highlighted by the simulations. This paper describes the SGF algorithm, our rst round simulation results, our second order discoveries from ight testing, and subsequent improvements that were made to the algorithm.