Negative Obstacle Detection using Cooperative Systems
S W Dellenback, Richard D. Garcia, Jason Gassaway · 19th ITS World CongressERTICO - ITS EuropeEuropean CommissionITS AmericaITS Asia-Pacific · 2012
In the unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) domain, a major research topic is one of “negative obstacle” detection; a negative obstacle is an impediment, such as a hole or a ditch, that can affect the movement of the UGV. Negative obstacles are difficult to identify from a UGV platform due to the limited vertical field of view (FOV) provided by vehicle-mounted sensors. The low elevation of these sensors significantly hinders UGV’s identification of negative obstacles at any range, significantly reducing the speed at which the vehicle can operate. Current techniques use downward-angled sensors mounted at the front of the vehicle to search for negative obstacles only a few meters from the UGV. The goal of this research project is to improve the state-of-the-art in identifying negative obstacles by integrating the elevated perspective of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS). Combining the information from both the ground and aerial assets in a cooperative manner creates a more detailed view of the terrain that all vehicles can use for traversability decisions.