Unmanned Systems Technology 002 | Scion SA-400 | Commercial UAV Show report | Vision sensors | Danielson Trident I Security and safety systems | MIRA MACE | Additive manufacturing | Marine UUVs

Clear view ahead 41 V ision is a key capability for autonomous systems; it can input to control and often is the payload function. Weight and the integration into the rest of the system is key for both airborne and ground vehicles, whether for controlling the craft or delivering an image feedback to base from a standalone camera. Image sensors are used in many ways in autonomous systems. Visual data is vital for guiding aircraft and vehicles using a video feed to a processing unit to detect obstructions or objects. This requires the sensors to be tightly integrated with the system controller. Developments in both the sensor technology, now allowing lower weight infrared sensing through the use of new micro-machining techniques, and a new generation of controller chips for processing the data, is driving new ways of designing vision systems for autonomous systems. The payload is often a camera as well, monitoring mountain terrain perhaps as part of a search and rescue mission using high-resolution sensors for still images, or capturing a video stream for transmission to the searchers. In this type of application the bandwidth of the wireless link is the critical factor, or the image or video data can be stored on board the craft for later use. The challenges with vision systems – from their field of view to their weight and power consumption – are similar across autonomous aircraft and road vehicles, but vary with the different spectra of light being sensed, from visible light to infrared. InGaAs sensors One approach for sensing in the shortwave infrared (SWIR) range (wavelengths from 0.9 to 1.7 microns) is the development of Indium Gallium Arsenide (InGaAs) sensors, as the bandgap of the material matches the energy of the photons. SWIR interacts with objects in a similar manner to visible wavelengths, bouncing off objects much like visible light and so gives shadows and contrast in Vision sensors | Focus Developments in imaging technology are paving the way for better and more integrated onboard vision, as Nick Flaherty explains Unmanned Systems Technology | Spring 2015 The challenges with vision systems are similar across autonomous aircraft and road vehicles but vary with the spectra of light sensed