A Laser Obstacle Warning and Avoidance System for Unmanned Aircraft Sense-and-Avoid

Abstract:

This paper presents an overview of the research activities performed to develop a new scaled variant of the Laser Obstacle Avoidance and Monitoring (LOAM) system for small-to-medium size Unmanned Aircraft (UA) platforms. This LOAM variant (LOAM⁺) is proposed as one of the non-cooperative sensors employed in the UA Sense-and-Avoid (SAA) system. After a brief description of the LOAM system architecture, the mathematical models developed for obstacle avoidance and calculation of alternative flight path are presented. Additionally, a new formulation is adopted for defining the uncertainty volumes associated with the detected obstacles. Simulation case studies are carried out to evaluate the performances of the avoidance trajectory generation and optimisation algorithms, which demonstrate the ability of LOAM⁺ to effectively detect and avoid fixed low-level obstacles in the intended path.

• Periodical: Applied Mechanics and Materials (Volume 629)
• Pages: 355-360
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.629.355
• Online since: October 2014
• Authors: Roberto Sabatini*, Alessandro Gardi, Subramanian Ramasamy
• Keywords: LiDAR, Low-Level Flight, Obstacle Avoidance, Obstacle Detection, Obstacle Warning, Sense-and-Avoid, Uncertainty Volume, Unmanned Aircraft

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