Research Projects

The purpose of past research was to investigate the efficacy of wide-baseline stereopsis as a method of ranging aircraft, specifically as a possible sense-and-avoid solution in Unmanned Aerial Systems. The study was performed using a baseline 14.32 meters and two 640 x 480 pixel charge coupled device cameras.

An experimental research design was used in the study. The wide-baseline stereo system ranged aircraft within 2 kilometers with a mean absolute error of 17.62%. A t-test was performed and there was a significant difference between the mean absolute error of the humans in a separate pilot study performed by the author and the wide-baseline stereo system. The results suggest that the wide-baseline system is more consistent as well as more accurate than humans. The new study will take recommendations from the past study and utilize a higher resolution camera system and a GPS data logger on board a target aircraft.