Vision-aided tracking of a moving ground vehicle with a hybrid UAV

Abstract

In this work, we present the development of a target tracking and following system using a self-customized hybrid UAV, KH-Lion. KH-Lion is a small and autonomous tail-sitter UAV stabilized and controlled by two vectored propulsion systems. A target tracking system was developed on this platform for autonomous target following on a predetermined moving object on the ground. A customized AprilTag marker was attached on a radio-controlled car, and the target tracking algorithm was verified in actual flight experiment in which the moving car is tracked. Experiments were conducted in the environment of VICON motion tracking system, which provides us with a ground truth to evaluate the performance of the tracking. The system was verified and tested with a moving speed of approximately 0.5 m/s.