Distance measurement technique in hemispherical area for indoor vertical take-off and landing unmanned aerial vehicle

This paper presents an approach to measure distance to obstacles in a hemispherical area around an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The developed system is based on an infrared depth sensor that returns data as a range image. The sensor is rotated at constant speed so that a measurements are performed at predefined angles which results with the data about distances to objects in a hemisphere around the sensors position. The system was tested in static and dynamic laboratory conditions. Results obtained from those tests reassure its suitability as a part of a collision avoidance system.