Vision-based detection of non-cooperative UAVs using frame differencing and temporal filter

In this paper, we introduce a fast and lightweight method based on several combined filters to detect and track an object in images recorded by a moving camera. Assuming we know nothing about the intruders shape, color or other geometric appearance, we focus with our work on change detection in the image, caused by movement of the object against the background. The method is evaluated with image data from experimental flights with two unmanned aircraft performing different flight maneuvers. The correctness of the intruder detection is evaluated by comparison with hand labeled ground truth from different sequences of the test flight. Additionally, we evaluate the performance of our implementation on architectures with low computational power with regard to a practical onboard solution for small unmanned aerial vehicels (UAV).