The 1996 MIT/Boston University/Draper Laboratory autonomous helicopter system

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston University and Draper Laboratory have cooperated to develop an autonomous aerial vehicle that won the 1996 International Aerial Robotics Competition. This paper describes the approach, system architecture and subsystem designs for the entry. This ent...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Johnson, E.N., DeBitetto, P.A., Trott, C.A., Bosse, M.C.
Format: Conference Proceeding
Language:English
Subjects:
Aircraft navigation
Computer architecture
Human factors
Laboratories
Mobile robots
Packaging
Process control
Remotely operated vehicles
Software packages
Sonar navigation
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Request full text
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Summary:The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston University and Draper Laboratory have cooperated to develop an autonomous aerial vehicle that won the 1996 International Aerial Robotics Competition. This paper describes the approach, system architecture and subsystem designs for the entry. This entry represents a combination of many technology areas: navigation, guidance, control, vision processing, human factors, packaging, power, real-time software, and many others. The aerial vehicle, an autonomous helicopter, performs navigation and control functions using multiple sensors: differential GPS, inertial measurement unit, sonar altimeter, and a flux compass. The aerial transmits video imagery to the ground. A ground based vision processor converts the image data into target position and classification estimates. The system was designed, built, and flown in less than one year and has provided many lessons about autonomous vehicle systems, several of which are discussed.
DOI:10.1109/DASC.1996.559185