Low-Altitude Terrain-Following Flight Planning for Multirotors
Surveying with unmanned aerial vehicles flying close to the terrain is crucial for the collection of details that are not visible when flying at higher altitudes. This type of missions can be applied in several scenarios such as search and rescue, precision agriculture, and environmental monitoring,...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2020-06-01
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| Series: | Drones |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2504-446X/4/2/26 |
| _version_ | 1797564160734658560 |
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| author | Carmelo Donato Melita Dario Calogero Guastella Luciano Cantelli Giuseppe Di Marco Irene Minio Giovanni Muscato |
| author_facet | Carmelo Donato Melita Dario Calogero Guastella Luciano Cantelli Giuseppe Di Marco Irene Minio Giovanni Muscato |
| author_sort | Carmelo Donato Melita |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Surveying with unmanned aerial vehicles flying close to the terrain is crucial for the collection of details that are not visible when flying at higher altitudes. This type of missions can be applied in several scenarios such as search and rescue, precision agriculture, and environmental monitoring, to name a few. We present a strategy for the generation of low-altitude trajectories for terrain following. The trajectory is generated taking into account the morphology of the area of interest, represented as a georeferenced Digital Surface Model (DSM), while ensuring a safe separation from any obstacle. The surface model of the scenario is created by using a UAV-based photogrammetry software, which processes the images acquired during a preliminary mission at high altitude. The solution was developed, tested, and verified both in simulation and in real scenarios with a multirotor equipped with low-cost sensing. The experimental results proved the validity of the generation of trajectories at altitudes lower than most of the works available in the literature. The images acquired during the low-altitude mission were processed to obtain a high-resolution reconstruction of the area as a representative application result. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T18:53:25Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8da5fd0299df472d8f22cb3c9d0d2e1a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2504-446X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T18:53:25Z |
| publishDate | 2020-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Drones |
| spelling | doaj.art-8da5fd0299df472d8f22cb3c9d0d2e1a2023-11-20T04:58:35ZengMDPI AGDrones2504-446X2020-06-01422610.3390/drones4020026Low-Altitude Terrain-Following Flight Planning for MultirotorsCarmelo Donato Melita0Dario Calogero Guastella1Luciano Cantelli2Giuseppe Di Marco3Irene Minio4Giovanni Muscato5Dipartimento di Ingegneria Elettrica, Elettronica e Informatica, Università di Catania, 95125 Catania, ItalyDipartimento di Ingegneria Elettrica, Elettronica e Informatica, Università di Catania, 95125 Catania, ItalyDipartimento di Ingegneria Elettrica, Elettronica e Informatica, Università di Catania, 95125 Catania, ItalyDipartimento di Ingegneria Elettrica, Elettronica e Informatica, Università di Catania, 95125 Catania, ItalyDipartimento di Ingegneria Elettrica, Elettronica e Informatica, Università di Catania, 95125 Catania, ItalyDipartimento di Ingegneria Elettrica, Elettronica e Informatica, Università di Catania, 95125 Catania, ItalySurveying with unmanned aerial vehicles flying close to the terrain is crucial for the collection of details that are not visible when flying at higher altitudes. This type of missions can be applied in several scenarios such as search and rescue, precision agriculture, and environmental monitoring, to name a few. We present a strategy for the generation of low-altitude trajectories for terrain following. The trajectory is generated taking into account the morphology of the area of interest, represented as a georeferenced Digital Surface Model (DSM), while ensuring a safe separation from any obstacle. The surface model of the scenario is created by using a UAV-based photogrammetry software, which processes the images acquired during a preliminary mission at high altitude. The solution was developed, tested, and verified both in simulation and in real scenarios with a multirotor equipped with low-cost sensing. The experimental results proved the validity of the generation of trajectories at altitudes lower than most of the works available in the literature. The images acquired during the low-altitude mission were processed to obtain a high-resolution reconstruction of the area as a representative application result.https://www.mdpi.com/2504-446X/4/2/26aerial surveytrajectory generationmultirotorsterrain followingdigital surface models |
| spellingShingle | Carmelo Donato Melita Dario Calogero Guastella Luciano Cantelli Giuseppe Di Marco Irene Minio Giovanni Muscato Low-Altitude Terrain-Following Flight Planning for Multirotors Drones aerial survey trajectory generation multirotors terrain following digital surface models |
| title | Low-Altitude Terrain-Following Flight Planning for Multirotors |
| title_full | Low-Altitude Terrain-Following Flight Planning for Multirotors |
| title_fullStr | Low-Altitude Terrain-Following Flight Planning for Multirotors |
| title_full_unstemmed | Low-Altitude Terrain-Following Flight Planning for Multirotors |
| title_short | Low-Altitude Terrain-Following Flight Planning for Multirotors |
| title_sort | low altitude terrain following flight planning for multirotors |
| topic | aerial survey trajectory generation multirotors terrain following digital surface models |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2504-446X/4/2/26 |
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