The ability to perform off-road autonomous navigation at any time of day or night is a requirement for some unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) programs. Because there are times when it is desirable for military UGVs to operate without emitting strong, detectable electromagnetic signals, a passive only terrain perception mode of operation is also often a requirement. Thermal infrared (TIR) cameras can be used to provide day and night passive terrain perception. TIR cameras have a detector sensitive to either mid-wave infrared (MWIR) radiation (3-5µm) or long-wave infrared (LWIR) radiation (7-14µm). With the recent emergence of high-quality uncooled LWIR cameras, TIR cameras have become viable passive perception options for some UGV programs. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has used a stereo pair of TIR cameras under several UGV programs to perform stereo ranging, terrain mapping, tree-trunk detection, pedestrian detection, negative obstacle detection, and water detection based on object reflections. In addition, we have evaluated stereo range data at a variety of UGV speeds, evaluated dual-band TIR classification of soil, vegetation, and rock terrain types, analyzed 24 hour water and 12 hour mud TIR imagery, and analyzed TIR imagery for hazard detection through smoke. Since TIR cameras do not currently provide the resolution available from megapixel color cameras, a UGV's daytime safe speed is often reduced when using TIR instead of color cameras. In this paper, we summarize the UGV terrain perception work JPL has performed with TIR cameras over the last decade and describe a calibration target developed by General Dynamics Robotic Systems (GDRS) for TIR cameras and other sensors.
The Navy and Marine Corps will increasingly need to operate unmanned air vehicles from ships at sea. Fused multisensor systems are desirable to ensure these operations are highly reliable under the most demanding at-sea conditions, particularly in degraded visual environments. The US Navy Sea-Based Automated Launch & Recovery System (SALRS) program aims at enabling automated/semi-automated launch and recovery of sea-based, manned and unmanned, fixed-and rotary-wing naval aircraft, and to utilize automated or pilot-augmented flight mechanics for carefree shipboard operations. This paper describes the goals and current results of SALRS Phase 1, which aims at understanding the capabilities and limitations of various sensor types through sensor characterization, modeling, and simulation, and assessing how the sensor models can be used for aircraft navigation to provide sufficient accuracy, integrity, continuity, and availability across all anticipated maritime conditions.
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