Multirotor Target Tracking through Policy Iteration for Visual Servoing

Abstract

This paper presents a novel vision-based approach for tracking deformable contour targets using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) through combining image moments descriptor and a Policy Iteration scheme ensuring stability and generalization of knowledge to new tasks. This computationally efficient and optimal control scheme is suitable for diverse dynamic environments such as the surveillance and tracking of targets with evolving features. Due to the ability of the proposed scheme to comprehend an optimization output, the generated control sequence, from an offline successively approximated policy, makes the process less challenging. The proposed methodology is validated through extensive simulations and real-word exper-iments of environmental target surveillance using an octorotor UAV.