Autonomous flight and vision-based target tracking for a flapping-wing MAV

Abstract

In this paper, we design an autonomous flight controller for height regulation and bang-bang controller for directional control of a light-weight flapping-wing micro air vehicle (FWMAV) with limited payload. We also present autonomous vision-based target tracking for a FWMAV equipped with a low-cost and light-weight first person view (FPV) camera. We construct a ground station, integrated with control and vision algorithms, which performs the image processing and the computation of control inputs based on the acquired state variables from motion capture system. In addition, we employ a vision algorithm for a low-quality camera to detect a static target with the discussions on the techniques to improve the reliability of visual detection. Experimental results show satisfactory flight performance, achieving the height regulation and directional control, and autonomous vision-based target tracking.