Sensor-Model-Based Trajectory Optimization for UAVs to Enhance Detection Performance: An Optimal Control Approach and...

Area of Science:

• Robotics and Automation
• Artificial Intelligence
• Remote Sensing

Background:

• Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are crucial for aerial reconnaissance, requiring high object detection accuracy for mission success.
• Environmental conditions significantly impact sensor data acquisition and automated object detection performance.
• Existing methods lack a comprehensive approach to mitigate environmental effects on UAV-based detection.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a novel sensor performance model for mapping environmental influences on detection accuracy.
• To implement sensor-model-based trajectory optimization for fixed-wing UAVs to enhance detection performance.
• To integrate deep learning-based object detection within a perception chain for UAV reconnaissance.

Main Methods:

• A new sensor performance model was developed to quantify the impact of environmental states on detection performance.
• Nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) and dynamic programming were employed for trajectory optimization.
• Optimized reference flight trajectories were calculated, aligning UAV and sensor positioning with reconnaissance targets.
• Constraints including perceptual, platform-specific, environmental, and mission requirements were incorporated into the optimization.

Main Results:

• The developed sensor performance model is the first to map detection performance for a deep learning object detector concerning environmental states in UAV reconnaissance.
• Sensor-model-based trajectory optimization using NMPC achieved an average 4.48% increase in detection performance compared to benchmarks.
• Dynamic programming yielded detection performance values equal to or closely approaching theoretical maximums.

Conclusions:

• The proposed sensor performance model and trajectory optimization approach effectively enhance UAV-based object detection accuracy.
• Optimizing flight trajectories based on environmental conditions is a viable strategy to improve aerial reconnaissance mission success.
• This work provides a foundational framework for intelligent sensor-model-based trajectory planning in UAV applications.