OATS: Oxford Aerial Tracking System

Small robot helicopters are becoming a popular research platform due to the availability of off-the-shelf components and their suitability for useful applications. We describe the Oxford Aerial Tracking System (OATS) that we are commissioning which takes a commercial airframe and low-level flight controller, and adapts these for use in applications requiring the visual tracking of ground targets. This uses a camera on a two-axis gimbal feeding images into an on-board processing system, which communicates summary information to a ground station. So far we have tested the system off the aircraft using laboratory targets and canned image sequences; we have also developed algorithms to scan a target area using a simulator program. The next step is to integrate these into the airframe, and begin testing there.