Using Immersive 3D Terrain Models For Fusion Of UAV Surveillance Imagery

Teams of small and micro UAVs currently require at least one operator per vehicle to watch video and plan paths. Each of the operators has a dull and difficult job to constantly monitor the video and coordinate with other operators to ensure the region of interest in covered. This paper presents initial steps towards an approach that would allow a single operator to utilize data from several UAVs and interact with the data in a more natural and less stressful way. The concept is to paint video directly onto a 3D model of the environment and allow the operator to interact with the model as they would a computer game. The location of any of the UAVs need not be known to the operator. The operator might eventually mark areas of the environment to be searched more or less carefully or often and allow the UAVs to cooperatively and autonomously determine paths that achieve this.