Abstract
This paper presents real-time results of a decentralised airborne data fusion system tracking multiple ground based targets. These target estimates are then used to construct a composite map of the environment. A decentralised communication strategy which is robust to communication latencies and dropouts results in each sensing node having a local estimate using global information. In addition, this paper describes the hardware and algorithms for the sensing nodes used in this demonstration. The problems introduced by locating the sensing nodes on air vehicles are both interesting and challenging.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
D. Alberts, J. Garstka and P. Stein, Network CentricWarfare: Developing and Leveraging Information Superiority, C4ISR Cooperative Research Program (CCRP), http://www.dodccrp.org/NCW/ ncw.html (1999).
Analog-Devices, ADSP-2106X SHARC User's Manual (Analog Devices, Norwood, MA, 1996).
G. Brooker, A robust mm wave sensor for underground applications, in: Internat. Conf. on Control, Automation, Robotics and Vision, Singapore, 2002.
G. Brooker, M. Bishop and S. Scheding, Millimetre waves for robotics, in: Australasian Conf. on Robotics and Automation, Sydney, 2001.
S. Clark, Autonomous land vehicle navigation using millimeter wave radar, Ph.D. thesis, University of Sydney (1999).
S. Clark and H. Durrant-Whyte, The design of a high performance MMW radar system for autonomous land vehicle navigation, in: Internat. Conf. on Field and Service Robotics, ed. A. Zelinsky, Canberra, Australia, 7–10 December 1997, pp. 292–299.
N. Currie and C. Brown, Principles and Applications of Millimeter-Wave Radar (Artech House, Norwood, MA, 1987).
N. Currie, R. Hayes and R. Trebits, Millimeter-Wave Radar Clutter (Artech House, Norwood, MA, 1992).
R. Deaves, The management of communications in decentralised Bayesian data fusion systems, Ph.D. thesis, Bristol University, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (1999).
M. Fernandez, Failure detection and isolation in decentralised multisensor systems, Ph.D. thesis, The University of Oxford (1993).
A. Foessel, J. Bares and W. Whittaker, Three-dimensional map building with MMW radar, in: Proc. of the 3rd Internat. Conf. on Field and Service Robotics, Helsinki, Finland, June 2001.
A. Goktogan, E. Nettleton, M. Ridley and S. Sukkarieh, Real time multi-UAV simulator, in: IEEE Internat. Conf. on Robotics and Automation, Taipei, Taiwan, 2003.
S. Grime and H. Durrant-Whyte, Data fusion in decentralized sensor networks, Control Engineering Practice 2(5) (1994) 849–863.
R. Grover, G. Brooker and H. Durrant-Whyte, Environmental representation for fused millimeter wave radar and nightvision data, in: Internat. Conf. on Control, Automation, Robotics and Vision, Singapore, 2002.
F. Harris, On the use of windows for harmonic analysis with the discrete fourier transform, Proceedings of the IEEE 66 (1978) 15–83.
J. Heikkilä and O. Silvén, A four-step camera calibration procedure with implicit image correction, in: IEEE Computer Society Conf. on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR'97), 1997, pp. 1106–1112.
J. Leal, S. Scheding and G. Dissanayake, Stochastic simulation in surface reconstruction and application to 3D mapping, in: IEEE Internat. Conf. on Robotics and Automation, Washington, DC, USA, 2002, pp. 1765–1770.
S. Lu, A. Poore and B. Suchomel, Network-centric MFA tracking architectures, in: Proc. of the 5th Internat. Conf. on Information Fusion, Vol. 1, Sunnyvale, 2002, pp. 520–526.
J. Manyika, An information theoretic approach to data fusion and sensor management, Ph.D. thesis, The University of Oxford (1993).
P. Maybeck, Stochastic Models, Estimation and Control, Vol. 1 (Academic Press, New York, 1979).
E. Nettleton, H. Durrant-Whyte, P. Gibbens and A. Göktoğan, Multiple platform localisation and map building, in: Sensor Fusion and Decentralised Control in Robotic Stystems III, Vol. 4196, eds. G.T. McKee and P.S. Schenker, Bellingham, 2000, pp. 337–347.
D. Nicholson, C. Lloyd, S. Julier and J. Uhlmann, Scalable distributed data fusion, in: Proc. of the 5th Internat. Conf. on Information Fusion, Vol. 1, Sunnyvale, 2002, pp. 630–635.
S. Scheding, G. Brooker, M. Bishop, R. Hennessey and A. Maclean, Terrain imaging millimetre wave radar, in: Internat. Conf. on Control, Automation, Robotics and Vision, Singapore, 2002.
S. Scheding, G. Brooker, R. Hennessey, M. Bishop and A. Maclean, Terrain imaging and perception using millimetre wave radar, in: Australasian Conf. on Robotics and Automation, Auckland, 2002.
L. Stone, C. Barlow and T. Corwin, Bayesian Multiple Target Tracking (Artech House, Norwood, 1999).
S. Sukkarieh, A. Göktoğan, J. Kim, E. Nettleton, J. Randle, M. Ridley, S. Wishart and H. Durrant-Whyte, Cooperative data fusion and control amongst multiple uninhabited air vehicles, in: ISER 2002 7th Internat. Symposium on Experimental Robotics, 2002.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nettleton, E., Ridley, M., Sukkarieh, S. et al. Implementation of a Decentralised Sensing Network aboard Multiple UAVs. Telecommunication Systems 26, 253–284 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:TELS.0000029042.75697.f0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:TELS.0000029042.75697.f0