UAV Flight Control Along the Railway Using Technical Vision

The software and hardware complex for UAV flight controlling over a railway without the operator participation and the satellite navigation systems use is presented in the paper. The UAV is controlled offline using a computer vision system consisting of a video camera, a microcomputer and a flight controller. The pilot participates only during takeoff or landing. An algorithm has been developed that runs on a microcomputer and recognizes the rails and their positions on the video image. Next, the microcomputer generates commands to control UAV's pitch, yaw, and roll so as to ensure the flight along the rails. The implementation of the algorithm does not affect the UAV weight and size parameters and power consumption and does not affect its flight range and durations. Another important feature of this work is radio silence mode, which makes the drone immune to radio interference. Experimental testing confirmed the algorithm reliability and the UAV steady flight along the railroad.