A significant challenge in the field of uninhabited air vehicles (UAVs), particularly micro air vehicles (MAVs), is that of navigating through a complex environment such as deep in the urban canyon or underneath a forest canopy. Such environments are filled with a variety of hazards, ranging from… More

We will develop a multi-aperture compound eye, with embedded processing, that conforms to the shape of a warhead, UAV, or other robot nose or front-end. The compound eye architecture will be an "array of arrays" structure, with individual elements comprised of low-resolution vision chips having… More

This project addresses the problem

We will develop an omni-directional imaging and machine vision system that samples the visual field using an "array of arrays" approach. Each individual optical aperture images a section of the visual field using an imager and an optics assembly. Each optical aperture has a dedicated microprocessor… More

We will develop "flexible sensing" techniques that will enable a single sensor to perform the functions of both a "seeker" and a "target detection device". One set of approaches will comprise resolution enhancement and other techniques to extract target identification and tracking information, as… More

The overall goal of this project is to develop a flexible acuity sensor (FAS), including both hardware and software, and demonstrate its ability to acquire and track moving targets in the environment, including when the sensor itself is moving. These sensors will utilize a proprietary Centeye vision… More

The goal of this effort is to build a fully on-board vision based navigation system for small micro air vehicles (SMAVs) that will allow autonomous flight and navigation in a ship-borne environment. The target platform is a hovering air vehicle of 7cm to 20cm in size with a payload capacity between… More