UAV guidance using a monocular-vision sensor for aerial target tracking

Target tracking is difficult for a Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) equipped with a monocular-vision sensor because the sensor cannot measure the range between aerial target and UAV. Since the range between UAV and target is unobservable, the target position is also unknown. A measurement model of the vision sensor is proposed based on a specific image processing technique. A nonlinear adaptive observer is designed to estimate states and parameters, and the position of the target is estimated. A guidance law for target tracking and UAV maneuvers for persistent excitation condition are also proposed. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms, numerical simulations are performed.