UAV-UGV Collaborative Target Tracking in Urban Environments
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
In urban environments, unmanned vehicles face challenges in identifying, detecting, and tracking targets due to occlusions by buildings and the need for comprehensive coverage, which existing systems often fail to address effectively.
Innovation Solution
A collaborative engagement system comprising unmanned air and ground vehicles with sensors, a controller for data exchange and control, and a portable tasking interface that allows for operator supervision and autonomous or semi-autonomous behaviors to maintain line-of-sight with targets, utilizing predictive algorithms and visibility maps to optimize target detection and tracking.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a single UAV flies over a target in urban environment, then the target may be detected, but the target can be lost due to occlusion by buildings
Solution Approach 1:
The surveillance task is segmented among multiple unmanned vehicles (UAVs and UGVs), each responsible for specific zones or aspects of target tracking. This distribution of surveillance responsibilities ensures continuous target detection even when individual vehicles experience occlusion, thereby improving reliability without requiring a single complex system
Solution Approach 2:
The system merges the capabilities of multiple unmanned vehicles into a coordinated surveillance network. By combining aerial views from UAVs with ground-level perspectives from UGVs, the system achieves comprehensive coverage that maintains target detection reliability while distributing system complexity across multiple simpler individual units
2Measurement precision
If UAV flies at low altitudes parallel to alleyway, then target detection capability is improved, but time to search and track target increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary coordinated positioning of multiple vehicles before target detection is required. UAVs and UGVs pre-establish optimal surveillance positions and coverage zones, so when a target appears, the system can immediately focus detection resources without time-consuming search patterns, thus improving detection precision while minimizing search time
Solution Approach 2:
The system transitions from two-dimensional ground-level search to three-dimensional surveillance by deploying UAVs at various altitudes. This dimensional addition allows simultaneous coverage of multiple alleyways and buildings, improving target detection precision across the urban environment while reducing the total time required to locate targets that would otherwise require sequential ground-level inspection
3Reliability
If multiple unmanned vehicles are deployed for collaborative engagement, then target tracking reliability is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The collaborative system segments functionality into specialized modules: some vehicles handle target detection, others handle tracking, and others provide relay communication. This functional segmentation improves target tracking reliability by distributing specialized capabilities across the fleet while keeping individual vehicle complexity low
Solution Approach 2:
The system employs universal communication protocols and data formats that allow different types of unmanned vehicles to interchangeably perform multiple roles. This multi-functionality enables flexible reconfiguration of the collaborative system for different mission requirements, improving tracking reliability through adaptive teamwork while avoiding the complexity of dedicated specialized hardware for each function
Data Source
AI summary
A collaborative engagement system comprises: at least two unmanned vehicles comprising an unmanned air vehicle including sensors configured to locate a target and an unmanned ground vehicle including sensors configured to locate and track a target; and a controller facilitating control of, and communication and exchange of data to and among the unmanned vehicles, the controller facilitating data exchange via a common protocol. The collaborative engagement system controls the unmanned vehicles to maintain line-of-sight between a predetermined target and at least one of the unmanned vehicles.