Support for Flight Trajectories and Video Capture: Initial Results Using a Free Open Source Flight Simulator

Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs) and larger Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) constitute a powerful tool for the modern warfighter and first responder. However, every developing technology must first be tested before being exported to the battlefield or hot spot to assure predictable behaviors. In today's digital age, computers give designers and testers unprecedented ability to quickly and easily test virtual models before physical prototypes are created and field tested. We have utilized emerging Free Open Source Software (FOSS) simulators and workbenches (e.g. FlightGear and AUV Workbench) to improve mission-driven MAV/UAV video and imagery capture and analysis capabilities. In this project, use of FlightGear to analyze flight trajectories and video capture capabilities of different UAVs is presented. FlightGear allows the free implementation of changeable flight dynamic models, weather, autopilot, GPS, and multiplayer to be included in the analysis of simulated flights. Another attractive aspect of FlightGear is its extensible and easy-to-modify implementation. Modifications are accomplished by changing or adding human readable XML files in the FlightGear subdirectories. In this effort, existing aerial vehicle models are incorporated into FlightGear to create flight trajectories and analyze video capture capabilities to determine the necessary toolset for analyzing imagery data to meet the mission needs. The limitations of the existing camera systems as well as effects of various flight parameters on mosaicking and georegistration are presented here. Sample analysis of the effect of aerial vehicle speed on the overlap of frames captured at the typical 30 frames/second frame rate, which provides a base for comparison of flight attributes, are demonstrated together with other parameters that affect mission performance.