Abstract

Mini Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (mUAVs) have the potential to be a great asset to Wilderness Search and Rescue groups by providing a bird's eye view of the search area. These vehicles can carry a variety of sensors to better understand the world below. This paper proposes using both Infrared (IR) and Visible Spectrum cameras on a mUAV for Wilderness Search and Rescue. It details a method for combining the color and heat information from these two cameras into a single fused display to reduce needed screen space for remote field use. To align the video frames for fusion, a method for simultaneously pre-calibrating the intrinsic and extrinsic parameters of the cameras and their mount using a single multi-spectral calibration rig is also presented. A user study conducted to validate the proposed image fusion methods showed no reduction in performance when detecting objects of interest in the single-screen fused display compared to a side-by-side display. Furthermore, the users' increased performance on a simultaneous auditory task showed that increased performance on a simultaneous auditory task showed that their cognitive load was reduced when using the fused display.

Degree

College and Department

Physical and Mathematical Sciences; Computer Science

Rights

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