Obstacle detection system involving fusion of multiple sensor technologies

Obstacle detection is a fundamental task for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) as a part of a Sense and Avoid system. In this study, we present a method of multi-sensor obstacle detection that demonstrated good results on different kind of obstacles. This method can be implemented on low-cost platforms involving a DSP or small FPGA. In this paper, we also present a study on the typical targets that can be tough to detect because of their characteristics of reflectivity, form factor, heterogeneity and show how data fusion can often overcome the limitations of each technology.