A Particle Filter for Ground Obstacle Tracking in the Airfield

This paper addresses pilot error due to distractions, lack of situational awareness and misjudgment of separation during taxi manoeuvers. A display is being developed to minimize these errors and assist pilots to determine safe passage while navigating during taxi. Part of the development consisted of the implementation of a tracking algorithm-based on the particle filter-which is being presented in this paper. The tracking algorithm tracks obstacles that have been detected and reconstructed using stereo vision techniques. Afterwards, the tracked obstacles are highlighted on a display. Experiments show that the algorithm successfully detects and tracks aircraft in an airfield.