It is mentioned in the documentation that ZED camera may be used as an alternative to GPS based navigation. It actually holds the position of copter using camera feed thus eliminating the reliance on GPS.
I have some questions if someone can answer please
Can the configuration used to fly the copter autonomously without GPS?
If yes then, Can it be used for Return to Launch i.e. if there is no gps, can the vehicle come home using the camera with TX1 autonomously?
And If no then, Is there any way to make this happen i.e. modifying the OPENKIE framework or any other way to utilize TX1 and ZED to serve the purpose?
STUDENT
Ayush Gaud
PROJECT NAME
Mapping and Planning for obstacle avoidance
ORGANIZATION
ArduPilot
MENTORS
Randy Mackay
Jaime Machuca
SHARE LINK
attachment
Autonomous waypoint navigation has been an integral part of the Ardupilot project for a long time. This approach works well when the multicopter is flying at high altitudes without obstructions. In case of low altitude flights though, it becomes difficult for the drone to navigate autonomously and requires sensors to restrain it from colliding with the obstacles around. This is done by locally dividing the regions around the multicopter into sectors and scaling the attitude proportional to the distance from obstacles. This would sometimes lead to the vehicle to stop and a manual intervention would be required to let it out of the obstruction.
Situations like these could be avoided if a planning algorithm could take advantage of the observations made previously in the form of a 3D map and use it to direct the multicopter in the collision free path maintaining the global plan for waypoint navigation. This could be done by building a framework for mapping which would utilize depth information from stereo cameras or lidars and generate an occupancy map. The planner would use this map and global plan as an input and generate control commands for the multicopter to navigate autonomously.