Autonomous Track and Follow UAV for Aerodynamic
Analysis of Vehicles
Ahmad Drak and Alexander
Asteroth
Department of Computer Science, Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University,
Germany
Abstract: This work addresses
the issue of finding an optimal flight zone for a side-by-side tracking and
following Unmanned Aerial Vehicle(UAV) adhering to space-restricting factors
brought upon by a dynamic Vector Field Extraction (VFE) algorithm. The VFE
algorithm demands a relatively perpendicular field of view of the UAV to the
tracked vehicle, thereby enforcing the space-restricting factors which are
distance, angle and altitude. The objective of the UAV is to perform
side-by-side tracking and following of a lightweight ground vehicle while
acquiring high quality video of tufts attached to the side of the tracked
vehicle. The recorded video is supplied to the VFE algorithm that produces the
positions and deformations of the tufts over time as they interact with the
surrounding air, resulting in an airflow model of the tracked vehicle. The
present limitations of wind tunnel tests and computational fluid dynamics
simulation suggest the use of a UAV for real world evaluation of the
aerodynamic properties of the vehicle’s exterior. The novelty of the proposed
approach is alluded to defining the specific flight zone restricting factors
while adhering to the VFE algorithm, where as a result we were capable of
formalizing a locally-static and a globally-dynamic geofence attached to the
tracked vehicle and enclosing the UAV.
Keywords: UAV, flight zone, geofence, dynamic vector
fields, aerodynamics.