A Distributed Aperture Vision System for ground vehicles is described. An overview of the hardware including sensor pod, processor, video compression, and displays is provided. This includes a discussion of the choice between an integrated sensor pod and individually mounted sensors, open architecture design, and latency issues as well as flat panel versus head mounted displays. This technology is applied to various ground vehicle scenarios, including closed-hatch operations (operator in the vehicle), remote operator tele-operation, and supervised autonomy for multi-vehicle unmanned convoys. In addition, remote vision for automatic perimeter surveillance using autonomous vehicles and automatic detection algorithms is demonstrated.

Date Published: 7 May 2010
PDF: 12 pages
Proc. SPIE 7692, Unmanned Systems Technology XII, 76920I (7 May 2010); doi: 10.1117/12.851039

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7692:
Unmanned Systems Technology XII
Grant R. Gerhart; Douglas W. Gage; Charles M. Shoemaker, Editor(s)