arXiv:2412.10048cs.RO2024-12

用蝙蝠启发的超声波技术,让微型无人机在黑暗和反光环境里精准测速避障。

BatDeck -- Ultra Low-power Ultrasonic Ego-velocity Estimation and Obstacle Avoidance on Nano-drones

  • 借鉴蝙蝠回声定位,用低功耗超声波实现双向测距
  • 测速误差仅0.019 m/s,飞行续航达8分钟覆盖136米
  • 适合在无光照、透明/反光场景下运行,提升无人机鲁棒性

微型无人机因体积小、重量轻,适用于狭小空间救援且对人安全。但其载荷有限,仅能搭载单颗激光飞行时间(ToF)传感器或低分辨率光学传感器来实现自运动估计与障碍物检测。尽管这些传感器表现良好,但在复杂现实场景中仍会失效,尤其面对透明或反射表面(如ToF)或缺乏视觉特征时(如光学流传感器)。受蝙蝠启发,本文提出一种基于前后向布置的低功耗超声波传感器的新型双向测距方法,用于自运动估计与避障,在面对反射材料或完全黑暗环境时显著提升性能。实验结果表明,该传感系统在自运动估计上均方误差为0.019 m/s,可在复杂环境中实现平均136米的探索距离,持续飞行8分钟。同时,我们对比了超声波与激光式ToF在避障中的表现,以及光学流与超声波在自运动估计中的差异,说明两者可互补以增强微型无人机在多变环境下的鲁棒性。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

Nano-drones, with their small, lightweight design, are ideal for confined-space rescue missions and inherently safe for human interaction. However, their limited payload restricts the critical sensing needed for ego-velocity estimation and obstacle detection to single-bean laser-based time-of-flight (ToF) and low-resolution optical sensors. Although those sensors have demonstrated good performance, they fail in some complex real-world scenarios, especially when facing transparent or reflective surfaces (ToFs) or when lacking visual features (optical-flow sensors). Taking inspiration from bats, this paper proposes a novel two-way ranging-based method for ego-velocity estimation and obstacle avoidance based on down-and-forward facing ultra-low-power ultrasonic sensors, which improve the performance when the drone faces reflective materials or navigates in complete darkness. Our results demonstrate that our new sensing system achieves a mean square error of 0.019 m/s on ego-velocity estimation and allows exploration for a flight time of 8 minutes while covering 136 m on average in a challenging environment with transparent and reflective obstacles. We also compare ultrasonic and laser-based ToF sensing techniques for obstacle avoidance, as well as optical flow and ultrasonic-based techniques for ego-velocity estimation, denoting how these systems and methods can be complemented to enhance the robustness of nano-drone operations.

微型无人机超声波传感避障低功耗

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