Object Tracking for Rapid Camera Movements in 3D Space

The solution of the camera head control problem was presented in the paper. The main goal of developed control algorithm is the object tracking in rapid disturbance conditions. The changes of the helicopter position and orientation during the time of disturbance result in losing tracked object from the field of view. Due to this fact the helicopter control system uses not only the visual information. The essence of the proposed solution is to compute the object position only in such time intervals when the object is in the center of the image. It allows the camera head regulators to compensate change of the camera position and set the camera towards the object. The proposed solution comprises of turning the camera head towards the trucked object in horizontal and vertical planes. The appropriate angles were computed on the basis of rangefinder data (distance between the camera and the object) and GPS and IMU data (the camera position and orientation). Furthermore, examples of the situation when the distortion changes the helicopter position in horizontal and vertical plane were presented in the paper.