Thesis (M.S.)--Auburn University, 2007. / Abstract. Includes bibliographic references (ℓ. 114-116)

Thesis (Sc.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 1979. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND AERONAUTICS. / Includes bibliographical references. / Sc.D.

Thesis. 1977. M.S.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND AERONAUTICS. / Includes bibliographical references. / M.S.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 162-170).

Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio University, August, 2000. / Title from PDF t.p.

Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio University, November, 1993. / Title from PDF t.p.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Florida, 2002. / Title from title page of source document. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Texas at El Paso, 2009. / Title from title screen. Vita. CD-ROM. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

University of Macau / Faculty of Science and Technology / Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

D.Ing. / Aerial Vehicle (UAV)-based observation system, by using the principles of strapdown inertial measurement and navigation systems. Effort is concentrated around the mathematical implementation thereof and analysis and proof of the concept in a computer simulation environment. Although the principles of the strapdown system approach to camera-to-target vector estimation are universal to any type of airborne platform that can carry the observation payload, the application thereof is specifically tailored for a UAV system. More specifically, the operational scenario and UAV parameters of a typical close-range UAV system that is used for artillery observation, is used in the derivation of the models and equations. The secondary objective of this research is to derive a realizable mathematical implementation for this strapdown system based camera-to-target vector estimation methodology, by performing a systematic tradeoff between the use of Euler angles and quaternions for describing the camera-to-target vector, and by incorporating the principles of Kalman filtering. This dissertation fully describes the approach that was followed in the derivation of the strapdown system equations for the camera-to-target vector estimation. The mathematical models and principles used are universal for any airborne targeting application with a real-time video down-link. The results as presented in this dissertation, prove that the methodology provides satisfactory results in both a pure digital computer simulation environment, as well as in a digital computer simulation that is hybridized with experimentally determined sensor outputs. It has led to a realizable and workable implementation that could form the basis of practical implementation thereof in operational targeting systems. It further proves that the slant range between a camera and a stationary target on the ground, can be estimated effectively without the use of a laser rangefinder.