Global ETD Search

1	A See-ability Metric to Improve Mini Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Operator Awareness Using Video Georegistered to Terrain Models Engh, Cameron Howard 20 November 2008 (has links) (PDF) Search and rescue operations conducted in wilderness environments can be greatly aided by the use of video filmed from mini-UAVs. While lightweight, inexpensive and easily transportable, these small aircraft suffer from wind buffeting and may produce video that is difficult to search. To aid in the video search process, we have created a system to project video frames into a 3D representation of the search region. This projection allows us to tie each frame of video to a real-world location, enabling a myriad of novel views, mosaics and metrics that can be used to guide the search including a new metric dubbed “see-ability.” The “see-ability” metric is the primary contribution of this research as it indicates what portion of the search area has been viewed and provides an estimate of the quality of that viewing. The research includes a validation of the “see-ability” metric as it correlates to objective performance in the search task by real people. BYU Brigham Young University computer vision seeability see-ability MiniUAV MUAV georegister georegistration terrain unmanned air vehicle aerial terrain model SAR search rescue search and rescue projective texture video telemetry video indexing visibility Computer Sciences