[Studies in Computational Intelligence 481] Artur Babiarz, Robert Bieda, Karol Jędrasiak, Aleksander Nawrat (auth.), Aleksander Nawrat, Zygmunt Kuś (eds.) - Vision Based Systemsfor UAV Applications (2013, Sprin

Conclusions
Vision based systems are commonly used in the area of automatic control, especially
in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). Drones with their special selected
parameters gives infinite opportunities in improvement and development of vision
surveillance algorithms, also in areas such as geodesy, cartography and meteorology.
Majority of the applications are based on sensors, for example video or
thermal imaging cameras. Consequently, it is essential to develop new video acquisition
devices and design methodologies. However, there are a lot of challenges
in the area of vision, which were presented and discussed in this book.
One of the most important issue in the area of automatic control is visual surveillance.
The main idea is to detect special targets and abnormal situations due to
their characteristic features, like size or character of movement. It is necessary to
detect features using real time processing. However, the time of computation limits
the process of detection from live video stream. While the process of detection
of abnormal objects or situations is time consuming, the following process of real
time object tracking minimize the computation time. This fact can be used for
surveillance purposes, for creation of automatic target sentry turrets and for creation
of control algorithms of camera gimbal placed in the UAVs. Moreover, information
obtained from tracking can be used for higher level algorithms, such as
object or activity recognition.
Drones are used in different weather conditions and during day or night time.
Due to this fact, it is essential to improve algorithms of video acquisition and innovate
the video acquisition devices. During flight in harsh conditions the wind
can cause an unexpected rotation of the UAV object. The road and position of the
drone can be corrected by entering the special mechanical construction – gimbal.
However, this solution is not sufficient enough, and even after entering solutions
presented above operating in harsh weather conditions can lead to blockage of the
mechanical system. Challenges lie also in the other field of video acquisition.
Visible light cameras often cover only a small part of the magnetic spectrum and
they are very sensitive for dust, smoke, pollution and other weather inconveniences.
Therefore, thermal cameras should be used more often. Video acquisition
devices equipped with thermal cameras can be used for more accurate target detection,
tracking and recognition in low light and harsh weather conditions not
only during the day, but also during the night. There is a big need for development
and improvement of the existing video acquisition devices. Such devices should
be characterized mainly by small weight, low energy consumption and high
resistance to temperature and vibrations.