Optic Flow-Based Control and Navigation of Mini Aerial Vehicles

This paper concerns recent work on the application of optic flow for control and navigation of small unmanned aerial vehicles. Bio-inspired strategies, such as the use of optic flow, have always motivated researchers in the control community. Recent methodologies for active and passive navigation of aerial vehicles using optic flow, such as obstacle detection or terrain following, are presented. Applications to path following that have been achieved at Heudiasyc Laboratory (CNRS-UTC) in Compiègne are described, in order to illustrate the strength of the concept.