Author(s)

Bowen Shi, Zhen Liu, Jingyu Zhang, And Shoubo Yang

Corresponding Author

Bowen Shi

ABSTRACT

In order to achieve high-precision docking of airborne refueling in close proximity, this paper proposes a high-precision cone center point extraction method based on stereo vision feature matching. Based on the detection and tracking results of the target cone, the method performs extended compensation on the tracking frame of the cone to form a region of interest (ROI). With camera calibration results and feature matching which is performed on the ROI, a depth map of the cone can be obtained. With the ideology of double Gaussian function, the center offset is solved according to the distortion ratio of the cone ring width to locate the cone center point. The method does not need to add any cooperation logo to the cone, and is easier to implement in the engineering application; it is not necessary to fit the cone-shaped circle to solve the center point, which can be directly solved; compared with other methods, the precision is greatly improved. This method has been implemented in ABB robot simulation system. The experimental results successfully verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the method.

KEYWORDS

Feature Matching, Autonomous Aerial Refueling, Double Gaussian Function, Center Point