While substantial progress has been made in the absolute performance of localization and Visual Place Recognition (VPR) techniques, it is becoming increasingly clear from translating these systems into applications that other capabilities like integrity and predictability are just as important, especially for safety- or operationally-critical autonomous systems. In this research we present a new, training-free approach to predicting the likely quality of localization estimates, and a novel method for using these predictions to bias a sequence-matching process to produce additional performance gains beyond that of a naive sequence matching approach. Our combined system is lightweight, runs in real-time and is agnostic to the underlying VPR technique. On extensive experiments across four datasets and three VPR techniques, we demonstrate our system improves precision performance, especially at the high-precision/low-recall operating point. We also present ablation and analysis identifying the performance contributions of the prediction and weighted sequence matching components in isolation, and the relationship between the quality of the prediction system and the benefits of the weighted sequential matcher.

In this article, we propose two novel experimental design techniques for designing maximally informative experiments to estimate the parameters of nonlinear dynamical vehicle models. The two techniques include a batch design and a sequential design technique that seek to maximize the expected Shannon information gain of the parameter distribution using either an online or offline approach (respectively). We apply and compare the techniques in both simulation and real-world experiments with a wheeled vehicle. In our simulation experiments, both of our proposed designs provide superior Shannon information gains relative to an unoptimized benchmark technique. In our real-world experiments, our sequential design technique achieves superior expected Shannon information gains relative to our batch design technique and the benchmark technique.

This paper presents the design and implementation of an assisted control technology for a small multirotor platform for aerial inspection of fixed energy infrastructure. Sensor placement is supported by a theoretical analysis of expected sensor performance and constrained platform behaviour to speed up implementation. The optical sensors provide relative position information between the platform and the asset, which enables human operator inputs to be autonomously adjusted to ensure safe separation. The assisted control approach is designed to reduced operator workload during close proximity inspection tasks, with collision avoidance and safe separation managed autonomously. The energy infrastructure includes single vertical wooden poles and crossarm with attached overhead wires. Simulated and real experimental results are provided.

In this paper, we consider the problem of quickly detecting an unknown change in the conditional densities of a dependent stochastic process. In contrast to the existing quickest change detection approaches for dependent stochastic processes, we propose minimax robust versions of the popular Lorden, Pollak, and Bayesian criteria for when there is uncertainty about the parameter of the post-change conditional densities. Under an information-theoretic Pythagorean inequality condition on the uncertainty set of possible post-change parameters, we identify asymptotic minimax robust solutions to our Lorden, Pollak, and Bayesian problems. Finally, through simulation examples, we illustrate that asymptotically minimax robust rules can provide detection performance comparable to the popular (but more computationally expensive) generalized likelihood ratio rule.

Machine vision represents a particularly attractive solution for sensing and detecting potential collision-course targets due to the relatively low cost, size, weight, and power requirements of the sensors involved (as opposed to radar). This paper describes the development and evaluation of a vision-based collision detection algorithm suitable for fixed-wing aerial robotics. The system was evaluated using highly realistic vision data of the moments leading up to a collision. Based on the collected data, our detection approaches were able to detect targets at distances ranging from 400m to about 900m. These distances (with some assumptions about closing speeds and aircraft trajectories) translate to an advanced warning of between 8-10 seconds ahead of impact, which approaches the 12.5 second response time recommended for human pilots. We make use of the enormous potential of graphic processing units to achieve processing rates of 30Hz (for images of size 1024-by-768). Currently, integration in the final platform is under way.

In this paper conditional hidden Markov model (HMM) filters and conditional Kalman filters (KF) are coupled together to improve demodulation of differential encoded signals in noisy fading channels. We present an indicator matrix representation for differential encoded signals and the optimal HMM filter for demodulation. The filter requires O(N/sup 3/) calculations per time iteration, where N is the number of message symbols. Decision feedback equalisation is investigated via coupling the optimal HMM filter for estimating the message, conditioned on estimates of the channel parameters, and a KF for estimating the channel states, conditioned on soft information message estimates. The particular differential encoding scheme examined in this paper is differential phase shift keying. However, the techniques developed can be extended to other forms of differential modulation. The channel model we use allows for multiplicative channel distortions and additive white Gaussian noise. Simulation studies are also presented.