Autonomous UAV Navigation for Search and Rescue Missions Using Computer Vision and Convolutional Neural Networks

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Šiktar, Luka, Ćaran, Branimir, Šekoranja, Bojan, Švaco, Marko
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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_version_ 1866915407924822016
author Šiktar, Luka
Ćaran, Branimir
Šekoranja, Bojan
Švaco, Marko
author_facet Šiktar, Luka
Ćaran, Branimir
Šekoranja, Bojan
Švaco, Marko
contents In this paper, we present a subsystem, using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), for search and rescue missions, focusing on people detection, face recognition and tracking of identified individuals. The proposed solution integrates a UAV with ROS2 framework, that utilizes multiple convolutional neural networks (CNN) for search missions. System identification and PD controller deployment are performed for autonomous UAV navigation. The ROS2 environment utilizes the YOLOv11 and YOLOv11-pose CNNs for tracking purposes, and the dlib library CNN for face recognition. The system detects a specific individual, performs face recognition and starts tracking. If the individual is not yet known, the UAV operator can manually locate the person, save their facial image and immediately initiate the tracking process. The tracking process relies on specific keypoints identified on the human body using the YOLOv11-pose CNN model. These keypoints are used to track a specific individual and maintain a safe distance. To enhance accurate tracking, system identification is performed, based on measurement data from the UAVs IMU. The identified system parameters are used to design PD controllers that utilize YOLOv11-pose to estimate the distance between the UAVs camera and the identified individual. The initial experiments, conducted on 14 known individuals, demonstrated that the proposed subsystem can be successfully used in real time. The next step involves implementing the system on a large experimental UAV for field use and integrating autonomous navigation with GPS-guided control for rescue operations planning.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_18160
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Autonomous UAV Navigation for Search and Rescue Missions Using Computer Vision and Convolutional Neural Networks
Šiktar, Luka
Ćaran, Branimir
Šekoranja, Bojan
Švaco, Marko
Robotics
In this paper, we present a subsystem, using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), for search and rescue missions, focusing on people detection, face recognition and tracking of identified individuals. The proposed solution integrates a UAV with ROS2 framework, that utilizes multiple convolutional neural networks (CNN) for search missions. System identification and PD controller deployment are performed for autonomous UAV navigation. The ROS2 environment utilizes the YOLOv11 and YOLOv11-pose CNNs for tracking purposes, and the dlib library CNN for face recognition. The system detects a specific individual, performs face recognition and starts tracking. If the individual is not yet known, the UAV operator can manually locate the person, save their facial image and immediately initiate the tracking process. The tracking process relies on specific keypoints identified on the human body using the YOLOv11-pose CNN model. These keypoints are used to track a specific individual and maintain a safe distance. To enhance accurate tracking, system identification is performed, based on measurement data from the UAVs IMU. The identified system parameters are used to design PD controllers that utilize YOLOv11-pose to estimate the distance between the UAVs camera and the identified individual. The initial experiments, conducted on 14 known individuals, demonstrated that the proposed subsystem can be successfully used in real time. The next step involves implementing the system on a large experimental UAV for field use and integrating autonomous navigation with GPS-guided control for rescue operations planning.
title Autonomous UAV Navigation for Search and Rescue Missions Using Computer Vision and Convolutional Neural Networks
topic Robotics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.18160