ALLFlight - Enhanced Vision Sensor Suite for Helicopter Applications

Abstract

Since 2008 the DLR project ALLFlight (Assisted Low Level Flight and Landing on Unprepared Landing Sites) is dealing with the integration of a large scale EV sensor suite onto DLR’s research helicopter EC-135. The main objective of this project is to demonstrate and evaluate the characteristics of different sensors for helicopter operation within degraded visual environments, such as brownout or whiteout. The sensor suite consists of a standard color TV camera and an un-cooled thermal infrared camera (EVS-1000, Max-Viz, USA). Additional, two different ranging sensors are part of this sensor suite: an optical radar scanner (HELLAS-W, EADS, Germany) and a mmW radar system (AI-130, ICx Radar Systems, Canada). Both radar systems are equipped with specialized software for experimental modes, such as terrain mapping and ground scanning. To be able to process and display the huge incoming flood of data from these sensors, a compact high performance so-called sensor co-computer system (SCC) has been designed and realized, which can easily be installed into the helicopter’s experimental electronic cargo bay. A sophisticated, high performance, distributed data acquisition, recording, processing, and fusion software architecture has been developed and implemented during the first project years. Flight trials are planned to be conducted in 2010.