Vision chip for navigating and controlling Micro Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

A single chip which visually measures the Yaw, Pitch and Roll (YPR) and images the direction of travel of a Micro Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (MUAV) is described. The YPR measurement modules, constructed using an elaborated Reichardt model of the fly\´s motion detection system, are used to measure the drift rate of features in the field of view. A variable acuity superpixellation imager (VASI), constructed using an active pixel sensor (APS) with networked integration capacitors, allows multiple high resolution foveae to be interspersed in a low resolution image of the environment. The 49 sq. mm chip, containing twelve 90-pixel linear arrays for the YPR modules and a 128×128 VASI array, is fabricated in a 0.5 μm 2P3M CMOS process. Measured results indicate that YPR rates of over 300 pixels/second and VASI images ranging from 1×1 to 128×128, with multiple, dynamically variable foveae, can be obtained with this chip. It is intended to be used to control and navigate a MUAV, but it can also be used for visual tracking and many other "multimode" imaging operations.