A survey of optical flow techniques for UAV navigation applications

Optical flow has been widely used by insects and birds to support navigation functions. Such information has appealing capabilities for application to small or micro unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), especially for navigation and collision avoidance in urban or indoor areas. The purpose of this paper is to provide a survey of existing optical flow techniques for UAV navigation applications. Detailed comparisons are made among different optical-flow-aided navigation solutions with emphasis on the sensor hardware as well as optical flow motion models. A summary of current research status and future research directions are further discussed.