AMME

Despite imaging techniques such as tomography
and synthetic aperture having been developed more than three
decades ago, they have not been fully exploited within the
robotics community for gathering cross-section information of
indoor environments. In this paper we propose a methodology for
incorporating these concepts in multi-robot applications taking
advantage of some recent developments in UWB technology

This paper presents a methodology to improve the performance of an UWB circular monopole antenna fed with a coplanar waveguide by coupling the waveguide slowly into the radiating element using a pre-defined curve that satisfies boundary conditions on the contour and its derivatives. The resulting antenna is modelled in Matlab and then transferred to CAD programs for simulation and manufacture using script languages. Simulation results carried out in HFSS and lab-test results recorded with a vector network analyser in an anechoic chamber are reported and compared to a reference design previously published and to an equivalent antenna without smoothing.

A novel sensor has been developed to track the movement of individual Australian plague locusts from a UAV. It consists of a powerful strobe collocated with a camera which is able to detect returns from small (2.5mm) glass retroreflectors mounted on the locusts, at ranges in excess of 100m. The paper discusses the development of an annular strobe surrounding a camera which maximises the amount of light returned to the camera. Hardware and software developed for the sensor are outlined along with problems with, and solutions to, strobe generated EMI effects on other aircraft electronics. Positive results of the ground tests and those from a flight trial are shown along with the image processing required to automate the extraction of retroreflector returns.

This paper defines the issues required for the development of successful visualization sensors for use in open cut and underground mines. It examines the mine environment and considers both the reflectivity of the rock and attenuation effects of dust and water droplets. Millimeter wave technology, as an alternative to the more commonly used laser and sonar implementations, is selected due to its superior penetration through adverse atmospheric conditions. Of the available radar techniques, frequency modulated continuous wave ͑FMCW͒ is selected as being the most robust. The theoretical performance of a number of 77 and 94 GHz FMCW millimeter wave radar systems is determined and these confirm the capability of these sensors in the mining environment. Implementations of FMCW radar sensors for simple ranging and three-dimensional surface profiling are discussed before data obtained during field trials in mines is presented to justify the selection of this technology.

This paper defines the issues required for the development of successful visualisation sensors for use in open cut and underground mines. It examines the mine environment and considers both the reflectivity of the rock and attenuation effects of dust and water droplets. Millimetre wave technology, as an alternative to the more commonly used laser and sonar implementations, is selected due to its superior penetration through adverse atmospheric conditions. Of the available radar techniques, frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) is selected as being the most robust. The theoretical performance of a number of 94GHz FMCW millimetre wave radar systems is determined and these confirm the capability of these sensors in the mining environment. The paper describes implementations of FMCW radar sensors for simple ranging, two dimensional line scanning and three dimensional imaging that are based on a common ranging module and in the case of the 2D and 3D applications, a common swash-plat...

For mobile robots operating in outdoor environments, perception is a critical task. Construction, mining, agriculture, and planetary exploration are common examples where the presence of dust, smoke, and rain, and the change in lighting conditions can dramatically degrade conventional vision and laser sensing. Nonetheless, environment perception can still succeed under compromised visibility through the use of a millimeter-wave radar. This paper presents a novel method for scene segmentation using a short-range radar mounted on a ground vehicle. Issues relevant to radar perception in an outdoor environment are described along with field experiments and a quantitative comparison to laser data. The ability to classify the scene and significant improvement in range accuracy are demonstrated showing the utility of millimeterwave radar as a robotic sensor for persistent and accurate perception in natural scenarios.

The use of large rope shovels in open-pit mining and quarrying is ubiquitous across Australia. Their efficient operation is profoundly influenced by their interaction with the surrounding environment and infrastructure. For instance, to maintain an efficient transfer of material from the face to the bucket, an optimum distance from the shovel to the face should be sustained. This is difficult to judge and requires a well trained operator due to poor visibility and lack of perspective clues. Similar problems of alignment exist during dump component of the cycles whereas misjudgements are more critical and may result in damaged infrastructure and even injury to the truck operator, if appropriate precautions are not taken.

This paper discusses a procedure to measure the radar cross section (RCS) of small boats at 94GHz. It describes a simple and moderately low cost set of hardware that was used to perform these measurements. Results include polar patterns made from the peak RCS at each angle and probability density functions to characterise the distribution of RCS. In the case of the largest boat, a 41ft fly-bridge cruiser, it was possible to process the high resolution range profile data to identify the positions of the larger scatterers. Analysis of the measured data for all of the craft shows a linear relationship between the median RCS of the non-metallic boats and their physical cross-section when viewed side on