Neya Stereo Vision

The summer after my sophomore year, I worked on integrating a stereo vision perception system to a quadcopter for Neya Systems while interning for the summer. My task was to evaluate and improve the airborne system. It was downward facing and was used to provide a map of the environment to other autonomous systems to improve their path planning ability.

My specific tasks were to integrate the commercial sensors to the drone through a lightweight mount, combine the new software with the existing codebase, and evaluate the sensors’ accuracy and robustness in different lighting conditions. I developed several methods to assess the quality of the 3D reconstruction, and performed tests to identify challenging conditions for the sensor. I then iterated through many modifications to the algorithm and/or hardware to improve the systems’s performance.

Through this project, I became familiar with cameras, optics, and stereo vision algorithms. I also gained experience operating UAS and received my FAA Part 107 License. Additionally, I learned useful skills for independent research, since I completed this project remotely from home.