Monocular obstacle detection on a drone flight path

An apparatus for monocular obstacle detection on a drone flight path, comprising:

• a processing circuitry adapted for:
• instructing a drone to move at a constant speed on a flight path directed forward along a horizontal axis;
• instructing the drone while moving at the constant speed forward on the flight path to periodically perform a planned motion of a predefined amplitude in at least one direction perpendicular to the horizontal axis;
• operating a forward-looking monocular camera mounted on the drone to capture at least one pair of images, each pair comprising a first frame captured along the flight path and a second frame captured at a deviation from the flight path effected by the planned motion performed in the at least one direction;
• analyzing the first and second frames of a respective one of the at least one pair to determine stereo matching;
• estimating for at least one region of interest a motion vector between the first and second frames according to the stereo matching;
• and
• in response to determining according to the motion vector that an obstacle is present on the flight path, applying at least one obstacle detection response pattern.

A computer program product comprising:

• a non-transitory computer readable storage medium;
• program instructions for executing, by a processor, a method for monocular obstacle detection on a drone flight path, the method comprising:
• instructing a drone to move at a constant speed on a flight path directed forward along a horizontal axis;
• instructing the drone while moving at the constant speed forward on the flight path to periodically perform a planned motion of a predefined amplitude in at least one direction perpendicular to the horizontal axis;
• operating a forward-looking monocular camera mounted on the drone to capture at least one pair of images, each pair comprising a first frame captured along the flight path and a second frame captured at a deviation from the flight path effected by the planned motion performed in the at least one direction;
• analyzing the first and second frames of a respective one of the at least one pair to determine stereo matching;
• estimating for at least one region of interest a motion vector between the first and second frames according to the stereo matching;
• and
• in response to determining according to the motion vector that an obstacle is present on the flight path, applying at least one obstacle detection response pattern.