AR headsup display for unmanned aerial systems

From 4-12 May 2014, Evangelos Georgiou, PhD student in Robotics in the Department of Informatics, took part in the Space App Camp at the European Space Agency's ESTEC and ESA BIC Noordwijk facilities in the Netherlands. The European Space Agency provided access to satellite data for the development of mobile applications (Android and iOS). The aim of the Space App Camp was to encourage the development of working app prototypes that integrate Galileo/EGNOS and Copernicus data. In addition a business concept for each application has been developed.

The team in which Evangelos participated developed Safe.HUD, an iOS/iPad application developed for the Parrot ar.drone, which was awarded an innovation award of 5,000 euros. Safe.HUD provides an augmented-reality heads-up-display (HUD) for unmanned aerial systems (UAS) that gives UAS pilots enhanced safety features for situational awareness. It incorporates space data from the Copernicus satellite missions and uses the Galileo satellites (EGNOS) for higher-precision GPS localisation.