Target Tracking System (P-0510) (MFN 2052)

Abstract

The project consists of a remotely automated interactive vision based navigation vehicle. The vehicle has a wireless webcam placed on it which will stream back video. The user can control the vehicle via a computer interface located some distance away. A primary goal is to make the interface as true to the experiences of the human decision making as possible. There is a certain amount of hardware involved in the project; namely the vehicle itself, the wireless webcam and the circuit board which implements our design. However at the backend it is the software that makes everything work, as the programming of the hardware is done by the software running at the pc. Communicating the commands that are executed by the vehicle take place in three ways; by automatic decision taken by the algorithm used in the software, by keyboard or mouse and thirdly by voice commands. Several primary issues being faced in terms of technology including availability of hardware locally as well as design changes that occurred along with the development of the software. The advantages and disadvantages usually were a battle between what was affordable and also practical. Often times decisions were made that may not have been ideal but instead created attainable goals. This report represents a record of all phases the project went through, also the research and investigation that led to the decisions that made the seemingly insurmountable obstacles of giving vision to the vehicle a viable reality.