A Hardware-in-the-Loop Experiment and Simulation Facility for Vision-Based Control of Micro-Air-Vehicles

: This report documents research performed under the contract entitled "A Hardware In-the-Loop Experiment and Simulation Facility for Vision-Based Control of Micro-Air-Vehicles (MAVs)." This experimental facility is comprised of two major components - a wind tunnel facility and a real-time virtual image generation system. Collectively, these two components form a unique closed-loop test for studying vision-based control of autonomous flight vehicles. The most important milestone achieved last year was the design and construction of the new visualization laboratory. This laboratory is equipped to display virtual environments for MAV flight simulations. Currently, a University of Florida campus database, developed by the UF Digital Worlds Institute, is being used as the virtual environment for studying vision-based control of MAVs in urban environments. This report provides a description of the new visualization laboratory and the virtual UF campus database.