Building an Autonomous Detect-and-Avoid System for Commercial Drones

Commercial and industrial drones have the potential to completely disrupt industries and create new ones. Used in applications such as infrastructure inspection, search and rescue, package delivery, and many others, they can save time, money, and lives. Most of these applications require a real-time understanding of the environment and the risks of collision. At the same time, commercial drones are limited in the size, weight, and power they can carry, narrowing the options for sensors and computing architectures. In this presentation, we will dive into what it takes to build an autonomous detect-and-avoid system for commercial drones and, in particular, will focus on computer vision issues such as predictability and reduction of false positives. Why are they important and what does it take to drive them in the right direction?