Sky Monitoring System for Flying Object Detection Using 4K Resolution Camera

Sensors (Basel). 2020 Dec 10;20(24):7071. doi: 10.3390/s20247071.

Abstract

The use of drones and other unmanned aerial vehicles has expanded rapidly in recent years. These devices are expected to enter practical use in various fields, such as taking measurements through aerial photography and transporting small and lightweight objects. Simultaneously, concerns over these devices being misused for terrorism or other criminal activities have increased. In response, several sensor systems have been developed to monitor drone flights. In particular, with the recent progress of deep neural network technology, the monitoring of systems using image processing has been proposed. This study developed a monitoring system for flying objects using a 4K camera and a state-of-the-art convolutional neural network model to achieve real-time processing. We installed a monitoring system in a high-rise building in an urban area during this study and evaluated the precision with which it could detect flying objects at different distances under different weather conditions. The results obtained provide important information for determining the accuracy of monitoring systems with image processing in practice.

Keywords: convolutional neural network; drone; flying object detection; image processing.