INTRODUCTION An unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) is a vehicle that operates while in contact with the ground and without

an onboard human presence. UGVs can be used for many applications where it may be inconvenient, dangerous, or impossible to have a human operator present. Generally, the vehicle will have a set of sensors to observe the environment, and will either autonomously make decisions about its behavior or pass the information to a human operator at a different location who will control the vehicle through teleoperation. The UGV is the land-based counterpart to unmanned aerial vehicles and remotely operated underwater vehicles. Unmanned robotics is being actively developed for both civilian and military use to perform a variety of dull, dirty, and dangerous activities.

LITERATURE SURVEY Recent developments in War tactics have increased the need for special equipments that require the Army to know the next moves of the hostile forces before in hand. This is no longer possible with human spies due to technological advancements. Hence there is an increased need for remote controlled unmanned vehicles or drones which can navigate the hostile camp without garnering attention. Hence this field involves continuous developments by the R&D wing of the Army. Mars rover is an automated motor vehicle which propels itself across the surface of the planet Mars after landing. The NASA Mars Rover Sojourner, Spirit, Opportunity and Curiosity are the best examples for automated unmanned ground vehicles. The Gladiator Tactical Unmanned Ground Vehicle (TUGV) program was developed in order to support the Marine Corps conduct Ship To Object Maneuver (STOM) missions through the use of a medium sized, robotic system to minimize risks and eliminate threats to Marines during conflict. The Gladiator is able to perform surveillance, reconnaissance, assault and breaching missions within its basic technical configuration. The Black Knight is a prototype Unmanned Ground Combat Vehicle designed by BAE (British Aerospace and Electronic) Systems. Similar in size and appearance to a tank, it is armed with a turret-mounted 30mm gun and a coaxial machine gun.

The Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) is working on an ambitious Rs.500-cr unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) program that seeks to address the Army's requirement for various types of UGVs over the next 10 years. The use of UGVs, which are state-of-the-art robots, has acquired a greater significance in counter-insurgency, urban- as well as jungle-warfare situations for varied tasks, including surveillance and reconnaissance operations and safe handling and disposal of improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

DOMAIN 1. CONTROL SYSTEMS Use of sensors to measure the output performance of the device being controlled (unmanned vehicle) and use those measurements to give feedback to the input actuators that can make corrections toward desired performance. Thus we can control the UV to either follow a pre-defined path or to move as controlled by the remote. 2. MICROCONTROLLERS - An integrated circuit containing a processor core, memory, and programmable input/output peripherals is used to automatically control the device (unmanned vehicle). Apart from this it also uses many modules like RF module and Camera module. It also acts like a digital signal processor (DSP) with higher clock speed.

3. DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSING - Digital signal processing is used to mathematically manipulate the information signal (image or video) to modify or improve it in some way. For e.g. it can be used to detect obstacles in the UVs path, to calculate the depth of a given object from the UV.

DELIVERABLES Project aims to design and implement an unmanned ground vehicle that o Is remote controlled the remote being an application on computer or mobile using RF transmitter and receiver module. o Follows a predefined path where each wheel of the unmanned vehicle is controlled by PID controllers.

The UV will have a camera module which captures images and video and sends it to the computer. The processor will enable video and image processing including object depth estimation, obstacle detection using video imaging techniques.

TOOLS Platform - Linux Software Tool - Keil Microvision 4 Simulation techniques - Matlab Software Triton Hardware ARM9 processor, Camera module, RF module, Servomotors

Timelines: Sl.No 1 2 3 4 Activity Details Programming PID Hardware Integration Video Processing protocol Obstacle Detection Start Date 21-Jan-2013 16-Feb-2013 16-Mar-2013 10-Apr-2013 Finish Date 16-Feb-2013 16-Mar-2013 13-Apr-2013 04-May-2013

Reference: Obstacle detecting system for unmanned ground vehicle using laser scanner and vision, HeeChang Moon, Jae-Hwan Kim, Jung-Ha Kim, Control, Automation and Systems, ICCAS '07.