Alexander Böckenholt
FPGA-based Object Detection for Control of Autonomous UAVs

Abstract
There are many approaches to drone control based on object detection. However, these approaches often prioritize performance and generality over more resource efficient alternatives. In most cases, the situations allows for some preparation of the environment which significantly lowers the resource requirements of systems to accomplish most task. In this work an implementation was designed, which forms a low-cost base system that covers the control of a drone based on object detection. To achieve this, it uses markers, which are designed detected, as a reference point for the navigation. The object detection which determines the position is implemented on an FPGA and optimized for minimal resource cost. In the tests the control program displayed the ability to enact fine movements on the drone. The implemented object detection was able to be implemented with only 7566 FFs and 9083 LUTs and still achieve a frame rate of 26.78 frames per second. The system and the internal implementation are both modular to allow the fast adaptation to application specific circumstances. This works implementation of the complete system is not functional, because of a problem in the communication between PS and PL. Despite that it forms the blueprint for a solid base architecture for UAV applications that already manages its control.