Abstract This work addresses the issue of finding an optimal flight zone for a side-by-side tracking and following Unmanned Aerial Vehicle(UAV) adhering to space-restricting factors brought upon by a dynamic Vector Field Extraction (VFE) algorithm. The VFE algorithm demands a relatively perpendicular field of view of the UAV to the tracked vehicle, thereby enforcing the space-restricting factors which are distance, angle and altitude. The objective of the UAV is to perform side-by- side tracking and following of a lightweight ground vehicle while acquiring high quality video of tufts attached to the side of the tracked vehicle. The recorded video is supplied to the VFE algorithm that produces the positions and deformations of the tufts over time as they interact with the surrounding air, resulting in an airflow model of the tracked vehicle. The present limitations of wind tunnel tests and computational fluid dynamics simulation suggest the use of a UAV for real world evaluation of the aerodynamic properties of the vehicle’s exterior. The novelty of the proposed approach is alluded to defining the specific flight zone restricting factors while adhering to the VFE algorithm, where as a result we were capable of formalizing a locally-static and a globally-dynamic geofence attached to the tracked vehicle and enclosing the UAV.

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[11] Zhou S., Chellappa R., and Moghaddam B., “Visual Tracking and Recognition Using Appearance-Adaptive Models in Particle Filters,” IEEE Transactions on Image Processing, vol. 13, no. 11, pp. 1491-1506, 2004. Ahmad Drak is a researcher and PhD candidate at Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University o.a.s. Ahmad receivedhis B.Sc in Electrical Engineering from UAE University followed by M.Sc in Autonomous Systems from Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University. He has been working with robotics and UAVs in a research capacity for the last six years in topics related to fault diagnosis, control systems and sensor fusion. His areas of interest and research include multi-sensor fusion, object detection and avoidance, autonomous navigation and operation of robots and embedded systems. Currently he is working on his doctoral research which is concerned with efficient deployment and control of robots for maximizing information gain in dynamic environments. Alexander Asteroth did his diploma studies in Mathematics and Computer Science at University of Bonn. Forhis PhD studies he received the Reihard Furrer scholarship of Wernher von Braun Stiftung zur Förderungder Weltraumwissenschaften. His research was done in cooperation with German Space Agency (DLR) and German National Research Center of Computer Science (GMD). His Research focus is on numerical optimization in various fields of application, usually involving surrogate models. He is currently a professor of Computer Science at Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University o.a.s and director of the Technical Institute of Resource and Energy-efficient Engineering.