Building the Autonomous Battlefield Tank

Building a scaled proof of concept for an autonomous battlefield tank is the main purpose of designing this project.

Compared to the human driven counterparts, the resulting vehicle is faster, smaller, and more maneuverable. This makes them more important since humans are not involved from dangerous areas while minimizing casualties. To locate a target in the vicinity of the vehicle, the tank uses infrared sensors. A color tracking algorithm and a digital video camera are used as it approaches the target. The turret is aimed and a projectile is fired once the target is within the range.

The main component of the tank is an eBox 2300 which is a low-power embedded computer that runs Windows Embedded CE. Using Phidgets 8/8/8 board with an LCD text display, all of the sensor data are read and the motors are operated. The tank includes 5 IR motion sensors, a mounted USB web camera, and an ultrasonic rangefinder. The eBox is being powered by a NiCd battery with a custom voltage regulator while the tank motors are powered by a second internal battery. A range of approximately 1.5m can be reached by the tank while tracking.

Rest of the project