Drone Control in AR: An Intuitive System for Single-Handed Gesture Control, Drone Tracking, and Contextualized Camera Feed Visualization in Augmented Reality

Abstract

Traditional drone handheld remote controllers, although well-established and widely used, are not a particularly intuitive control method. At the same time, drone pilots normally watch the drone video feed on a smartphone or another small screen attached to the remote. This forces them to constantly shift their visual focus from the drone to the screen and vice-versa. This can be an eye-and-mind-tiring and stressful experience, as the eyes constantly change focus and the mind struggles to merge two different points of view. This paper presents a solution based on Microsoft’s HoloLens 2 headset that leverages augmented reality and gesture recognition to make drone piloting easier, more comfortable, and more intuitive. It describes a system for single-handed gesture control that can achieve all maneuvers possible with a traditional remote, including complex motions; a method for tracking a real drone in AR to improve flying beyond line of sight or at distances where the physical drone is hard to see; and the option to display the drone’s live video feed in AR, either in first-person-view mode or in context with the environment.