Operational Environment Impact on Sensor Capabilities in Special Purpose Unmanned Ground Vehicles

Unmanned platforms are increasingly used in environments where human presence is restricted including military operations, disaster response, and remote exploration. The autonomous or semi-autonomous functioning of these vehicles is related to the perception system, which incorporate a range of sensors such as LIDAR, cameras, radar, and inertial measurement units (IMUs). However, dense vegetation poses significant challenges to object detection and recognition, introducing issues such as occlusion and signal distortion caused by foliage. This study presents the limitations of both active sensors (LIDAR, radar) and passive sensors (cameras) under adverse weather conditions and security concerns on the sensing capabilities of special-purpose UGVs