Abstract
With the recent increase in the development of military drones, they are adopted and used as the combat system of battalion level or higher. However, it is difficult to use drones that can be used in battles below the platoon level due to the current conditions for the formation of units in the Korean military. In this paper, therefore, we developed a program drones equipped with a thermal imaging camera and LiDAR sensor for reconnaissance and exploration that can be applied in battles below the platoon level. Using these drones, we studied the possibility and feasibility of drones for small-scale combats that can find hidden enemies, search for an appropriate detour through image processing and conduct reconnaissance and search for battlefields, hiding and cover-up through image processing. In addition to the purpose of using the proposed drone to search for an enemies lying in ambush in the battlefield, it can be used as a function to check the optimal movement path when a combat unit is moving, or as a function to check the optimal place for cover-up or hiding. In particular, it is possible to check another route other than the route recommended by the program because the features of the terrain can be checked from various viewpoints through 3D modeling. We verified the possiblity of flying by designing and assembling in a form of adding LiDAR and thermal imaging camera module to a drone assembled based on racing drone parts, which are open source hardware, and developed autonomous flight and search functions which can be used even by non-professional drone operators based on open source software, and then installed them to verify their feasibility.