May 2, 2026 · cs.ROJ/K move · Enter open · S save
Zhihao Zhan, Le Tao, Shaobin Li, Chenxin Fang+4
School of Computer Science, Hangzhou Dianzi University, Hangzhou, 310018, China · TopXGun Robotics, Nanjing, 211100, China · CARDC, Mianyang, 621000, China · College of Control Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China · College of Electronics and Information Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 201804, China
Accurate terrain perception is essential for terrain-following flight of agricultural unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), yet remains challenging in real-world farmland due to occlusions, complex terrain geometry, and environmental disturbances. Millimeter-wave (mmWave) radar is a promising sensing modality for this task due to its robustness to adverse conditions; however, existing UAV-mounted radar systems rely on fixed field of view (FoV) and terrain extraction methods designed for dense LiDAR data, leading to incomplete and unreliable terrain estimation. To address these limitations, we present a low-cost rotating mmWave radar-enabled terrain perception framework for agricultural UAVs operating in complex farmland environments. Specifically, a mechanically rotating sensing design is introduced to enlarge spatial coverage and improve terrain observability beyond the limitations of fixed-view radar under dynamic low-altitude flight. Building upon this sensing capability, we further design a pose-consistent terrain reconstruction pipeline tailored for sparse, noisy, and partially observable radar data, enabling reliable ground extraction and continuous terrain surface estimation in challenging agricultural scenarios. The complete system is deployed on a real agricultural UAV platform and comprehensively evaluated through extensive field experiments. Experimental results demonstrate improved terrain coverage and estimation accuracy, achieving an F1 score of 94.42 for ground segmentation, while the closest rival only achieves 90.48. Thus, leading to more robust terrain following flight.