Real-Time Multi-Modal Semantic Fusion on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles with Label Propagation for Cross-Domain Adaptation
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Abstract (arXiv)
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) equipped with multiple complementary sensors have tremendous potential for fast autonomous or remote-controlled semantic scene analysis, e.g., for disaster examination. Here, we propose a UAV system for real-time semantic inference and fusion of multiple sensor modalities. Semantic segmentation of LiDAR scans and RGB images, as well as object detection on RGB and thermal images, run online onboard the UAV computer using lightweight CNN architectures and embedded inference accelerators. We follow a late fusion approach where semantic information from multiple sensor modalities augments 3D point clouds and image segmentation masks while also generating an allocentric semantic map. Label propagation on the semantic map allows for sensor-specific adaptation with cross-modality and cross-domain supervision. Our system provides augmented semantic images and point clouds with ≈ 9 Hz. We evaluate the integrated system in real-world experiments in an urban environment and at a disaster test site.
Key facts. Cited by 6 papers in the map (data through 13 Oct 2026). Builds on 39 of its 58 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 18 Oct 2022.
Builds on
39 of 58 references.
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27 more
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Built on by
Citing papers per year: 2023: 1; 2024: 1; 2025: 1; 2026: 3.
6 papers.
- 2025LeAP: Consistent multi-domain 3D labeling using Foundation Modelscited by 8
- 2026Self-Supervised Online Robot-Agnostic Traversability Estimation for Open-World Environmentscited by 1
- 2023Artifacts Mapping: Multi-Modal Semantic Mapping for Object Detection and 3D Localizationcited by 0
- 2024LiDAR-based Registration against Georeferenced Models for Globally Consistent Allocentric Mapscited by 0
- 2026See&Say: Vision Language Guided Safe Zone Detection for Autonomous Package Delivery Dronescited by 0
- 2026Joint Target-Less Intrinsic and Extrinsic Camera-LiDAR Calibration using Deep Point Correspondencescited by 0
- 2026Self-Supervised Online Robot-Agnostic Traversability Estimation for Open-World Environments27 May 2026
- 2026Joint Target-Less Intrinsic and Extrinsic Camera-LiDAR Calibration using Deep Point Correspondences22 May 2026
- 2026See&Say: Vision Language Guided Safe Zone Detection for Autonomous Package Delivery Drones14 Apr 2026
- 2025LeAP: Consistent multi-domain 3D labeling using Foundation Models6 Feb 2025
- 2024LiDAR-based Registration against Georeferenced Models for Globally Consistent Allocentric Maps3 Dec 2024
- 2023Artifacts Mapping: Multi-Modal Semantic Mapping for Object Detection and 3D Localization3 Jul 2023