Po-Ting Wu

Reinforcement Learning (RL) enables learning optimal decision-making strategies by maximizing cumulative rewards. Deep reinforcement learning (DRL) enhances this process by integrating deep neural networks (DNNs) for effective feature extraction from high-dimensional input data. Unlike prior studies focusing on algorithm design, we investigated the impact of different feature extractors, DNNs, on DRL performance. We propose an enhanced feature extraction model to improve control effectiveness based on the proximal policy optimization (PPO) framework in autonomous driving scenarios. Through a comparative analysis of well-known convolutional neural networks (CNNs), MobileNet, SqueezeNet, and ResNet, the experimental results demonstrate that our model achieves higher cumulative rewards and better control stability, providing valuable insights for DRL applications in autonomous systems.

Autonomous driving technology is developing rapidly, particularly in vision-based approaches that rely on cameras to monitor the environment. However, one of the critical challenges for autonomous vehicles is the ability to adapt to different weather conditions, as environmental factors such as clouds, fog, rain, sand, shine, snow, and the sunrise significantly impact their perceptual capabilities. Control strategies of the vehicles must be dynamically adjusted based on real-time weather conditions to ensure safe and efficient driving. For the strategies, we developed a novel weather perception model to improve the adaptability of autonomous driving systems. The model is more lightweight than an existing study, as it is computationally efficient with enhanced performance. Moreover, the model detects a weather type, improving its robustness, and providing reliable weather awareness for autonomous driving.

Positioning systems and algorithms are essential for drones. The global positioning system (GPS) is the most common method for drone positioning, but the GPS is not always precise or available. For visual-based positioning, convolutional neural networks (CNNs) are often used to match geometric features in drone positioning. However, seasonal lighting is not considered, although its changes can affect the results. Hence, by incorporating critical components into a CNN, a new architecture is designed to position a drone accurately despite seasonal lighting variations. The experimental results show that the developed method solves issues in drone positioning with high accuracy and stability.