Detail design of empennage of an unmanned aerial vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Sarker, Md. Samad; Panday, Shoyon; Rasel, Md; Salam, Md. Abdus; Faisal, Kh. Md.; Farabi, Tanzimul Hasan

2017-12-01

In order to maintain the operational continuity of air defense systems, unmanned autonomous or remotely controlled unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) plays a great role as a target for the anti-aircraft weapons. The aerial vehicle must comply with the requirements of high speed, remotely controlled tracking and navigational aids, operational sustainability and sufficient loiter time. It can also be used for aerial reconnaissance, ground surveillance and other intelligence operations. This paper aims to develop a complete tail design of an unmanned aerial vehicle using Systems Engineering approach. The design fulfils the requirements of longitudinal and directional trim, stability and control provided by the horizontal and vertical tail. Tail control surfaces are designed to provide sufficient control of the aircraft in critical conditions. Design parameters obtained from wing design are utilized in the tail design process as required. Through chronological calculations and successive iterations, optimum values of 26 tail design parameters are determined.

UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE USE FOR WOOD CHIPS PILE VOLUME ESTIMATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Mokroš

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The rapid development of unmanned aerial vehicles is a challenge for applied research. Many technologies are developed and then researcher are looking up for their application in different sectors. Therefore, we decided to verify the use of the unmanned aerial vehicle for wood chips pile monitoring. We compared the use of GNSS device and unmanned aerial vehicle for volume estimation of four wood chips piles. We used DJI Phantom 3 Professional with the built-in camera and GNSS device (geoexplorer 6000. We used Agisoft photoscan for processing photos and ArcGIS for processing points. Volumes calculated from pictures were not statistically significantly different from amounts calculated from GNSS data and high correlation between them was found (p = 0.9993. We conclude that the use of unmanned aerial vehicle instead of the GNSS device does not lead to significantly different results. Tthe data collection consumed from almost 12 to 20 times less time with the use of UAV. Additionally, UAV provides documentation trough orthomosaic.

FlyAR: augmented reality supported micro aerial vehicle navigation.

Science.gov (United States)

Zollmann, Stefanie; Hoppe, Christof; Langlotz, Tobias; Reitmayr, Gerhard

2014-04-01

Micro aerial vehicles equipped with high-resolution cameras can be used to create aerial reconstructions of an area of interest. In that context automatic flight path planning and autonomous flying is often applied but so far cannot fully replace the human in the loop, supervising the flight on-site to assure that there are no collisions with obstacles. Unfortunately, this workflow yields several issues, such as the need to mentally transfer the aerial vehicle’s position between 2D map positions and the physical environment, and the complicated depth perception of objects flying in the distance. Augmented Reality can address these issues by bringing the flight planning process on-site and visualizing the spatial relationship between the planned or current positions of the vehicle and the physical environment. In this paper, we present Augmented Reality supported navigation and flight planning of micro aerial vehicles by augmenting the user’s view with relevant information for flight planning and live feedback for flight supervision. Furthermore, we introduce additional depth hints supporting the user in understanding the spatial relationship of virtual waypoints in the physical world and investigate the effect of these visualization techniques on the spatial understanding.

Hybrid Control of Long-Endurance Aerial Robotic Vehicles for Wireless Sensor Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Deok-Jin Lee

2011-06-01

Full Text Available This paper presents an effective hybrid control approach for building stable wireless sensor networks between heterogeneous unmanned vehicles using long‐ endurance aerial robotic vehicles. For optimal deployment of the aerial vehicles in communication networks, a gradient climbing based self‐estimating control algorithm is utilized to locate the aerial platforms to maintain maximum communication throughputs between distributed multiple nodes. The autonomous aerial robots, which function as communication relay nodes, extract and harvest thermal energy from the atmospheric environment to improve their flight endurance within specified communication coverage areas. The rapidly‐deployable sensor networks with the high‐endurance aerial vehicles can be used for various application areas including environment monitoring, surveillance, tracking, and decision‐making support. Flight test and simulation studies are conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed hybrid control technique for robust communication networks.

Automated Aerial Refueling Hitches a Ride on AFF

Science.gov (United States)

Hansen, Jennifer L.; Murray, James E.; Bever, Glenn; Campos, Norma V.; Schkolnik, Gerard

2007-01-01

The recent introduction of uninhabited aerial vehicles [UAVs (basically, remotely piloted or autonomous aircraft)] has spawned new developments in autonomous operation and posed new challenges. Automated aerial refueling (AAR) is a capability that will enable UAVs to travel greater distances and loiter longer over targets. NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, in cooperation with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), the Naval Air Force Pacific Fleet, and the Air Force Research Laboratory, rapidly conceived and accomplished an AAR flight research project focused on collecting a unique, high-quality database on the dynamics of the hose and drogue of an aerial refueling system. This flight-derived database would be used to validate mathematical models of the dynamics in support of design and analysis of AAR systems for future UAVs. The project involved the use of two Dryden F/A-18 airplanes and an S-3 hose-drogue refueling store on loan from the Navy. In this year-long project, which was started on October 1, 2002, 583 research maneuvers were completed during 23 flights.

The prospects for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

OpenAIRE

Brookes, Andrew

2000-01-01

In this study Andrew Brookes argues that Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) is the military fashion of the moment. Since the end of the 1990s many nations have added UAVs to their military inventories, and in 1999 half a dozen nations used UAVs over Kosovo. In the light of operational experience in Kosovo, Brookes re-evaluates the potential of this vehicle, and examines the roles, capabilities and future challenges of UAV.

Conceptual Approach to Utilisation of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Diverse Activities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jelena Ćosić Lesičar

2017-06-01

Full Text Available This paper considers current situation and development of software for group of mobile agents applicable on group of unmanned aerial vehicles. Generally, unmanned aerial vehicles are used for transfer of information, mass and energy and their group work enhances their success rate in comparison with the success rate of the use of a single unmanned aerial vehicle. Despite the constant daily use, their potential is realized only in a small portion. It is argued that software development is the natural further step in achieving considerably larger portion of realizations of their potential of groups of unmanned aerial vehicles. Starting requirements that such software must fulfill are rudimentariness of the code, openness regarding number of group members and closeness regarding information exchange. Prospective directions of development of that software are analyzed.

Data-Foraging-Oriented Reconnaissance Based on Bio-Inspired Indirect Communication for Aerial Vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Josué Castañeda Cisneros

2017-07-01

Full Text Available In recent years, aerial vehicles have allowed exploring scenarios with harsh conditions. These can conduct reconnaissance tasks in areas that change periodically and have a high spatial and temporal resolution. The objective of a reconnaissance task is to survey an area and retrieve strategic information. The aerial vehicles, however, have inherent constraints in terms of energy and transmission range due to their mobility. Despite these constraints, the Data Foraging problem requires the aerial vehicles to exchange information about profitable data sources. In Data Foraging, establishing a single path is not viable because of dynamic conditions of the environment. Thus, reconnaissance must be focused on periodically searching profitable environmental data sources, as some animals perform foraging. In this work, a data-foraging-oriented reconnaissance algorithm based on bio-inspired indirect communication for aerial vehicles is presented. The approach establishes several paths that overlap to identify valuable data sources. Inspired by the stigmergy principle, the aerial vehicles indirectly communicate through artificial pheromones. The aerial vehicles traverse the environment using a heuristic algorithm that uses the artificial pheromones as feedback. The solution is formally defined and mathematically evaluated. In addition, we show the viability of the algorithm by simulations which have been tested through various statistical hypothesis.

The Use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for Geothermal Exploitation Monitoring: Khankala Field Example

OpenAIRE

Sergey V. Cherkasov; Anvar M. Farkhutdinov; Dmitriy P. Rykovanov; Arbi A. Shaipov

2018-01-01

The article is devoted to the use of unmanned aerial vehicle for geothermal waters exploitation monitoring. Development of a geothermal reservoir usually requires a system of wells, pipelines and pumping equipment and control of such a system is quite complicated. In this regard, use of unmanned aerial vehicle is relevant. Two test unmanned aerial vehicle based infrared surveys have been conducted at the Khankala field (Chechen Republic) with the Khankala geothermal plant operating at differe...

Feasibility of Turing-Style Tests for Autonomous Aerial Vehicle "Intelligence"

Science.gov (United States)

Young, Larry A.

2007-01-01

A new approach is suggested to define and evaluate key metrics as to autonomous aerial vehicle performance. This approach entails the conceptual definition of a "Turing Test" for UAVs. Such a "UAV Turing test" would be conducted by means of mission simulations and/or tailored flight demonstrations of vehicles under the guidance of their autonomous system software. These autonomous vehicle mission simulations and flight demonstrations would also have to be benchmarked against missions "flown" with pilots/human-operators in the loop. In turn, scoring criteria for such testing could be based upon both quantitative mission success metrics (unique to each mission) and by turning to analog "handling quality" metrics similar to the well-known Cooper-Harper pilot ratings used for manned aircraft. Autonomous aerial vehicles would be considered to have successfully passed this "UAV Turing Test" if the aggregate mission success metrics and handling qualities for the autonomous aerial vehicle matched or exceeded the equivalent metrics for missions conducted with pilots/human-operators in the loop. Alternatively, an independent, knowledgeable observer could provide the "UAV Turing Test" ratings of whether a vehicle is autonomous or "piloted." This observer ideally would, in the more sophisticated mission simulations, also have the enhanced capability of being able to override the scripted mission scenario and instigate failure modes and change of flight profile/plans. If a majority of mission tasks are rated as "piloted" by the observer, when in reality the vehicle/simulation is fully- or semi- autonomously controlled, then the vehicle/simulation "passes" the "UAV Turing Test." In this regards, this second "UAV Turing Test" approach is more consistent with Turing s original "imitation game" proposal. The overall feasibility, and important considerations and limitations, of such an approach for judging/evaluating autonomous aerial vehicle "intelligence" will be discussed from a

Kinetic scrolling-based position mapping for haptic teleoperation of unmanned aerial vehicles

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ruesch, A.; Mersha, A.Y.; Stramigioli, Stefano; Carloni, Raffaella

In this paper, we present a haptic teleoperation control algorithm for unmanned aerial vehicles, applying a kinetic scrolling-based position mapping. The proposed algorithm overcomes the master workspace limitations and enables to teleoperate the aerial vehicle in unbounded workspace in a fast and

Motion coordination for VTOL unmanned aerial vehicles attitude synchronisation and formation control

CERN Document Server

Abdessameud, Abdelkader

2013-01-01

Motion Coordination for VTOL Unmanned Aerial Vehicles develops new control design techniques for the distributed coordination of a team of autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles. In particular, it provides new control design approaches for the attitude synchronization of a formation of rigid body systems. In addition, by integrating new control design techniques with some concepts from nonlinear control theory and multi-agent systems, it presents  a new theoretical framework for the formation control of a class of under-actuated aerial vehicles capable of vertical take-off and landing. Several practical problems related to the systems’ inputs, states measurements, and  restrictions on the interconnection  topology  between the aerial vehicles in the team  are addressed. Worked examples with sufficient details and simulation results are provided to illustrate the applicability and effectiveness of the theoretical results discussed in the book. The material presented is primarily intended for researchers an...

The Use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for Geothermal Exploitation Monitoring: Khankala Field Example

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sergey V. Cherkasov

2018-06-01

Full Text Available The article is devoted to the use of unmanned aerial vehicle for geothermal waters exploitation monitoring. Development of a geothermal reservoir usually requires a system of wells, pipelines and pumping equipment and control of such a system is quite complicated. In this regard, use of unmanned aerial vehicle is relevant. Two test unmanned aerial vehicle based infrared surveys have been conducted at the Khankala field (Chechen Republic with the Khankala geothermal plant operating at different regimes: during the first survey – with, and the second – without reinjection of used geothermal fluid. Unmanned aerial vehicle Geoscan 201 equipped with digital (Sony DSX-RX1 and thermal imaging (Thermoframe-MX-TTX cameras was used. Besides different images of the geothermal plant obtained by the surveys, 13 thermal anomalies have been identified. Analysis of the shape and temperature facilitated determination of their different sources: fire, heating systems, etc., which was confirmed by a ground reconnaissance. Results of the study demonstrate a high potential of unmanned aerial vehicle based thermal imagery use for environmental and technological monitoring of geothermal fields under operation.

Reducing environmental damage through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles as the best available technology

Science.gov (United States)

Fedulova, E. A.; Akulov, A. O.; Rada, A. O.; Alabina, T. A.; Savina, Ju Ju

2018-01-01

The article examines the possibilities of using unmanned aerial vehicles as the best available technologies in the field of agriculture and mining. The object of the study is the use of unmanned aerial vehicles as the best available technology. The main areas of application of this technology are identified: agro technical operations, aerial photography of mining operations. The technology of unmanned aerial vehicles is compared with the technologies of ground agricultural machinery. The research methodology includes an expert evaluation of the unmanned aerial vehicle technology belonging to the class of the best available technologies by the criteria: the level of environmental impact, resource saving, the use of low-waste, non-waste processes, the existence of at least two objects, economic efficiency. Expert evaluations were processed using the apparatus of fuzzy sets, which make it possible to construct membership functions. This allowed us to prove that the technology of unmanned aerial vehicles belongs to a fuzzy set of the best available technologies. The results of the research show that the use of unmanned aerial vehicles provides a saving of resources, especially non-renewable combustible minerals, reduces emissions and discharges of pollutants into the atmosphere, and also reduces soil erosion. Unmanned aerial vehicles should be included in the national directories of the best available technologies for the mining industry and agriculture.

Optimal event handling by multiple unmanned aerial vehicles

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Roo, Martijn; Frasca, Paolo; Carloni, Raffaella

This paper proposes a control architecture for a fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles that is responsible for handling the events that take place in a given area. The architecture guarantees that each event is handled by the required number of vehicles in the shortest time, while the rest of the fleet

Bio-inspired computation in unmanned aerial vehicles

CERN Document Server

Duan, Haibin

2014-01-01

Bio-inspired Computation in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles focuses on the aspects of path planning, formation control, heterogeneous cooperative control and vision-based surveillance and navigation in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) from the perspective of bio-inspired computation. It helps readers to gain a comprehensive understanding of control-related problems in UAVs, presenting the latest advances in bio-inspired computation. By combining bio-inspired computation and UAV control problems, key questions are explored in depth, and each piece is content-rich while remaining accessible. With abundant illustrations of simulation work, this book links theory, algorithms and implementation procedures, demonstrating the simulation results with graphics that are intuitive without sacrificing academic rigor. Further, it pays due attention to both the conceptual framework and the implementation procedures. The book offers a valuable resource for scientists, researchers and graduate students in the field of Control, Aeros...

Collision free path generation in 3D with turning and pitch radius constraints for aerial vehicles

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schøler, F.; La Cour-Harbo, A.; Bisgaard, M.

2009-01-01

In this paper we consider the problem of trajectory generation in 3D for uninhabited aerial systems (UAS). The proposed algorithm for trajectory generation allows us to find a feasible collision-free 3D trajectory through a number of waypoints in an environment containing obstacles. Our approach...... assumes that most of the aircraft structural and dynamic limitations can be formulated as a turn radius constraint, and that any two consecutive waypoints have line-of-sight. The generated trajectories are collision free and also satisfy a constraint on the minimum admissible turning radius, while...

New Concepts and Perspectives on Micro-Rotorcraft and Small Autonomous Rotary-Wing Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Young, Larry A.; Aiken, E. W.; Johnson, J. L.; Demblewski, R.; Andrews, J.; Aiken, Irwin W. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

A key part of the strategic vision for rotorcraft research as identified by senior technologists within the Army/NASA Rotorcraft Division at NASA Ames Research Center is the development and use of small autonomous rotorcraft. Small autonomous rotorcraft are defined for the purposes of this paper to be a class of vehicles that range in size from rotary-wing micro air vehicles (MAVs) to larger, more conventionally sized, rotorcraft uninhabited aerial vehicles (UAVs) - i.e. vehicle gross weights ranging from hundreds of grams to thousands of kilograms. The development of small autonomous rotorcraft represents both a technology challenge and a potential new vehicle class that will have substantial societal impact for: national security, personal transport, planetary science, and public service.

The remote characterization of vegetation using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle photography

Science.gov (United States)

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) can fly in place of piloted aircraft to gather remote sensing information on vegetation characteristics. The type of sensors flown depends on the instrument payload capacity available, so that, depending on the specific UAV, it is possible to obtain video, aerial phot...

Use of Unmanned Aerial Assault Vehicles (UAAV) as an Asymmetric Factor

OpenAIRE

Eker, Alper Alpaslan; Sallar, Eray; Turan, Yasin

2014-01-01

In the 21st century, unmanned systems (especially unmanned aerial vehicles) will play a dominant role in the operational fields. Thanks to the technological developments witnessed in many fields, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles for military purposes is becoming easier. Looking at the operations carried out over the last 25 years, it can be seen that most were conducted in residential areas, where and techniques, tactics and equipment with asymmetric effects will make significant differenc...

Exploring Security Vulnerabilities of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rodday, Nils Miro; de Oliveira Schmidt, R.; Pras, Aiko

We are currently observing a significant increase in the popularity of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), popularly also known by their generic term drones. This is not only the case for recreational UAVs, that one can acquire for a few hundred dollars, but also for more sophisticated ones, namely

How to ensure reliable connectivity for aerial vehicles over cellular networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nguyen, Huan Cong; Amorim, Rafhael Medeiros de; Wigard, Jeroen

2018-01-01

reliable operation of aerial vehicles in various deployment scenarios. In this paper, we investigate the performance of aerial radio connectivity in a typical rural area network deployment using extensive channel measurements and system simulations. First, we highlight that downlink and uplink radio...

Effects of Hearing Protection Device Attenuation on Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Audio Signatures

Science.gov (United States)

2016-03-01

UAV ) Audio Signatures by Melissa Bezandry, Adrienne Raglin, and John Noble Approved for public release; distribution...Research Laboratory Effects of Hearing Protection Device Attenuation on Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ( UAV ) Audio Signatures by Melissa Bezandry...Aerial Vehicle ( UAV ) Audio Signatures 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S) Melissa Bezandry

Surfzone monitoring using rotary wing unmanned aerial vehicles

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Brouwer, R.L.; De Schipper, M.A.; Rynne, P.F.; Graham, F.J.; Reniers, A.J.H.M.; Macmahan, J.H.

2015-01-01

This study investigates the potential of rotary wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to monitor the surfzone. This paper shows that these UAVs are extremely flexible surveying platforms that can gather nearcontinuous moderate spatial resolution and high temporal resolution imagery from a fixed

Tracking Unmanned Aerial Vehicle CTU FTS - Application of equipment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Hůlek

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Article which is about the Tracking Unmanned Aerial Vehicle continues in the description of the project development dealing with the utilization of the UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle. Documentation of the project progresses builds on the previous article. In that article the selection of observation and transmission equipment was summarized. In the article, the reader learns about an installation of the equipment on the UAV (helicopter, about an interconnection of the equipment to create complete and functional system, about testing of the UAV, about the solutions of the problems which came into being during testing and about protection of the equipment against unfavourable effects. The location of equipment on the unmanned vehicle was chosen after a considering of several parameters. These parameters are preservation of the functionality or an influence to the balance. To find out how the added equipment affect the centre of gravity of the UAV the tabular method of the centre of gravity calculation was used. The results of the existing work on the project are location and attaching of the equipment to the unmanned vehicle, balance of the unmanned vehicle, solutions of the problems coming into being during the testing and design of the equipment protection against unfavourable effects.

Robust Vehicle Detection in Aerial Images Based on Cascaded Convolutional Neural Networks.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhong, Jiandan; Lei, Tao; Yao, Guangle

2017-11-24

Vehicle detection in aerial images is an important and challenging task. Traditionally, many target detection models based on sliding-window fashion were developed and achieved acceptable performance, but these models are time-consuming in the detection phase. Recently, with the great success of convolutional neural networks (CNNs) in computer vision, many state-of-the-art detectors have been designed based on deep CNNs. However, these CNN-based detectors are inefficient when applied in aerial image data due to the fact that the existing CNN-based models struggle with small-size object detection and precise localization. To improve the detection accuracy without decreasing speed, we propose a CNN-based detection model combining two independent convolutional neural networks, where the first network is applied to generate a set of vehicle-like regions from multi-feature maps of different hierarchies and scales. Because the multi-feature maps combine the advantage of the deep and shallow convolutional layer, the first network performs well on locating the small targets in aerial image data. Then, the generated candidate regions are fed into the second network for feature extraction and decision making. Comprehensive experiments are conducted on the Vehicle Detection in Aerial Imagery (VEDAI) dataset and Munich vehicle dataset. The proposed cascaded detection model yields high performance, not only in detection accuracy but also in detection speed.

Development of Bird-like Micro Aerial Vehicle with Flapping and Feathering Wing Motions

Science.gov (United States)

Maglasang, Jonathan; Goto, Norihiro; Isogai, Koji

To investigate the feasibility of a highly efficient flapping system capable of avian maneuvers, such as rapid takeoff, hover and gliding, a full scale bird-like (ornithopter) flapping-wing micro aerial vehicle (MAV) shaped and patterned after a typical pigeon (Columba livia) has been designed and constructed. Both numerical and experimental methods have been used in the development of this vehicle. This flapping-wing micro aerial vehicle utilizes both the flapping and feathering motions of an avian wing by employing a novel flapping-feathering mechanism, which has been synthesized and constructed so as to best describe the properly coordinated flapping and feathering wing motions at phase angle difference of 90° in a horizontal steady level flight condition. This design allows high flapping and feathering amplitudes and is configurable for asymmetric wing motions which are desirable in high-speed flapping flight and maneuvering. The preliminary results indicate its viability as a practical and an efficient flapping-wing micro aerial vehicle.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: Progress Toward Meeting High Altitude Endurance Aircraft Price Goals

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

1998-01-01

...) High Altitude Endurance (HAE) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) program to determine whether the average flyaway cost for the Global Hawk and DarkStar HAE alr vehicles will be within DOD's cost goal...

A Review of the Characteristics of Modern Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hristov Georgi Valentinov

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The main aim of this article is to present the modern unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs and the possibilities for real-time remote monitoring of flight parameters and payload data. In the introduction section of the paper we briefly present the characteristics of the UAVs and which are their major application areas. Later, the main parameters and the various data types for remote control and monitoring of the unmanned aerial vehicles are presented and discussed. The paper continues with the methods and the technologies for transmission of these parameters and then presents a general hardware model for data transmission and a software model of a communication system suitable for UAVs.

Bilateral teleoperation of underactuated unmanned aerial vehicles: The virtual slave concept

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mersha, A.Y.; Stramigioli, Stefano; Carloni, Raffaella

In this paper, we present haptic teleoperation of underactuated unmanned aerial vehicles by providing a multidimensional generalization of the virtual slave concept. The proposed control architecture is composed of high-level and low-level controllers. The high-level controller commands the vehicle

Delayed Monocular SLAM Approach Applied to Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.

Science.gov (United States)

Munguia, Rodrigo; Urzua, Sarquis; Grau, Antoni

2016-01-01

In recent years, many researchers have addressed the issue of making Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) more and more autonomous. In this context, the state estimation of the vehicle position is a fundamental necessity for any application involving autonomy. However, the problem of position estimation could not be solved in some scenarios, even when a GPS signal is available, for instance, an application requiring performing precision manoeuvres in a complex environment. Therefore, some additional sensory information should be integrated into the system in order to improve accuracy and robustness. In this work, a novel vision-based simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) method with application to unmanned aerial vehicles is proposed. One of the contributions of this work is to design and develop a novel technique for estimating features depth which is based on a stochastic technique of triangulation. In the proposed method the camera is mounted over a servo-controlled gimbal that counteracts the changes in attitude of the quadcopter. Due to the above assumption, the overall problem is simplified and it is focused on the position estimation of the aerial vehicle. Also, the tracking process of visual features is made easier due to the stabilized video. Another contribution of this work is to demonstrate that the integration of very noisy GPS measurements into the system for an initial short period of time is enough to initialize the metric scale. The performance of this proposed method is validated by means of experiments with real data carried out in unstructured outdoor environments. A comparative study shows that, when compared with related methods, the proposed approach performs better in terms of accuracy and computational time.

Delayed Monocular SLAM Approach Applied to Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rodrigo Munguia

Full Text Available In recent years, many researchers have addressed the issue of making Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs more and more autonomous. In this context, the state estimation of the vehicle position is a fundamental necessity for any application involving autonomy. However, the problem of position estimation could not be solved in some scenarios, even when a GPS signal is available, for instance, an application requiring performing precision manoeuvres in a complex environment. Therefore, some additional sensory information should be integrated into the system in order to improve accuracy and robustness. In this work, a novel vision-based simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM method with application to unmanned aerial vehicles is proposed. One of the contributions of this work is to design and develop a novel technique for estimating features depth which is based on a stochastic technique of triangulation. In the proposed method the camera is mounted over a servo-controlled gimbal that counteracts the changes in attitude of the quadcopter. Due to the above assumption, the overall problem is simplified and it is focused on the position estimation of the aerial vehicle. Also, the tracking process of visual features is made easier due to the stabilized video. Another contribution of this work is to demonstrate that the integration of very noisy GPS measurements into the system for an initial short period of time is enough to initialize the metric scale. The performance of this proposed method is validated by means of experiments with real data carried out in unstructured outdoor environments. A comparative study shows that, when compared with related methods, the proposed approach performs better in terms of accuracy and computational time.

Optimum Route Planning and Scheduling for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Sonmezocak, Erkan; Kurt, Senol

2008-01-01

.... The route planning of UAVs is the most critical and challenging problem of wartime. This thesis will develop three algorithms to solve a model that produces executable routings in order to dispatch three Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV...

Hybrid Video Stabilization for Mobile Vehicle Detection on SURF in Aerial Surveillance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gao Chunxian

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Detection of moving vehicles in aerial video sequences is of great importance with many promising applications in surveillance, intelligence transportation, or public service applications such as emergency evacuation and policy security. However, vehicle detection is a challenging task due to global camera motion, low resolution of vehicles, and low contrast between vehicles and background. In this paper, we present a hybrid method to efficiently detect moving vehicle in aerial videos. Firstly, local feature extraction and matching were performed to estimate the global motion. It was demonstrated that the Speeded Up Robust Feature (SURF key points were more suitable for the stabilization task. Then, a list of dynamic pixels was obtained and grouped for different moving vehicles by comparing the different optical flow normal. To enhance the precision of detection, some preprocessing methods were applied to the surveillance system, such as road extraction and other features. A quantitative evaluation on real video sequences indicated that the proposed method improved the detection performance significantly.

Ground control station software design for micro aerial vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Walendziuk, Wojciech; Oldziej, Daniel; Binczyk, Dawid Przemyslaw; Slowik, Maciej

2017-08-01

This article describes the process of designing the equipment part and the software of a ground control station used for configuring and operating micro unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). All the works were conducted on a quadrocopter model being a commonly accessible commercial construction. This article contains a characteristics of the research object, the basics of operating the micro aerial vehicles (MAV) and presents components of the ground control station model. It also describes the communication standards for the purpose of building a model of the station. Further part of the work concerns the software of the product - the GIMSO application (Generally Interactive Station for Mobile Objects), which enables the user to manage the actions and communication and control processes from the UAV. The process of creating the software and the field tests of a station model are also presented in the article.

Model identification of a flapping wing micro aerial vehicle

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Aguiar Vieira Caetano, J.V.

2016-01-01

Different flapping wing micro aerial vehicles (FWMAV) have been developed for academic (Harvard’s RoboBee), military (Israel Aerospace Industries’ Butterfly) and technology demonstration (Aerovironment’s NanoHummingBird) purposes. Among these, theDelFly II is recognized as one of themost successful

Classification of robotic battery service systems for unmanned aerial vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ngo Tien

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Existing examples of prototypes of ground-based robotic platforms used as a landing site for unmanned aerial vehicles are considered. In some cases, they are equipped with a maintenance mechanism for the power supply module. The main requirements for robotic multi-copter battery maintenance systems depending on operating conditions, required processing speed, operator experience and other parameters are analyzed. The key issues remain questions of the autonomous landing of the unmanned aerial vehicles on the platform and approach to servicing battery. The existing prototypes of service robotic platforms are differed in the complexity of internal mechanisms, speed of service, algorithms of joint work of the platform and unmanned aerial vehicles during the landing and maintenance of the battery. The classification of robotic systems for servicing the power supply of multi-copter batteries criteria is presented using the following: the type of basing, the method of navigation during landing, the shape of the landing pad, the method of restoring the power supply module. The proposed algorithmic model of the operation of battery power maintenance system of the multi-copter on ground-based robotic platform during solving the target agrarian problem is described. Wireless methods of battery recovery are most promising, so further development and prototyping of a wireless charging station for multi-copter batteries will be developed.

Estimation and Prediction of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Trajectories, Phase II

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — There is serious concern about the introduction of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) in the National Air Space (NAS) because of their potential to increase the risk of...

Integrating Pavement Crack Detection and Analysis Using Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Imagery

Science.gov (United States)

2015-03-27

INTEGRATING PAVEMENT CRACK DETECTION AND ANALYSIS USING AUTONOMOUS UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE...protection in the United States. AFIT-ENV-MS-15-M-195 INTEGRATING PAVEMENT CRACK DETECTION AND ANALYSIS USING AUTONOMOUS UNMANNED AERIAL...APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE; DISTRIBUTION UNLIMITED. AFIT-ENV-MS-15-M-195 INTEGRATING PAVEMENT CRACK DETECTION AND ANALYSIS USING AUTONOMOUS

Diagnosis of airspeed measurement faults for unmanned aerial vehicles

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Søren; Blanke, Mogens

2014-01-01

Airspeed sensor faults are common causes for incidents with unmanned aerial vehicles with pitot tube clogging or icing being the most common causes. Timely diagnosis of such faults or other artifacts in signals from airspeed sensing systems could potentially prevent crashes. This paper employs...

Monocular Vision SLAM for Indoor Aerial Vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Koray Çelik

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a novel indoor navigation and ranging strategy via monocular camera. By exploiting the architectural orthogonality of the indoor environments, we introduce a new method to estimate range and vehicle states from a monocular camera for vision-based SLAM. The navigation strategy assumes an indoor or indoor-like manmade environment whose layout is previously unknown, GPS-denied, representable via energy based feature points, and straight architectural lines. We experimentally validate the proposed algorithms on a fully self-contained microaerial vehicle (MAV with sophisticated on-board image processing and SLAM capabilities. Building and enabling such a small aerial vehicle to fly in tight corridors is a significant technological challenge, especially in the absence of GPS signals and with limited sensing options. Experimental results show that the system is only limited by the capabilities of the camera and environmental entropy.

Delivery of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Data

Science.gov (United States)

Ivancic, William D.; Sullivan, Donald V.

2011-01-01

To support much of NASA's Upper Atmosphere Research Program science, NASA has acquired two Global Hawk Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). Two major missions are currently planned using the Global Hawk: the Global Hawk Pacific (GloPac) and the Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes (GRIP) missions. This paper briefly describes GloPac and GRIP, the concept of operations and the resulting requirements and communication architectures. Also discussed are requirements for future missions that may use satellite systems and networks owned and operated by third parties.

Strengthening Security during Sporting Events by Unmannde Aerial Vehicles

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Evers, L.

2012-01-01

This paper shows how Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) can improve security in major sporting events. Given the increase in violence among sports fans it is important to timely monitor possible conflict locations. A UAV can patrol and remotely monitor the activity at these locations. Such a patrol

Mapping reflectance anisotropy of a potato canopy using aerial images acquired with an unmanned aerial vehicle

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Roosjen, Peter; Suomalainen, Juha; Bartholomeus, Harm; Kooistra, Lammert; Clevers, Jan

2017-01-01

Viewing and illumination geometry has a strong influence on optical measurements of natural surfaces due to their anisotropic reflectance properties. Typically, cameras on-board unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are affected by this because of their relatively large field of view (FOV) and thus large

Vision-Aided Autonomous Landing and Ingress of Micro Aerial Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Brockers, Roland; Ma, Jeremy C.; Matthies, Larry H.; Bouffard, Patrick

2012-01-01

Micro aerial vehicles have limited sensor suites and computational power. For reconnaissance tasks and to conserve energy, these systems need the ability to autonomously land at vantage points or enter buildings (ingress). But for autonomous navigation, information is needed to identify and guide the vehicle to the target. Vision algorithms can provide egomotion estimation and target detection using input from cameras that are easy to include in miniature systems.

Small unmanned aerial vehicles (micro-UAVs, drones) in plant ecology.

Science.gov (United States)

Cruzan, Mitchell B; Weinstein, Ben G; Grasty, Monica R; Kohrn, Brendan F; Hendrickson, Elizabeth C; Arredondo, Tina M; Thompson, Pamela G

2016-09-01

Low-elevation surveys with small aerial drones (micro-unmanned aerial vehicles [UAVs]) may be used for a wide variety of applications in plant ecology, including mapping vegetation over small- to medium-sized regions. We provide an overview of methods and procedures for conducting surveys and illustrate some of these applications. Aerial images were obtained by flying a small drone along transects over the area of interest. Images were used to create a composite image (orthomosaic) and a digital surface model (DSM). Vegetation classification was conducted manually and using an automated routine. Coverage of an individual species was estimated from aerial images. We created a vegetation map for the entire region from the orthomosaic and DSM, and mapped the density of one species. Comparison of our manual and automated habitat classification confirmed that our mapping methods were accurate. A species with high contrast to the background matrix allowed adequate estimate of its coverage. The example surveys demonstrate that small aerial drones are capable of gathering large amounts of information on the distribution of vegetation and individual species with minimal impact to sensitive habitats. Low-elevation aerial surveys have potential for a wide range of applications in plant ecology.

Automation of Sensor Control in Uninhabited Aerial Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

2015-07-01

were otherwise performed manually reduces workload and mitigates high workload situations. On the other hand, it has been suggested that the...that automation may help mitigate high workload (Lee, 2008) it would have been interesting if both sets of authors additionally assessed when...frames would result in the sensor view flickering between two views. In support of this, VBS2 initialisation parameters were adjusted to prevent

Autonomous aerial vehicles : guidance, control, signal and image processing platform

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Al-Jarrah, M.; Adiansyah, S.; Marji, Z. M.; Chowdhury, M. S.

2011-01-01

The use of unmanned systems is gaining momentum in civil applications after successful use by the armed forces around the globe. Autonomous aerial vehicles are important for providing assistance in monitoring highways, power grid lines, borders, and surveillance of critical infrastructures. It is envisioned that cargo shipping will be completely handled by UAVs by the 2025. Civil use of unmanned autonomous systems brings serious challenges. The need for cost effectiveness, reliability, operation simplicity, safety, and cooperation with human and with other agents are among these challenges. Aerial vehicles operating in the civilian aerospace is the ultimate goal which requires these systems to achieve the reliability of manned aircraft while maintaining their cost effectiveness. In this presentation the development of an autonomous fixed and rotary wing aerial vehicle will be discussed. The architecture of the system from the mission requirements to low level auto pilot control laws will be discussed. Trajectory tracking and path following guidance and control algorithms commonly used and their implementation using of the shelf low cost components will be presented. Autonomous takeo? landing is a key feature that was implemented onboard the vehicle to complete its degree of autonomy. This is implemented based on accurate air-data system designed and fused with sonar measurements, INS/GPS measurements, and vector field method guidance laws. The outcomes of the proposed research is that the AUS-UAV platform named MAZARI is capable of autonomous takeoff and landing based on a pre scheduled flight path using way point navigation and sensor fusion of the inertial navigation system (INS) and global positioning system (GPS). Several technologies need to be mastered when developing a UAV. The navigation task and the need to fuse sensory information to estimate the location of the vehicle is critical to successful autonomous vehicle. Currently extended Kalman filtering is

Aeromagnetic and aerial photographic survey in the South Shetland Islands,Antarctica, conducted by a small unmanned aerial vehicle (Ant-Plane

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Minoru Funaki

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Two small unmanned aerial vehicles, Ant-Plane 6 and Ant-Plane 3, were assembled using parts and technologies developed for model airplanes. The aerial vehicles were scheduled to conduct aero magnetic and photographic surveys of the Brans?eld Basin, from a takeoff runway at Marsh Air?eld on the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica, during January 2011. However, the scheduled surveys were not conducted on account of poor weather. Research was later conducted on a glacier, using a takeoff runway at St. Kliment Ohridski Base, Livingston Island, during December 2011. A ?ight from St. Kliment Ohridski Base to Deception Island yielded satisfactory results; the total distance of 302.4 km was traversed in 3 h 7 min (3:07. On this ?ight, aeromagnetic and aerial photographic data were obtained from an altitude of 780 m for a 9×18 km area on the northern half of Deception Island. Aerial photographs of Deception Island and South Bay showed the distributions of glaciers and their crevasses. The Ant-Plane ?ew over the Antarctic horizon and surveyed above Deception Island. That was the successful venture of this kind, demonstrating that airborne surveys by Ant-Planes are useful for Antarctic research investigations. Airborne surveys provide a safe and economical approach to data acquisition as compared with manned aerial operations.

Mechanical Design of a Manipulation System for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Keemink, A.Q.L.; Fumagalli, M.; Stramigioli, S.; Carloni, R.

In this paper, we present the mechanical design and modeling of a manipulation system for unmanned aerial vehicles, which have to physically interact with environments and perform ultrasonic non-destructive testing experiments and other versatile tasks at unreachable locations for humans. The

Measured Noise from Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Cabell, Randolph; McSwain, Robert; Grosveld, Ferdinand

2016-01-01

Proposed uses of small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), including home package delivery, have the potential to expose large portions of communities to a new noise source. This paper discusses results of flyover noise measurements of four small UAVs, including an internal combustion-powered model airplane and three battery-powered multicopters. Basic noise characteristics of these vehicles are discussed, including spectral properties and sound level metrics such as sound pressure level, effective perceived noise level, and sound exposure level. The size and aerodynamic characteristics of the multicopters in particular make their flight path susceptible to atmospheric disturbances such as wind gusts. These gusts, coupled with a flight control system that varies rotor speed to maintain vehicle stability, create an unsteady acoustic signature. The spectral variations resulting from this unsteadiness are explored, in both hover and flyover conditions for the multicopters. The time varying noise, which differs from the relatively steady noise generated by large transport aircraft, may complicate the prediction of human annoyance using conventional sound level metrics.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles unique cost estimating requirements

Science.gov (United States)

Malone, P.; Apgar, H.; Stukes, S.; Sterk, S.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), also referred to as drones, are aerial platforms that fly without a human pilot onboard. UAVs are controlled autonomously by a computer in the vehicle or under the remote control of a pilot stationed at a fixed ground location. There are a wide variety of drone shapes, sizes, configurations, complexities, and characteristics. Use of these devices by the Department of Defense (DoD), NASA, civil and commercial organizations continues to grow. UAVs are commonly used for intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR). They are also use for combat operations, and civil applications, such as firefighting, non-military security work, surveillance of infrastructure (e.g. pipelines, power lines and country borders). UAVs are often preferred for missions that require sustained persistence (over 4 hours in duration), or are “ too dangerous, dull or dirty” for manned aircraft. Moreover, they can offer significant acquisition and operations cost savings over traditional manned aircraft. Because of these unique characteristics and missions, UAV estimates require some unique estimating methods. This paper describes a framework for estimating UAV systems total ownership cost including hardware components, software design, and operations. The challenge of collecting data, testing the sensitivities of cost drivers, and creating cost estimating relationships (CERs) for each key work breakdown structure (WBS) element is discussed. The autonomous operation of UAVs is especially challenging from a software perspective.

Feasibility of an Extended-Duration Aerial Platform Using Autonomous Multi-Rotor Vehicle Swapping and Battery Management

Science.gov (United States)

2017-12-01

AN EXTENDED-DURATION AERIAL PLATFORM USING AUTONOMOUS MULTI-ROTOR VEHICLE SWAPPING AND BATTERY MANAGEMENT by Alexander G. Williams December...Arlington, VA 22202-4302, and to the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project (0704-0188) Washington DC 20503. 1. AGENCY USE ONLY...DURATION AERIAL PLATFORM USING AUTONOMOUS MULTI-ROTOR VEHICLE SWAPPING AND BATTERY MANAGEMENT 5. FUNDING NUMBERS 6. AUTHOR(S) Alexander G

Survey on the novel hybrid aquatic-aerial amphibious aircraft: Aquatic unmanned aerial vehicle (AquaUAV)

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Xingbang; Wang, Tianmiao; Liang, Jianhong; Yao, Guocai; Liu, Miao

2015-04-01

The aquatic unmanned aerial vehicle (AquaUAV), a kind of vehicle that can operate both in the air and the water, has been regarded as a new breakthrough to broaden the application scenario of UAV. Wide application prospects in military and civil field are more than bright, therefore many institutions have focused on the development of such a vehicle. However, due to the significant difference of the physical properties between the air and the water, it is rather difficult to design a fully-featured AquaUAV. Until now, majority of partially-featured AquaUAVs have been developed and used to verify the feasibility of an aquatic-aerial vehicle. In the present work, we classify the current partially-featured AquaUAV into three categories from the scope of the whole UAV field, i.e., the seaplane UAV, the submarine-launched UAV, and the submersible UAV. Then the recent advancements and common characteristics of the three kinds of AquaUAVs are reviewed in detail respectively. Then the applications of bionics in the design of AquaUAV, the transition mode between the air and the water, the morphing wing structure for air-water adaptation, and the power source and the propulsion type are summarized and discussed. The tradeoff analyses for different transition methods between the air and the water are presented. Furthermore, it indicates that applying the bionics into the design and development of the AquaUAV will be essential and significant. Finally, the significant technical challenges for the AquaUAV to change from a conception to a practical prototype are indicated.

Augmenting camera images for operators of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Veltman, J.A.; Oving, A.B.

2003-01-01

The manual control of the camera of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) can be difficult due to several factors such as 1) time delays between steering input and changes of the monitor content, 2) low update rates of the camera images and 3) lack of situation awareness due to the remote position of the

A Synthetic Teammate for UAV Applications: A Prospective Look

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Gluck, Kevin A; Ball, Jerry T; Gunzelmann, Glenn; Krusmark, Michael A; Lyon, Don R; Cooke, Nancy J

2006-01-01

This report describes current progress and future plans for research and development in synthetic teammates for applications in training, analysis, and system design for Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle (UAV) operations...

Learning Control of Fixed-Wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Using Fuzzy Neural Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Erdal Kayacan

2017-01-01

Full Text Available A learning control strategy is preferred for the control and guidance of a fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle to deal with lack of modeling and flight uncertainties. For learning the plant model as well as changing working conditions online, a fuzzy neural network (FNN is used in parallel with a conventional P (proportional controller. Among the learning algorithms in the literature, a derivative-free one, sliding mode control (SMC theory-based learning algorithm, is preferred as it has been proved to be computationally efficient in real-time applications. Its proven robustness and finite time converging nature make the learning algorithm appropriate for controlling an unmanned aerial vehicle as the computational power is always limited in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs. The parameter update rules and stability conditions of the learning are derived, and the proof of the stability of the learning algorithm is shown by using a candidate Lyapunov function. Intensive simulations are performed to illustrate the applicability of the proposed controller which includes the tracking of a three-dimensional trajectory by the UAV subject to time-varying wind conditions. The simulation results show the efficiency of the proposed control algorithm, especially in real-time control systems because of its computational efficiency.

Bespilotne letjelice : Unmanned aerial vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vlado Jurić

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Bespilotne letjelice imaju širok spektar uporabe, i svrha im svakim danom sve više dobiva na značaju. Konstrukcija im se poboljšava, pronalaze se materijali koji su optimalniji za obavljanje funkcija s kojima se trebaju suočiti. Pravna regulativa za bespilotne letjelice do 150 kg težine na polijetanju (MTOW se razlikuje od države do države. : Unmanned aerial vehicles have a wide range of applications, and their purpose is every day more important. Construction has been improving, finding the materials that are optimal for carrying out the functions which need to be cope with. Legal regulations for unmanned aircrafts up to 150 kg take-off weight (MTOW varies from country to country.

Siamese-GAN: Learning Invariant Representations for Aerial Vehicle Image Categorization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laila Bashmal

2018-02-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we present a new algorithm for cross-domain classification in aerial vehicle images based on generative adversarial networks (GANs. The proposed method, called Siamese-GAN, learns invariant feature representations for both labeled and unlabeled images coming from two different domains. To this end, we train in an adversarial manner a Siamese encoder–decoder architecture coupled with a discriminator network. The encoder–decoder network has the task of matching the distributions of both domains in a shared space regularized by the reconstruction ability, while the discriminator seeks to distinguish between them. After this phase, we feed the resulting encoded labeled and unlabeled features to another network composed of two fully-connected layers for training and classification, respectively. Experiments on several cross-domain datasets composed of extremely high resolution (EHR images acquired by manned/unmanned aerial vehicles (MAV/UAV over the cities of Vaihingen, Toronto, Potsdam, and Trento are reported and discussed.

State estimation and control for low-cost unmanned aerial vehicles

CERN Document Server

Hajiyev, Chingiz; Yenal Vural, Sıtkı

2015-01-01

This book discusses state estimation and control procedures for a low-cost unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The authors consider the use of robust adaptive Kalman filter algorithms and demonstrate their advantages over the optimal Kalman filter in the context of the difficult and varied environments in which UAVs may be employed. Fault detection and isolation (FDI) and data fusion for UAV air-data systems are also investigated, and control algorithms, including the classical, optimal, and fuzzy controllers, are given for the UAV. The performance of different control methods is investigated and the results compared. State Estimation and Control of Low-Cost Unmanned Aerial Vehicles covers all the important issues for designing a guidance, navigation and control (GNC) system of a low-cost UAV. It proposes significant new approaches that can be exploited by GNC system designers in the future and also reviews the current literature. The state estimation, control and FDI methods are illustrated by examples and MATLAB...

AWARE: Platform for Autonomous self-deploying and operation of Wireless sensor-actuator networks cooperating with unmanned AeRial vehiclEs

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ollero, Anibal; Bernard, Markus; La Civita, Marco; van Hoesel, L.F.W.; Marron, Pedro J.; Lepley, Jason; de Andres, Eduardo

This paper presents the AWARE platform that seeks to enable the cooperation of autonomous aerial vehicles with ground wireless sensor-actuator networks comprising both static and mobile nodes carried by vehicles or people. Particularly, the paper presents the middleware, the wireless sensor network,

Fuzzy C-Means Algorithm for Segmentation of Aerial Photography Data Obtained Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Akinin, M. V.; Akinina, N. V.; Klochkov, A. Y.; Nikiforov, M. B.; Sokolova, A. V.

2015-05-01

The report reviewed the algorithm fuzzy c-means, performs image segmentation, give an estimate of the quality of his work on the criterion of Xie-Beni, contain the results of experimental studies of the algorithm in the context of solving the problem of drawing up detailed two-dimensional maps with the use of unmanned aerial vehicles. According to the results of the experiment concluded that the possibility of applying the algorithm in problems of decoding images obtained as a result of aerial photography. The considered algorithm can significantly break the original image into a plurality of segments (clusters) in a relatively short period of time, which is achieved by modification of the original k-means algorithm to work in a fuzzy task.

Challenges of Integrating Unmanned Aerial Vehicles In Civil Application

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eid, B M; Albatsh, F; Faris, W F; Chebil, J

2013-01-01

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) has evolved rapidly over the past decade. There have been an increased number of studies aiming at improving UAV and in its use for different civil applications. This paper highlights the fundamentals of UAV system and examines the challenges related with the major components such as motors, drives, power systems, communication systems and image processing tools and equipment

Photogrammetric mapping using unmanned aerial vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Graça, N.; Mitishita, E.; Gonçalves, J.

2014-11-01

Nowadays Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technology has attracted attention for aerial photogrammetric mapping. The low cost and the feasibility to automatic flight along commanded waypoints can be considered as the main advantages of this technology in photogrammetric applications. Using GNSS/INS technologies the images are taken at the planned position of the exposure station and the exterior orientation parameters (position Xo, Yo, Zo and attitude ω, φ, χ) of images can be direct determined. However, common UAVs (off-the-shelf) do not replace the traditional aircraft platform. Overall, the main shortcomings are related to: difficulties to obtain the authorization to perform the flight in urban and rural areas, platform stability, safety flight, stability of the image block configuration, high number of the images and inaccuracies of the direct determination of the exterior orientation parameters of the images. In this paper are shown the obtained results from the project photogrammetric mapping using aerial images from the SIMEPAR UAV system. The PIPER J3 UAV Hydro aircraft was used. It has a micro pilot MP2128g. The system is fully integrated with 3-axis gyros/accelerometers, GPS, pressure altimeter, pressure airspeed sensors. A Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W300 was calibrated and used to get the image block. The flight height was close to 400 m, resulting GSD near to 0.10 m. The state of the art of the used technology, methodologies and the obtained results are shown and discussed. Finally advantages/shortcomings found in the study and main conclusions are presented

Teleoperated Visual Inspection and Surveillance with Unmanned Ground and Aerial Vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Viatcheslav Tretyakov

2008-11-01

Full Text Available This paper introduces our robotic system named UGAV (Unmanned Ground-Air Vehicle consisting of two semi-autonomous robot platforms, an Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV and an Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV. The paper focuses on three topics of the inspection with the combined UGV and UAV: (A teleoperated control by means of cell or smart phones with a new concept of automatic configuration of the smart phone based on a RKI-XML description of the vehicles control capabilities, (B the camera and vision system with the focus to real time feature extraction e.g. for the tracking of the UAV and (C the architecture and hardware of the UAV

Synthesis of the unmanned aerial vehicle remote control augmentation system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tomczyk, Andrzej

2014-01-01

Medium size Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) usually flies as an autonomous aircraft including automatic take-off and landing phases. However in the case of the on-board control system failure, the remote steering is using as an emergency procedure. In this reason, remote manual control of unmanned aerial vehicle is used more often during take-of and landing phases. Depends on UAV take-off mass and speed (total energy) the potential crash can be very danger for airplane and environment. So, handling qualities of UAV is important from pilot-operator point of view. In many cases the dynamic properties of remote controlling UAV are not suitable for obtaining the desired properties of the handling qualities. In this case the control augmentation system (CAS) should be applied. Because the potential failure of the on-board control system, the better solution is that the CAS algorithms are placed on the ground station computers. The method of UAV handling qualities shaping in the case of basic control system failure is presented in this paper. The main idea of this method is that UAV reaction on the operator steering signals should be similar - almost the same - as reaction of the 'ideal' remote control aircraft. The model following method was used for controller parameters calculations. The numerical example concerns the medium size MP-02A UAV applied as an aerial observer system

Synthesis of the unmanned aerial vehicle remote control augmentation system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tomczyk, Andrzej, E-mail: A.Tomczyk@prz.edu.pl [Department of Avionics and Control Systems, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics, Rzeszów University of Technology, Al. Powstañców Warszawy 12, 35-959 Rzeszów (Poland)

2014-12-10

Medium size Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) usually flies as an autonomous aircraft including automatic take-off and landing phases. However in the case of the on-board control system failure, the remote steering is using as an emergency procedure. In this reason, remote manual control of unmanned aerial vehicle is used more often during take-of and landing phases. Depends on UAV take-off mass and speed (total energy) the potential crash can be very danger for airplane and environment. So, handling qualities of UAV is important from pilot-operator point of view. In many cases the dynamic properties of remote controlling UAV are not suitable for obtaining the desired properties of the handling qualities. In this case the control augmentation system (CAS) should be applied. Because the potential failure of the on-board control system, the better solution is that the CAS algorithms are placed on the ground station computers. The method of UAV handling qualities shaping in the case of basic control system failure is presented in this paper. The main idea of this method is that UAV reaction on the operator steering signals should be similar - almost the same - as reaction of the 'ideal' remote control aircraft. The model following method was used for controller parameters calculations. The numerical example concerns the medium size MP-02A UAV applied as an aerial observer system.

Morphing unmanned aerial vehicles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gomez, Juan Carlos; Garcia, Ephrahim

2011-01-01

Research on aircraft morphing has exploded in recent years. The motivation and driving force behind this has been to find new and novel ways to increase the capabilities of aircraft. Materials advancements have helped to increase possibilities with respect to actuation and, hence, a diversity of concepts and unimagined capabilities. The expanded role of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has provided an ideal platform for exploring these emergent morphing concepts since at this scale a greater amount of risk can be taken, as well as having more manageable fabrication and cost requirements. This review focuses on presenting the role UAVs have in morphing research by giving an overview of the UAV morphing concepts, designs, and technologies described in the literature. A presentation of quantitative information as well as a discussion of technical issues is given where possible to begin gaining some insight into the overall assessment and performance of these technologies. (topical review)

Fuzzy-4D/RCS for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

OpenAIRE

Olivares Mendez, Miguel Angel; Campoy, Pascual; Mondragon, Ivan F.; Martinez, Carol

2010-01-01

Abstract This paper presents an improvement of the cognitive architecture, 4D/RCS, developed by the NIST. This improvement consist of the insertion of Fuzzy Logic cells (FLCs), in different parts and hierarchy levels of the architecture, and the adaptation of this architecture for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). This advance provides an improvement in the functionality of the system based on the uses of the Miguel Olivares’ Fuzzy Software for the definition of the FLCs and its...

Swarming Reconnaissance Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in a Parallel Discrete Event Simulation

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Corner, Joshua

2004-01-01

.... Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) are one answer to this military requirement. Technology in the UAV arena is moving toward smaller and more capable systems and is becoming available at a fraction of the cost...

FORMATION ALGORITHM OF DYNAMIC TURN FOR UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES ON APPROACH

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Igor A. Chekhov

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Great interest in using unmanned aerial vehicles has recently been shown, both from economic entities, and from national security, defense and law enforcement agencies. However, for using UAV for the civil purposes there is now a number of problems which are connected with the use of airspace and without solving them it is impossible to use the UAV fully. It should be noted that the level of flight safety, both for regular aircraft, and for the UAV, has the primary value. It is necessary to use modern methods of data processing and to have an opportunity to quickly and effectively control the current flight safety level. For this purpose the fullest information on the current movement of aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles, and also on the structure of the used airspace has to be used. The problem of procedures and maneuvers development that resolve potential traffic conflict including the UAV, is extremely important for air traffic safety especially in the vicinity of the destination or landing aerodrome. The possibility of creation of an algorithm of dynamic turn formation and the choice of a trajectory on approach of unmanned aerial vehicles is considered in this article. The technology of automatic dependent surveillance broadcast was used when collecting statistical data. Implementation of the landing algorithm is executed based on the criteria of ensuring efficiency and flight safety. The developed software provides the use only of open data on the aircraft movement in terminal airspace. The suggested algorithm can be adapted for air traffic management of the UAV in any selected airspace.

Small unmanned aerial vehicles (micro-UAVs, drones) in plant ecology1

Science.gov (United States)

Cruzan, Mitchell B.; Weinstein, Ben G.; Grasty, Monica R.; Kohrn, Brendan F.; Hendrickson, Elizabeth C.; Arredondo, Tina M.; Thompson, Pamela G.

2016-01-01

Premise of the study: Low-elevation surveys with small aerial drones (micro–unmanned aerial vehicles [UAVs]) may be used for a wide variety of applications in plant ecology, including mapping vegetation over small- to medium-sized regions. We provide an overview of methods and procedures for conducting surveys and illustrate some of these applications. Methods: Aerial images were obtained by flying a small drone along transects over the area of interest. Images were used to create a composite image (orthomosaic) and a digital surface model (DSM). Vegetation classification was conducted manually and using an automated routine. Coverage of an individual species was estimated from aerial images. Results: We created a vegetation map for the entire region from the orthomosaic and DSM, and mapped the density of one species. Comparison of our manual and automated habitat classification confirmed that our mapping methods were accurate. A species with high contrast to the background matrix allowed adequate estimate of its coverage. Discussion: The example surveys demonstrate that small aerial drones are capable of gathering large amounts of information on the distribution of vegetation and individual species with minimal impact to sensitive habitats. Low-elevation aerial surveys have potential for a wide range of applications in plant ecology. PMID:27672518

AERIAL TERRAIN MAPPING USING UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE APPROACH

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K. N. Tahar

2012-08-01

Full Text Available This paper looks into the latest achievement in the low-cost Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV technology in their capacity to map the semi-development areas. The objectives of this study are to establish a new methodology or a new algorithm in image registration during interior orientation process and to determine the accuracy of the photogrammetric products by using UAV images. Recently, UAV technology has been used in several applications such as mapping, agriculture and surveillance. The aim of this study is to scrutinize the usage of UAV to map the semi-development areas. The performance of the low cost UAV mapping study was established on a study area with two image processing methods so that the results could be comparable. A non-metric camera was attached at the bottom of UAV and it was used to capture images at both sites after it went through several calibration steps. Calibration processes were carried out to determine focal length, principal distance, radial lens distortion, tangential lens distortion and affinity. A new method in image registration for a non-metric camera is discussed in this paper as a part of new methodology of this study. This method used the UAV Global Positioning System (GPS onboard to register the UAV image for interior orientation process. Check points were established randomly at both sites using rapid static Global Positioning System. Ground control points are used for exterior orientation process, and check point is used for accuracy assessment of photogrammetric product. All acquired images were processed in a photogrammetric software. Two methods of image registration were applied in this study, namely, GPS onboard registration and ground control point registration. Both registrations were processed by using photogrammetric software and the result is discussed. Two results were produced in this study, which are the digital orthophoto and the digital terrain model. These results were analyzed by using the root

A novel approach to haptic tele-operation of aerial robot vehicles

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Stramigioli, Stefano; Mahony, Robert; Corke, Peter

2010-01-01

We present a novel, simple and effective approach for tele-operation of aerial robotic vehicles with haptic feedback. Such feedback provides the remote pilot with an intuitive feel of the robot's state and perceived local environment that will ensure simple and safe operation in cluttered 3D

The effective use of unmanned aerial vehicles for local law enforcement

Science.gov (United States)

Gasque, Leighton

This qualitative study was done to interview local law enforcement in Murfreesboro, Tennessee to determine if unmanned aerial vehicles could increase the safety of policy officers. Many police officers face dangerous scenarios on a daily basis; however, officers must also perform non-criminal related responsibilities that could put them in hazardous situations. UAVs have multiple capabilities that can decrease the number of hazards in an emergency situation whether it is environmental, traffic related, criminal activity, or investigations. Officers were interviewed to find whether or not unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) could be useful manpower on the police force. The study was also used to find whether or not officers foresee UAVs being used in law enforcement. The study revealed that UAVs could be used to add useful manpower to law enforcement based on the capabilities a UAV may have. Police officers cannot confirm whether or not they would be able to use a UAV until further research is conducted to examine the relation of costs to usage.

Optimisation of Lagrangian Flash Flood Microsensors Dropped by Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

KAUST Repository

Abdulaal, Mohammed

2014-05-01

Abstract Physical Sciences and Engineering Division Mechanical Engineering Department Master of Science Optimisation of Lagrangian Flash Flood Microsensors Dropped by Unmanned Aerial Vehicle by Mohammed Abdulaal Floods are the most common natural disasters, causing thousands of casualties every year in the world. In particular, ash ood events are particularly deadly because of the short timescales on which they occur. Classical sensing solutions such as xed wireless sensor networks or satellite imagery are either too expensive or too inaccurate. Nevertheless, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles equipped with mobile microsensors could be capable of sensing ash oods in real time for a low overall cost, saving lives and greatly improving the e ciency of the emergency response. Using ood simulation data, we show that this system could be used to detect ash oods. We also present an ongoing implementation of this system using 3D printed sensors and sensor delivery systems on a UAV testbed as well as some preliminary results.

Near Space Hypersonic Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Dynamic Surface Backstepping Control Design

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jinyong YU

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Compared with traditional aircraft, the near space hypersonic unmanned aerial vehicle control system design must deal with the extra prominent dynamics characters, which are differ from the traditional aircrafts control system design. A new robust adaptive control design method is proposed for one hypersonic unmanned aerial vehicle (HSUAV uncertain MIMO nonaffine block control system by using multilayer neural networks, feedback linearization technology, and dynamic surface backstepping. Multilayer neural networks are used to compensate the influence from the uncertain, which designs the robust terms to solve the problem from approach error. Adaptive backstepping is adopted designed to ensure control law, the dynamic surface control strategy to eliminate “the explosion of terms” by introducing a series of first order filters to obtain the differentiation of the virtual control inputs. Finally, nonlinear six-degree-of-freedom (6-DOF numerical simulation results for a HSUAV model are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Model identification of a flapping wing micro aerial vehicle

OpenAIRE

Aguiar Vieira Caetano, J.V.

2016-01-01

Different flapping wing micro aerial vehicles (FWMAV) have been developed for academic (Harvard’s RoboBee), military (Israel Aerospace Industries’ Butterfly) and technology demonstration (Aerovironment’s NanoHummingBird) purposes. Among these, theDelFly II is recognized as one of themost successful configurations of FWMAV, with a broad flight envelope, that spans fromhover to fast forward flight, revealing autonomous capabilities in the form of automatic flight and obstacle avoidance. Despite...

Vehicle detection from very-high-resolution (VHR) aerial imagery using attribute belief propagation (ABP)

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Yanli; Li, Ying; Zhang, Li; Huang, Yuchun

2016-10-01

With the popularity of very-high-resolution (VHR) aerial imagery, the shape, color, and context attribute of vehicles are better characterized. Due to the various road surroundings and imaging conditions, vehicle attributes could be adversely affected so that vehicle is mistakenly detected or missed. This paper is motivated to robustly extract the rich attribute feature for detecting the vehicles of VHR imagery under different scenarios. Based on the hierarchical component tree of vehicle context, attribute belief propagation (ABP) is proposed to detect salient vehicles from the statistical perspective. With the Max-tree data structure, the multi-level component tree around the road network is efficiently created. The spatial relationship between vehicle and its belonging context is established with the belief definition of vehicle attribute. To effectively correct single-level belief error, the inter-level belief linkages enforce consistency of belief assignment between corresponding components at different levels. ABP starts from an initial set of vehicle belief calculated by vehicle attribute, and then iterates through each component by applying inter-level belief passing until convergence. The optimal value of vehicle belief of each component is obtained via minimizing its belief function iteratively. The proposed algorithm is tested on a diverse set of VHR imagery acquired in the city and inter-city areas of the West and South China. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can detect vehicle efficiently and suppress the erroneous effectively. The proposed ABP framework is promising to robustly classify the vehicles from VHR Aerial imagery.

Closely Supervised Reactive Control of an Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Glassco, Roy

2000-01-01

...) or by using the Global Positioning System (GPS). This thesis proposes an alternative control method that incorporates some of the beneficial aspect of both fully manual and fully autonomous operation...

AVIATR—Aerial Vehicle for In-situ and Airborne Titan Reconnaissance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Barnes, Jason W.; Lemke, Lawrence; Foch, Rick

2012-01-01

We describe a mission concept for a stand-alone Titan airplane mission: Aerial Vehicle for In-situ and Airborne Titan Reconnaissance (AVIATR). With independent delivery and direct-to-Earth communications, AVIATR could contribute to Titan science either alone or as part of a sustained Titan...... Exploration Program. As a focused mission, AVIATR as we have envisioned it would concentrate on the science that an airplane can do best: exploration of Titan's global diversity. We focus on surface geology/hydrology and lower-atmospheric structure and dynamics. With a carefully chosen set of seven...... of a Space Vehicle (SV) for cruise, an Entry Vehicle (EV) for entry and descent, and the Air Vehicle (AV) to fly in Titan's atmosphere. Using an Earth-Jupiter gravity assist trajectory delivers the spacecraft to Titan in 7.5 years, after which the AVIATR AV would operate for a 1-Earth-year nominal mission...

UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES IN THE NAVY: ITS BENEFITS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

GONÇALO CASTANHEIRA ROSA

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Military investment in UAV research, systems, and applied technologies is increasing, and potential uses for UAVs in civil and military operations are in development. These developments, along with growing scientific interest in UAVs, are fueling commercial interest in the unmanned market. The growing enthusiasm for UAVs is not unfounded. The vehicles offer a unique range of features, most notably ultra-long endurance and high-risk mission acceptance, which cannot be reasonably performed by manned aircraft. Coupled with advances in automation and sensor technologies, and the potential for costs savings, it is understandable that interest in and demand for UAVs is on the rise. Organizations like the Navy have all the benefits to accompany the technological evolution that every day surprises and surpasses us. An introduction or technological evolution that this kind of organizations has already begun to implement is the autonomous vehicles as a mean to an end. This paper describes and lists the advantages of the introduction of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in an organization like the navy and also the missions that such robots can perform and optimize.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) data analysis for fertilization dose assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Kavvadias, Antonis; Psomiadis, Emmanouil; Chanioti, Maroulio; Tsitouras, Alexandros; Toulios, Leonidas; Dercas, Nicholas

2017-10-01

The growth rate monitoring of crops throughout their biological cycle is very important as it contributes to the achievement of a uniformly optimum production, a proper harvest planning, and reliable yield estimation. Fertilizer application often dramatically increases crop yields, but it is necessary to find out which is the ideal amount that has to be applied in the field. Remote sensing collects spatially dense information that may contribute to, or provide feedback about, fertilization management decisions. There is a potential goal to accurately predict the amount of fertilizer needed so as to attain an ideal crop yield without excessive use of fertilizers cause financial loss and negative environmental impacts. The comparison of the reflectance values at different wavelengths, utilizing suitable vegetation indices, is commonly used to determine plant vigor and growth. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have several advantages; because they can be deployed quickly and repeatedly, they are flexible regarding flying height and timing of missions, and they can obtain very high-resolution imagery. In an experimental crop field in Eleftherio Larissa, Greece, different dose of pre-plant and in-season fertilization was applied in 27 plots. A total of 102 aerial photos in two flights were taken using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle based on the scheduled fertilization. Α correlation of experimental fertilization with the change of vegetation indices values and with the increase of the vegetation cover rate during those days was made. The results of the analysis provide useful information regarding the vigor and crop growth rate performance of various doses of fertilization.

Design of Autonomous Navigation Controllers for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Using Multi-Objective Genetic Programming

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Barlow, Gregory J

2004-01-01

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have become increasingly popular for many applications, including search and rescue, surveillance, and electronic warfare, but almost all UAVs are controlled remotely by humans...

A concept of unmanned aerial vehicles in amphibious operations

OpenAIRE

Collins, Kipp A.

1993-01-01

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. The purpose of this thesis was to perform a conceptual study of using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in amphibious operations. It focused on the command relations, tasking and critical problems in UAV amphibious operations. This thesis investigated the question of whether using UAVs at sea is a feasible complement to current amphibious operational doctrine and, if so, then what expense is incurred to assets on which it is embarked an...

Reliability Assessment for Low-cost Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Freeman, Paul Michael

Existing low-cost unmanned aerospace systems are unreliable, and engineers must blend reliability analysis with fault-tolerant control in novel ways. This dissertation introduces the University of Minnesota unmanned aerial vehicle flight research platform, a comprehensive simulation and flight test facility for reliability and fault-tolerance research. An industry-standard reliability assessment technique, the failure modes and effects analysis, is performed for an unmanned aircraft. Particular attention is afforded to the control surface and servo-actuation subsystem. Maintaining effector health is essential for safe flight; failures may lead to loss of control incidents. Failure likelihood, severity, and risk are qualitatively assessed for several effector failure modes. Design changes are recommended to improve aircraft reliability based on this analysis. Most notably, the control surfaces are split, providing independent actuation and dual-redundancy. The simulation models for control surface aerodynamic effects are updated to reflect the split surfaces using a first-principles geometric analysis. The failure modes and effects analysis is extended by using a high-fidelity nonlinear aircraft simulation. A trim state discovery is performed to identify the achievable steady, wings-level flight envelope of the healthy and damaged vehicle. Tolerance of elevator actuator failures is studied using familiar tools from linear systems analysis. This analysis reveals significant inherent performance limitations for candidate adaptive/reconfigurable control algorithms used for the vehicle. Moreover, it demonstrates how these tools can be applied in a design feedback loop to make safety-critical unmanned systems more reliable. Control surface impairments that do occur must be quickly and accurately detected. This dissertation also considers fault detection and identification for an unmanned aerial vehicle using model-based and model-free approaches and applies those

Applicability of New Approaches of Sensor Orientation to Micro Aerial Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Rehak, M.; Skaloud, J.

2016-06-01

This study highlights the benefits of precise aerial position and attitude control in the context of mapping with Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs). Accurate mapping with MAVs is gaining importance in applications such as corridor mapping, road and pipeline inspections or mapping of large areas with homogeneous surface structure, e.g. forests or agricultural fields. There, accurate aerial control plays a major role in successful terrain reconstruction and artifact-free ortophoto generation. The presented experiments focus on new approaches of aerial control. We confirm practically that the relative aerial position and attitude control can improve accuracy in difficult mapping scenarios. Indeed, the relative orientation method represents an attractive alternative in the context of MAVs for two reasons. First, the procedure is somewhat simplified, e.g. the angular misalignment, so called boresight, between the camera and the inertial measurement unit (IMU) does not have to be determined and, second, the effect of possible systematic errors in satellite positioning (e.g. due to multipath and/or incorrect recovery of differential carrier-phase ambiguities) is mitigated. First, we present a typical mapping project over an agricultural field and second, we perform a corridor road mapping. We evaluate the proposed methods in scenarios with and without automated image observations. We investigate a recently proposed concept where adjustment is performed using image observations limited to ground control and check points, so called fast aerial triangulation (Fast AT). In this context we show that accurate aerial control (absolute or relative) together with a few image observations can deliver accurate results comparable to classical aerial triangulation with thousands of image measurements. This procedure in turns reduces the demands on processing time and the requirements on the existence of surface texture. Finally, we compare the above mentioned procedures with direct sensor

Handbook of unmanned aerial vehicles

CERN Document Server

Vachtsevanos, George

2015-01-01

The Handbook of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles is a reference text for the academic and research communities, industry, manufacturers, users, practitioners, Federal Government, Federal and State Agencies, the private sector, as well as all organizations that are and will be using unmanned aircraft in a wide spectrum of applications. The Handbook covers all aspects of UAVs, from design to logistics and ethical issues. It is also targeting the young investigator, the future inventor and entrepreneur by providing an overview and detailed information of the state-of-the-art as well as useful new concepts that may lead to innovative research. The contents of the Handbook include material that addresses the needs and ‘know how’ of all of the above sectors targeting a very diverse audience. The Handbook offers a unique and comprehensive treatise of everything one needs to know about unmanned aircrafts, from conception to operation, from technologies to business activities, users, OEMs, reference sources, conferences, ...

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Photogrammetry: Analysis of Orthophoto Images over the Territory of Lithuania

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Suziedelyte Visockiene

2016-01-01

Full Text Available It has been recently observed that aircrafts tend to be replaced by light, simple structure unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV or mini unmanned aerial vehicles (MUAV with the purpose of updating the field of aerial photogrammetry. The built-in digital photo camera takes images of the Earth’s surface. To satisfy the photogrammetric requirements of the photographic images, it is necessary to carry out the terrestrial project planning of the flight path before the flight, to select the appropriate flying height, the time for acquiring images, the speed of the UAV, and other parameters. The paper presents the results of project calculations concerning the UAV flights and the analysis of the terrestrial images acquired during the field-testing flights. The experience carried out so far in the Lithuanian landscape is shown. The taken images have been processed by PhotoMod photogrammetric system. The paper presents the results of calculation of the project values of the UAV flights taking the images by digital camera Canon S100 and the analysis of the possibilities of the UAV orthophoto images’ mode.

Fuel Cells: A Real Option for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Propulsion

OpenAIRE

González_Espasandín, Oscar; Leo Mena, Teresa de Jesus; Navarro Arevalo, Emilio

2013-01-01

The possibility of implementing fuel cell technology in Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) propulsion systems is considered. Potential advantages of the Proton Exchange Membrane or Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEMFC) and Direct Methanol Fuel Cells (DMFC), their fuels (hydrogen and methanol), and their storage systems are revised from technical and environmental standpoints. Some operating commercial applications are described. Main constraints for these kinds of fuel cells are analyzed in order t...

Post-Buckled Precompressed (PBP) piezoelectric actuators for UAV flight control

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vos, R.; Barrett, R.; Krakers, L.; Van Tooren, M.

2006-01-01

This paper presents the use of a new class of flight control actuators employing Post-Buckled Precompressed (PBP) piezoelectric elements in morphing wing Uninhabited Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). The new actuator relieson axial compression to amplify deflections and control forces simultaneously. Two

A lightweight hyperspectral mapping system and photogrammetric processing chain for unmanned aerial vehicles

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Suomalainen, J.M.; Anders, N.S.; Iqbal, S.; Roerink, G.J.; Franke, G.J.; Wenting, P.F.M.; Hünniger, D.; Bartholomeus, H.; Becker, R.; Kooistra, L.

2014-01-01

During the last years commercial hyperspectral imaging sensors have been miniaturized and their performance has been demonstrated on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). However currently the commercial hyperspectral systems still require minimum payload capacity of approximately 3 kg, forcing usage of

Remote Sensing and In-Situ Observations of Arctic Mixed-Phase and Cirrus Clouds Acquired During Mixed-Phase Arctic Cloud Experiment: Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Uninhabited Aerospace Vehicle Participation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McFarquhar, G.M.; Freer, M.; Um, J.; McCoy, R.; Bolton, W.

2005-01-01

The Atmospheric Radiation Monitor (ARM) uninhabited aerospace vehicle (UAV) program aims to develop measurement techniques and instruments suitable for a new class of high altitude, long endurance UAVs while supporting the climate community with valuable data sets. Using the Scaled Composites Proteus aircraft, ARM UAV participated in Mixed-Phase Arctic Cloud Experiment (M-PACE), obtaining unique data to help understand the interaction of clouds with solar and infrared radiation. Many measurements obtained using the Proteus were coincident with in-situ observations made by the UND Citation. Data from M-PACE are needed to understand interactions between clouds, the atmosphere and ocean in the Arctic, critical interactions given large-scale models suggest enhanced warming compared to lower latitudes is occurring

Use of unmanned aerial vehicles for medical product transport.

Science.gov (United States)

Thiels, Cornelius A; Aho, Johnathon M; Zietlow, Scott P; Jenkins, Donald H

2015-01-01

Advances in technology and decreasing costs have led to an increased use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) by the military and civilian sectors. The use of UAVs in commerce is restricted by US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations, but the FAA is drafting new regulations that are expected to expand commercial applications. Currently, the transportation of medical goods in times of critical need is limited to wheeled motor vehicles and manned aircraft, options that can be costly and slow. This article explores the demand for, feasibility of, and risks associated with the use of UAVs to deliver medical products, including blood derivatives and pharmaceuticals, to hospitals, mass casualty scenes, and offshore vessels in times of critical demand. Copyright © 2015 Air Medical Journal Associates. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Rise of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle and its Effect on Manned Tactical Aviation

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Meger, James P

2006-01-01

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are not new concepts. Their history dates back to the Civil War with hot air balloons and has evolved into a crucial combat tool for commanders in the modern battlespace...

Vision-Based SLAM System for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rodrigo Munguía

2016-03-01

Full Text Available The present paper describes a vision-based simultaneous localization and mapping system to be applied to Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs. The main contribution of this work is to propose a novel estimator relying on an Extended Kalman Filter. The estimator is designed in order to fuse the measurements obtained from: (i an orientation sensor (AHRS; (ii a position sensor (GPS; and (iii a monocular camera. The estimated state consists of the full state of the vehicle: position and orientation and their first derivatives, as well as the location of the landmarks observed by the camera. The position sensor will be used only during the initialization period in order to recover the metric scale of the world. Afterwards, the estimated map of landmarks will be used to perform a fully vision-based navigation when the position sensor is not available. Experimental results obtained with simulations and real data show the benefits of the inclusion of camera measurements into the system. In this sense the estimation of the trajectory of the vehicle is considerably improved, compared with the estimates obtained using only the measurements from the position sensor, which are commonly low-rated and highly noisy.

Vision-Based SLAM System for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.

Science.gov (United States)

Munguía, Rodrigo; Urzua, Sarquis; Bolea, Yolanda; Grau, Antoni

2016-03-15

The present paper describes a vision-based simultaneous localization and mapping system to be applied to Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). The main contribution of this work is to propose a novel estimator relying on an Extended Kalman Filter. The estimator is designed in order to fuse the measurements obtained from: (i) an orientation sensor (AHRS); (ii) a position sensor (GPS); and (iii) a monocular camera. The estimated state consists of the full state of the vehicle: position and orientation and their first derivatives, as well as the location of the landmarks observed by the camera. The position sensor will be used only during the initialization period in order to recover the metric scale of the world. Afterwards, the estimated map of landmarks will be used to perform a fully vision-based navigation when the position sensor is not available. Experimental results obtained with simulations and real data show the benefits of the inclusion of camera measurements into the system. In this sense the estimation of the trajectory of the vehicle is considerably improved, compared with the estimates obtained using only the measurements from the position sensor, which are commonly low-rated and highly noisy.

Compact vertical take-off and landing aerial vehicle for monitoring tasks in dense urban areas

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sergii FIRSOV

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Using of aerial vehicles with onboard sensory and broadcasting apparatus for monitoring a variety of objects and processes in inaccessible places of the city. A hardware and software package for the task solving is proposed in the article. Presented vehicle is a vertical take-off and landing airplane of tail-sitter type.

STRUCTURE FROM MOTION (SfM) PROCESSING FOR UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE (UAV)

KAUST Repository

Smith, Neil G.; Shalaby, Mohamed; Passone, Luca

2016-01-01

A method of imaging an area using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) collects a plurality of images from a sensor mounted to the UAV. The plurality of images are processed to detect regions that require additional imaging and an updated flight plan and sensor gimbal position plan is created to capture portions of the area identified as requiring additional imaging.

STRUCTURE FROM MOTION (SfM) PROCESSING FOR UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE (UAV)

KAUST Repository

Smith, Neil G.

2016-04-07

A method of imaging an area using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) collects a plurality of images from a sensor mounted to the UAV. The plurality of images are processed to detect regions that require additional imaging and an updated flight plan and sensor gimbal position plan is created to capture portions of the area identified as requiring additional imaging.

Multi-temporal high resolution monitoring of debris-covered glaciers using unmanned aerial vehicles

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kraaijenbrink, P.D.A.; Immerzeel, W.W.; de Jong, S.M.; Shea, Joseph M.; Pellicciotti, Francesca; Meijer, Sander W.; Shresta, A.B.

Debris-covered glaciers in the Himalayas are relatively unstudied due to the difficulties in fieldwork caused by the inaccessible terrain and the presence of debris layers, which complicate in situ measurements. To overcome these difficulties an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has been deployed

Robust vehicle detection in aerial images based on salient region selection and superpixel classification

Science.gov (United States)

Sahli, Samir; Duval, Pierre-Luc; Sheng, Yunlong; Lavigne, Daniel A.

2011-05-01

For detecting vehicles in large scale aerial images we first used a non-parametric method proposed recently by Rosin to define the regions of interest, where the vehicles appear with dense edges. The saliency map is a sum of distance transforms (DT) of a set of edges maps, which are obtained by a threshold decomposition of the gradient image with a set of thresholds. A binary mask for highlighting the regions of interest is then obtained by a moment-preserving thresholding of the normalized saliency map. Secondly, the regions of interest were over-segmented by the SLIC superpixels proposed recently by Achanta et al. to cluster pixels into the color constancy sub-regions. In the aerial images of 11.2 cm/pixel resolution, the vehicles in general do not exceed 20 x 40 pixels. We introduced a size constraint to guarantee no superpixels exceed the size of a vehicle. The superpixels were then classified to vehicle or non-vehicle by the Support Vector Machine (SVM), in which the Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) features and the Linear Binary Pattern (LBP) texture features were used. Both features were extracted at two scales with two size patches. The small patches capture local structures and the larger patches include the neighborhood information. Preliminary results show a significant gain in the detection. The vehicles were detected with a dense concentration of the vehicle-class superpixels. Even dark color cars were successfully detected. A validation process will follow to reduce the presence of isolated false alarms in the background.

Pipeline monitoring with unmanned aerial vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Kochetkova, L. I.

2018-05-01

Pipeline leakage during transportation of combustible substances leads to explosion and fire thus causing death of people and destruction of production and accommodation facilities. Continuous pipeline monitoring allows identifying leaks in due time and quickly taking measures for their elimination. The paper describes the solution of identification of pipeline leakage using unmanned aerial vehicles. It is recommended to apply the spectral analysis with input RGB signal to identify pipeline damages. The application of multi-zone digital images allows defining potential spill of oil hydrocarbons as well as possible soil pollution. The method of multi-temporal digital images within the visible region makes it possible to define changes in soil morphology for its subsequent analysis. The given solution is cost efficient and reliable thus allowing reducing timing and labor resources in comparison with other methods of pipeline monitoring.

Bird's-Eye View of Sampling Sites: Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to Make Chemistry Fieldwork Videos

Science.gov (United States)

Fung, Fun Man; Watts, Simon Francis

2017-01-01

Drones, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), usually helicopters or airplanes, are commonly used for warfare, aerial surveillance, and recreation. In recent years, drones have become more accessible to the public as a platform for photography. In this report, we explore the use of drones as a new technological filming tool to enhance student learning…

Conflict detection and resolution system architecture for unmanned aerial vehicles in civil airspace

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jenie, Y.I.; van Kampen, E.J.; Ellerbroek, J.; Hoekstra, J.M.

2015-01-01

A novel architecture for a general Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Conflict Detection and Resolution (CD&R) system, in the context of their integration into the civilian airspace, is proposed in this paper. The architecture consists of layers of safety approaches ,each representing a combination of

Mathematical Modelling of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles with Four Rotors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zoran Benić

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Mathematical model of an unmanned aerial vehicle with four propulsors (quadcopter is indispensable in quadcopter movement simulation and later modelling of the control algorithm. Mathematical model is, at the same time, the first step in comprehending the mathematical principles and physical laws which are applied to the quadcopter system. The objective is to define the mathematical model which will describe the quadcopter behavior with satisfactory accuracy and which can be, with certain modifications, applicable for the similar configurations of multirotor aerial vehicles. At the beginning of mathematical model derivation, coordinate systems are defined and explained. By using those coordinate systems, relations between parameters defined in the earth coordinate system and in the body coordinate system are defined. Further, the quadcopter kinematic is described which enables setting those relations. Also, quadcopter dynamics is used to introduce forces and torques to the model through usage of Newton-Euler method. Final derived equation is Newton’s second law in the matrix notation. For the sake of model simplification, hybrid coordinate system is defined, and quadcopter dynamic equations derived with the respect to it. Those equations are implemented in the simulation. Results of behavior of quadcopter mathematical model are graphically shown for four cases. For each of the cases the propellers revolutions per minute (RPM are set in a way that results in the occurrence of the controllable variables which causes one of four basic quadcopter movements in space.

A Generic Architecture for Autonomous Uninhabited Vehicles

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Barbier, Magali; Gabard, Jean-Francois; Ayreault, Herve

2007-01-01

...; few solutions propose architecture adaptive to several types of platform. Autonomous vehicles that move in partially known and dynamic environments have to deal with asynchronous disruptive events...

High-Fidelity Computational Aerodynamics of Multi-Rotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Ventura Diaz, Patricia; Yoon, Seokkwan

2018-01-01

High-fidelity Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations have been carried out for several multi-rotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). Three vehicles have been studied: the classic quadcopter DJI Phantom 3, an unconventional quadcopter specialized for forward flight, the SUI Endurance, and an innovative concept for Urban Air Mobility (UAM), the Elytron 4S UAV. The three-dimensional unsteady Navier-Stokes equations are solved on overset grids using high-order accurate schemes, dual-time stepping, and a hybrid turbulence model. The DJI Phantom 3 is simulated with different rotors and with both a simplified airframe and the real airframe including landing gear and a camera. The effects of weather are studied for the DJI Phantom 3 quadcopter in hover. The SUI En- durance original design is compared in forward flight to a new configuration conceived by the authors, the hybrid configuration, which gives a large improvement in forward thrust. The Elytron 4S UAV is simulated in helicopter mode and in airplane mode. Understanding the complex flows in multi-rotor vehicles will help design quieter, safer, and more efficient future drones and UAM vehicles.

A Primer on Autonomous Aerial Vehicle Design.

Science.gov (United States)

Coppejans, Hugo H G; Myburgh, Herman C

2015-12-02

There is a large amount of research currently being done on autonomous micro-aerial vehicles (MAV), such as quadrotor helicopters or quadcopters. The ability to create a working autonomous MAV depends mainly on integrating a simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) solution with the rest of the system. This paper provides an introduction for creating an autonomous MAV for enclosed environments, aimed at students and professionals alike. The standard autonomous system and MAV automation are discussed, while we focus on the core concepts of SLAM systems and trajectory planning algorithms. The advantages and disadvantages of using remote processing are evaluated, and recommendations are made regarding the viability of on-board processing. Recommendations are made regarding best practices to serve as a guideline for aspirant MAV designers.

Flexible micro flow sensor for micro aerial vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Rong; Que, Ruiyi; Liu, Peng

2017-12-01

This article summarizes our studies on micro flow sensors fabricated on a flexible polyimide circuit board by a low-cost hybrid process of thin-film deposition and circuit printing. The micro flow sensor has merits of flexibility, structural simplicity, easy integrability with circuits, and good sensing performance. The sensor, which adheres to an object surface, can detect the surface flow around the object. In our study, we install the fabricated micro flow sensors on micro aerial vehicles (MAVs) to detect the surface flow variation around the aircraft wing and deduce the aerodynamic parameters of the MAVs in flight. Wind tunnel experiments using the sensors integrated with the MAVs are also conducted.

Vehicle Detection in Aerial Images Based on Region Convolutional Neural Networks and Hard Negative Example Mining.

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Tianyu; Zhou, Shilin; Deng, Zhipeng; Zou, Huanxin; Lei, Lin

2017-02-10

Detecting vehicles in aerial imagery plays an important role in a wide range of applications. The current vehicle detection methods are mostly based on sliding-window search and handcrafted or shallow-learning-based features, having limited description capability and heavy computational costs. Recently, due to the powerful feature representations, region convolutional neural networks (CNN) based detection methods have achieved state-of-the-art performance in computer vision, especially Faster R-CNN. However, directly using it for vehicle detection in aerial images has many limitations: (1) region proposal network (RPN) in Faster R-CNN has poor performance for accurately locating small-sized vehicles, due to the relatively coarse feature maps; and (2) the classifier after RPN cannot distinguish vehicles and complex backgrounds well. In this study, an improved detection method based on Faster R-CNN is proposed in order to accomplish the two challenges mentioned above. Firstly, to improve the recall, we employ a hyper region proposal network (HRPN) to extract vehicle-like targets with a combination of hierarchical feature maps. Then, we replace the classifier after RPN by a cascade of boosted classifiers to verify the candidate regions, aiming at reducing false detection by negative example mining. We evaluate our method on the Munich vehicle dataset and the collected vehicle dataset, with improvements in accuracy and robustness compared to existing methods.

Development Of Translational Motion Of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Using MATLAB

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thwe Thwe Htoo

2015-08-01

Full Text Available This research work describes the translational motion analysis of unmanned aerial vehicle UAV. Since the center of mass of the receiver is timevarying the equations are written in a reference frame that is geometrically fixed in the aircraft. Due to the fact that aerial vehicle simulation and control deal with the position and orientation of the UAV the equations of motion are derived in terms of the translational and rotational position and velocity with respect to the aircraft location. The formation relative motion control is a challenging problem due to the coupled translational and rotational dynamics. As the translational vector depends on the current attitude and its angular velocity and some of the attitude constraints also couple the position and attitude of the spacecraft it makes the formation control problem high dimensional. This work develops UAV stability conditions including translational vector maneuverability condition and included angle condition between the translational and the rotational motion of UAV system and then presents two methods to calculate the UAV attitude. Both of the two methods need first design the optimal trajectory of the translational vector and then use geometric and nonlinear programming methods to calculate the target trajectory. The validity of the proposed approach is demonstrated in a UAV by using MATLAB. The performance of the translational motion control is evaluated by the simulated results.

Optimization of the choice of unmanned aerial vehicles used to monitor the implementation of selected construction projects

Science.gov (United States)

Skorupka, Dariusz; Duchaczek, Artur; Waniewska, Agnieszka; Kowacka, Magdalena

2017-07-01

Due to their properties unmanned aerial vehicles have huge number of possibilities for application in construction engineering. The nature and extent of construction works performedmakes the decision to purchase the right equipment significant for the possibility for its further use while monitoring the implementation of these works. Technical factors, such as the accuracy and quality of the applied measurement instruments are especially important when monitoring the realization of construction projects. The paper presents the optimization of the choice of unmanned aerial vehicles using the Bellinger method. The decision-making analysis takes into account criteria that are particularly crucial by virtue of the range of monitoring of ongoing construction works.

A Primer on Autonomous Aerial Vehicle Design

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hugo H. G. Coppejans

2015-12-01

Full Text Available There is a large amount of research currently being done on autonomous micro-aerial vehicles (MAV, such as quadrotor helicopters or quadcopters. The ability to create a working autonomous MAV depends mainly on integrating a simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM solution with the rest of the system. This paper provides an introduction for creating an autonomous MAV for enclosed environments, aimed at students and professionals alike. The standard autonomous system and MAV automation are discussed, while we focus on the core concepts of SLAM systems and trajectory planning algorithms. The advantages and disadvantages of using remote processing are evaluated, and recommendations are made regarding the viability of on-board processing. Recommendations are made regarding best practices to serve as a guideline for aspirant MAV designers.

Decentralized cooperative unmanned aerial vehicles conflict resolution by neural network-based tree search method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jian Yang

2016-09-01

Full Text Available In this article, a tree search algorithm is proposed to find the near optimal conflict avoidance solutions for unmanned aerial vehicles. In the dynamic environment, the unmodeled elements, such as wind, would make UAVs deviate from nominal traces. It brings about difficulties for conflict detection and resolution. The back propagation neural networks are utilized to approximate the unmodeled dynamics of the environment. To satisfy the online planning requirement, the search length of the tree search algorithm would be limited. Therefore, the algorithm may not be able to reach the goal states in search process. The midterm reward function for assessing each node is devised, with consideration given to two factors, namely, the safe separation requirement and the mission of each unmanned aerial vehicle. The simulation examples and the comparisons with previous approaches are provided to illustrate the smooth and convincing behaviours of the proposed algorithm.

Dynamic tensegrity based cooperative control of uninhabited vehicles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lau, Sook Yen; Naeem, Wasif [Queen' s Univ., Belfast (United Kingdom). School of Electronics, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

2013-07-01

A new formation control methodology is presented in this paper. The proposed technique is modelled by using the concept of cross-tensegrity structures. The main task is to regulate the desired formation of a group of vehicles and to perform point-to-point manoeuvring in the plane. The position of the controlled vehicles in the formation changes with respect to the admissible tendon forces by varying the lengths of bars in the dynamic tensegrity structure modelling. This change of bars' dimensions for geometric transformation is not possible in the application of tensegrity concept in the physical structural engineering. It has been demonstrated that this control method allows more flexibility over a wide range of different shape switching tasks using the predictable tendon control forces under the limited communication's range. The proposed approach is also scalable to any number of pairs of autonomous vehicles in the formation.

Analysis of the Vertical Takeoff and Landing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (VTUAV) in Small Unit Urban Operations

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Cason, Roman

2004-01-01

...) to replace the aging Pioneer Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) system. This thesis examines the critical elements this platform must possess to effectively support small units operating in urban environments...

Online Aerial Terrain Mapping for Ground Robot Navigation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John Peterson

2018-02-01

Full Text Available This work presents a collaborative unmanned aerial and ground vehicle system which utilizes the aerial vehicle’s overhead view to inform the ground vehicle’s path planning in real time. The aerial vehicle acquires imagery which is assembled into a orthomosaic and then classified. These terrain classes are used to estimate relative navigation costs for the ground vehicle so energy-efficient paths may be generated and then executed. The two vehicles are registered in a common coordinate frame using a real-time kinematic global positioning system (RTK GPS and all image processing is performed onboard the unmanned aerial vehicle, which minimizes the data exchanged between the vehicles. This paper describes the architecture of the system and quantifies the registration errors between the vehicles.

International Symposium on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

CERN Document Server

Oh, Paul; Piegl, Les

2009-01-01

Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) have seen unprecedented levels of growth during the last decade in both military and civilian domains. It is anticipated that civilian applications will be dominant in the future, although there are still barriers to be overcome and technical challenges to be met. Integrating UAS into, for example, civilian space, navigation, autonomy, see-detect-and-avoid systems, smart designs, system integration, vision-based navigation and training, to name but a few areas, will be of prime importance in the near future. This special volume is the outcome of research presented at the International Symposium on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, held in Orlando, Florida, USA, from June 23-25, 2008, and presents state-of-the-art findings on topics such as: UAS operations and integration into the national airspace system; UAS navigation and control; micro-, mini-, small UAVs; UAS simulation testbeds and frameworks; UAS research platforms and applications; UAS applications. This book aims at serving as ...

Mathematical modelling of unmanned aerial vehicles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sarwar, S.; Rehman, S.U.

2013-01-01

UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) UAVs are emerging as requirement of time and it is expected that in next five to ten years, complete air space will be flooded with UAVs, committed in varied assignments ranging from military, scientific and commercial usage. Non availability of human pilot inside UAV necessitates the requirement of an onboard auto pilot in order to maintain desired flight profile against any unexpected disturbance and/or parameter variations. Design of such an auto pilot requires an accurate mathematical model of UAV. The aim of this paper is to present a consolidated picture of UAV model. This paper first consolidates complete 6 DOF Degree of Freedom) equations of motion into a nonlinear mathematical model and its simulation using model parameters of a real UAV. Model is then linearized into longitudinal and lateral modes. State space models of linearized modes are simulated and analyzed for stability parameters. The developed model can be used to design auto pilot for UAV. (author)

Toward autonomous avian-inspired grasping for micro aerial vehicles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thomas, Justin; Loianno, Giuseppe; Polin, Joseph; Kumar, Vijay; Sreenath, Koushil

2014-01-01

Micro aerial vehicles, particularly quadrotors, have been used in a wide range of applications. However, the literature on aerial manipulation and grasping is limited and the work is based on quasi-static models. In this paper, we draw inspiration from agile, fast-moving birds such as raptors, that are able to capture moving prey on the ground or in water, and develop similar capabilities for quadrotors. We address dynamic grasping, an approach to prehensile grasping in which the dynamics of the robot and its gripper are significant and must be explicitly modeled and controlled for successful execution. Dynamic grasping is relevant for fast pick-and-place operations, transportation and delivery of objects, and placing or retrieving sensors. We show how this capability can be realized (a) using a motion capture system and (b) without external sensors relying only on onboard sensors. In both cases we describe the dynamic model, and trajectory planning and control algorithms. In particular, we present a methodology for flying and grasping a cylindrical object using feedback from a monocular camera and an inertial measurement unit onboard the aerial robot. This is accomplished by mapping the dynamics of the quadrotor to a level virtual image plane, which in turn enables dynamically-feasible trajectory planning for image features in the image space, and a vision-based controller with guaranteed convergence properties. We also present experimental results obtained with a quadrotor equipped with an articulated gripper to illustrate both approaches. (papers)

Toward autonomous avian-inspired grasping for micro aerial vehicles.

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas, Justin; Loianno, Giuseppe; Polin, Joseph; Sreenath, Koushil; Kumar, Vijay

2014-06-01

Micro aerial vehicles, particularly quadrotors, have been used in a wide range of applications. However, the literature on aerial manipulation and grasping is limited and the work is based on quasi-static models. In this paper, we draw inspiration from agile, fast-moving birds such as raptors, that are able to capture moving prey on the ground or in water, and develop similar capabilities for quadrotors. We address dynamic grasping, an approach to prehensile grasping in which the dynamics of the robot and its gripper are significant and must be explicitly modeled and controlled for successful execution. Dynamic grasping is relevant for fast pick-and-place operations, transportation and delivery of objects, and placing or retrieving sensors. We show how this capability can be realized (a) using a motion capture system and (b) without external sensors relying only on onboard sensors. In both cases we describe the dynamic model, and trajectory planning and control algorithms. In particular, we present a methodology for flying and grasping a cylindrical object using feedback from a monocular camera and an inertial measurement unit onboard the aerial robot. This is accomplished by mapping the dynamics of the quadrotor to a level virtual image plane, which in turn enables dynamically-feasible trajectory planning for image features in the image space, and a vision-based controller with guaranteed convergence properties. We also present experimental results obtained with a quadrotor equipped with an articulated gripper to illustrate both approaches.

Spike Neuromorphic VLSI-Based Bat Echolocation for Micro-Aerial Vehicle Guidance

Science.gov (United States)

2007-03-31

IFinal 03/01/04 - 02/28/07 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER Neuromorphic VLSI-based Bat Echolocation for Micro-aerial 5b.GRANTNUMBER Vehicle...uncovered interesting new issues in our choice for representing the intensity of signals. We have just finished testing the first chip version of an echo...timing-based algorithm (’openspace’) for sonar-guided navigation amidst multiple obstacles. 15. SUBJECT TERMS Neuromorphic VLSI, bat echolocation

High Work, High-Efficiency Turbines for Uninhabited Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)

Science.gov (United States)

2013-09-01

wakes. The subscript “ loc ” indicates a measurement in the exit traverse plane. The right side of the wakes corresponds to the suction side of the...Cartesian indices, can be 1, 2, or 3 in inlet location loc local location sep separation location REFERENCES [1] Wilson, D.G., and Korakianitis...L2F pressure loading ( Leo Code) Unfortunately, high lift airfoils such as L2F with good low Reynolds number performance often produce unacceptably

Drogue pose estimation for unmanned aerial vehicle autonomous aerial refueling system based on infrared vision sensor

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Shanjun; Duan, Haibin; Deng, Yimin; Li, Cong; Zhao, Guozhi; Xu, Yan

2017-12-01

Autonomous aerial refueling is a significant technology that can significantly extend the endurance of unmanned aerial vehicles. A reliable method that can accurately estimate the position and attitude of the probe relative to the drogue is the key to such a capability. A drogue pose estimation method based on infrared vision sensor is introduced with the general goal of yielding an accurate and reliable drogue state estimate. First, by employing direct least squares ellipse fitting and convex hull in OpenCV, a feature point matching and interference point elimination method is proposed. In addition, considering the conditions that some infrared LEDs are damaged or occluded, a missing point estimation method based on perspective transformation and affine transformation is designed. Finally, an accurate and robust pose estimation algorithm improved by the runner-root algorithm is proposed. The feasibility of the designed visual measurement system is demonstrated by flight test, and the results indicate that our proposed method enables precise and reliable pose estimation of the probe relative to the drogue, even in some poor conditions.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle-Based Automobile License Plate Recognition System for Institutional Parking Lots

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Julian Dasilva

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, also known as drones have many applications and they are a current trend across many industries. They can be used for delivery, sports, surveillance, professional photography, cinematography, military combat, natural disaster assistance, security, and the list grows every day. Programming opens an avenue to automate many processes of daily life and with the drone as aerial programmable eyes, security and surveillance can become more efficient and cost effective. At Barry University, parking is becoming an issue as the number of people visiting the school greatly outnumbers the convenient parking locations. This has caused a multitude of hazards in parking lots due to people illegally parking, as well as unregistered vehicles parking in reserved areas. In this paper, we explain how automated drone surveillance is utilized to detect unauthorized parking at Barry University. The automated process is incorporated into Java application and completed in three steps: collecting visual data, processing data automatically, and sending automated responses and queues to the operator of the system.

PERANCANGAN SISTEM TRANSFER DAYA NIRKABEL UNTUK UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE (UAV MICRO JENIS QUADCOPTER

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Setyawan Wahyu Pratomo

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Dalam Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ( UAV jenis Quadcopter, sumber catu daya berupa baterai yang hanya mampu bekerja 10-15 menit di udara merupakan permasalahan tersendiri bagi performa Quadcopter. Sedangkan perfomansi dari Quadcopter pada ketinggian yang susah dijangkau, diharapkan peran operator yang selama ini harus mengkoneksikan secara manual kabel charging ke baterai bisa digantikan oleh sistem secara otomatis ketika baterai akan habis. Untuk itu dalam paper ini membahas suatu perancangan sistem transfer daya nirkabel untuk Quadcopter mengisi ulang baterai tanpa bantuan operator dan tidak harus dilakukan pendaratan di atas tanah. Proses isi ulang ( charging baterai bisa dilakukan di atas gedung maupun di landasan yang telah terpasang transfer daya nirkabel. Tujuannya adalah meningkatkan performansi kerja Quadcopter di udara sesuai dengan kegunaanya. Dari perancangan sistem transfer daya nirkabel untuk Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ( UAV jenis Quadcopter mengisi ulang ( charging baterai, diperoleh hasil efisiensi transfer daya terbaik sebesar 62,24% dengan jarak efektif 10 cm. Frekuensi sistem transfer daya nirkabel diperoleh dari rangkaian Colpitss Oscillator sebesar 333,1 KHz dengan menerapkan prinsip induksi elektromagnetik.

Path planning for persistent surveillance applications using fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Keller, James F.

This thesis addresses coordinated path planning for fixed-wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) engaged in persistent surveillance missions. While uniquely suited to this mission, fixed wing vehicles have maneuver constraints that can limit their performance in this role. Current technology vehicles are capable of long duration flight with a minimal acoustic footprint while carrying an array of cameras and sensors. Both military tactical and civilian safety applications can benefit from this technology. We make three main contributions: C1 A sequential path planner that generates a C 2 flight plan to persistently acquire a covering set of data over a user designated area of interest. The planner features the following innovations: • A path length abstraction that embeds kino-dynamic motion constraints to estimate feasible path length. • A Traveling Salesman-type planner to generate a covering set route based on the path length abstraction. • A smooth path generator that provides C 2 routes that satisfy user specified curvature constraints. C2 A set of algorithms to coordinate multiple UAVs, including mission commencement from arbitrary locations to the start of a coordinated mission and de-confliction of paths to avoid collisions with other vehicles and fixed obstacles. C3 A numerically robust toolbox of spline-based algorithms tailored for vehicle routing validated through flight test experiments on multiple platforms. A variety of tests and platforms are discussed. The algorithms presented are based on a technical approach with approximately equal emphasis on analysis, computation, dynamic simulation, and flight test experimentation. Our planner (C1) directly takes into account vehicle maneuverability and agility constraints that could otherwise render simple solutions infeasible. This is especially important when surveillance objectives elevate the importance of optimized paths. Researchers have developed a diverse range of solutions for persistent

A survey of hybrid Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Saeed, Adnan S.; Younes, Ahmad Bani; Cai, Chenxiao; Cai, Guowei

2018-04-01

This article presents a comprehensive overview on the recent advances of miniature hybrid Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). For now, two conventional types, i.e., fixed-wing UAV and Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) UAV, dominate the miniature UAVs. Each type has its own inherent limitations on flexibility, payload, flight range, cruising speed, takeoff and landing requirements and endurance. Enhanced popularity and interest are recently gained by the newer type, named hybrid UAV, that integrates the beneficial features of both conventional ones. In this survey paper, a systematic categorization method for the hybrid UAV's platform designs is introduced, first presenting the technical features and representative examples. Next, the hybrid UAV's flight dynamics model and flight control strategies are explained addressing several representative modeling and control work. In addition, key observations, existing challenges and conclusive remarks based on the conducted review are discussed accordingly.

Real-time Accurate Surface Reconstruction Pipeline for Vision Guided Planetary Exploration Using Unmanned Ground and Aerial Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Almeida, Eduardo DeBrito

2012-01-01

This report discusses work completed over the summer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), California Institute of Technology. A system is presented to guide ground or aerial unmanned robots using computer vision. The system performs accurate camera calibration, camera pose refinement and surface extraction from images collected by a camera mounted on the vehicle. The application motivating the research is planetary exploration and the vehicles are typically rovers or unmanned aerial vehicles. The information extracted from imagery is used primarily for navigation, as robot location is the same as the camera location and the surfaces represent the terrain that rovers traverse. The processed information must be very accurate and acquired very fast in order to be useful in practice. The main challenge being addressed by this project is to achieve high estimation accuracy and high computation speed simultaneously, a difficult task due to many technical reasons.

Data Collection using Miniature Aerial Vehicles in Wireless Sensor Networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mathur, Prateek; Nielsen, Rasmus Hjorth; Prasad, Neeli R.

2016-01-01

Energy constraints of sensor nodes in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is a major challenge and minimising the overall data transmitted across a network using data aggregation, distributed source coding, and compressive sensing have been proposed as mechanisms for energy saving. Similarly, use...... of mobile nodes capable of relocating within the network has been widely explored for energy saving. In this paper, we propose a novel method for using miniature aerial vehicles (MAVs) for data collection instead of actively sensing from a deployed network. The proposed mechanism is referred as Data...

Scheduling System for Multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Indoor Environments Using the CSP Approach

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Park, Youngsoo; Khosiawan, Yohanes; Moon, Ilkyeong

2016-01-01

In recent years there has been an increased demand in use of multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for surveillance and material handling tasks in indoor environments. However, only a limited number of studies have been reported on UAV scheduling in an indoor 3D environment. This paper present...

Applicability of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Research on Aeolian Processes

Science.gov (United States)

Algimantas, Česnulevičius; Artūras, Bautrėnas; Linas, Bevainis; Donatas, Ovodas; Kęstutis, Papšys

2018-02-01

Surface dynamics and instabilities are characteristic of aeolian formation. The method of surface comparison is regarded as the most appropriate one for evaluation of the intensity of aeolian processes and the amount of transported sand. The data for surface comparison can be collected by topographic survey measurements and using unmanned aerial vehicles. Time cost for relief microform fixation and measurement executing topographic survey are very high. The method of unmanned aircraft aerial photographs fixation also encounters difficulties because there are no stable clear objects and contours that enable to link aerial photographs, to determine the boundaries of captured territory and to ensure the accuracy of surface measurements. Creation of stationary anchor points is irrational due to intense sand accumulation and deflation in different climate seasons. In September 2015 and in April 2016 the combined methodology was applied for evaluation of intensity of aeolian processes in the Curonian Spit. Temporary signs (marks) were installed on the surface, coordinates of the marks were fixed using GPS and then flight of unmanned aircraft was conducted. The fixed coordinates of marks ensure the accuracy of measuring aerial imagery and the ability to calculate the possible corrections. This method was used to track and measure very small (micro-rank) relief forms (5-10 cm height and 10-20 cm length). Using this method morphometric indicators of micro-terraces caused by sand dunes pressure to gytia layer were measured in a non-contact way. An additional advantage of the method is the ability to accurately link the repeated measurements. The comparison of 3D terrain models showed sand deflation and accumulation areas and quantitative changes in the terrain very clearly.

Small catchments DEM creation using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Gafurov, A. M.

2018-01-01

Digital elevation models (DEM) are an important source of information on the terrain, allowing researchers to evaluate various exogenous processes. The higher the accuracy of DEM the better the level of the work possible. An important source of data for the construction of DEMs are point clouds obtained with terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). In this paper, we present the results of constructing a DEM on small catchments using UAVs. Estimation of the UAV DEM showed comparable accuracy with the TLS if real time kinematic Global Positioning System (RTK-GPS) ground control points (GCPs) and check points (CPs) were used. In this case, the main source of errors in the construction of DEMs are the errors in the referencing of survey results.

Safe Control for Spiral Recovery of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chang-Jian Ru

2014-01-01

Full Text Available With unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs widely used in both military and civilian fields, many events affecting their safe flying have emerged. That UAV’s entering into the spiral is such a typical safety issue. To solve this safety problem, a novel recovery control approach is proposed. First, the factors of spiral are analyzed. Then, based on control scheduling of state variables and nonlinear dynamic inversion control laws, the spiral recovery controller is designed to accomplish guidance and control of spiral recovery. Finally, the simulation results have illustrated that the proposed control method can ensure the UAV autonomous recovery from spiral effectively.

Feature and Pose Constrained Visual Aided Inertial Navigation for Computationally Constrained Aerial Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Brian; Hudson, Nicolas; Tweddle, Brent; Brockers, Roland; Matthies, Larry

2011-01-01

A Feature and Pose Constrained Extended Kalman Filter (FPC-EKF) is developed for highly dynamic computationally constrained micro aerial vehicles. Vehicle localization is achieved using only a low performance inertial measurement unit and a single camera. The FPC-EKF framework augments the vehicle's state with both previous vehicle poses and critical environmental features, including vertical edges. This filter framework efficiently incorporates measurements from hundreds of opportunistic visual features to constrain the motion estimate, while allowing navigating and sustained tracking with respect to a few persistent features. In addition, vertical features in the environment are opportunistically used to provide global attitude references. Accurate pose estimation is demonstrated on a sequence including fast traversing, where visual features enter and exit the field-of-view quickly, as well as hover and ingress maneuvers where drift free navigation is achieved with respect to the environment.

Taxonomy of Conflict Detection and Resolution Approaches for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle in an Integrated Airspace

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jenie, Y.I.; van Kampen, E.; Ellerbroek, J.; Hoekstra, J.M.

2016-01-01

This paper proposes a taxonomy of Conflict Detection and Resolution (CD&R) approaches for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) operation in an integrated airspace. Possible approaches for UAVs are surveyed and broken down based on their types of surveillance, coordination, maneuver, and autonomy. The

A MARKED POINT PROCESS MODEL FOR VEHICLE DETECTION IN AERIAL LIDAR POINT CLOUDS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Börcs

2012-07-01

Full Text Available In this paper we present an automated method for vehicle detection in LiDAR point clouds of crowded urban areas collected from an aerial platform. We assume that the input cloud is unordered, but it contains additional intensity and return number information which are jointly exploited by the proposed solution. Firstly, the 3-D point set is segmented into ground, vehicle, building roof, vegetation and clutter classes. Then the points with the corresponding class labels and intensity values are projected to the ground plane, where the optimal vehicle configuration is described by a Marked Point Process (MPP model of 2-D rectangles. Finally, the Multiple Birth and Death algorithm is utilized to find the configuration with the highest confidence.

Persistent Aerial Tracking

KAUST Repository

Mueller, Matthias

2016-01-01

persistent, robust and autonomous object tracking system for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) called Persistent Aerial Tracking (PAT). A computer vision and control strategy is applied to a diverse set of moving objects (e.g. humans, animals, cars, boats, etc

Assessment of Photogrammetric Mapping Accuracy Based on Variation Flying Altitude Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Udin, W S; Ahmad, A

2014-01-01

Photogrammetry is the earliest technique used to collect data for topographic mapping. The recent development in aerial photogrammetry is the used of large format digital aerial camera for producing topographic map. The aerial photograph can be in the form of metric or non-metric imagery. The cost of mapping using aerial photogrammetry is very expensive. In certain application, there is a need to map small area with limited budget. Due to the development of technology, small format aerial photogrammetry technology has been introduced and offers many advantages. Currently, digital map can be extracted from digital aerial imagery of small format camera mounted on light weight platform such as unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). This study utilizes UAV system for large scale stream mapping. The first objective of this study is to investigate the use of light weight rotary-wing UAV for stream mapping based on different flying height. Aerial photograph were acquired at 60% forward lap and 30% sidelap specifications. Ground control points and check points were established using Total Station technique. The digital camera attached to the UAV was calibrated and the recovered camera calibration parameters were then used in the digital images processing. The second objective is to determine the accuracy of the photogrammetric output. In this study, the photogrammetric output such as stereomodel in three dimensional (3D), contour lines, digital elevation model (DEM) and orthophoto were produced from a small stream of 200m long and 10m width. The research output is evaluated for planimetry and vertical accuracy using root mean square error (RMSE). Based on the finding, sub-meter accuracy is achieved and the RMSE value decreases as the flying height increases. The difference is relatively small. Finally, this study shows that UAV is very useful platform for obtaining aerial photograph and subsequently used for photogrammetric mapping and other applications

Autonomous, Safe Take-Off and Landing Operations for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in the National Airspace, Phase II

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) have the potential to significantly impact modern society. While the technology for unmanned air vehicles operating day in and day out...

Autonomous Conflict Detection and Resolution for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles : On integration into the Airspace System

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jenie, Y.I.

2017-01-01

In the last decade, the commercial values of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), defined as devices that are capable of sustainable flights in the atmosphere that do not require to have a human (pilot) on-board, become widely recognized thanks to the advancement of technology in materials, sensors,

Targeted Applications of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (Drones) in Telemedicine.

Science.gov (United States)

Bhatt, Kunj; Pourmand, Ali; Sikka, Neal

2018-02-28

Advances in technology have revolutionized the medical field and changed the way healthcare is delivered. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are the next wave of technological advancements that have the potential to make a huge splash in clinical medicine. UAVs, originally developed for military use, are making their way into the public and private sector. Because they can be flown autonomously and can reach almost any geographical location, the significance of UAVs are becoming increasingly apparent in the medical field. We conducted a comprehensive review of the English language literature via the PubMed and Google Scholar databases using search terms "unmanned aerial vehicles," "UAVs," and "drone." Preference was given to clinical trials and review articles that addressed the keywords and clinical medicine. Potential applications of UAVs in medicine are broad. Based on articles identified, we grouped UAV application in medicine into three categories: (1) Prehospital Emergency Care; (2) Expediting Laboratory Diagnostic Testing; and (3) Surveillance. Currently, UAVs have been shown to deliver vaccines, automated external defibrillators, and hematological products. In addition, they are also being studied in the identification of mosquito habitats as well as drowning victims at beaches as a public health surveillance modality. These preliminary studies shine light on the possibility that UAVs may help to increase access to healthcare for patients who may be otherwise restricted from proper care due to cost, distance, or infrastructure. As with any emerging technology and due to the highly regulated healthcare environment, the safety and effectiveness of this technology need to be thoroughly discussed. Despite the many questions that need to be answered, the application of drones in medicine appears to be promising and can both increase the quality and accessibility of healthcare.

Fuel Cells: A Real Option for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Propulsion

Science.gov (United States)

2014-01-01

The possibility of implementing fuel cell technology in Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) propulsion systems is considered. Potential advantages of the Proton Exchange Membrane or Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEMFC) and Direct Methanol Fuel Cells (DMFC), their fuels (hydrogen and methanol), and their storage systems are revised from technical and environmental standpoints. Some operating commercial applications are described. Main constraints for these kinds of fuel cells are analyzed in order to elucidate the viability of future developments. Since the low power density is the main problem of fuel cells, hybridization with electric batteries, necessary in most cases, is also explored. PMID:24600326

Fuel Cells: A Real Option for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Propulsion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Óscar González-Espasandín

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The possibility of implementing fuel cell technology in Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV propulsion systems is considered. Potential advantages of the Proton Exchange Membrane or Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEMFC and Direct Methanol Fuel Cells (DMFC, their fuels (hydrogen and methanol, and their storage systems are revised from technical and environmental standpoints. Some operating commercial applications are described. Main constraints for these kinds of fuel cells are analyzed in order to elucidate the viability of future developments. Since the low power density is the main problem of fuel cells, hybridization with electric batteries, necessary in most cases, is also explored.

Fuel cells: a real option for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles propulsion.

Science.gov (United States)

González-Espasandín, Óscar; Leo, Teresa J; Navarro-Arévalo, Emilio

2014-01-01

The possibility of implementing fuel cell technology in Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) propulsion systems is considered. Potential advantages of the Proton Exchange Membrane or Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEMFC) and Direct Methanol Fuel Cells (DMFC), their fuels (hydrogen and methanol), and their storage systems are revised from technical and environmental standpoints. Some operating commercial applications are described. Main constraints for these kinds of fuel cells are analyzed in order to elucidate the viability of future developments. Since the low power density is the main problem of fuel cells, hybridization with electric batteries, necessary in most cases, is also explored.

An Application of Computer Vision Systems to Solve the Problem of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Control

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aksenov Alexey Y.

2014-09-01

Full Text Available The paper considers an approach for application of computer vision systems to solve the problem of unmanned aerial vehicle control. The processing of images obtained through onboard camera is required for absolute positioning of aerial platform (automatic landing and take-off, hovering etc. used image processing on-board camera. The proposed method combines the advantages of existing systems and gives the ability to perform hovering over a given point, the exact take-off and landing. The limitations of implemented methods are determined and the algorithm is proposed to combine them in order to improve the efficiency.

Topographic data acquisition in tsunami-prone coastal area using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)

Science.gov (United States)

Marfai, M. A.; Sunarto; Khakim, N.; Cahyadi, A.; Rosaji, F. S. C.; Fatchurohman, H.; Wibowo, Y. A.

2018-04-01

The southern coastal area of Java Island is one of the nine seismic gaps prone to tsunamis. The entire coastline in one of the regencies, Gunungkidul, is exposed to the subduction zone in the Indian Ocean. Also, the growing tourism industries in the regency increase its vulnerability, which places most of its areas at high risk of tsunamis. The same case applies to Kukup, i.e., one of the most well-known beaches in Gunungkidul. Structurally shaped cliffs that surround it experience intensive wave erosion process, but it has very minimum access for evacuation routes. Since tsunami modeling is a very advanced analysis, it requires an accurate topographic data. Therefore, the research aimed to generate the topographic data of Kukup Beach as the baseline in tsunami risk reduction analysis and disaster management. It used aerial photograph data, which was acquired using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). The results showed that the aerial photographs captured by drone had accurate elevation and spatial resolution. Therefore, they are applicable for tsunami modeling and disaster management.

When Computers Fly, It Has to Be Right: Using SPARK for Flight Control of Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Sward, Ricky E; Gerken, Mark; Casey, Dan

2006-01-01

.... For safety critical software programs such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicle flight control software, the risk of software failure demands high assurance that the software will perform its intended function...

Control techniques of tilt rotor unmanned aerial vehicle systems: A review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhong Liu

2017-02-01

Full Text Available The tilt rotor unmanned aerial vehicle (TRUAV exhibits special application value due to its unique rotor structure. However, varying dynamics and aerodynamic interference caused by tiltable rotors are great technical challenges and key issues for TRUAV’s high-powered flight controls, which have attracted the attention of many researchers. This paper outlines the concept of TRUAV and some typical TRUAV platforms while focusing on control techniques. TRUAV structural features, dynamics modeling, and flight control methods are discussed, and major challenges and corresponding developmental tendencies associated with TRUAV flight control are summarized.

Collaborative Exploration with a Micro Aerial Vehicle: A Novel Interaction Method for Controlling a MAV with a Hand-Held Device

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Pitman

2012-01-01

Full Text Available In order to collaboratively explore an environment with a Micro Aerial Vehicle (MAV, an operator needs a mobile interface, which can support the operator’s divided attention. To this end, we developed the Micro Aerial Vehicle Exploration of an Unknown Environment (MAV-VUE interface, which allows operators with minimal training the ability to remotely explore their environment with a MAV. MAV-VUE employs a concept we term Perceived First-Order (PFO control, which allows an operator to effectively “fly” a MAV with no risk to the vehicle. PFO control utilizes a position feedback control loop to fly the MAV while presenting rate feedback to the operator. A usability study was conducted to evaluate MAV-VUE. This interface was connected remotely to an actual MAV to explore a GPS-simulated urban environment.

Sensor-driven area coverage for an autonomous fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle.

Science.gov (United States)

Paull, Liam; Thibault, Carl; Nagaty, Amr; Seto, Mae; Li, Howard

2014-09-01

Area coverage with an onboard sensor is an important task for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with many applications. Autonomous fixed-wing UAVs are more appropriate for larger scale area surveying since they can cover ground more quickly. However, their non-holonomic dynamics and susceptibility to disturbances make sensor coverage a challenging task. Most previous approaches to area coverage planning are offline and assume that the UAV can follow the planned trajectory exactly. In this paper, this restriction is removed as the aircraft maintains a coverage map based on its actual pose trajectory and makes control decisions based on that map. The aircraft is able to plan paths in situ based on sensor data and an accurate model of the on-board camera used for coverage. An information theoretic approach is used that selects desired headings that maximize the expected information gain over the coverage map. In addition, the branch entropy concept previously developed for autonomous underwater vehicles is extended to UAVs and ensures that the vehicle is able to achieve its global coverage mission. The coverage map over the workspace uses the projective camera model and compares the expected area of the target on the ground and the actual area covered on the ground by each pixel in the image. The camera is mounted on a two-axis gimbal and can either be stabilized or optimized for maximal coverage. Hardware-in-the-loop simulation results and real hardware implementation on a fixed-wing UAV show the effectiveness of the approach. By including the already developed automatic takeoff and landing capabilities, we now have a fully automated and robust platform for performing aerial imagery surveys.

Real-Time Implementation of an Asynchronous Vision-Based Target Tracking System for an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

2007-06-01

Chin Khoon Quek. “Vision Based Control and Target Range Estimation for Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle.” Master’s Thesis, Naval Postgraduate School...December 2005. [6] Kwee Chye Yap. “Incorporating Target Mensuration System for Target Motion Estimation Along a Road Using Asynchronous Filter

FUZZY-GENETIC CONTROL OF QUADROTOR UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Attila Nemes

2016-03-01

Full Text Available This article presents a novel fuzzy identification method for dynamic modelling of quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicles. The method is based on a special parameterization of the antecedent part of fuzzy systems that results in fuzzy-partitions for antecedents. This antecedent parameter representation method of fuzzy rules ensures upholding of predefined linguistic value ordering and ensures that fuzzy-partitions remain intact throughout an unconstrained hybrid evolutionary and gradient descent based optimization process. In the equations of motion the first order derivative component is calculated based on Christoffel symbols, the derivatives of fuzzy systems are used for modelling the Coriolis effects, gyroscopic and centrifugal terms. The non-linear parameters are subjected to an initial global evolutionary optimization scheme and fine tuning with gradient descent based local search. Simulation results of the proposed new quadrotor dynamic model identification method are promising.

Overview of solutions and analysis of the ability to evaluate the performance parameters of unmanned aerial vehicles propulsion systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karpiński Dominik

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of aircraft engines development is the propulsion which is characterized by high power-to-mass ratio. Therefore, the alternative solutions that provide the required power by the low weight propulsion are sought after. The main advantage of these solutions is improvement of environmental and economic properties. This paper presents the overview of solutions and studies conducted for the unmanned aerial vehicles propulsion. For the purposes of studies a test bench was prepared. Its enables the comparison of the propulsion operating parameters taking into account changes in the values of thrust and propulsion power. The summary includes a proposal to improve the environmental indicators of propulsion systems for unmanned aerial vehicles.

Trajectory Optimization for a Cruising Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Attacking a Target at Back Slope While Subjected to a Wind Gradient

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tieying Jiang

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The trajectory of a tubular launched cruising unmanned aerial vehicle is optimized using the modified direct collocation method for attacking a target at back slope under a wind gradient. A mathematical model of the cruising unmanned aerial vehicle is established based on its operational and motion features under a wind gradient to optimize the trajectory. The motion characteristics of  “altitude adjustment” and “suicide attack” are taken into full account under the combat circumstance of back slope time key targets. By introducing a discrete time function, the trajectory optimization is converted into a nonlinear programming problem and the SNPOT software is applied to solve for the optimal trajectory of the missile under different wind loads. The simulation results show that, for optimized trajectories, the average attack time decreased by up to 29.1% and the energy consumption is reduced by up to 25.9% under specified wind gradient conditions. A, ωdire, and Wmax have an influence on the flight trajectories of cruising unmanned aerial vehicle. This verifies that the application of modified direct collocation method is reasonable and feasible in an effort to achieve more efficient missile trajectories.

The Potential of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for Large Scale Mapping of Coastal Area

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Darwin, N; Ahmad, A; Zainon, O

2014-01-01

Many countries in the tropical region are covered with cloud for most of the time, hence, it is difficult to get clear images especially from high resolution satellite imagery. Aerial photogrammetry can be used but most of the time the cloud problem still exists. Today, this problem could be solved using a system known as unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) where the aerial images can be acquired at low altitude and the system can fly under the cloud. The UAV system could be used in various applications including mapping coastal area. The UAV system is equipped with an autopilot system and automatic method known as autonomous flying that can be utilized for data acquisition. To achieve high resolution imagery, a compact digital camera of high resolution was used to acquire the aerial images at an altitude. In this study, the UAV system was employed to acquire aerial images of a coastal simulation model at low altitude. From the aerial images, photogrammetric image processing was executed to produce photogrammetric outputs such a digital elevation model (DEM), contour line and orthophoto. In this study, ground control point (GCP) and check point (CP) were established using conventional ground surveying method (i.e total station). The GCP is used for exterior orientation in photogrammetric processes and CP for accuracy assessment based on Root Mean Square Error (RMSE). From this study, it was found that the UAV system can be used for large scale mapping of coastal simulation model with accuracy at millimeter level. It is anticipated that the same system could be used for large scale mapping of real coastal area and produces good accuracy. Finally, the UAV system has great potential to be used for various applications that require accurate results or products at limited time and less man power

High clearance phenotyping systems for season-long measurement of corn, sorghum and other row crops to complement unmanned aerial vehicle systems

Science.gov (United States)

Murray, Seth C.; Knox, Leighton; Hartley, Brandon; Méndez-Dorado, Mario A.; Richardson, Grant; Thomasson, J. Alex; Shi, Yeyin; Rajan, Nithya; Neely, Haly; Bagavathiannan, Muthukumar; Dong, Xuejun; Rooney, William L.

2016-05-01

The next generation of plant breeding progress requires accurately estimating plant growth and development parameters to be made over routine intervals within large field experiments. Hand measurements are laborious and time consuming and the most promising tools under development are sensors carried by ground vehicles or unmanned aerial vehicles, with each specific vehicle having unique limitations. Previously available ground vehicles have primarily been restricted to monitoring shorter crops or early growth in corn and sorghum, since plants taller than a meter could be damaged by a tractor or spray rig passing over them. Here we have designed two and already constructed one of these self-propelled ground vehicles with adjustable heights that can clear mature corn and sorghum without damage (over three meters of clearance), which will work for shorter row crops as well. In addition to regular RGB image capture, sensor suites are incorporated to estimate plant height, vegetation indices, canopy temperature and photosynthetically active solar radiation, all referenced using RTK GPS to individual plots. These ground vehicles will be useful to validate data collected from unmanned aerial vehicles and support hand measurements taken on plots.

Overview of recent endeavors on personal aerial vehicles: A focus on the US and Europe led research activities

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Yaolong; Kreimeier, Michael; Stumpf, Eike; Zhou, Yaoming; Liu, Hu

2017-05-01

Personal aerial vehicles, an innovative transport mode to bridge the niche between scheduled airliners and ground transport, are seen by aviation researchers and engineers as a solution to provide fast urban on-demand mobility. This paper reviews recent research efforts on the personal aerial vehicle (PAV), with a focus on the US and Europe led research activities. As an extension of the programmatic level overview, several enabling technologies, such as vertical/short take-off and landing (V/STOL), automation, distributed electric propulsion, which might promote the deployment of PAVs, are introduced and discussed. Despite the dramatic innovation in PAV concept development and related technologies, some challenging issues remain, especially safety, infrastructure and public acceptance. As such, further efforts by many stakeholders are required to enable the real implementation and application of PAVs.

The hybrid bio-inspired aerial vehicle: Concept and SIMSCAPE flight simulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Tao Zhang; Su, Steven; Nguyen, Hung T

2016-08-01

This paper introduces a Silver Gull-inspired hybrid aerial vehicle, the Super Sydney Silver Gull (SSSG), which is able to vary its structure, under different manoeuvre requirements, to implement three flight modes: the flapping wing flight, the fixed wing flight, and the quadcopter flight (the rotary wing flight of Unmanned Air Vehicle). Specifically, through proper mechanism design and flight mode transition, the SSSG can imitate the Silver Gull's flight gesture during flapping flight, save power consuming by switching to the fixed wing flight mode during long-range cruising, and hover at targeted area when transferring to quadcopter flight mode. Based on the aerodynamic models, the Simscape, a product of MathWorks, is used to simulate and analyse the performance of the SSSG's flight modes. The entity simulation results indicate that the created SSSG's 3D model is feasible and ready to be manufactured for further flight tests.

A Framework for Diagnosis of Critical Faults in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Søren; Blanke, Mogens; Adrian, Jens

2014-01-01

, and based on a large number of data logged during flights, diagnostic methods are employed to diagnose faults and the performance of these fault detectors are evaluated against light data. The paper demonstrates a significant potential for reducing the risk of unplanned loss of remotely piloted vehicles......Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) need a large degree of tolerance towards faults. If not diagnosed and handled in time, many types of faults can have catastrophic consequences if they occur during flight. Prognosis of faults is also valuable and so is the ability to distinguish the severity...... of the different faults in terms of both consequences and the frequency with which they appear. In this paper flight data from a fleet of UAVs is analysed with respect to certain faults and their frequency of appearance. Data is taken from a group of UAV's of the same type but with small differences in weight...

NEAR REAL-TIME GEOREFERENCE OF UMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE IMAGES FOR POST-EARTHQUAKE RESPONSE

OpenAIRE

Wang, S.; Wang, X.; Dou, A.; Yuan, X.; Ding, L.; Ding, X.

2018-01-01

The rapid collection of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) remote sensing images plays an important role in the fast submitting disaster information and the monitored serious damaged objects after the earthquake. However, for hundreds of UAV images collected in one flight sortie, the traditional data processing methods are image stitching and three-dimensional reconstruction, which take one to several hours, and affect the speed of disaster response. If the manual searching method is employed, we ...

Design Of An Aerodynamic Measurement System For Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Airfoils

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L. Velázquez-Araque

2012-10-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the design and validation of a measurement system for aerodynamic characteristics of unmanned aerial vehicles. An aerodynamic balance was designed in order to measure the lift, drag forces and pitching moment for different airfoils. During the design process, several aspects were analyzed in order to produce an efficient design, for instance the range of changes of the angle of attack with and a small increment and the versatility of being adapted to different type of airfoils, since it is a wire balance it was aligned and calibrated as well. Wind tunnel tests of a two dimensional NACA four digits family airfoil and four different modifications of this airfoil were performed to validate the aerodynamic measurement system. The modification of this airfoil was made in order to create a blowing outlet with the shape of a step on the suction surface. Therefore, four different locations along the cord line for this blowing outlet were analyzed. This analysis involved the aerodynamic performance which meant obtaining lift, drag and pitching moment coefficients curves as a function of the angle of attack experimentally for the situation where the engine of the aerial vehicle is turned off, called the no blowing condition, by means of wind tunnel tests. The experiments were performed in a closed circuit wind tunnel with an open test section. Finally, results of the wind tunnel tests were compared with numerical results obtained by means of computational fluid dynamics as well as with other experimental references and found to be in good agreement.

SMA-Based System for Environmental Sensors Released from an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lorenzo Pellone

2017-01-01

Full Text Available In the work at hand, a shape memory alloy (SMA-based system is presented. The system, conceived for releasing environmental sensors from ground or small unmanned aerial vehicles, UAV (often named UAS, unmanned aerial system, is made of a door, integrated into the bottom of the fuselage, a device distributor, operated by a couple of antagonistic SMA springs, and a kinematic chain, to synchronize the deployment operation with the system movement. On the basis of the specifications (weight, available space, energy supply, sensors size, etc., the system design was addressed. After having identified the main system characteristics, a representative mock-up was manufactured, featuring the bottom part of the reference fuselage. Functionality tests were performed to prove the system capability to release the sensors; a detailed characterization was finally carried out, mainly finalized at correlating the kinematic chain displacement with the SMA spring temperature and the supplied electrical power. A comparison between theoretical predictions and experimental outcomes showed good agreement.

Actions, Observations, and Decision-Making: Biologically Inspired Strategies for Autonomous Aerial Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Pisanich, Greg; Ippolito, Corey; Plice, Laura; Young, Larry A.; Lau, Benton

2003-01-01

This paper details the development and demonstration of an autonomous aerial vehicle embodying search and find mission planning and execution srrategies inspired by foraging behaviors found in biology. It begins by describing key characteristics required by an aeria! explorer to support science and planetary exploration goals, and illustrates these through a hypothetical mission profile. It next outlines a conceptual bio- inspired search and find autonomy architecture that implements observations, decisions, and actions through an "ecology" of producer, consumer, and decomposer agents. Moving from concepts to development activities, it then presents the results of mission representative UAV aerial surveys at a Mars analog site. It next describes hardware and software enhancements made to a commercial small fixed-wing UAV system, which inc!nde a ncw dpvelopnent architecture that also provides hardware in the loop simulation capability. After presenting the results of simulated and actual flights of bioinspired flight algorithms, it concludes with a discussion of future development to include an expansion of system capabilities and field science support.

Unmanned aerial vehicles : The next big thing? The benefits and detriments of military and commercial UAVs

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hassan, L.

2014-01-01

With law enforcement agencies around the world investing in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs, also known as drones) and small commercial drone ventures popping up like weeds, the debate on the morality of drone usage has intensified in the recent months. What are the advantages of UAVs? Are they worth

Adaptive aerostructures : The first decade of flight on uninhabited aerial vehicles

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Barrett, R.

2004-01-01

Although many subscale aircraft regularly fly with adaptive materials in sensors and small components in secondary subsystems, only a handful have flown with adaptive aerostructures as flight critical, enabling components. This paper reviews several families of adaptive aerostructures which have

METHODOLOGY AND RESULTS OF THE MAIN TECHNICAL OF PARAMETERS OF THE MANEUVERABLE UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE JUSTIFICATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The recent experience of creating an unmanned combat aerial vehicle indicates that the main problems do not con- cern the development of an unmanned fighter as an aerial vehicle. The greatest challenge lies in creating the algorithms, data sensors, control hardware, communications hardware, etc. necessary for utilization of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV. In this context it is important to highlight the problem of replacing the pilot as a sensor and a flight operator on board of the UAV. This problem can be partially solved by introducing remote control, but there are some flight stages where it can only be executed under a fully independent control and data support due to various reasons, such as tight time, short duration, lack of robust communication, etc. These stages include combat deployment (surface attack or air attack which make the highest demands on the fighter's design, that is why the promising UAV are currently considered to be "as autonomous as possible". It is obvious that the efficiency of an autonomous UAV will be determined mostly by the effec- tiveness of its automated control algorithms, and this dependence will increase together with the level of UAV autonomy. On the other hand, the optimal control algorithms can only be synthesized based on the control object characteristics. It means the development of UAV external design and the synthesis of its control algorithms should occur simultaneously and interdependently. This article presents the content and gives an example of the use of the method of maneuverable UAV external design, the distinctive feature of which lies in the interdependent processes of UAV external design develop- ing and the synthesizing of its automated control algorithms.

Recent advances in research on unmanned aerial vehicles

CERN Document Server

Wang, Le; Yin, George

2013-01-01

A team of launched and coordinated Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), requires advanced technologies in sensing, communication, computing, and control to improve their intelligence and robustness towards autonomous operations. To enhance reliability, robustness, and mission capability of a team of UAVs, a system-oriented and holistic approach is desirable in which all components and subsystems are considered in terms of their roles and impact on the entire system.  This volume aims to summarize the recent progress, identify challenges and opportunities, and develop new methodologies and systems on coordinated UAV control. A group of experts working in this area have contributed to this volume in several related aspects of autonomous control of networked UAVs. Their papers introduce new control methodologies, algorithms, and systems that address several important issues in developing intelligent, autonomous or semi-autonomous, networked systems for the next generation of UAVs. The papers share a common focus on...

Flight envelope protection system for unmanned aerial vehicles

KAUST Repository

Claudel, Christian G.

2016-04-28

Systems and methods to protect the flight envelope in both manual flight and flight by a commercial autopilot are provided. A system can comprise: an inertial measurement unit (IMU); a computing device in data communication with the IMU; an application executable by the computing device comprising: logic that estimates an angle of attack; a slip angle; and a speed of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) based at least in part on data received from the UAV. A method can comprise estimating, via a computing device, flight data of a UAV based at least in part on data received from an IMU; comparing the estimated flight data with measured flight data; and triggering an error indication in response to a determination that the measured flight data exceeds a predefined deviation of the estimated flight data. The estimated speed can comprise an estimated airspeed, vertical speed and/or ground velocity.

Holarchical Systems and Emotional Holons : Biologically-Inspired System Designs for Control of Autonomous Aerial Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Ippolito, Corey; Plice, Laura; Pisanich, Greg

2003-01-01

The BEES (Bio-inspired Engineering for Exploration Systems) for Mars project at NASA Ames Research Center has the goal of developing bio-inspired flight control strategies to enable aerial explorers for Mars scientific investigations. This paper presents a summary of our ongoing research into biologically inspired system designs for control of unmanned autonomous aerial vehicle communities for Mars exploration. First, we present cooperative design considerations for robotic explorers based on the holarchical nature of biological systems and communities. Second, an outline of an architecture for cognitive decision making and control of individual robotic explorers is presented, modeled after the emotional nervous system of cognitive biological systems. Keywords: Holarchy, Biologically Inspired, Emotional UAV Flight Control

Unmanned aerial vehicles: The next big thing? The benefits and detriments of military and commercial UAVs

OpenAIRE

Hassan, L.

2014-01-01

With law enforcement agencies around the world investing in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs, also known as drones) and small commercial drone ventures popping up like weeds, the debate on the morality of drone usage has intensified in the recent months. What are the advantages of UAVs? Are they worth the disadvantages?

A Survey on Open-Source Flight Control Platforms of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ebeid, Emad Samuel Malki; Skriver, Martin; Jin, Jie

2017-01-01

Recently, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), so-called drones, have gotten a lot of attention in academic research and commercial applications due to their simple structure, ease of operations and low-cost hardware components. Flight controller, embedded electronics component, represents the core part...... of the drone. It aims at performing the main operations of the drone (e.g., autonomous control and navigation). There are various types of flight controllers and each of them has its own characteristics and features. This paper presents an extensive survey on the publicly available open-source flight...

Development of a prototype radiation surveillance equipment for a mid-sized unmanned aerial vehicle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smolander, P.; Kurvinen, K.; Poellaenen, R.; Kettunen, M.; Lyytinen, J.

2003-01-01

A prototype radiation surveillance equipment has been developed to be used in a mid-sized Ranger unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) acquired by the Finnish Defence Forces. A multi-detector assembly was designed for the acquisition of dose rate and radionuclide concentration in the release plume. Detector assembly includes a GM-tube based dose rate meter, an inorganic scintillator detector and a semiconductor detector operating at room temperature. A sampling unit was designed for the collection of an aerosol sample of the plume for a detailed analysis in a ground based laboratory. The measurement data from all three detectors and several environmental parameters are collected by the onboard data acquisition computer. Real-time data dissemination is implemented with a TETRA based radio network. Test flights have been carried out with target drones and a small manned airplane. The Northrop KD2R-5 target drones have been used to simulate the high-G launch and vibration environment of the Ranger aerial vehicle. Target drones have been used because their air vehicle classification allows small test packages to be installed without tedious air safety protocols. Stability and survivability of the detectors, GPS navigation and radio frequency communication have been studied with the target drone test flights. Ground station software was developed to visualise the measurement data and to track the position of the air vehicle on a digital map. Test flights with the small manned airplane have been used to study the operational aspects of the detectors with greater detail. The housing for the instruments has been designed and constructed based on the experiences gained with the test flights and the laboratory measurements. The housing satisfies the aviation authority standards. Special attention has been paid to the high modularity, quick installation and ease of use. (orig.)

Development of a prototype radiation surveillance equipment for a mid-sized unmanned aerial vehicle

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Smolander, P.; Kurvinen, K.; Poellaenen, R. [Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority, Helsinki (Finland); Kettunen, M. [Forces Research Institute of Technology, Lakiala (Finland); Lyytinen, J. [Helsinki University of Technology, Laboratory of Lightweight Structures, Otaniemi (Finland)

2003-06-01

A prototype radiation surveillance equipment has been developed to be used in a mid-sized Ranger unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) acquired by the Finnish Defence Forces. A multi-detector assembly was designed for the acquisition of dose rate and radionuclide concentration in the release plume. Detector assembly includes a GM-tube based dose rate meter, an inorganic scintillator detector and a semiconductor detector operating at room temperature. A sampling unit was designed for the collection of an aerosol sample of the plume for a detailed analysis in a ground based laboratory. The measurement data from all three detectors and several environmental parameters are collected by the onboard data acquisition computer. Real-time data dissemination is implemented with a TETRA based radio network. Test flights have been carried out with target drones and a small manned airplane. The Northrop KD2R-5 target drones have been used to simulate the high-G launch and vibration environment of the Ranger aerial vehicle. Target drones have been used because their air vehicle classification allows small test packages to be installed without tedious air safety protocols. Stability and survivability of the detectors, GPS navigation and radio frequency communication have been studied with the target drone test flights. Ground station software was developed to visualise the measurement data and to track the position of the air vehicle on a digital map. Test flights with the small manned airplane have been used to study the operational aspects of the detectors with greater detail. The housing for the instruments has been designed and constructed based on the experiences gained with the test flights and the laboratory measurements. The housing satisfies the aviation authority standards. Special attention has been paid to the high modularity, quick installation and ease of use. (orig.)

Phase-change-materials as energy source for micro aerial vehicles (MAV)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lidor, A.; Sher, E.; Weihs, D.

2014-01-01

While there are many different challenges in the development of micro aerial vehicles (MAV), one of the severe limiting factors in terms of weight is the energy storage/power system. Most of the MAVs developed to date are based on electrical motors. In the present study, several potential alternative energy storage/power systems are examined, evaluated for their specific energy and specific power, and compared to electrical batteries and hydrocarbon fuel storage. Analysis of the power and energy requirements of different MAV configurations, suggests that a specific power of 35–60 W/kg for fixed wing MAV and 65–85 W/kg for rotary wing MAV are needed. The required specific energy for a short mission of 20 min is 15–25 W h/kg for fixed wing MAV and 30–40 W h/kg for rotary wing MAV. Based on these requirements, a novel PCM open-cycle storage/power system is proposed. It comprises of an open cycle that uses the ambient temperature as its hot reservoir. Promising initial results, in terms of specific power (45–70 W/kg), specific energy (24–45 W h/kg) and open-cycle thermodynamic efficiency (22–54%), are presented. Owing to the high potential of the proposed PCM open-cycle, we believe that the development of new PCM materials specifically designed for this purpose is highly deserving. - Highlights: •A novel phase change material open-cycle is proposed for micro aerial vehicles. •The ambient is used as its hot reservoir. •Analysis shows promising results in terms of specific energy and thermal efficiency

Vision-Based Detection and Distance Estimation of Micro Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fatih Gökçe

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Detection and distance estimation of micro unmanned aerial vehicles (mUAVs is crucial for (i the detection of intruder mUAVs in protected environments; (ii sense and avoid purposes on mUAVs or on other aerial vehicles and (iii multi-mUAV control scenarios, such as environmental monitoring, surveillance and exploration. In this article, we evaluate vision algorithms as alternatives for detection and distance estimation of mUAVs, since other sensing modalities entail certain limitations on the environment or on the distance. For this purpose, we test Haar-like features, histogram of gradients (HOG and local binary patterns (LBP using cascades of boosted classifiers. Cascaded boosted classifiers allow fast processing by performing detection tests at multiple stages, where only candidates passing earlier simple stages are processed at the preceding more complex stages. We also integrate a distance estimation method with our system utilizing geometric cues with support vector regressors. We evaluated each method on indoor and outdoor videos that are collected in a systematic way and also on videos having motion blur. Our experiments show that, using boosted cascaded classifiers with LBP, near real-time detection and distance estimation of mUAVs are possible in about 60 ms indoors (1032 × 778 resolution and 150 ms outdoors (1280 × 720 resolution per frame, with a detection rate of 0.96 F-score. However, the cascaded classifiers using Haar-like features lead to better distance estimation since they can position the bounding boxes on mUAVs more accurately. On the other hand, our time analysis yields that the cascaded classifiers using HOG train and run faster than the other algorithms.

Unmanned aerial vehicles in construction and worker safety.

Science.gov (United States)

Howard, John; Murashov, Vladimir; Branche, Christine M

2018-01-01

Applications of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for military, recreational, public, and commercial uses have expanded significantly in recent years. In the construction industry, UAVs are used primarily for monitoring of construction workflow and job site logistics, inspecting construction sites to assess structural integrity, and for maintenance assessments. As is the case with other emerging technologies, occupational safety assessments of UAVs lag behind technological advancements. UAVs may create new workplace hazards that need to be evaluated and managed to ensure their safe operation around human workers. At the same time, UAVs can perform dangerous tasks, thereby improving workplace safety. This paper describes the four major uses of UAVs, including their use in construction, the potential risks of their use to workers, approaches for risk mitigation, and the important role that safety and health professionals can play in ensuring safe approaches to the their use in the workplace. Published 2017. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

Use of an unmanned aerial vehicle-mounted video camera to assess feeding behavior of Raramuri Criollo cows

Science.gov (United States)

We determined the feasibility of using unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) video monitoring to predict intake of discrete food items of rangeland-raised Raramuri Criollo non-nursing beef cows. Thirty-five cows were released into a 405-m2 rectangular dry lot, either in pairs (pilot tests) or individually (...

A new robust control for minirotorcraft unmanned aerial vehicles.

Science.gov (United States)

Mokhtari, M Rida; Cherki, Brahim

2015-05-01

This paper presents a new robust control based on finite-time Lyapunov stability controller and proved with backstepping method for the position and the attitude of a small rotorcraft unmanned aerial vehicle subjected to bounded uncertainties and disturbances. The dynamical motion equations are obtained by the Newton-Euler formalism. The proposed controller combines the advantage of the backstepping approach with finite-time convergence techniques to generate a control laws to guarantee the faster convergence of the state variables to their desired values in short time and compensate for the bounded disturbances. A formal proof of the closed-loop stability and finite-time convergence of tracking errors is derived using the Lyapunov function technique. Simulation results are presented to corroborate the effectiveness and the robustness of the proposed control method. Copyright © 2014 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Detection of unmanned aerial vehicles using a visible camera system.

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Shuowen; Goldman, Geoffrey H; Borel-Donohue, Christoph C

2017-01-20

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) flown by adversaries are an emerging asymmetric threat to homeland security and the military. To help address this threat, we developed and tested a computationally efficient UAV detection algorithm consisting of horizon finding, motion feature extraction, blob analysis, and coherence analysis. We compare the performance of this algorithm against two variants, one using the difference image intensity as the motion features and another using higher-order moments. The proposed algorithm and its variants are tested using field test data of a group 3 UAV acquired with a panoramic video camera in the visible spectrum. The performance of the algorithms was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic curves. The results show that the proposed approach had the best performance compared to the two algorithmic variants.

Concept development of control system for perspective unmanned aerial vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Koryanov Vsevolod V.

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Presented actual aspects of the development of the control system of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs in the example of perspective. Because the current and future UAV oriented to implementation of a wide range of tasks, taking into account the use of several types of payload, in this paper discusses the general principles of construction of onboard control complex, in turn, a hardware implementation of the automatic control system has been implemented in the microcontroller Arduino platform and the Raspberry Pi. In addition, in the paper presents the most common and promising way to ensure the smooth and reliable communication of the command post with the UAV as well as to the ways of parry considered and abnormal situations.

Mapping of a river using close range photogrammetry technique and unmanned aerial vehicle system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Room, M H M; Ahmad, A

2014-01-01

Photogrammetry is a technique that can be used to record the information of any feature without direct contact. Nowadays, a combination of photogrammetry and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) systems is widely used for various applications, especially for large scale mapping. UAV systems offer several advantages in terms of cost and image resolution compared to terrestrial photogrammetry and remote sensing system. Therefore, a combination of photogrammetry and UAV created a new term which is UAV photogrammetry. The aim of this study is to investigate the ability of a UAV system to map a river at very close distance. A digital camera is attached to the Hexacopter UAV and it is flown at 2 m above the ground surface to produce aerial photos. Then, the aerial photos are processed to create two photogrammetric products as output. These are mosaicked orthophoto and digital image. Both products are assessed (RSME). The RSME of X and Y coordinates are ±0.009 m and ±0.033 m respectively. As a conclusion, photogrammetry and the UAV system offer a reliable accuracy for mapping a river model and advantages in term of cost-efficient, high ground resolution and rapid data acquisition

Single Operator Control of Multiple Uninhabited Air Vehicles: Situational Awareness Requirement

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Sebalj, Derek

2008-01-01

... > 1. The ultimate goal, and the object of much research, is the technology to lower, or even invert the control ratio from many people to one vehicle to one operator of several vehicles, e.g., 1...

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for surveying marine fauna: a dugong case study.

Science.gov (United States)

Hodgson, Amanda; Kelly, Natalie; Peel, David

2013-01-01

Aerial surveys of marine mammals are routinely conducted to assess and monitor species' habitat use and population status. In Australia, dugongs (Dugong dugon) are regularly surveyed and long-term datasets have formed the basis for defining habitat of high conservation value and risk assessments of human impacts. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) may facilitate more accurate, human-risk free, and cheaper aerial surveys. We undertook the first Australian UAV survey trial in Shark Bay, western Australia. We conducted seven flights of the ScanEagle UAV, mounted with a digital SLR camera payload. During each flight, ten transects covering a 1.3 km(2) area frequently used by dugongs, were flown at 500, 750 and 1000 ft. Image (photograph) capture was controlled via the Ground Control Station and the capture rate was scheduled to achieve a prescribed 10% overlap between images along transect lines. Images were manually reviewed post hoc for animals and scored according to sun glitter, Beaufort Sea state and turbidity. We captured 6243 images, 627 containing dugongs. We also identified whales, dolphins, turtles and a range of other fauna. Of all possible dugong sightings, 95% (CI = 90%, 98%) were subjectively classed as 'certain' (unmistakably dugongs). Neither our dugong sighting rate, nor our ability to identify dugongs with certainty, were affected by UAV altitude. Turbidity was the only environmental variable significantly affecting the dugong sighting rate. Our results suggest that UAV systems may not be limited by sea state conditions in the same manner as sightings from manned surveys. The overlap between images proved valuable for detecting animals that were masked by sun glitter in the corners of images, and identifying animals initially captured at awkward body angles. This initial trial of a basic camera system has successfully demonstrated that the ScanEagle UAV has great potential as a tool for marine mammal aerial surveys.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs for surveying marine fauna: a dugong case study.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amanda Hodgson

Full Text Available Aerial surveys of marine mammals are routinely conducted to assess and monitor species' habitat use and population status. In Australia, dugongs (Dugong dugon are regularly surveyed and long-term datasets have formed the basis for defining habitat of high conservation value and risk assessments of human impacts. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs may facilitate more accurate, human-risk free, and cheaper aerial surveys. We undertook the first Australian UAV survey trial in Shark Bay, western Australia. We conducted seven flights of the ScanEagle UAV, mounted with a digital SLR camera payload. During each flight, ten transects covering a 1.3 km(2 area frequently used by dugongs, were flown at 500, 750 and 1000 ft. Image (photograph capture was controlled via the Ground Control Station and the capture rate was scheduled to achieve a prescribed 10% overlap between images along transect lines. Images were manually reviewed post hoc for animals and scored according to sun glitter, Beaufort Sea state and turbidity. We captured 6243 images, 627 containing dugongs. We also identified whales, dolphins, turtles and a range of other fauna. Of all possible dugong sightings, 95% (CI = 90%, 98% were subjectively classed as 'certain' (unmistakably dugongs. Neither our dugong sighting rate, nor our ability to identify dugongs with certainty, were affected by UAV altitude. Turbidity was the only environmental variable significantly affecting the dugong sighting rate. Our results suggest that UAV systems may not be limited by sea state conditions in the same manner as sightings from manned surveys. The overlap between images proved valuable for detecting animals that were masked by sun glitter in the corners of images, and identifying animals initially captured at awkward body angles. This initial trial of a basic camera system has successfully demonstrated that the ScanEagle UAV has great potential as a tool for marine mammal aerial surveys.

Employing Multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Co-Operative Path Planning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Durdana Habib

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract In this paper, we work to develop a path planning solution for a group of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs using a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP approach. Co-operation among team members not only helps reduce mission time, it makes the execution more robust in dynamic environments. However, the problem becomes more challenging as it requires optimal resource allocation and is NP-hard. Since UAVs may be lost or may suffer significant damage during the course of the mission, plans may need to be modified in real-time as the mission proceeds. Therefore, multiple UAVs have a better chance of completing a mission in the face of failures. Such military operations can be treated as a variant of the Multiple Depot Vehicle Routing Problem (MDVRP. The proposed solution must be such that m UAVs start from multiple source locations to visit n targets and return to a set of destination locations such that (1 each target is visited exactly by one of the chosen UAVs (2 the total distance travelled by the group is minimized and (3 the number of targets that each UAV visits may not be less than K or greater than L.

A critical evaluation of the use of an inexpensive camera mounted on a recreational unmanned aerial vehicle as a tool for landslide research

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Balek, Jan; Blahůt, Jan

2017-01-01

Roč. 14, č. 3 (2017), s. 1217-1224 ISSN 1612-510X R&D Projects: GA MŠk(CZ) LM2015079 Institutional support: RVO:67985891 Keywords : aerial photogrammetry * surface characterisation * 3D models * unmanned aerial vehicles * landslide monitoring Subject RIV: DE - Earth Magnetism, Geodesy, Geography OBOR OECD: Physical geography Impact factor: 3.657, year: 2016

Research study concerning the 3D printing adittion (FDM-fused deposition modeling) to design UAV (UAV-unconventional aerial vehicle) structures

Science.gov (United States)

Pascu, Nicoleta Elisabeta; CǎruÅ£aşu, Nicoleta LuminiÅ£a.; Geambaşu, Gabriel George; Adîr, Victor Gabriel; Arion, Aurel Florin; Ivaşcu, Laura

2018-02-01

Aerial vehicles have become indispensable. There are in this field UAV (Unconventional Aerial vehicle) and transportation airplanes and other aerospace vehicles for spatial tourism. Today, the research and development activity in aerospace industry is focused to obtain a good and efficient design for airplanes, to solve the problem of high pollution and to reduce the noise. For these goals are necessary to realize light and resistant components. The aerospace industry products are, generally, very complex concerning geometric shapes and the costs are high, usually. Due to the progress in this field (products obtained using FDM) was possible to reduce the number of used tools, welding belts, and, of course, to eliminate a lot of machine tools. In addition, the complex shapes are easier product using this high technology, the cost is more attractive and the time is lower. This paper allows to present a few aspects about FDM technology and the obtained structures using it, as follows: computer geometric modeling (different designing softs) to design and redesign complex structures using 3D printing, for this kind of vehicles; finite element analysis to identify what is the influence of design for different structures; testing the structures.

Use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles by the Islamic State: Nature of the Threat

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Mrva

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The proliferation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs on the battlefield does not exclude terrorist actors. Recently, there is an evident increase in the number of incidents when the so-called Islamic State has used UAVs. This article tries to describe this relatively new phenomenon and present an overview of main types of the potential Islamic State’s UAV employment in Europe. Despite the fact, that the UAV use by terrorist actors will probably not have the strategic impact by itself, it constitutes a new challenge for state security agencies.

LOW COST SURVEYING USING AN UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Pérez

2013-08-01

Full Text Available Traditional manned airborne surveys are usually expensive and the resolution of the acquired images is often limited. The main advantage of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV system acting as a photogrammetric sensor platform over more traditional manned airborne system is the high flexibility that allows image acquisition from unconventional viewpoints, the low cost in comparison with classical aerial photogrammetry and the high resolution images obtained. Nowadays there is a necessity for surveying small areas and in these cases, it is not economical the use of normal large format aerial or metric cameras to acquire aerial photos, therefore, the use of UAV platforms can be very suitable. Also the large availability of digital cameras has strongly enhanced the capabilities of UAVs. The use of digital non metric cameras together with the UAV could be used for multiple applications such as aerial surveys, GIS, wildfire mapping, stability of landslides, crop monitoring, etc. The aim of this work was to develop a low cost and accurate methodology in the production of orthophotos and Digital Elevation Models (DEM. The study was conducted in the province of Almeria, south of Spain. The photogrammetric flight had an altitude of 50 m over ground, covering an area of 5.000 m2 approximately. The UAV used in this work was the md4-200, which is an electronic battery powered quadrocopter UAV developed by Microdrones GmbH, Germany. It had on-board a Pextax Optio A40 digital non metric camera with 12 Megapixels. It features a 3x optical zoom lens with a focal range covering angles of view equivalent to those of 37–111 mm lens in 35 mm format. The quadrocopter can be programmed to follow a route defined by several waypoints and actions and it has the ability for vertical take off and landing. Proper flight geometry during image acquisition is essential in order to minimize the number of photographs, avoid areas without a good coverage and make the overlaps

System identification of a small low-cost unmanned aerial vehicle using flight data from low-cost sensors

Science.gov (United States)

Hoffer, Nathan Von

Remote sensing has traditionally been done with satellites and manned aircraft. While. these methods can yield useful scientificc data, satellites and manned aircraft have limitations in data frequency, process time, and real time re-tasking. Small low-cost unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) provide greater possibilities for personal scientic research than traditional remote sensing platforms. Precision aerial data requires an accurate vehicle dynamics model for controller development, robust flight characteristics, and fault tolerance. One method of developing a model is system identification (system ID). In this thesis system ID of a small low-cost fixed-wing T-tail UAV is conducted. The linerized longitudinal equations of motion are derived from first principles. Foundations of Recursive Least Squares (RLS) are presented along with RLS with an Error Filtering Online Learning scheme (EFOL). Sensors, data collection, data consistency checking, and data processing are described. Batch least squares (BLS) and BLS with EFOL are used to identify aerodynamic coecoefficients of the UAV. Results of these two methods with flight data are discussed.

Robust adaptive control for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Kahveci, Nazli E.

The objective of meeting higher endurance requirements remains a challenging task for any type and size of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). According to recent research studies significant energy savings can be realized through utilization of thermal currents. The navigation strategies followed across thermal regions, however, are based on rather intuitive assessments of remote pilots and lack any systematic path planning approaches. Various methods to enhance the autonomy of UAVs in soaring applications are investigated while seeking guarantees for flight performance improvements. The dynamics of the aircraft, small UAVs in particular, are affected by the environmental conditions, whereas unmodeled dynamics possibly become significant during aggressive flight maneuvers. Besides, the demanded control inputs might have a magnitude range beyond the limits dictated by the control surface actuators. The consequences of ignoring these issues can be catastrophic. Supporting this claim NASA Dryden Flight Research Center reports considerable performance degradation and even loss of stability in autonomous soaring flight tests with the subsequent risk of an aircraft crash. The existing control schemes are concluded to suffer from limited performance. Considering the aircraft dynamics and the thermal characteristics we define a vehicle-specific trajectory optimization problem to achieve increased cross-country speed and extended range of flight. In an environment with geographically dispersed set of thermals of possibly limited lifespan, we identify the similarities to the Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) and provide both exact and approximate guidance algorithms for the navigation of automated UAVs. An additional stochastic approach is used to quantify the performance losses due to incorrect thermal data while dealing with random gust disturbances and onboard sensor measurement inaccuracies. One of the main contributions of this research is a novel adaptive control design with

Monocular Vision System for Fixed Altitude Flight of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kuo-Lung Huang

2015-07-01

Full Text Available The fastest and most economical method of acquiring terrain images is aerial photography. The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs has been investigated for this task. However, UAVs present a range of challenges such as flight altitude maintenance. This paper reports a method that combines skyline detection with a stereo vision algorithm to enable the flight altitude of UAVs to be maintained. A monocular camera is mounted on the downside of the aircraft’s nose to collect continuous ground images, and the relative altitude is obtained via a stereo vision algorithm from the velocity of the UAV. Image detection is used to obtain terrain images, and to measure the relative altitude from the ground to the UAV. The UAV flight system can be set to fly at a fixed and relatively low altitude to obtain the same resolution of ground images. A forward-looking camera is mounted on the upside of the aircraft’s nose. In combination with the skyline detection algorithm, this helps the aircraft to maintain a stable flight pattern. Experimental results show that the proposed system enables UAVs to obtain terrain images at constant resolution, and to detect the relative altitude along the flight path.

ROLE OF UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES IN PRECISION FARMING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Genadiy Yun

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Purpose: By 2050, world population will exceed 9 billion people. According to some projections to feed the world's population, the agricultural sector must increase production by 70%. The number of resources suitable for use in agriculture - land, water, energy - will decline. Here the farmers have to rely primarily on support of new technologies that not only increase production with limited resources, but also improve its effectiveness. Increased yields in crop production - a strategic task for Ukraine. Discussion: The object of research is the comparative analysis of the market of production and export of wheat in leading countries of the world is carried out. As well as advanced direction of crop capacity increasing in agriculture with help of Unmanned Aviation System is considered. Results: Practice shows that rural aircraft exceeds the performance processing ground equipment several times. It allows you to quickly carry out crops and their processing by pesticides, toxic chemicals, to make fertilizer, to monitor. The use of modern unmanned aerial vehicles will extend the benefits of small aircraft.

Regulation of Unmanned Aerial Systems and Related Privacy Issues in Lithuania

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pūraitė Aurelija

2017-12-01

Full Text Available In the past few years the use of unmanned aerial vehicles in Lithuania has significantly increased. However, enjoying the advantages of this technology, which improves society’s socio-economical safety (public safety in a broad sense, raises some privacy concerns. This article analyses European Union and national legal regulations regarding the use of unmanned aerial vehicles as well as legal tools for defence of the right to privacy or prevention from its breaches in the Republic of Lithuania. Unmanned aerial vehicles have become popular only recently; thus, legislation regarding their use has not yet become a common topic among lawyers. Furthermore, case law of the Republic of Lithuania is silent about it. Thus, the authors model a situation of breach of privacy using an unmanned aerial vehicle and analyse possible defence mechanisms.

Fast mission reliability prediction for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Andrews, J.D.; Poole, J.; Chen, W.H.

2013-01-01

There is currently a significant interest in the use of autonomous vehicles in many industrial sectors. One such example is the ever increasing use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), particularly in military operations. This enables dangerous missions to be accomplished without risk to a pilot. UAVs also have potential civil applications which would require their certification and the demonstration that they are able to respond safety to any potential circumstances. The aircraft would therefore need to be capable of responding safely to the occurrence of component failures, the emergence of threats such as other aircraft in the neighboring airspace, and changing weather conditions. The likelihood that an aircraft will successfully complete any mission can be predicted using phased mission analysis techniques. The predicted mission unreliability can be updated in response to changing circumstances. In the event that the likelihood of mission failure becomes too high then changes have to be made to the mission plan. If these calculations could be carried out fast enough then the quantification procedure could be used to establish an acceptable response to any new conditions. With a view to using the methodology in the context described above, this paper investigates ways in which phased mission analysis can be improved to reduce the calculation time. The methodology improves the processing capability for a UAV phased mission analysis by taking into account the specific characteristics of the fault tree structures which provide the causes of phase failure for a UAV mission. It also carries out as much of the quantification as possible in advance of the mission plan being formulated

Developpement of an original aerial-based inventory method: first steps towards the use of mini Unmanned Areal Vehicle in elephant inventory

OpenAIRE

Lisein, Jonathan; Vermeulen, Cédric; Bouché, Philippe; Lejeune, Philippe

2012-01-01

This research aims at developping a new methodology for counting large mammals by means of an unmanned aerial vehicle. Test flights have been performed in the game ranch of Nazinga (Burkina Faso) during the month of february 2012. Aerial images shows that elephant detection is quite feasible. The systems still requires a lot of improvements in order to be able to cover bigger surfaces for a given pixels resolution. Nevertheless, this method seems very promissing and could advantageously repla...

An arm wearable haptic interface for impact sensing on unmanned aerial vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Yunshil; Hong, Seung-Chan; Lee, Jung-Ryul

2017-04-01

In this paper, an impact monitoring system using fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors and vibro-haptic actuators has been introduced. The system is suggested for structural health monitoring (SHM) for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), by making a decision with human-robot interaction. The system is composed with two major subsystems; an on-board system equipped on UAV and an arm-wearable interface for ground pilot. The on-board system acquires impact-induced wavelength changes and performs localization process, which was developed based on arrival time calculation. The arm-wearable interface helps ground pilots to make decision about impact location themselves by stimulating their tactile-sense with motor vibration.

The Proliferation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: Terrorist Use, Capability, and Strategic Implications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ball, Ryan Jokl [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

2017-10-16

There has been unparalleled proliferation and technological advancement of consumer unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) across the globe in the past several years. As witnessed over the course of insurgency tactics, it is difficult to restrict terrorists from using widely available technology they perceive as advantageous to their overall strategy. Through a review of the characteristics, consumer market landscape, tactics, and countertactics, as well as operational use of consumer-grade UAVs, this open-source report seeks to provide an introductory understanding of the terrorist-UAV landscape, as well as insights into present and future capabilities. The caveat is evaluating a developing technology haphazardly used by terrorists in asymmetric conflicts.

On Board Data Acquisition System with Intelligent Transducers for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Rochala, Zdzisław

2012-02-01

This report presents conclusions from research project no. ON50900363 conducted at the Mechatronics Department, Military University of Technology in the years 2007-2010. As the main object of the study involved the preparation of a concept and the implementation of an avionics data acquisition system intended for research during flight of unmanned aerial vehicles of the mini class, this article presents a design of an avionics system and describes equipment solutions of a distributed measurement system intended for data acquisition consisting of intelligent transducers. The data collected during a flight controlled by an operator confirmed proper operation of the individual components of the data acquisition system.

Thermal soaring flight of birds and unmanned aerial vehicles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Akos, Zsuzsa; Nagy, Mate; Vicsek, Tamas; Leven, Severin

2010-01-01

Thermal soaring saves much energy, but flying large distances in this form represents a great challenge for birds, people and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The solution is to make use of the so-called thermals, which are localized, warmer regions in the atmosphere moving upward with a speed exceeding the descent rate of birds and planes. Saving energy by exploiting the environment more efficiently is an important possibility for autonomous UAVs as well. Successful control strategies have been developed recently for UAVs in simulations and in real applications. This paper first presents an overview of our knowledge of the soaring flight and strategy of birds, followed by a discussion of control strategies that have been developed for soaring UAVs both in simulations and applications on real platforms. To improve the accuracy of the simulation of thermal exploitation strategies we propose a method to take into account the effect of turbulence. Finally, we propose a new GPS-independent control strategy for exploiting thermal updrafts.

Intercomparison of unmanned aerial vehicle and ground-based narrow band spectrometers applied to crop trait monitoring in organic potato production

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Domingues Franceschini, Marston; Bartholomeus, Harm; Apeldoorn, van Dirk; Suomalainen, Juha; Kooistra, Lammert

2017-01-01

Vegetation properties can be estimated using optical sensors, acquiring data on board of different platforms. For instance, ground-based and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)-borne spectrometers can measure reflectance in narrow spectral bands, while different modelling approaches, like regressions

An autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle sensing system for structural health monitoring of bridges

Science.gov (United States)

Reagan, Daniel; Sabato, Alessandro; Niezrecki, Christopher; Yu, Tzuyang; Wilson, Richard

2016-04-01

As civil infrastructure (i.e. bridges, railways, and tunnels) continues to age; the frequency and need to perform inspection more quickly on a broader scale increases. Traditional inspection and monitoring techniques (e.g., visual inspection, mechanical sounding, rebound hammer, cover meter, electrical potential measurements, ultrasound, and ground penetrating radar) may produce inconsistent results, require lane closure, are labor intensive and time-consuming. Therefore, new structural health monitoring systems must be developed that are automated, highly accurate, minimally invasive, and cost effective. Three-dimensional (3D) digital image correlation (DIC) systems have the merits of extracting full-field strain, deformation, and geometry profiles. These profiles can then be stitched together to generate a complete integrity map of the area of interest. Concurrently, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have emerged as valuable resources for positioning sensing equipment where it is either difficult to measure or poses a risk to human safety. UAVs have the capability to expedite the optical-based measurement process, offer increased accessibility, and reduce interference with local traffic. Within this work, an autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle in conjunction with 3D DIC was developed for monitoring bridges. The capabilities of the proposed system are demonstrated in both laboratory measurements and data collected from bridges currently in service. Potential measurement influences from platform instability, rotor vibration and positioning inaccuracy are also studied in a controlled environment. The results of these experiments show that the combination of autonomous flight with 3D DIC and other non-contact measurement systems provides a valuable and effective civil inspection platform.

Contingency Estimation of States for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle using a Spherical Simplex Unscented Filter

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hahn, Tobias; Hansen, Søren; Blanke, Mogens

2012-01-01

Aiming at survival from contingency situations for unmanned aerial vehicles, a square root spherical simplex unscented Kalman filter is applied for state and parameter estimation and a rough model is used for state prediction when essential measurements are lost. Processing real flight data, rece...... efficient square root implementation of the filter algorithm. A case of loss of GPS signal demonstrates the use of the state estimates to obtain return of the UAV to close to it’s home base where safe recovery is possible....

Spectral broadening of acoustic tones generated by unmanned aerial vehicles in a turbulent atmosphere

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ostashev, Vladimir E.; Wilson, D. K.; Finn, Anthony

2016-01-01

The acoustic spectrum emitted by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and other aircraft can be distorted by propagation through atmospheric turbulence. Since most UAVs are propeller-based, they generate a series of acoustic tones and harmonics. In this paper, spectral broadening of these tones due......, spectral broadening is calculated and analyzed for typical meteorological regimes of the atmospheric boundary layer and different flight trajectories of UAVs. Experimental results are presented and compared with theoretical predictions. Spectral broadening might also provide a means for remotely sensing...

Mathematical model of unmanned aerial vehicle used for endurance autonomous monitoring

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chelaru, Teodor-Viorel, E-mail: teodor.chelaru@upb.ro [University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest - Research Center for Aeronautics and Space, Str. Gheorghe Polizu, no. 1, PC 011061, Sector 1, Bucharest (Romania); Chelaru, Adrian, E-mail: achelaru@incas.ro [INCAS -National Institute for Aerospace Research Elie Carafoli, B-dul Iuliu Maniu 220, 061126, Sector 6, Bucharest (Romania)

2014-12-10

The paper purpose is to present some aspects regarding the control system of unmanned aerial vehicle - UAV, used to local observations, surveillance and monitoring interest area. The calculus methodology allows a numerical simulation of UAV evolution in bad atmospheric conditions by using nonlinear model, as well as a linear one for obtaining guidance command. The UAV model which will be presented has six DOF (degrees of freedom), and autonomous control system. This theoretical development allows us to build stability matrix, command matrix and control matrix and finally to analyse the stability of autonomous UAV flight. A robust guidance system, based on uncoupled state will be evaluated for different fly conditions and the results will be presented. The flight parameters and guidance will be analysed.

Mathematical model of unmanned aerial vehicle used for endurance autonomous monitoring

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chelaru, Teodor-Viorel; Chelaru, Adrian

2014-01-01

The paper purpose is to present some aspects regarding the control system of unmanned aerial vehicle - UAV, used to local observations, surveillance and monitoring interest area. The calculus methodology allows a numerical simulation of UAV evolution in bad atmospheric conditions by using nonlinear model, as well as a linear one for obtaining guidance command. The UAV model which will be presented has six DOF (degrees of freedom), and autonomous control system. This theoretical development allows us to build stability matrix, command matrix and control matrix and finally to analyse the stability of autonomous UAV flight. A robust guidance system, based on uncoupled state will be evaluated for different fly conditions and the results will be presented. The flight parameters and guidance will be analysed

Comparisons of feature extraction algorithm based on unmanned aerial vehicle image

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xi Wenfei

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Feature point extraction technology has become a research hotspot in the photogrammetry and computer vision. The commonly used point feature extraction operators are SIFT operator, Forstner operator, Harris operator and Moravec operator, etc. With the high spatial resolution characteristics, UAV image is different from the traditional aviation image. Based on these characteristics of the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV, this paper uses several operators referred above to extract feature points from the building images, grassland images, shrubbery images, and vegetable greenhouses images. Through the practical case analysis, the performance, advantages, disadvantages and adaptability of each algorithm are compared and analyzed by considering their speed and accuracy. Finally, the suggestions of how to adapt different algorithms in diverse environment are proposed.

Autonomous Conflict Detection and Resolution for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: On integration into the Airspace System

OpenAIRE

Jenie, Y.I.

2017-01-01

In the last decade, the commercial values of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), defined as devices that are capable of sustainable flights in the atmosphere that do not require to have a human (pilot) on-board, become widely recognized thanks to the advancement of technology in materials, sensors, computation, and telemetry. As UAVs are becoming cheaper and more user-friendly, many companies are motivated to incorporate them in their everyday business, such as for delivery services, journalisms,...

Exploration of the Use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles along with Other Assets to Enhance Border Protection

Science.gov (United States)

2009-06-01

Border Initiative SUAV Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle SAR Synthetic Aperture Radar TTPs Tactics, Techniques, And Procedures TRVS Trailer Remote...2008). 4 3. Overview of Illegal Activities According to the CBP, 178,770 pounds of cocaine, 2,178 pounds of heroin, 2,471,931 pounds of marijuana ...Raytheon Company Web Site) Another component of Predator B is the high- resolution Lynx Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR). In their study, Tsunoda, et

Analysis of the Use of Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles in Conjunction with Manned Aircraft to Counter Active Terrorists in Rough Terrain

Science.gov (United States)

2015-06-01

146 wounded when car bombs shattered two synagogues in Istanbul. Authorities identified two men from southeast Turkey as the suicide bombers...Qaeda with twin car bombs, leaving behind an official toll of 52 deaths and 146 injuries [18]. B. CURRENT COUNTERTERRORISM METHODS AND PROBLEMS 1...a UAV is “a powered, aerial vehicle that does not carry a human operator, uses aerodynamic forces to provide vehicle lift, can fly autonomously or

Decentralized Control of Unmanned Aerial Robots for Wireless Airborne Communication Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Deok-Jin Lee

2010-09-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a cooperative control strategy for a team of aerial robotic vehicles to establish wireless airborne communication networks between distributed heterogeneous vehicles. Each aerial robot serves as a flying mobile sensor performing a reconfigurable communication relay node which enabls communication networks with static or slow-moving nodes on gorund or ocean. For distributed optimal deployment of the aerial vehicles for communication networks, an adaptive hill-climbing type decentralized control algorithm is developed to seek out local extremum for optimal localization of the vehicles. The sensor networks estabilished by the decentralized cooperative control approach can adopt its configuraiton in response to signal strength as the function of the relative distance between the autonomous aerial robots and distributed sensor nodes in the sensed environment. Simulation studies are conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed decentralized cooperative control technique for robust communication networks.

Cost-Effective Class-Imbalance Aware CNN for Vehicle Localization and Categorization in High Resolution Aerial Images

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Feimo Li

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Joint vehicle localization and categorization in high resolution aerial images can provide useful information for applications such as traffic flow structure analysis. To maintain sufficient features to recognize small-scaled vehicles, a regions with convolutional neural network features (R-CNN -like detection structure is employed. In this setting, cascaded localization error can be averted by equally treating the negatives and differently typed positives as a multi-class classification task, but the problem of class-imbalance remains. To address this issue, a cost-effective network extension scheme is proposed. In it, the correlated convolution and connection costs during extension are reduced by feature map selection and bi-partite main-side network construction, which are realized with the assistance of a novel feature map class-importance measurement and a new class-imbalance sensitive main-side loss function. By using an image classification dataset established from a set of traditional real-colored aerial images with 0.13 m ground sampling distance which are taken from the height of 1000 m by an imaging system composed of non-metric cameras, the effectiveness of the proposed network extension is verified by comparing with its similarly shaped strong counter-parts. Experiments show an equivalent or better performance, while requiring the least parameter and memory overheads are required.

Use of unmanned aerial vehicles for efficient beach litter monitoring

KAUST Repository

Martin, Cecilia

2018-05-05

A global beach litter assessment is challenged by use of low-efficiency methodologies and incomparable protocols that impede data integration and acquisition at a national scale. The implementation of an objective, reproducible and efficient approach is therefore required. Here we show the application of a remote sensing based methodology using a test beach located on the Saudi Arabian Red Sea coastline. Litter was recorded via image acquisition from an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, while an automatic processing of the high volume of imagery was developed through machine learning, employed for debris detection and classification in three categories. Application of the method resulted in an almost 40 times faster beach coverage when compared to a standard visual-census approach. While the machine learning tool faced some challenges in correctly detecting objects of interest, first classification results are promising and motivate efforts to further develop the technique and implement it at much larger scales.

Mission control of multiple unmanned aerial vehicles: a workload analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Dixon, Stephen R; Wickens, Christopher D; Chang, Dervon

2005-01-01

With unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), 36 licensed pilots flew both single-UAV and dual-UAV simulated military missions. Pilots were required to navigate each UAV through a series of mission legs in one of the following three conditions: a baseline condition, an auditory autoalert condition, and an autopilot condition. Pilots were responsible for (a) mission completion, (b) target search, and (c) systems monitoring. Results revealed that both the autoalert and the autopilot automation improved overall performance by reducing task interference and alleviating workload. The autoalert system benefited performance both in the automated task and mission completion task, whereas the autopilot system benefited performance in the automated task, the mission completion task, and the target search task. Practical implications for the study include the suggestion that reliable automation can help alleviate task interference and reduce workload, thereby allowing pilots to better handle concurrent tasks during single- and multiple-UAV flight control.

Use of unmanned aerial vehicles for efficient beach litter monitoring

KAUST Repository

Martin, Cecilia; Parkes, Stephen; Zhang, Qiannan; Zhang, Xiangliang; McCabe, Matthew; Duarte, Carlos M.

2018-01-01

A global beach litter assessment is challenged by use of low-efficiency methodologies and incomparable protocols that impede data integration and acquisition at a national scale. The implementation of an objective, reproducible and efficient approach is therefore required. Here we show the application of a remote sensing based methodology using a test beach located on the Saudi Arabian Red Sea coastline. Litter was recorded via image acquisition from an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, while an automatic processing of the high volume of imagery was developed through machine learning, employed for debris detection and classification in three categories. Application of the method resulted in an almost 40 times faster beach coverage when compared to a standard visual-census approach. While the machine learning tool faced some challenges in correctly detecting objects of interest, first classification results are promising and motivate efforts to further develop the technique and implement it at much larger scales.

THE METHOD OF FORMING A RATIONAL ASPECT OF THE ONBOARD COMPLEX OF RADAR DEFENSE UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. B. Guseynov

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The urgency of the problem of increasing the efficiency by reducing the visibility of aircraft and installing radio interference on the radio-electronic systems of the air defense complex is substantiated. The main characteristics of the on-board electronic radio protection system of an unmanned aerial vehicle are determined. When designing a low-visibility aircraft, it is advisable to simultaneously solve three-level tasks – the formation of a technical task for the design of aircraft, technical proposals and design sketches. In solving the problems of the first level, operational-tactical, flight-technical characteristics of the aircraft are analyzed and requirements for indicators of visibility are justified, the second one – a matrix of alternative design solutions is formed and rational structural solutions for the airborne complex and aircraft appearance as a whole are determined, the third one determines optimal design -Ballistic, geometric design parameters of technical solutions and aircraft in general. The statement of the problem is formulated in the article. A block diagram of the analysis of design solutions for the placement of an active noise station on board an unmanned aerial vehicle and optimization of their parameters based on a complex "cost-effectiveness" criterion is given. At the same time, it is necessary to take into account the influence of alternative technical solutions on low visibility and their design parameters on geometric, aerodynamic, energy, ballistic, thermal characteristics, mass, cost, indicators of visibility and combat effectiveness. The structural and logical scheme for solving the problem for a given technical assignment for the design of an unmanned aerial vehicle includes the following steps: the formation of the initial information and the development of a "support" version of the aircraft structure; formation of a morphological matrix of design decisions on aircraft; compatibility assessment

AVIATR - Aerial Vehicle for In-situ and Airborne Titan Reconnaissance A Titan Airplane Mission Concept

Science.gov (United States)

Barnes, Jason W.; Lemke, Lawrence; Foch, Rick; McKay, Christopher P.; Beyer, Ross A.; Radebaugh, Jani; Atkinson, David H.; Lorenz, Ralph D.; LeMouelic, Stephane; Rodriguez, Sebastien;

Measurement of greenhouse gases in UAE by using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)

Science.gov (United States)

Abou-Elnour, Ali; Odeh, Mohamed; Abdelrhman, Mohammed; Balkis, Ahmed; Amira, Abdelraouf

2017-04-01

In the present work, a reliable and low cost system has been designed and implemented to measure greenhouse gases (GHG) in United Arab Emirates (UAE) by using unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). A set of accurate gas, temperature, pressure, humidity sensors are integrated together with a wireless communication system on a microcontroller based platform to continuously measure the required data. The system instantaneously sends the measured data to a center monitoring unit via the wireless communication system. In addition, the proposed system has the features that all measurements are recorded directly in a storage device to allow effective monitoring in regions with weak or no wireless coverage. The obtained data will be used in all further sophisticated calculations for environmental research and monitoring purposes.

Locating chimpanzee nests and identifying fruiting trees with an unmanned aerial vehicle.

Science.gov (United States)

van Andel, Alexander C; Wich, Serge A; Boesch, Christophe; Koh, Lian Pin; Robbins, Martha M; Kelly, Joseph; Kuehl, Hjalmar S

2015-10-01

Monitoring of animal populations is essential for conservation management. Various techniques are available to assess spatiotemporal patterns of species distribution and abundance. Nest surveys are often used for monitoring great apes. Quickly developing technologies, including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can be used to complement these ground-based surveys, especially for covering large areas rapidly. Aerial surveys have been used successfully to detect the nests of orang-utans. It is unknown if such an approach is practical for African apes, which usually build their nests at lower heights, where they might be obscured by forest canopy. In this 2-month study, UAV-derived aerial imagery was used for two distinct purposes: testing the detectability of chimpanzee nests and identifying fruiting trees used by chimpanzees in Loango National Park (Gabon). Chimpanzee nest data were collected through two approaches: we located nests on the ground and then tried to detect them in UAV photos and vice versa. Ground surveys were conducted using line transects, reconnaissance trails, and opportunistic sampling during which we detected 116 individual nests in 28 nest groups. In complementary UAV images we detected 48% of the individual nests (68% of nest groups) in open coastal forests and 8% of individual nests (33% of nest groups) in closed canopy inland forests. The key factor for nest detectability in UAV imagery was canopy openness. Data on fruiting trees were collected from five line transects. In 122 UAV images 14 species of trees (N = 433) were identified, alongside 37 tree species (N = 205) in complementary ground surveys. Relative abundance of common tree species correlated between ground and UAV surveys. We conclude that UAVs have great potential as a rapid assessment tool for detecting chimpanzee presence in forest with open canopy and assessing fruit tree availability. UAVs may have limited applicability for nest detection in closed canopy forest. �

Artificial guide stars for adaptive optics using unmanned aerial vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Basden, A. G.; Brown, Anthony M.; Chadwick, P. M.; Clark, P.; Massey, R.

2018-06-01

Astronomical adaptive optics (AO) systems are used to increase effective telescope resolution. However, they cannot be used to observe the whole sky since one or more natural guide stars of sufficient brightness must be found within the telescope field of view for the AO system to work. Even when laser guide stars are used, natural guide stars are still required to provide a constant position reference. Here, we introduce a technique to overcome this problem by using rotary unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as a platform from which to produce artificial guide stars. We describe the concept that relies on the UAV being able to measure its precise relative position. We investigate the AO performance improvements that can be achieved, which in the cases presented here can improve the Strehl ratio by a factor of at least 2 for a 8 m class telescope. We also discuss improvements to this technique, which is relevant to both astronomical and solar AO systems.

Estimating plant distance in maize using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV).

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Jinshui; Basso, Bruno; Price, Richard F; Putman, Gregory; Shuai, Guanyuan

2018-01-01

Distance between rows and plants are essential parameters that affect the final grain yield in row crops. This paper presents the results of research intended to develop a novel method to quantify the distance between maize plants at field scale using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). Using this method, we can recognize maize plants as objects and calculate the distance between plants. We initially developed our method by training an algorithm in an indoor facility with plastic corn plants. Then, the method was scaled up and tested in a farmer's field with maize plant spacing that exhibited natural variation. The results of this study demonstrate that it is possible to precisely quantify the distance between maize plants. We found that accuracy of the measurement of the distance between maize plants depended on the height above ground level at which UAV imagery was taken. This study provides an innovative approach to quantify plant-to-plant variability and, thereby final crop yield estimates.

A CNN-Based Method of Vehicle Detection from Aerial Images Using Hard Example Mining

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yohei Koga

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Recently, deep learning techniques have had a practical role in vehicle detection. While much effort has been spent on applying deep learning to vehicle detection, the effective use of training data has not been thoroughly studied, although it has great potential for improving training results, especially in cases where the training data are sparse. In this paper, we proposed using hard example mining (HEM in the training process of a convolutional neural network (CNN for vehicle detection in aerial images. We applied HEM to stochastic gradient descent (SGD to choose the most informative training data by calculating the loss values in each batch and employing the examples with the largest losses. We picked 100 out of both 500 and 1000 examples for training in one iteration, and we tested different ratios of positive to negative examples in the training data to evaluate how the balance of positive and negative examples would affect the performance. In any case, our method always outperformed the plain SGD. The experimental results for images from New York showed improved performance over a CNN trained in plain SGD where the F1 score of our method was 0.02 higher.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in pest management: Progress in the development of a UAV-deployed mating disruption system for Wisconsin cranberries

Science.gov (United States)

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) represent a powerful new tool for agriculture. Currently, UAVs are used almost exclusively as crop reconnaissance devices (“eyes in the sky”), not as pest control delivery systems. Research in Wisconsin cranberries is taking UAVs in a new direction. The Steffan and Lu...

U.S. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVS) and Network Centric Warfare (NCW) impacts on combat aviation tactics from Gulf War I through 2007 Iraq

OpenAIRE

Oveyik, Kaan.; Kurkcu, Coskun

2008-01-01

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited Unmanned, aerial vehicles (UAVs) are an increasingly important element of many modern militaries. Their success on battlefields in Afghanistan, Iraq, and around the globe has driven demand for a variety of types of unmanned vehicles. Their proven value consists in low risk and low cost, and their capabilities include persistent surveillance, tactical and combat reconnaissance, resilience, and dynamic re-tasking. This research evaluat...

Measuring water level in rivers and lakes from lightweight Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bandini, Filippo; Jakobsen, Jakob; Olesen, Daniel Haugård

2017-01-01

The assessment of hydrologic dynamics in rivers, lakes, reservoirs and wetlands requires measurements of water level, its temporal and spatial derivatives, and the extent and dynamics of open water surfaces. Motivated by the declining number of ground-based measurement stations, research efforts...... complex water dynamics. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) can fill the gap between spaceborne and ground-based observations, and provide high spatial resolution and dense temporal coverage data, in quick turn-around time, using flexible payload design. This study focused on categorizing and testing sensors......, which comply with the weight constraint of small UAVs (around 1.5 kg), capable of measuring the range to water surface. Subtracting the measured range from the vertical position retrieved by the onboard Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver, we can determine the water level (orthometric...

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Photogrammetry Produces ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Marinus Boon

Department of Geography, Environmental Management and Energy Studies, University of ... The technique also only requires a few control measurements and the ... The number of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) referenced in the 2013 ... model aircraft airfield east of the R25 road, just south of the M6 intersection, up until ...

A Vision-Based Method for Autonomous Landing of a Rotor-Craft Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Z. Yuan

2006-01-01

Full Text Available This article introduces a real-time vision-based method for guided autonomous landing of a rotor-craft unmanned aerial vehicle. In the process of designing the pattern of landing target, we have fully considered how to make this easier for simplified identification and calibration. A linear algorithm was also applied using a three-dimensional structure estimation in real time. In addition, multiple-view vision technology is utilized to calibrate intrinsic parameters of camera online, so calibration prior to flight is unnecessary and the focus of camera can be changed freely in flight, thus upgrading the flexibility and practicality of the method.

Assessment of a landfill methane emission screening method using an unmanned aerial vehicle mounted thermal infrared camera – A field study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fjelsted, Lotte; Christensen, A. G.; Larsen, J. E.

2018-01-01

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-mounted thermal infrared (TIR) camera’s ability to delineate landfill gas (LFG) emission hotspots was evaluated in a field test at two Danish landfills (Hedeland landfill and Audebo landfill). At both sites, a test area of 100 m2 was established and divided into a...

An Improved SIFT Algorithm for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Imagery

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, J M; Yan, D M; Wang, G; Zhang, L

2014-01-01

The Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) platform has the benefits of low cost and convenience compared with satellites. Recently, UAVs have shown a wide range of applications such as land use change, mineral resources management and local topographic mapping. Because of the instability of the UAV air gesture, an image matching method is necessary to match different images of an object or scene. Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) features are invariant to image scaling, rotation and translation. However, the main drawback of a SIFT algorithm is its significant memory consumption and low computational speed, particularly in the case of high-resolution imagery. In this study, in order to overcome these drawbacks, we have analysed the construction of the scale-space in the SIFT algorithm and selected new parameters to construct the SIFT scale-space to improve the memory consumption and computational speed for the processing of UAV imagery. Here, we propose a restriction on the number of octaves and levels for Gaussian image pyramids. Our experiment shows that the proposed algorithm effectively reduces memory consumption and significantly improves the operational efficiency of the feature point extraction and matching under the premise of maintaining the precision of the extracted feature points

Application of Artificial Intelligence Techniques in Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Flight

Science.gov (United States)

Bauer, Frank H. (Technical Monitor); Dufrene, Warren R., Jr.

2003-01-01

This paper describes the development of an application of Artificial Intelligence for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) control. The project was done as part of the requirements for a class in Artificial Intelligence (AI) at Nova southeastern University and as an adjunct to a project at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Wallops Flight Facility for a resilient, robust, and intelligent UAV flight control system. A method is outlined which allows a base level application for applying an AI method, Fuzzy Logic, to aspects of Control Logic for UAV flight. One element of UAV flight, automated altitude hold, has been implemented and preliminary results displayed. A low cost approach was taken using freeware, gnu, software, and demo programs. The focus of this research has been to outline some of the AI techniques used for UAV flight control and discuss some of the tools used to apply AI techniques. The intent is to succeed with the implementation of applying AI techniques to actually control different aspects of the flight of an UAV.

Unmanned aerial vehicle trajectory planning with direct methods

Science.gov (United States)

Geiger, Brian

A real-time method for trajectory optimization to maximize surveillance time of a fixed or moving ground target by one or more unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is presented. The method accounts for performance limits of the aircraft, intrinsic properties of the camera, and external disturbances such as wind. Direct collocation with nonlinear programming is used to implement the method in simulation and onboard the Penn State/Applied Research Lab's testbed UAV. Flight test results compare well with simulation. Both stationary targets and moving targets, such as a low flying UAV, were successfully tracked in flight test. In addition, a new method using a neural network approximation is presented that removes the need for collocation and numerical derivative calculation. Neural networks are used to approximate the objective and dynamics functions in the optimization problem which allows for reduced computation requirements. The approximation reduces the size of the resulting nonlinear programming problem compared to direct collocation or pseudospectral methods. This method is shown to be faster than direct collocation and psuedospectral methods using numerical or automatic derivative techniques. The neural network approximation is also shown to be faster than analytical derivatives but by a lesser factor. Comparative results are presented showing similar accuracy for all methods. The method is modular and enables application to problems of the same class without network retraining.

A Water Vapor Differential Absorption LIDAR Design for Unpiloted Aerial Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

DeYoung, Russell J.; Mead, Patricia F.

2004-01-01

This system study proposes the deployment of a water vapor Differential Absorption LIDAR (DIAL) system on an Altair unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) platform. The Altair offers improved payload weight and volume performance, and longer total flight time as compared to other commercial UAV's. This study has generated a preliminary design for an Altair based water vapor DIAL system. The design includes a proposed DIAL schematic, a review of mechanical challenges such as temperature and humidity stresses on UAV deployed DIAL systems, an assessment of the available capacity for additional instrumentation (based on the proposed design), and an overview of possible weight and volume improvements associated with the use of customized electronic and computer hardware, and through the integration of advanced fiber-optic and laser products. The results of the study show that less than 17% of the available weight, less than 19% of the volume capacity, and approximately 11% of the electrical capacity is utilized by the proposed water vapor DIAL system on the Altair UAV.

New development thoughts on the bio-inspired intelligence based control for unmanned combat aerial vehicle

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

无

2010-01-01

Bio-inspired intelligence is in the spotlight in the field of international artificial intelligence,and unmanned combat aerial vehicle(UCAV),owing to its potential to perform dangerous,repetitive tasks in remote and hazardous,is very promising for the technological leadership of the nation and essential for improving the security of society.On the basis of introduction of bioinspired intelligence and UCAV,a series of new development thoughts on UCAV control are proposed,including artificial brain based high-level autonomous control for UCAV,swarm intelligence based cooperative control for multiple UCAVs,hy-brid swarm intelligence and Bayesian network based situation assessment under complicated combating environments, bio-inspired hardware based high-level autonomous control for UCAV,and meta-heuristic intelligence based heterogeneous cooperative control for multiple UCAVs and unmanned combat ground vehicles(UCGVs).The exact realization of the proposed new development thoughts can enhance the effectiveness of combat,while provide a series of novel breakthroughs for the intelligence,integration and advancement of future UCAV systems.

Cost and effectiveness analysis on unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) use at border security

Science.gov (United States)

Yilmaz, Bahadır.

2013-06-01

Drones and Remotely Piloted Vehicles are types of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. UAVs began to be used with the war of Vietnam, they had a great interest when Israel used them in Bekaa Valley Operations of 1982. UAVs have been used by different countries with different aims with the help of emerging technology and investments. In this article, in the context of areas of UAV usage in national security, benefits and disadvantages of UAVs are put forward. Particularly, it has been evaluated on the basis of cost-effectiveness by focusing the use of UAV in the border security. UAVs have been studied by taking cost analysis, procurement and operational costs into consideration. Analysis of effectiveness has been done with illegal passages of people and drugs from flight times of UAVs. Although the procurement cost of the medium-level UAVs is low, its operational costs are high. For this reason, the idea of less costly alternative systems have been revealed for the border security. As the costs are reduced to acceptable level involving national security and border security in future with high-technology products in their structure, it will continue to be used in an increasing proportion.

Hierarchical Motion Planning for Autonomous Aerial and Terrestrial Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Cowlagi, Raghvendra V.

Autonomous mobile robots---both aerial and terrestrial vehicles---have gained immense importance due to the broad spectrum of their potential military and civilian applications. One of the indispensable requirements for the autonomy of a mobile vehicle is the vehicle's capability of planning and executing its motion, that is, finding appropriate control inputs for the vehicle such that the resulting vehicle motion satisfies the requirements of the vehicular task. The motion planning and control problem is inherently complex because it involves two disparate sub-problems: (1) satisfaction of the vehicular task requirements, which requires tools from combinatorics and/or formal methods, and (2) design of the vehicle control laws, which requires tools from dynamical systems and control theory. Accordingly, this problem is usually decomposed and solved over two levels of hierarchy. The higher level, called the geometric path planning level, finds a geometric path that satisfies the vehicular task requirements, e.g., obstacle avoidance. The lower level, called the trajectory planning level, involves sufficient smoothening of this geometric path followed by a suitable time parametrization to obtain a reference trajectory for the vehicle. Although simple and efficient, such hierarchical decomposition suffers a serious drawback: the geometric path planner has no information of the kinematical and dynamical constraints of the vehicle. Consequently, the geometric planner may produce paths that the trajectory planner cannot transform into a feasible reference trajectory. Two main ideas appear in the literature to remedy this problem: (a) randomized sampling-based planning, which eliminates the geometric planner altogether by planning in the vehicle state space, and (b) geometric planning supported by feedback control laws. The former class of methods suffer from a lack of optimality of the resultant trajectory, while the latter class of methods makes a restrictive assumption

Optimal Path Planning and Control of Quadrotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for Area Coverage

Science.gov (United States)

Fan, Jiankun

An Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) is an aircraft without a human pilot on board. Its flight is controlled either autonomously by computers onboard the vehicle, or remotely by a pilot on the ground, or by another vehicle. In recent years, UAVs have been used more commonly than prior years. The example includes areo-camera where a high speed camera was attached to a UAV which can be used as an airborne camera to obtain aerial video. It also could be used for detecting events on ground for tasks such as surveillance and monitoring which is a common task during wars. Similarly UAVs can be used for relaying communication signal during scenarios when regular communication infrastructure is destroyed. The objective of this thesis is motivated from such civilian operations such as search and rescue or wildfire detection and monitoring. One scenario is that of search and rescue where UAV's objective is to geo-locate a person in a given area. The task is carried out with the help of a camera whose live feed is provided to search and rescue personnel. For this objective, the UAV needs to carry out scanning of the entire area in the shortest time. The aim of this thesis to develop algorithms to enable a UAV to scan an area in optimal time, a problem referred to as "Coverage Control" in literature. The thesis focuses on a special kind of UAVs called "quadrotor" that is propelled with the help of four rotors. The overall objective of this thesis is achieved via solving two problems. The first problem is to develop a dynamic control model of quadrtor. In this thesis, a proportional-integral-derivative controller (PID) based feedback control system is developed and implemented on MATLAB's Simulink. The PID controller helps track any given trajectory. The second problem is to design a trajectory that will fulfill the mission. The planed trajectory should make sure the quadrotor will scan the whole area without missing any part to make sure that the quadrotor will find the lost

Mapping of Rill Erosion of Arable Soils Based on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Survey

Science.gov (United States)

Kashtanov, A. N.; Vernyuk, Yu. I.; Savin, I. Yu.; Shchepot'ev, V. V.; Dokukin, P. A.; Sharychev, D. V.; Li, K. A.

2018-04-01

Possibilities of using data obtained from unmanned aerial vehicles for detection and mapping of rill erosion on arable lands are analyzed. Identification and mapping of rill erosion was performed on a key plot with a predominance of arable gray forest soils (Greyzemic Phaeozems) under winter wheat in Tula oblast. This plot was surveyed from different heights and in different periods to determine the reliability of identification of rill erosion on the basis of automated procedures in a GIS. It was found that, despite changes in the pattern of rills during the warm season, only one survey during this season is sufficient for adequate assessment of the area of eroded soils. According to our data, the most reliable identification of rill erosion is based on the aerial survey from the height of 50 m above the soil surface. When the height of the flight is more than 200 m, erosional rills virtually escape identification. The efficiency of identification depends on the type of crops, their status, and time of the survey. The surveys of bare soil surface in periods with maximum possible interval from the previous rain or snowmelt season are most efficient. The results of our study can be used in the systems of remote sensing monitoring of erosional processes on arable fields. Application of multiand hyperspectral cameras can improve the efficiency of monitoring.

A Simple Aerial Photogrammetric Mapping System Overview and Image Acquisition Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wenang Anurogo

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Aerial photogrammetry is one of the Alternative technologies for more detailed data, real time, fast and cheaper. Nowadays, many photogrammetric mapping methods have used UAV / unmanned drones or drones to retrieve and record data from an object in the earth. The application of drones in the field of geospatial science today is in great demand because of its relatively easy operation and relatively affordable cost compared to satellite systems especially high - resolution satellite imagery.  This research aims to determine the stage or overview of data retrieval process with DJI Phantom 4 (multi - rotor quad - copter drone with processing using third party software. This research also produces 2 - dimensional high resolution image data on the research area. Utilization of third party software (Agisoft PhotoScan making it easier to acquire and process aerial photogrammetric data. The results of aerial photogrammetric recording with a flying altitude of 70 meters obtained high resolution images with a spatial resolution of 2 inches / pixels.

Sensing and control for autonomous vehicles applications to land, water and air vehicles

CERN Document Server

Pettersen, Kristin; Nijmeijer, Henk

2017-01-01

This edited volume includes thoroughly collected on sensing and control for autonomous vehicles. Guidance, navigation and motion control systems for autonomous vehicles are increasingly important in land-based, marine and aerial operations. Autonomous underwater vehicles may be used for pipeline inspection, light intervention work, underwater survey and collection of oceanographic/biological data. Autonomous unmanned aerial systems can be used in a large number of applications such as inspection, monitoring, data collection, surveillance, etc. At present, vehicles operate with limited autonomy and a minimum of intelligence. There is a growing interest for cooperative and coordinated multi-vehicle systems, real-time re-planning, robust autonomous navigation systems and robust autonomous control of vehicles. Unmanned vehicles with high levels of autonomy may be used for safe and efficient collection of environmental data, for assimilation of climate and environmental models and to complement global satellite sy...

Micro Aerial Vehicle (MAV Flapping Motion Control Using an Immune Network with Different Immune Factors

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Liguo Weng

2013-08-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes a novel Neural-Immunology/Memory Network to address the problem of motion control for flapping-wing Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs. This network is inspired by the human memory system as well as the immune system, and it is effective in attenuating the system errors and other lumped system uncertainties. In contrast to most existing Neural Networks, the convergence of this proposed Neural-Immunology/Memory Network can be theoretically proven. Both analyses and simulations that are based on different immune factors show that the proposed control method is effective in dealing with external disturbances, system nonlinearities, uncertainties and parameter variations.

Experimental and rendering-based investigation of laser radar cross sections of small unmanned aerial vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Laurenzis, Martin; Bacher, Emmanuel; Christnacher, Frank

2017-12-01

Laser imaging systems are prominent candidates for detection and tracking of small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in current and future security scenarios. Laser reflection characteristics for laser imaging (e.g., laser gated viewing) of small UAVs are investigated to determine their laser radar cross section (LRCS) by analyzing the intensity distribution of laser reflection in high resolution images. For the first time, LRCSs are determined in a combined experimental and computational approaches by high resolution laser gated viewing and three-dimensional rendering. An optimized simple surface model is calculated taking into account diffuse and specular reflectance properties based on the Oren-Nayar and the Cook-Torrance reflectance models, respectively.

Vision-Based Corrosion Detection Assisted by a Micro-Aerial Vehicle in a Vessel Inspection Application

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Alberto Ortiz

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Vessel maintenance requires periodic visual inspection of the hull in order to detect typical defective situations of steel structures such as, among others, coating breakdown and corrosion. These inspections are typically performed by well-trained surveyors at great cost because of the need for providing access means (e.g., scaffolding and/or cherry pickers that allow the inspector to be at arm’s reach from the structure under inspection. This paper describes a defect detection approach comprising a micro-aerial vehicle which is used to collect images from the surfaces under inspection, particularly focusing on remote areas where the surveyor has no visual access, and a coating breakdown/corrosion detector based on a three-layer feed-forward artificial neural network. As it is discussed in the paper, the success of the inspection process depends not only on the defect detection software but also on a number of assistance functions provided by the control architecture of the aerial platform, whose aim is to improve picture quality. Both aspects of the work are described along the different sections of the paper, as well as the classification performance attained.

A Review of Deep Learning Methods and Applications for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

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Adrian Carrio

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Deep learning is recently showing outstanding results for solving a wide variety of robotic tasks in the areas of perception, planning, localization, and control. Its excellent capabilities for learning representations from the complex data acquired in real environments make it extremely suitable for many kinds of autonomous robotic applications. In parallel, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs are currently being extensively applied for several types of civilian tasks in applications going from security, surveillance, and disaster rescue to parcel delivery or warehouse management. In this paper, a thorough review has been performed on recent reported uses and applications of deep learning for UAVs, including the most relevant developments as well as their performances and limitations. In addition, a detailed explanation of the main deep learning techniques is provided. We conclude with a description of the main challenges for the application of deep learning for UAV-based solutions.

MODELLING OF DECISION MAKING OF UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE'S OPERATOR IN EMERGENCY SITUATIONS

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Volodymyr Kharchenko

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Purpose: lack of recommendation action algorithm of UAV operator in emergency situations; decomposition of the process of decision making (DM by UAV’s Operator in emergency situations; development of the structure of distributed decision support system (DDSS for remotely piloted aircraft; development of a database of local decision support system (DSS operators Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS; working-out of models DM by UAV’s Operator. Methods: Algoritm of actions of UAV operator by Wald criterion, Laplace criterion, Hurwitz criterion. Results: The program "UAV_AS" that gives to UAV operator recommendations on how to act in case of emergency. Discussion: The article deals with the problem of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV flights for decision of different tasks in emergency situation. Based on statistical data it was analyzing the types of emergencies for unmanned aircraft. Defined sequence of actions UAV operator and in case of emergencies.

Adaptive compensation control for attitude adjustment of quad-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle.

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Song, Zhankui; Sun, Kaibiao

2017-07-01

A compensation control strategy based on adaptive back-stepping technique is presented to address the problem of attitude adjustment for a quad-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle (QR- UAV) with inertia parameter uncertainties, the limited airflow disturbance and the partial loss of rotation speed effectiveness. In the design process of control system, adaptive estimation technique is introduced into the closed loop system in order to compensate the lumped disturbance term. More specifically, the designed controller utilizes "prescribed performance bounds" method, and therefore guarantees the transient performance of tracking errors, even in the presence of the lumped disturbance. Adaptive compensation algorithms under the proposed closed loop system structure are derived in the sense of Lyapunov stability analysis such that the attitude tracking error converge to a small neighborhood of equilibrium point. Finally, the simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller. Copyright © 2017 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Getting Started with PEAs-Based Flapping-Wing Mechanisms for Micro Aerial Systems

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José Carlos Durán Hernández

2016-05-01

Full Text Available This paper introduces recent advances on flapping-wing Micro and Nano Aerial Vehicles (MAVs and NAVs based on Piezoelectric Actuators (PEA. Therefore, this work provides essential information to address the development of such bio-inspired aerial robots. PEA are commonly used in micro-robotics and precise positioning applications (e.g., micro-positioning and micro-manipulation, whereas within the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs domain, motors are the classical actuators used for rotary or fixed-wing configurations. Therefore, we consider it pertinent to provide essential information regarding the modeling and control of piezoelectric cantilever actuators to accelerate early design and development stages of aerial microrobots based on flapping-wing systems. In addition, the equations describing the aerodynamic behavior of a flapping-wing configuration are presented.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) to prevent drowning.

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Seguin, Celia; Blaquière, Gilles; Loundou, Anderson; Michelet, Pierre; Markarian, Thibaut

2018-06-01

Drowning literature have highlighted the submersion time as the most powerful predictor in assessing the prognosis. Reducing the time taken to provide a flotation device and prevent submersion appears of paramount importance. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can provide the location of the swimmer and a flotation device. The objective of this simulation study was to evaluate the efficiency of a UAV in providing a flotation device in different sea conditions, and to compare the times taken by rescue operations with and without a UAV (standard vs UAV intervention). Several comparisons were made using professional lifeguards acting as simulated victims. A specifically-shaped UAV was used to allow us to drop an inflatable life buoy into the water. During the summer of 2017, 28 tests were performed. UAV use was associated with a reduction of time it took to provide a flotation device to the simulated victim compared with standard rescue operations (p < 0.001 for all measurements) and the time was reduced even further in moderate (81 ± 39 vs 179 ± 78 s; p < 0.001) and rough sea conditions (99 ± 34 vs 198 ± 130 s; p < 0.001). The times taken for UAV to locate the simulated victim, identify them and drop the life buoy were not altered by the weather conditions. UAV can deliver a flotation device to a swimmer safely and quickly. The addition of a UAV in rescue operations could improve the quality and speed of first aid while keeping lifeguards away from dangerous sea conditions. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Direct Penguin Counting Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Image

Science.gov (United States)

Hyun, C. U.; Kim, H. C.; Kim, J. H.; Hong, S. G.

2015-12-01

This study presents an application of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) images to monitor penguin colony in Baton Peninsula, King George Island, Antarctica. The area around Narębski Point located on the southeast coast of Barton Peninsula was designated as Antarctic Specially Protected Area No. 171 (ASPA 171), and Chinstrap and Gentoo penguins inhabit in this area. The UAV images were acquired in a part of ASPA 171 from four flights in a single day, Jan 18, 2014. About 360 images were mosaicked as an image of about 3 cm spatial resolution and then a subset including representative penguin rookeries was selected. The subset image was segmented based on gradient map of pixel values, and spectral and spatial attributes were assigned to each segment. The object based image analysis (OBIA) was conducted with consideration of spectral attributes including mean and minimum values of each segment and various shape attributes such as area, length, compactness and roundness to detect individual penguin. The segments indicating individual penguin were effectively detected on rookeries with high contrasts in the spectral and shape attributes. The importance of periodic and precise monitoring of penguins has been recognized because variations of their populations reflect environmental changes and disturbance from human activities. Utilization of very high resolution imaging method shown in this study can be applied to other penguin habitats in Antarctica, and the results will be able to support establishing effective environmental management plans.

Planning and decision making for aerial robots

CERN Document Server

Bestaoui Sebbane, Yasmina

2014-01-01

This book provides an introduction to the emerging field of planning and decision making for aerial robots. An aerial robot is the ultimate form of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, an aircraft endowed with built-in intelligence, requiring no direct human control and able to perform a specific task. It must be able to fly within a partially structured environment, to react and adapt to changing environmental conditions and to accommodate for the uncertainty that exists in the physical world. An aerial robot can be termed as a physical agent that exists and flies in the real 3D world, can sense its environment and act on it to achieve specific goals. So throughout this book, an aerial robot will also be termed as an agent.   Fundamental problems in aerial robotics include the tasks of spatial motion, spatial sensing and spatial reasoning. Reasoning in complex environments represents a difficult problem. The issues specific to spatial reasoning are planning and decision making. Planning deals with the trajectory algori...

The unmanned aerial vehicles in international trade and their regulation

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Iveta Cerna

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Objective to review the current situation in production and distribution of unmanned aerial vehicles further ndash UAVs in developed countries as well as the legal regulation issues. Methods abstractlogic summarizing and observation comparative analysis. Results The analysis of international trade in UAVs revealed the leading countries dominating the market Israel the USA and Canada. The leading importers are India UK and France. China and Russian Federation are important producers but are just marginally involved in international trade having rather protectionist trade policies. The characters of national regulatory frameworks vary significantly from country to country while the Czech Republic belongs to the rather liberal group of EU members. Scientific novelty So far the journal publications in regard of UAVs have addressed uniquely technical issues and economic issues have been unattended. This paper clarifies the terminology mess analyses trade policy issues trade and production statistics and regulatory concerns linked to this steeply growing segment that is subject to doubleuse items regulations. Practical value Given a lack of relevant publications focused on international trade in UAVs in particular the paper provides a complex overview of current state of play in terms of this promising yet very controversial subject.

A Shape Memory Alloy Application for Compact Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

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Salvatore Ameduri

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Shape memory alloys materials, SMA, offer several advantages that designers can rely on such as the possibility of transmitting large forces and deformations, compactness, and the intrinsic capability to absorb loads. Their use as monolithic actuators, moreover, can lead to potential simplifications of the system, through a reduction of number of parts and the removal of many free play gaps among mechanics. For these reasons, technological aerospace research is focusing on this kind of technology more and more, even though fatigue life, performance degradation, and other issues are still open. In the work at hand, landing gear for unmanned aerial vehicles, UAV, is presented, integrated with shape memory alloys springs as actuation devices. A conceptual prototype has been realized to verify the system ability in satisfying specs, in terms of deployment and retraction capability. Starting from the proposed device working principle and the main design parameters identification, the design phase is faced, setting those parameters to meet weight, deployment angle, energy consumption, and available room requirements. Then, system modeling and performance prediction is performed and finally a correlation between numerical and experimental results is presented.

Rancang Bangun Prototype Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV dengan Tiga Rotor

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Darmawan Rasyid Hadi Saputra

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Unmanned Aerial Vehicle atau yang biasa dikenal dengan istilah UAV  merupakan sebuah sistem penerbangan/ pesawat tanpa pilot yang berada di dalam pesawat tersebut. UAV dapat dikendalikan dengan menggunakan remote dari jarak jauh, diprogram dengan perintah tertentu, atau bahkan dengan sistem pengendalian otomatis yang lebih kompleks. Aplikasi dari teknologi UAV pun beragam mulai dari tugas militer hingga pengamatan udara. Dalam penelitian ini, sebuah UAV akan dikembangkan dengan tiga buah rotor dan satu buah motor servo di bagian belakang UAV. Perancangan model menggunakan software CATIA dengan batasan dimensi (panjang × lebar maksimum 75 × 75 cm dan massa < 2 kg. Analisis struktur rangka dilakukan untuk menguji kekuatan rangka ketika terbang dan membawa beban, dengan menggunakan metode elemen hingga dan kriteria kegagalan Von-Misses. Dalam proses pengerjaan, rancangan dari CATIA dan analisis yang telah dilakukan dalam perancangan tersebut akan digunakan. Hasil yang didapat berupa UAV yang memiliki struktur rangka dengan defleksi maksimum 3,67 mm pada rangka tengah yang berbahan acrylic. Dalam pengujian di lapangan, UAV dapat melakukan gerak roll, pitch, dan yaw yang dikendalikan melalui remote control. Waktu operasi maksimum yang dapat dilakukan adalah selama 7 menit 43 detik.

The Joint Tactical Aerial Resupply Vehicle Impact on Sustainment Operations

Science.gov (United States)

2017-06-09

Artificial Intelligence , Sustainment Operations, Rifle Company, Autonomous Aerial Resupply, Joint Tactical Autonomous Aerial Resupply System 16...Integrations and Development System AI Artificial Intelligence ARCIC Army Capabilities Integration Center ARDEC Armament Research, Development and...Government Printing Office, 2016), 176. 3 HQDA, TRADOC Pam 525-3-1, 11-12. 3 combat team types, such as the Armored Brigade Combat Team and Stryker

Preliminary analysis of the forest health state based on multispectral images acquired by Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

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Czapski Paweł

2015-09-01

Full Text Available The main purpose of this publication is to present the current progress of the work associated with the use of a lightweight unmanned platforms for various environmental studies. Current development in information technology, electronics and sensors miniaturisation allows mounting multispectral cameras and scanners on unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV that could only be used on board aircraft and satellites. Remote Sensing Division in the Institute of Aviation carries out innovative researches using multisensory platform and lightweight unmanned vehicle to evaluate the health state of forests in Wielkopolska province. In this paper, applicability of multispectral images analysis acquired several times during the growing season from low altitude (up to 800m is presented. We present remote sensing indicators computed by our software and common methods for assessing state of trees health. The correctness of applied methods is verified using analysis of satellite scenes acquired by Landsat 8 OLI instrument (Operational Land Imager.

Human factors considerations for the integration of unmanned aerial vehicles in the National Airspace System : an analysis of reports submitted to the Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS)

Science.gov (United States)

2017-06-06

Successful integration of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) operations into the National Airspace System requires the identification and mitigation of operational risks. This report reviews human factors issues that have been identified in operational as...

3D unmanned aerial vehicle radiation mapping for assessing contaminant distribution and mobility

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, P. G.; Kwong, S.; Smith, N. T.; Yamashiki, Y.; Payton, O. D.; Russell-Pavier, F. S.; Fardoulis, J. S.; Richards, D. A.; Scott, T. B.

2016-10-01

Following the events of March 2011 at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, significant quantities of radioactive material were released into the local and wider global environment. At five years since the incident, much expense is being currently devoted to the remediation of a large portion of eastern Japan contaminated primarily by radiocesium, yet further significant expenditure will be required over the succeeding decades to complete this clean-up. People displaced from their homes by the incident are now increasingly keen to return, making it more important than ever to provide accurate quantification and representation of any residual radiological contamination. Presented here is the use of an unmanned aerial vehicle equipped with a laser rangefinder unit to generate a three dimensional point-cloud of an area onto which a radiation contamination map, also obtained concurrently via the unmanned aerial platform, can be rendered. An exemplar site of an un-remediated farm consisting of multiple stepped rice paddy fields with a dedicated irrigation system was used for this work. The results obtained show that heightened radiological contamination exists around the site within the drainage network where material is observed to have collected, having been transported by transient water runoff events. These results obtained in May 2014 suggest that a proportion of the fallout material is highly mobile within the natural environment and is likely to be transported further through the system over the succeeding years.

Digital Counts of Maize Plants by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs

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Friederike Gnädinger

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Precision phenotyping, especially the use of image analysis, allows researchers to gain information on plant properties and plant health. Aerial image detection with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs provides new opportunities in precision farming and precision phenotyping. Precision farming has created a critical need for spatial data on plant density. The plant number reflects not only the final field emergence but also allows a more precise assessment of the final yield parameters. The aim of this work is to advance UAV use and image analysis as a possible high-throughput phenotyping technique. In this study, four different maize cultivars were planted in plots with different seeding systems (in rows and equidistantly spaced and different nitrogen fertilization levels (applied at 50, 150 and 250 kg N/ha. The experimental field, encompassing 96 plots, was overflown at a 50-m height with an octocopter equipped with a 10-megapixel camera taking a picture every 5 s. Images were recorded between BBCH 13–15 (it is a scale to identify the phenological development stage of a plant which is here the 3- to 5-leaves development stage when the color of young leaves differs from older leaves. Close correlations up to R2 = 0.89 were found between in situ and image-based counted plants adapting a decorrelation stretch contrast enhancement procedure, which enhanced color differences in the images. On average, the error between visually and digitally counted plants was ≤5%. Ground cover, as determined by analyzing green pixels, ranged between 76% and 83% at these stages. However, the correlation between ground cover and digitally counted plants was very low. The presence of weeds and blurry effects on the images represent possible errors in counting plants. In conclusion, the final field emergence of maize can rapidly be assessed and allows more precise assessment of the final yield parameters. The use of UAVs and image processing has the potential to

Atmospheric Mining in the Outer Solar System:. [Aerial Vehicle Reconnaissance and Exploration Options

Science.gov (United States)

Palaszewski, Bryan A.

2014-01-01

Atmospheric mining in the outer solar system has been investigated as a means of fuel production for high energy propulsion and power. Fusion fuels such as Helium 3 (3He) and hydrogen can be wrested from the atmospheres of Uranus and Neptune and either returned to Earth or used in-situ for energy production. Helium 3 and hydrogen (deuterium, etc.) were the primary gases of interest with hydrogen being the primary propellant for nuclear thermal solid core and gas core rocket-based atmospheric flight. A series of analyses were undertaken to investigate resource capturing aspects of atmospheric mining in the outer solar system. This included the gas capturing rate, storage options, and different methods of direct use of the captured gases. Additional supporting analyses were conducted to illuminate vehicle sizing and orbital transportation issues. While capturing 3He, large amounts of hydrogen and 4He are produced. With these two additional gases, the potential for fueling small and large fleets of additional exploration and exploitation vehicles exists. Additional aerospacecraft or other aerial vehicles (UAVs, balloons, rockets, etc.) could fly through the outer planet atmospheres, for global weather observations, localized storm or other disturbance investigations, wind speed measurements, polar observations, etc. Deep-diving aircraft (built with the strength to withstand many atmospheres of pressure) powered by the excess hydrogen or helium 4 may be designed to probe the higher density regions of the gas giants. Outer planet atmospheric properties, atmospheric storm data, and mission planning for future outer planet UAVs are presented.

Adaptive vision-based control of an unmanned aerial vehicle without linear velocity measurements.

Science.gov (United States)

Jabbari Asl, Hamed; Yoon, Jungwon

2016-11-01

In this paper, an image-based visual servo controller is designed for an unmanned aerial vehicle. The main objective is to use flow of image features as the velocity cue to compensate for the low quality of linear velocity information obtained from accelerometers. Nonlinear observers are designed to estimate this flow. The proposed controller is bounded, which can help to keep the target points in the field of view of the camera. The main advantages over the previous full dynamic observer-based methods are that, the controller is robust with respect to unknown image depth, and also no yaw information is required. The complete stability analysis is presented and asymptotic convergence of the error signals is guaranteed. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed approach. Copyright © 2016 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Approach for Autonomous Control of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Using Intelligent Agents for Knowledge Creation

Science.gov (United States)

Dufrene, Warren R., Jr.

2004-01-01

This paper describes the development of a planned approach for Autonomous operation of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). A Hybrid approach will seek to provide Knowledge Generation through the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Intelligent Agents (IA) for UAV control. The applications of several different types of AI techniques for flight are explored during this research effort. The research concentration is directed to the application of different AI methods within the UAV arena. By evaluating AI and biological system approaches. which include Expert Systems, Neural Networks. Intelligent Agents, Fuzzy Logic, and Complex Adaptive Systems, a new insight may be gained into the benefits of AI and CAS techniques applied to achieving true autonomous operation of these systems. Although flight systems were explored, the benefits should apply to many Unmanned Vehicles such as: Rovers. Ocean Explorers, Robots, and autonomous operation systems. A portion of the flight system is broken down into control agents that represent the intelligent agent approach used in AI. After the completion of a successful approach, a framework for applying an intelligent agent is presented. The initial results from simulation of a security agent for communication are presented.

Employing unmanned aerial vehicle to monitor the health condition of wind turbines

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Yishuo; Chiang, Chih-Hung; Hsu, Keng-Tsang; Cheng, Chia-Chi

2018-04-01

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) can gather the spatial information of huge structures, such as wind turbines, that can be difficult to obtain with traditional approaches. In this paper, the UAV used in the experiments is equipped with high resolution camera and thermal infrared camera. The high resolution camera can provide a series of images with resolution up to 10 Megapixels. Those images can be used to form the 3D model using the digital photogrammetry technique. By comparing the 3D scenes of the same wind turbine at different times, possible displacement of the supporting tower of the wind turbine, caused by ground movement or foundation deterioration may be determined. The recorded thermal images are analyzed by applying the image segmentation methods to the surface temperature distribution. A series of sub-regions are separated by the differences of the surface temperature. The high-resolution optical image and the segmented thermal image are fused such that the surface anomalies are more easily identified for wind turbines.

Implementation of an unmanned aerial vehicle for new generation Peterbilt trucks

Science.gov (United States)

Srinivasan K, Venkatesh

As science and technology continue to advance, innovative developments in transportation can enhance product safety and security for the benefit and welfare of society. The federal government requires every commercial truck to be inspected before each trip. This pre-trip inspection ensures the safe mechanical condition of each vehicle before it is used. An Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) could be used to provide an automated inspection, thus reducing driver workload, inspection costs and time while increasing inspection accuracy. This thesis develops a primary component of the algorithm that is required to implement UAV pre-trip inspections for commercial trucks using an android-based application. Specifically, this thesis provides foundational work of providing stable height control in an outdoor environment using a laser sensor and an android flight control application that includes take-off, landing, throttle control, and real-time video transmission. The height algorithm developed is the core of this thesis project. Phantom 2 Vision+ uses a pressure sensor to calculate the altitude of the drone for height stabilization. However, these altitude readings do not provide the precision required for this project. Rather, the goal of autonomously controlling height with great precision necessitated the use of a laser rangefinder sensor in the development of the height control algorithm. Another major contribution from this thesis research is to extend the limited capabilities of the DJI software development kit in order to provide more sophisticated control goals without modifying the drone dynamics. The results of this project are also directly applicable to a number of additional uses of drones in the transportation industry.

Auditory decision aiding in supervisory control of multiple unmanned aerial vehicles.

Science.gov (United States)

Donmez, Birsen; Cummings, M L; Graham, Hudson D

2009-10-01

This article is an investigation of the effectiveness of sonifications, which are continuous auditory alerts mapped to the state of a monitored task, in supporting unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) supervisory control. UAV supervisory control requires monitoring a UAV across multiple tasks (e.g., course maintenance) via a predominantly visual display, which currently is supported with discrete auditory alerts. Sonification has been shown to enhance monitoring performance in domains such as anesthesiology by allowing an operator to immediately determine an entity's (e.g., patient) current and projected states, and is a promising alternative to discrete alerts in UAV control. However, minimal research compares sonification to discrete alerts, and no research assesses the effectiveness of sonification for monitoring multiple entities (e.g., multiple UAVs). The authors conducted an experiment with 39 military personnel, using a simulated setup. Participants controlled single and multiple UAVs and received sonifications or discrete alerts based on UAV course deviations and late target arrivals. Regardless of the number of UAVs supervised, the course deviation sonification resulted in reactions to course deviations that were 1.9 s faster, a 19% enhancement, compared with discrete alerts. However, course deviation sonifications interfered with the effectiveness of discrete late arrival alerts in general and with operator responses to late arrivals when supervising multiple vehicles. Sonifications can outperform discrete alerts when designed to aid operators to predict future states of monitored tasks. However, sonifications may mask other auditory alerts and interfere with other monitoring tasks that require divided attention. This research has implications for supervisory control display design.

Analysis of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) hyperspectral remote sensing monitoring key technology in coastal wetland

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Yi; Zhang, Jie; Zhang, Jingyu

2016-01-01

The coastal wetland, a transitional zone between terrestrial ecosystems and marine ecosystems, is the type of great value to ecosystem services. For the recent 3 decades, area of the coastal wetland is decreasing and the ecological function is gradually degraded with the rapid development of economy, which restricts the sustainable development of economy and society in the coastal areas of China in turn. It is a major demand of the national reality to carry out the monitoring of coastal wetlands, to master the distribution and dynamic change. UAV, namely unmanned aerial vehicle, is a new platform for remote sensing. Compared with the traditional satellite and manned aerial remote sensing, it has the advantage of flexible implementation, no cloud cover, strong initiative and low cost. Image-spectrum merging is one character of high spectral remote sensing. At the same time of imaging, the spectral curve of each pixel is obtained, which is suitable for quantitative remote sensing, fine classification and target detection. Aimed at the frontier and hotspot of remote sensing monitoring technology, and faced the demand of the coastal wetland monitoring, this paper used UAV and the new remote sensor of high spectral imaging instrument to carry out the analysis of the key technologies of monitoring coastal wetlands by UAV on the basis of the current situation in overseas and domestic and the analysis of developing trend. According to the characteristic of airborne hyperspectral data on UAV, that is "three high and one many", the key technology research that should develop are promoted as follows: 1) the atmosphere correction of the UAV hyperspectral in coastal wetlands under the circumstance of complex underlying surface and variable geometry, 2) the best observation scale and scale transformation method of the UAV platform while monitoring the coastal wetland features, 3) the classification and detection method of typical features with high precision from multi scale

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Photography: Exploring the Medieval City of Merv, on the Silk Roads of Central Asia

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Tim Williams

2012-12-01

Full Text Available The Ancient Merv Project is a collaboration between the Turkmenistan Ministry of Culture, the Ancient Merv State Park and the UCL Institute of Archaeology. It aims to research, protect and conserve the remains of one of the great historic cities of the Silk Roads. This paper explores a new survey of the Islamic city using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle to take comprehensive and systematic vertical photographs to assist in the analysis of the medieval cityscape. The background to the research and the application of the technology are presented, together with our initial conclusions.

Persistent Aerial Tracking system for UAVs

KAUST Repository

Mueller, Matthias; Sharma, Gopal; Smith, Neil; Ghanem, Bernard

2016-01-01

In this paper, we propose a persistent, robust and autonomous object tracking system for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) called Persistent Aerial Tracking (PAT). A computer vision and control strategy is applied to a diverse set of moving objects (e.g. humans, animals, cars, boats, etc.) integrating multiple UAVs with a stabilized RGB camera. A novel strategy is employed to successfully track objects over a long period, by ‘handing over the camera’ from one UAV to another. We evaluate several state-of-the-art trackers on the VIVID aerial video dataset and additional sequences that are specifically tailored to low altitude UAV target tracking. Based on the evaluation, we select the leading tracker and improve upon it by optimizing for both speed and performance, integrate the complete system into an off-the-shelf UAV, and obtain promising results showing the robustness of our solution in real-world aerial scenarios.

Persistent Aerial Tracking system for UAVs

KAUST Repository

Mueller, Matthias

2016-12-19

In this paper, we propose a persistent, robust and autonomous object tracking system for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) called Persistent Aerial Tracking (PAT). A computer vision and control strategy is applied to a diverse set of moving objects (e.g. humans, animals, cars, boats, etc.) integrating multiple UAVs with a stabilized RGB camera. A novel strategy is employed to successfully track objects over a long period, by ‘handing over the camera’ from one UAV to another. We evaluate several state-of-the-art trackers on the VIVID aerial video dataset and additional sequences that are specifically tailored to low altitude UAV target tracking. Based on the evaluation, we select the leading tracker and improve upon it by optimizing for both speed and performance, integrate the complete system into an off-the-shelf UAV, and obtain promising results showing the robustness of our solution in real-world aerial scenarios.

Aerial infrared monitoring for nuclear fuel cycle facilities in Ukraine

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stankevich, S.A.; Dudar, T.V.; Kovalenko, G.D.; Kartashov, V.V.

2015-01-01

The scientific research overall objective is rapid express detection and preliminary identification of pre-accidental conditions at nuclear fuel cycle facilities. We consider development of a miniature unmanned aerial vehicle equipped with high-precision infrared spectroradiometer able to detect remotely internal warming up of hazardous facilities by its thermal infrared radiation. The possibility of remote monitoring using unmanned aerial vehicle is considered at the example of the dry spent fuel storage facility of the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant. Infrared remote monitoring is supposed to present additional information on the monitored facilities based on different physical principles rather than those currently in use. Models and specifications towards up-to-date samples of infrared surveying equipment and its small-sized unmanned vehicles are presented in the paper.

Cross-Correlation-Based Structural System Identification Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

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Hyungchul Yoon

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Computer vision techniques have been employed to characterize dynamic properties of structures, as well as to capture structural motion for system identification purposes. All of these methods leverage image-processing techniques using a stationary camera. This requirement makes finding an effective location for camera installation difficult, because civil infrastructure (i.e., bridges, buildings, etc. are often difficult to access, being constructed over rivers, roads, or other obstacles. This paper seeks to use video from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs to address this problem. As opposed to the traditional way of using stationary cameras, the use of UAVs brings the issue of the camera itself moving; thus, the displacements of the structure obtained by processing UAV video are relative to the UAV camera. Some efforts have been reported to compensate for the camera motion, but they require certain assumptions that may be difficult to satisfy. This paper proposes a new method for structural system identification using the UAV video directly. Several challenges are addressed, including: (1 estimation of an appropriate scale factor; and (2 compensation for the rolling shutter effect. Experimental validation is carried out to validate the proposed approach. The experimental results demonstrate the efficacy and significant potential of the proposed approach.

Unmanned aerial vehicle-based structure from motion biomass inventory estimates

Science.gov (United States)

Bedell, Emily; Leslie, Monique; Fankhauser, Katie; Burnett, Jonathan; Wing, Michael G.; Thomas, Evan A.

2017-04-01

Riparian vegetation restoration efforts require cost-effective, accurate, and replicable impact assessments. We present a method to use an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) equipped with a GoPro digital camera to collect photogrammetric data of a 0.8-ha riparian restoration. A three-dimensional point cloud was created from the photos using "structure from motion" techniques. The point cloud was analyzed and compared to traditional, ground-based monitoring techniques. Ground-truth data were collected on 6.3% of the study site and averaged across the entire site to report stem heights in stems/ha in three height classes. The project site was divided into four analysis sections, one for derivation of parameters used in the UAV data analysis and the remaining three sections reserved for method validation. Comparing the ground-truth data to the UAV generated data produced an overall error of 21.6% and indicated an R2 value of 0.98. A Bland-Altman analysis indicated a 95% probability that the UAV stems/section result will be within 61 stems/section of the ground-truth data. The ground-truth data are reported with an 80% confidence interval of ±1032 stems/ha thus, the UAV was able to estimate stems well within this confidence interval.

Fast Aerial Video Stitching

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Jing Li

2014-10-01

Full Text Available The highly efficient and robust stitching of aerial video captured by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs is a challenging problem in the field of robot vision. Existing commercial image stitching systems have seen success with offline stitching tasks, but they cannot guarantee high-speed performance when dealing with online aerial video sequences. In this paper, we present a novel system which has an unique ability to stitch high-frame rate aerial video at a speed of 150 frames per second (FPS. In addition, rather than using a high-speed vision platform such as FPGA or CUDA, our system is running on a normal personal computer. To achieve this, after the careful comparison of the existing invariant features, we choose the FAST corner and binary descriptor for efficient feature extraction and representation, and present a spatial and temporal coherent filter to fuse the UAV motion information into the feature matching. The proposed filter can remove the majority of feature correspondence outliers and significantly increase the speed of robust feature matching by up to 20 times. To achieve a balance between robustness and efficiency, a dynamic key frame-based stitching framework is used to reduce the accumulation errors. Extensive experiments on challenging UAV datasets demonstrate that our approach can break through the speed limitation and generate an accurate stitching image for aerial video stitching tasks.

3D MODELLING AND ACCURACY ASSESSMENT OF GRANITE QUARRY USING UNMMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE

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D. González-Aguilera

2012-07-01

Full Text Available The unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs are automated systems whose main characteristic is that can be remotely piloted. This property is especially interesting in those civil engineering works in which the accuracy of the model is not reachable by common aerial or satellite systems, there is a difficult accessibility to the infrastructure due to location and geometry aspects, and the economic resources are limited. This paper aims to show the research, development and application of a UAV that will generate georeferenced spatial information at low cost, high quality, and high availability. In particular, a 3D modelling and accuracy assessment of granite quarry using UAV is applied. With regard to the image-based modelling pipeline, an automatic approach supported by open source tools is performed. The process encloses the well-known image-based modelling steps: calibration, extraction and matching of features; relative and absolute orientation of images and point cloud and surface generation. Beside this, an assessment of the final model accuracy is carried out by means of terrestrial laser scanner (TLS, imaging total station (ITS and global navigation satellite system (GNSS in order to ensure its validity. This step follows a twofold approach: (i firstly, using singular check points to provide a dimensional control of the model and (ii secondly, analyzing the level of agreement between the realitybased 3D model obtained from UAV and the generated with TLS. The main goal is to establish and validate an image-based modelling workflow using UAV technology which can be applied in the surveying and monitoring of different quarries.

Persistent Aerial Tracking

KAUST Repository

Mueller, Matthias

2016-04-13

In this thesis, we propose a new aerial video dataset and benchmark for low altitude UAV target tracking, as well as, a photo-realistic UAV simulator that can be coupled with tracking methods. Our benchmark provides the rst evaluation of many state of-the-art and popular trackers on 123 new and fully annotated HD video sequences captured from a low-altitude aerial perspective. Among the compared trackers, we determine which ones are the most suitable for UAV tracking both in terms of tracking accuracy and run-time. We also present a simulator that can be used to evaluate tracking algorithms in real-time scenarios before they are deployed on a UAV "in the field", as well as, generate synthetic but photo-realistic tracking datasets with free ground truth annotations to easily extend existing real-world datasets. Both the benchmark and simulator will be made publicly available to the vision community to further research in the area of object tracking from UAVs. Additionally, we propose a persistent, robust and autonomous object tracking system for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) called Persistent Aerial Tracking (PAT). A computer vision and control strategy is applied to a diverse set of moving objects (e.g. humans, animals, cars, boats, etc.) integrating multiple UAVs with a stabilized RGB camera. A novel strategy is employed to successfully track objects over a long period, by \\'handing over the camera\\' from one UAV to another. We integrate the complete system into an off-the-shelf UAV, and obtain promising results showing the robustness of our solution in real-world aerial scenarios.

Unmanned aerial systems for photogrammetry and remote sensing: A review

OpenAIRE

Colomina, Ismael; Molina, Pere

2014-01-01

We discuss the evolution and state-of-the-art of the use of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) in the field of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (PaRS). UAS, Remotely-Piloted Aerial Systems, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or simply, drones are a hot topic comprising a diverse array of aspects including technology, privacy rights, safety and regulations, and even war and peace. Modern photogrammetry and remote sensing identified the potential of UAS-sourced imagery more than thirty years ago. In the last...

Aerial Object Following Using Visual Fuzzy Servoing

OpenAIRE

Olivares Méndez, Miguel Ángel; Mondragon Bernal, Ivan Fernando; Campoy Cervera, Pascual; Mejias Alvarez, Luis; Martínez Luna, Carol Viviana

2011-01-01

This article presents a visual servoing system to follow a 3D moving object by a Micro Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (MUAV). The presented control strategy is based only on the visual information given by an adaptive tracking method based on the color information. A visual fuzzy system has been developed for servoing the camera situated on a rotary wing MAUV, that also considers its own dynamics. This system is focused on continuously following of an aerial moving target object, maintai...

Performance of an air sampler and a gamma-ray detector in a small unmanned aerial vehicle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roy Poellaenen; Harri Toivonen; Kari Peraejaervi; Tero Karhunen; Petri Smolander; Tarja Ilander; Kimmo Rintala; Tuure Katajainen; Jarkko Niemelae; Marko Juusela; Timo Palos

2009-01-01

The performance of an air sampler and a small gamma-ray spectrometer was tested in an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) able to carry payload with mass up to 0.5 kg. Operation of the sampler was investigated with the aid of radon progeny normally present in outdoor air. Detection limits for several transuranium nuclides in air are of the order of 0.3 Bq m -3 assuming 0.5 h sampling time and 1 h counting time in direct alpha spectrometry. Unshielded 137 Cs and 60 Co point sources at the ground level were used to test the CsI spectrometer. Detection limits are approximately 1 GBq or larger depending on the flying altitude. (author)

Control and navigation system for a fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle

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Ruiyong Zhai

2014-02-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a flight control and navigation system for a fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV with low-cost micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS sensors. The system is designed under the inner loop and outer loop strategy. The trajectory tracking navigation loop is the outer loop of the attitude loop, while the attitude control loop is the outer loop of the stabilization loop. The proportional-integral-derivative (PID control was adopted for stabilization and attitude control. The three-dimensional (3D trajectory tracking control of a UAV could be approximately divided into lateral control and longitudinal control. The longitudinal control employs traditional linear PID feedback to achieve the desired altitude of the UAV, while the lateral control uses a non-linear control method to complete the desired trajectory. The non-linear controller can automatically adapt to ground velocity change, which is usually caused by gust disturbance, thus the UAV has good wind resistance characteristics. Flight tests and survey missions were carried out with our self-developed delta fixed-wing UAV and MEMS-based autopilot to confirm the effectiveness and practicality of the proposed navigation method.

Reinforcement Learning with Autonomous Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Cluttered Environments

Science.gov (United States)

Tran, Loc; Cross, Charles; Montague, Gilbert; Motter, Mark; Neilan, James; Qualls, Garry; Rothhaar, Paul; Trujillo, Anna; Allen, B. Danette

2015-01-01

We present ongoing work in the Autonomy Incubator at NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) exploring the efficacy of a data set aggregation approach to reinforcement learning for small unmanned aerial vehicle (sUAV) flight in dense and cluttered environments with reactive obstacle avoidance. The goal is to learn an autonomous flight model using training experiences from a human piloting a sUAV around static obstacles. The training approach uses video data from a forward-facing camera that records the human pilot's flight. Various computer vision based features are extracted from the video relating to edge and gradient information. The recorded human-controlled inputs are used to train an autonomous control model that correlates the extracted feature vector to a yaw command. As part of the reinforcement learning approach, the autonomous control model is iteratively updated with feedback from a human agent who corrects undesired model output. This data driven approach to autonomous obstacle avoidance is explored for simulated forest environments furthering autonomous flight under the tree canopy research. This enables flight in previously inaccessible environments which are of interest to NASA researchers in Earth and Atmospheric sciences.

Information Fusion-Based Optimal Attitude Control for an Alterable Thrust Direction Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

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Ziyang Zhen

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Attitude control is the inner-loop and the most important part of the automatic flight control system of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV. The information fusion-based optimal control method is applied in a UAV flight control system in this work. Firstly, a nonlinear model of alterable thrust direction UAV (ATD-UAV is established and linearized for controller design. The longitudinal controller and lateral controller are respectively designed based on information fusion-based optimal control, and then the information fusion flight control system is built up. Finally, the simulation of a nonlinear model described as ATD-UAV is carried out, the results of which show the superiority of the information fusion-based control strategy when compared to the single-loop design method. We also show that the ATD technique improves the anti-disturbance capacity of the UAV.

Issues in bridge deck damage evaluation using aerial photos

Science.gov (United States)

Natarajan, M.; Chen, S. E.; Boyle, C.; Martin, E.; Hauser, E.

2012-04-01

Small format aerial photography (SFAP) with low flying technique is proposed for damage evaluation of bridge decks. High resolution images obtained using under-belly photography can be used to quantify the various bridge deck problems. The conventional truck-mount or vehicle-mount deck imaging technologies require a large number of image samples. Hence the physical scanning is time consuming and it is also challenging consider the size and location of a bridge. Aerial imaging overcomes these issues, but they face different kinds of challenges that are posed by obstacles such as shadow from trees, power lines and vehicles, signs and luminaries structures. The image resolution uncertainty, which is a function of the pilot skills and flying conditions, may also add additional challenges to aerial imaging technique. Hence different image processing tools have to be integrated into a single package to achieve the desired task. This paper summarizes the challenges faced and the preliminary results are presented and discussed.

Autonomous soaring and surveillance in wind fields with an unmanned aerial vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Chen

Small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) play an active role in developing a low-cost, low-altitude autonomous aerial surveillance platform. The success of the applications needs to address the challenge of limited on-board power plant that limits the endurance performance in surveillance mission. This thesis studies the mechanics of soaring flight, observed in nature where birds utilize various wind patterns to stay airborne without flapping their wings, and investigates its application to small UAVs in their surveillance missions. In a proposed integrated framework of soaring and surveillance, a bird-mimicking soaring maneuver extracts energy from surrounding wind environment that improves surveillance performance in terms of flight endurance, while the surveillance task not only covers the target area, but also detects energy sources within the area to allow for potential soaring flight. The interaction of soaring and surveillance further enables novel energy based, coverage optimal path planning. Two soaring and associated surveillance strategies are explored. In a so-called static soaring surveillance, the UAV identifies spatially-distributed thermal updrafts for soaring, while incremental surveillance is achieved through gliding flight to visit concentric expanding regions. A Gaussian-process-regression-based algorithm is developed to achieve computationally-efficient and smooth updraft estimation. In a so-called dynamic soaring surveillance, the UAV performs one cycle of dynamic soaring to harvest energy from the horizontal wind gradient to complete one surveillance task by visiting from one target to the next one. A Dubins-path-based trajectory planning approach is proposed to maximize wind energy extraction and ensure smooth transition between surveillance tasks. Finally, a nonlinear trajectory tracking controller is designed for a full six-degree-of-freedom nonlinear UAV dynamics model and extensive simulations are carried to demonstrate the effectiveness of

Automated Snow Extent Mapping Based on Orthophoto Images from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Niedzielski, Tomasz; Spallek, Waldemar; Witek-Kasprzak, Matylda

2018-04-01

The paper presents the application of the k-means clustering in the process of automated snow extent mapping using orthophoto images generated using the Structure-from-Motion (SfM) algorithm from oblique aerial photographs taken by unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). A simple classification approach has been implemented to discriminate between snow-free and snow-covered terrain. The procedure uses the k-means clustering and classifies orthophoto images based on the three-dimensional space of red-green-blue (RGB) or near-infrared-red-green (NIRRG) or near-infrared-green-blue (NIRGB) bands. To test the method, several field experiments have been carried out, both in situations when snow cover was continuous and when it was patchy. The experiments have been conducted using three fixed-wing UAVs (swinglet CAM by senseFly, eBee by senseFly, and Birdie by FlyTech UAV) on 10/04/2015, 23/03/2016, and 16/03/2017 within three test sites in the Izerskie Mountains in southwestern Poland. The resulting snow extent maps, produced automatically using the classification method, have been validated against real snow extents delineated through a visual analysis and interpretation offered by human analysts. For the simplest classification setup, which assumes two classes in the k-means clustering, the extent of snow patches was estimated accurately, with areal underestimation of 4.6% (RGB) and overestimation of 5.5% (NIRGB). For continuous snow cover with sparse discontinuities at places where trees or bushes protruded from snow, the agreement between automatically produced snow extent maps and observations was better, i.e. 1.5% (underestimation with RGB) and 0.7-0.9% (overestimation, either with RGB or with NIRRG). Shadows on snow were found to be mainly responsible for the misclassification.

Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to Modeling Tornado Impacts

Science.gov (United States)

Wagner, M.; Doe, R. K.

2017-12-01

Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to assess storm damage is a useful research tool. Benefits include their ability to access remote or impassable areas post-storm, identify unknown damages and assist with more detailed site investigations and rescue efforts. Technological advancement of UAVs mean that they can capture high resolution images often at an affordable price. These images can be used to create 3D environments to better interpret and delineate damages from large areas that would have been difficult in ground surveys. This research presents the results of a rapid response site investigation of the 29 April 2017 Canton, Texas, USA, tornado using low cost UAVs. This was a multiple, high impact tornado event measuring EF4 at maximum. Rural farmland was chosen as a challenging location to test both equipment and methodology. Such locations provide multiple impacts at a variety of scales including structural and vegetation damage and even animal fatalities. The 3D impact models allow for a more comprehensive study prior to clean-up. The results show previously unseen damages and better quantify damage impacts at the local level. 3D digital track swaths were created allowing for a more accurate track width determination. These results demonstrate how effective the use of low cost UAVs can be for rapid response storm damage assessments, the high quality of data they can achieve, and how they can help us better visualize tornado site investigations.

Crack identification for rigid pavements using unmanned aerial vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Bahaddin Ersoz, Ahmet; Pekcan, Onur; Teke, Turker

2017-09-01

Pavement condition assessment is an essential piece of modern pavement management systems as rehabilitation strategies are planned based upon its outcomes. For proper evaluation of existing pavements, they must be continuously and effectively monitored using practical means. Conventionally, truck-based pavement monitoring systems have been in-use in assessing the remaining life of in-service pavements. Although such systems produce accurate results, their use can be expensive and data processing can be time consuming, which make them infeasible considering the demand for quick pavement evaluation. To overcome such problems, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) can be used as an alternative as they are relatively cheaper and easier-to-use. In this study, we propose a UAV based pavement crack identification system for monitoring rigid pavements’ existing conditions. The system consists of recently introduced image processing algorithms used together with conventional machine learning techniques, both of which are used to perform detection of cracks on rigid pavements’ surface and their classification. Through image processing, the distinct features of labelled crack bodies are first obtained from the UAV based images and then used for training of a Support Vector Machine (SVM) model. The performance of the developed SVM model was assessed with a field study performed along a rigid pavement exposed to low traffic and serious temperature changes. Available cracks were classified using the UAV based system and obtained results indicate it ensures a good alternative solution for pavement monitoring applications.

Real-Time Multi-Target Localization from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

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Xuan Wang

2016-12-01

Full Text Available In order to improve the reconnaissance efficiency of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV electro-optical stabilized imaging systems, a real-time multi-target localization scheme based on an UAV electro-optical stabilized imaging system is proposed. First, a target location model is studied. Then, the geodetic coordinates of multi-targets are calculated using the homogeneous coordinate transformation. On the basis of this, two methods which can improve the accuracy of the multi-target localization are proposed: (1 the real-time zoom lens distortion correction method; (2 a recursive least squares (RLS filtering method based on UAV dead reckoning. The multi-target localization error model is established using Monte Carlo theory. In an actual flight, the UAV flight altitude is 1140 m. The multi-target localization results are within the range of allowable error. After we use a lens distortion correction method in a single image, the circular error probability (CEP of the multi-target localization is reduced by 7%, and 50 targets can be located at the same time. The RLS algorithm can adaptively estimate the location data based on multiple images. Compared with multi-target localization based on a single image, CEP of the multi-target localization using RLS is reduced by 25%. The proposed method can be implemented on a small circuit board to operate in real time. This research is expected to significantly benefit small UAVs which need multi-target geo-location functions.

Explicit Nonlinear Model Predictive Control for a Saucer-Shaped Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

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Zhihui Xing

2013-01-01

Full Text Available A lifting body unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV generates lift by its body and shows many significant advantages due to the particular shape, such as huge loading space, small wetted area, high-strength fuselage structure, and large lifting area. However, designing the control law for a lifting body UAV is quite challenging because it has strong nonlinearity and coupling, and usually lacks it rudders. In this paper, an explicit nonlinear model predictive control (ENMPC strategy is employed to design a control law for a saucer-shaped UAV which can be adequately modeled with a rigid 6-degrees-of-freedom (DOF representation. In the ENMPC, control signal is calculated by approximation of the tracking error in the receding horizon by its Taylor-series expansion to any specified order. It enhances the advantages of the nonlinear model predictive control and eliminates the time-consuming online optimization. The simulation results show that ENMPC is a propriety strategy for controlling lifting body UAVs and can compensate the insufficient control surface area.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs and Artificial Intelligence Revolutionizing Wildlife Monitoring and Conservation

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Luis F. Gonzalez

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Surveying threatened and invasive species to obtain accurate population estimates is an important but challenging task that requires a considerable investment in time and resources. Estimates using existing ground-based monitoring techniques, such as camera traps and surveys performed on foot, are known to be resource intensive, potentially inaccurate and imprecise, and difficult to validate. Recent developments in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV, artificial intelligence and miniaturized thermal imaging systems represent a new opportunity for wildlife experts to inexpensively survey relatively large areas. The system presented in this paper includes thermal image acquisition as well as a video processing pipeline to perform object detection, classification and tracking of wildlife in forest or open areas. The system is tested on thermal video data from ground based and test flight footage, and is found to be able to detect all the target wildlife located in the surveyed area. The system is flexible in that the user can readily define the types of objects to classify and the object characteristics that should be considered during classification.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and Artificial Intelligence Revolutionizing Wildlife Monitoring and Conservation.

Science.gov (United States)

Gonzalez, Luis F; Montes, Glen A; Puig, Eduard; Johnson, Sandra; Mengersen, Kerrie; Gaston, Kevin J

2016-01-14

Surveying threatened and invasive species to obtain accurate population estimates is an important but challenging task that requires a considerable investment in time and resources. Estimates using existing ground-based monitoring techniques, such as camera traps and surveys performed on foot, are known to be resource intensive, potentially inaccurate and imprecise, and difficult to validate. Recent developments in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), artificial intelligence and miniaturized thermal imaging systems represent a new opportunity for wildlife experts to inexpensively survey relatively large areas. The system presented in this paper includes thermal image acquisition as well as a video processing pipeline to perform object detection, classification and tracking of wildlife in forest or open areas. The system is tested on thermal video data from ground based and test flight footage, and is found to be able to detect all the target wildlife located in the surveyed area. The system is flexible in that the user can readily define the types of objects to classify and the object characteristics that should be considered during classification.

Self-Contained Avionics Sensing and Flight Control System for Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Shams, Qamar A. (Inventor); Logan, Michael J. (Inventor); Fox, Robert L. (Inventor); Fox, legal representative, Christopher L. (Inventor); Fox, legal representative, Melanie L. (Inventor); Ingham, John C. (Inventor); Laughter, Sean A. (Inventor); Kuhn, III, Theodore R. (Inventor); Adams, James K. (Inventor); Babel, III, Walter C. (Inventor)

2011-01-01

A self-contained avionics sensing and flight control system is provided for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The system includes sensors for sensing flight control parameters and surveillance parameters, and a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver. Flight control parameters and location signals are processed to generate flight control signals. A Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) is configured to provide a look-up table storing sets of values with each set being associated with a servo mechanism mounted on the UAV and with each value in each set indicating a unique duty cycle for the servo mechanism associated therewith. Each value in each set is further indexed to a bit position indicative of a unique percentage of a maximum duty cycle for the servo mechanism associated therewith. The FPGA is further configured to provide a plurality of pulse width modulation (PWM) generators coupled to the look-up table. Each PWM generator is associated with and adapted to be coupled to one of the servo mechanisms.

Adaptive control of a quadrotor aerial vehicle with input constraints and uncertain parameters

Science.gov (United States)

Tran, Trong-Toan; Ge, Shuzhi Sam; He, Wei

2018-05-01

In this paper, we address the problem of adaptive bounded control for the trajectory tracking of a Quadrotor Aerial Vehicle (QAV) while the input saturations and uncertain parameters with the known bounds are simultaneously taken into account. First, to deal with the underactuated property of the QAV model, we decouple and construct the QAV model as a cascaded structure which consists of two fully actuated subsystems. Second, to handle the input constraints and uncertain parameters, we use a combination of the smooth saturation function and smooth projection operator in the control design. Third, to ensure the stability of the overall system of the QAV, we develop the technique for the cascaded system in the presence of both the input constraints and uncertain parameters. Finally, the region of stability of the closed-loop system is constructed explicitly, and our design ensures the asymptotic convergence of the tracking errors to the origin. The simulation results are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

THE DRONES ARE COMING. WHAT TO CHOOSE? LOW AND MEDIUM ALTITUDE AERIAL ARCHAEOLOGY ON LIMES TRANSALUTANUS.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dan Ștefan

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Aerial archaeology has more than one century of tradition as a valuable research method. Like archaeology, the aerial reconnaissance is undergoing dynamic changes. The field must face the profound conceptual challenges raised by the evolving demands of archaeologists. In addition, aerial archaeology has to adapt its own methods in order to constantly incorporate new technologies such as: thermal vision, LiDAR and also advanced photogrammetry processing techniques. One of the greatest challenges and promising perspectives for evolution of the field is the arriving and rapidly spreading of small remote controlled aerial vehicles (UAVs – Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, known also as drones. However, a real development of the UAVs based aerial archaeology’s branch is conditioned by the availability of special tailored aerial vehicles for archaeologist’s needs. Unfortunately, the time has not yet come for this, while the major efforts in drones development is spent for aerial videography applications, surveillance and general entertainment. The implementation of a research project, dedicated to the longest built sector of the Roman limes in Dacia – Limes Transalutanus, represented for the authors a suitable occasion to assess the possibilities and limits of the large scale aerial archaeology based on UAVs. On the occasion there were tested two custom flying platforms and one commercial, multiple flight strategies and several processing algorithms. The linear nature and the extent of the site (basically a corridor of 157 km in length called for distinct augmentation of equipment and survey workflows, with applicability in ‘corridor’ archaeological projects like those for highways and utilities networks.

Pedestrian Detection and Tracking from Low-Resolution Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Thermal Imagery

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Yalong Ma

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Driven by the prominent thermal signature of humans and following the growing availability of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, more and more research efforts have been focusing on the detection and tracking of pedestrians using thermal infrared images recorded from UAVs. However, pedestrian detection and tracking from the thermal images obtained from UAVs pose many challenges due to the low-resolution of imagery, platform motion, image instability and the relatively small size of the objects. This research tackles these challenges by proposing a pedestrian detection and tracking system. A two-stage blob-based approach is first developed for pedestrian detection. This approach first extracts pedestrian blobs using the regional gradient feature and geometric constraints filtering and then classifies the detected blobs by using a linear Support Vector Machine (SVM with a hybrid descriptor, which sophisticatedly combines Histogram of Oriented Gradient (HOG and Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT features in order to achieve accurate detection. This research further proposes an approach for pedestrian tracking. This approach employs the feature tracker with the update of detected pedestrian location to track pedestrian objects from the registered videos and extracts the motion trajectory data. The proposed detection and tracking approaches have been evaluated by multiple different datasets, and the results illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods. This research is expected to significantly benefit many transportation applications, such as the multimodal traffic performance measure, pedestrian behavior study and pedestrian-vehicle crash analysis. Future work will focus on using fused thermal and visual images to further improve the detection efficiency and effectiveness.

Nonlinear Dynamic Modeling of a Fixed-Wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle: a Case Study of Wulung

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Fadjar Rahino Triputra

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Developing a nonlinear adaptive control system for a fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV requires a mathematical representation of the system dynamics analytically as a set of differential equations in the form of a strict-feedback systems. This paper presents a method for modeling a nonlinear flight dynamics of the fixed-wing UAV of BPPT Wulung in any conditions of the flight altitude and airspeed for the first step into designing a nonlinear adaptive controller. The model was formed into 10-DOF differential equations in the form of strict-feedback systems which separates the terms of elevator, aileron, rudder and throttle from the model. The model simulation results show the behavior of the flight dynamics of the Wulung UAV and also prove the compliance with the actual flight test results.

1:500 Scale Aerial Triangulation Test with Unmanned Airship in Hubei Province

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Feifei, Xie; Zongjian, Lin; Dezhu, Gui

2014-01-01

A new UAVS (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle System) for low altitude aerial photogrammetry is introduced for fine surveying and mapping, including the platform airship, sensor system four-combined wide-angle camera and photogrammetry software MAP-AT. It is demonstrated that this low-altitude aerial photogrammetric system meets the precision requirements of 1:500 scale aerial triangulation based on the test of this system in Hubei province, including the working condition of the airship, the quality of image data and the data processing report. This work provides a possibility for fine surveying and mapping

Analysis Of Aerial Photography With Drone Type Fixed Wing In Kotabaru, Lampung

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Indreswari Suroso

2018-05-01

Full Text Available In the world of photography is very closely related to the unmanned aerial vehicle called drones. Drones mounted camera so that the plane is pilot controlled from the mainland. Photography results were seen by the pilot after the drone aircraft landed. Drones are unmanned drones that are controlled remotely. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV, is a flying machine that operates with remote control by the pilot. Methode for this research are preparation assembly of drone, planning altitude flying, testing on ground, camera of calibration, air capture, result of aerial photos and analysis of result aerial photos. There are two types of drones, multicopter and fixed wing. Fixed wing  has an airplane like shape with a wing system. Fixed wing use bettery 4000 mAh . Fixed wing drone in this research used   mapping in  This drone has a load ability of 1 kg and operational time is used approximately 30 minutes for an areas 20 to 50 hectares with a height of 100 m  to 200 m and payload 1 kg  above ground level. The aerial photographs in Kotabaru produce excellent aerial photographs that can help mapping the local government in the Kotabaru region.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for High-Throughput Phenotyping and Agronomic Research.

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Yeyin Shi

Full Text Available Advances in automation and data science have led agriculturists to seek real-time, high-quality, high-volume crop data to accelerate crop improvement through breeding and to optimize agronomic practices. Breeders have recently gained massive data-collection capability in genome sequencing of plants. Faster phenotypic trait data collection and analysis relative to genetic data leads to faster and better selections in crop improvement. Furthermore, faster and higher-resolution crop data collection leads to greater capability for scientists and growers to improve precision-agriculture practices on increasingly larger farms; e.g., site-specific application of water and nutrients. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs have recently gained traction as agricultural data collection systems. Using UAVs for agricultural remote sensing is an innovative technology that differs from traditional remote sensing in more ways than strictly higher-resolution images; it provides many new and unique possibilities, as well as new and unique challenges. Herein we report on processes and lessons learned from year 1-the summer 2015 and winter 2016 growing seasons-of a large multidisciplinary project evaluating UAV images across a range of breeding and agronomic research trials on a large research farm. Included are team and project planning, UAV and sensor selection and integration, and data collection and analysis workflow. The study involved many crops and both breeding plots and agronomic fields. The project's goal was to develop methods for UAVs to collect high-quality, high-volume crop data with fast turnaround time to field scientists. The project included five teams: Administration, Flight Operations, Sensors, Data Management, and Field Research. Four case studies involving multiple crops in breeding and agronomic applications add practical descriptive detail. Lessons learned include critical information on sensors, air vehicles, and configuration parameters for both

Performance Analysis of Mobile Ad Hoc Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Communication Networks with Directional Antennas

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Abdel Ilah Alshbatat

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs have the potential of creating an ad hoc communication network in the air. Most UAVs used in communication networks are equipped with wireless transceivers using omnidirectional antennas. In this paper, we consider a collection of UAVs that communicate through wireless links as a mobile ad-hoc network using directional antennas. The network design goal is to maximize the throughput and minimize the end-to-end delay. In this respect, we propose a new medium access control protocol for a network of UAVs with directional antennas. We analyze the communication channel between the UAVs and the effect of aircraft attitude on the network performance. Using the optimized network engineering tool (OPNET, we compare our protocol with the IEEE 802.11 protocol for omnidirectional antennas. The simulation results show performance improvement in end-to-end delay as well as throughput.

Design and control of a vertical takeoff and landing fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Malang, Yasir

With the goal of extending capabilities of multi-rotor unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for wetland conservation missions, a novel hybrid aircraft design consisting of four tilting rotors and a fixed wing is designed and built. The tilting rotors and nonlinear aerodynamic effects introduce a control challenge for autonomous flight, and the research focus is to develop and validate an autonomous transition flight controller. The overall controller structure consists of separate cascaded Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) controllers whose gains are scheduled according to the rotors' tilt angle. A control mechanism effectiveness factor is used to mix the multi-rotor and fixed-wing control actuators during transition. A nonlinear flight dynamics model is created and transition stability is shown through MATLAB simulations, which proves gain-scheduled control is a good fit for tilt-rotor aircraft. Experiments carried out using the prototype UAV validate simulation results for VTOL and tilted-rotor flight.

Modeling and Inverse Controller Design for an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Based on the Self-Organizing Map

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Cho, Jeongho; Principe, Jose C.; Erdogmus, Deniz; Motter, Mark A.

2005-01-01

The next generation of aircraft will have dynamics that vary considerably over the operating regime. A single controller will have difficulty to meet the design specifications. In this paper, a SOM-based local linear modeling scheme of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is developed to design a set of inverse controllers. The SOM selects the operating regime depending only on the embedded output space information and avoids normalization of the input data. Each local linear model is associated with a linear controller, which is easy to design. Switching of the controllers is done synchronously with the active local linear model that tracks the different operating conditions. The proposed multiple modeling and control strategy has been successfully tested in a simulator that models the LoFLYTE UAV.

Control of a Quadcopter Aerial Robot Using Optic Flow Sensing

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Hurd, Michael Brandon

This thesis focuses on the motion control of a custom-built quadcopter aerial robot using optic flow sensing. Optic flow sensing is a vision-based approach that can provide a robot the ability to fly in global positioning system (GPS) denied environments, such as indoor environments. In this work, optic flow sensors are used to stabilize the motion of quadcopter robot, where an optic flow algorithm is applied to provide odometry measurements to the quadcopter's central processing unit to monitor the flight heading. The optic-flow sensor and algorithm are capable of gathering and processing the images at 250 frames/sec, and the sensor package weighs 2.5 g and has a footprint of 6 cm2 in area. The odometry value from the optic flow sensor is then used a feedback information in a simple proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller on the quadcopter. Experimental results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of using optic flow for controlling the motion of the quadcopter aerial robot. The technique presented herein can be applied to different types of aerial robotic systems or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), as well as unmanned ground vehicles (UGV).

Titan Aerial Daughtercraft (TAD) for Surface Studies from a Lander or Balloon

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Matthies, L.; Tokumaru, P.; Sherrit, S.; Beauchamp, P.

2014-06-01

Recent rapid progress on autonomous navigation of micro air vehicles for terrestrial applications opens new possibilities for a small aerial vehicle that could deploy from a Titan lander or balloon to acquire samples for analysis on the mothership.

Monitoring tropical debris-covered glacier dynamics from high-resolution unmanned aerial vehicle photogrammetry, Cordillera Blanca, Peru

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O. Wigmore

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The glaciers of the Cordillera Blanca, Peru, are rapidly retreating and thinning as a result of climate change, altering the timing, quantity and quality of water available to downstream users. Furthermore, increases in the number and size of proglacial lakes associated with these melting glaciers is increasing potential exposure to glacier lake outburst floods (GLOFs. Understanding how these glaciers are changing and their connection to proglacial lake systems is thus of critical importance. Most satellite data are too coarse for studying small mountain glaciers and are often affected by cloud cover, while traditional airborne photogrammetry and lidar are costly. Recent developments have made unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs a viable and potentially transformative method for studying glacier change at high spatial resolution, on demand and at relatively low cost.Using a custom designed hexacopter built for high-altitude (4000–6000 m a. s. l.  operation, we completed repeat aerial surveys (2014 and 2015 of the debris-covered Llaca Glacier tongue and proglacial lake system. High-resolution orthomosaics (5 cm and digital elevation models (DEMs (10 cm were produced and their accuracy assessed. Analysis of these datasets reveals highly heterogeneous patterns of glacier change. The most rapid areas of ice loss were associated with exposed ice cliffs and meltwater ponds on the glacier surface. Considerable subsidence and low surface velocities were also measured on the sediments within the pro-glacial lake, indicating the presence of extensive regions of buried ice and continued connection to the glacier tongue. Only limited horizontal retreat of the glacier tongue was observed, indicating that measurements of changes in aerial extent alone are inadequate for monitoring changes in glacier ice quantity.

An investigation of the accuracy of empirical aircraft design for the development of an unmanned aerial vehicle intended for liquid hydrogen fuel

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Chaney, Christopher Scott

A study was conducted to assess the accuracy of empirical techniques used for the calculation of flight performance for unmanned aerial vehicles. This was achieved by quantifying the error between a mathematical model developed with these techniques and experimental test data taken using an unmanned aircraft. The vehicle utilized for this study was developed at Washington State University for the purpose of flying using power derived from hydrogen stored as a cryogenic liquid. The vehicle has a mass of 32.8 kg loaded and performed a total of 14 flights under battery power for 3.58 total flight hours. Over these flights, the design proved it is capable of sustaining level flight from the power available from a PEM fuel cell propulsion system. The empirical techniques used by the model are explicitly outlined within. These yield several performance metrics that are compared to measurements taken during flight testing. Calculations of required thrust for steady flight over all airspeeds and rates of climb modeled are found to have a mean percent error of 3.2%+/-7.0% and a mean absolute percent error of 34.6%+/-5.1%. Comparison of the calculated and measured takeoff distance are made and the calculated thrust required to perform a level turn at a given rate is compared to flight test data. A section of a test flight is analyzed, over which the vehicle proves it can sustain level flight under 875 watts of electrical power. The aircraft's design is presented including the wing and tail, propulsion system, and build technique. The software and equipment used for the collection and analysis of flight data are given. Documentation and validation is provided of a unique test rig for the characterization of propeller performance using a car. The aircraft remains operational to assist with research of alternative energy propulsion systems and novel fuel storage techniques. The results from the comparison of the mathematical model and flight test data can be utilized to assist

An Aerial Video Stabilization Method Based on SURF Feature

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Wu Hao

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The video captured by Micro Aerial Vehicle is often degraded due to unexpected random trembling and jitter caused by wind and the shake of the aerial platform. An approach for stabilizing the aerial video based on SURF feature and Kalman filter is proposed. SURF feature points are extracted in each frame, and the feature points between adjacent frames are matched using Fast Library for Approximate Nearest Neighbors search method. Then Random Sampling Consensus matching algorithm and Least Squares Method are used to remove mismatching points pairs, and estimate the transformation between the adjacent images. Finally, Kalman filter is applied to smooth the motion parameters and separate Intentional Motion from Unwanted Motion to stabilize the aerial video. Experiments results show that the approach can stabilize aerial video efficiently with high accuracy, and it is robust to the translation, rotation and zooming motion of camera.

Improving a DSM Obtained by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Flood Modelling

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Mourato, Sandra; Fernandez, Paulo; Pereira, Luísa; Moreira, Madalena

2017-12-01

According to the EU flood risks directive, flood hazard map must be used to assess the flood risk. These maps can be developed with hydraulic modelling tools using a Digital Surface Runoff Model (DSRM). During the last decade, important evolutions of the spatial data processing has been developed which will certainly improve the hydraulic models results. Currently, images acquired with Red/Green/Blue (RGB) camera transported by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) are seen as a good alternative data sources to represent the terrain surface with a high level of resolution and precision. The question is if the digital surface model obtain with this data is adequate enough for a good representation of the hydraulics flood characteristics. For this purpose, the hydraulic model HEC-RAS was run with 4 different DSRM for an 8.5 km reach of the Lis River in Portugal. The computational performance of the 4 modelling implementations is evaluated. Two hydrometric stations water level records were used as boundary conditions of the hydraulic model. The records from a third hydrometric station were used to validate the optimal DSRM. The HEC-RAS results had the best performance during the validation step were the ones where the DSRM with integration of the two altimetry data sources.

Remote Sensing of Submerged Aquatic Vegetation in a Shallow Non-Turbid River Using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

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Kyle F. Flynn

2014-12-01

Full Text Available A passive method for remote sensing of the nuisance green algae Cladophora glomerata in rivers is presented using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV. Included are methods for UAV operation, lens distortion correction, image georeferencing, and spectral analysis to support algal cover mapping. Eighteen aerial photography missions were conducted over the summer of 2013 using an off-the-shelf UAV and three-band, wide-angle, red, green, and blue (RGB digital camera sensor. Images were post-processed, mosaicked, and georeferenced so automated classification and mapping could be completed. An adaptive cosine estimator (ACE and spectral angle mapper (SAM algorithm were used to complete the algal identification. Digital analysis of optical imagery correctly identified filamentous algae and background coverage 90% and 92% of the time, and tau coefficients were 0.82 and 0.84 for ACE and SAM, respectively. Thereafter, algal cover was characterized for a one-kilometer channel segment during each of the 18 UAV flights. Percent cover ranged from <5% to >50%, and increased immediately after vernal freshet, peaked in midsummer, and declined in the fall. Results indicate that optical remote sensing with UAV holds promise for completing spatially precise, and multi-temporal measurements of algae or submerged aquatic vegetation in shallow rivers with low turbidity and good optical transmission.

ARM Unmanned Aerial Systems Implementation Plan

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schmid, Beat [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Ivey, Mark [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

2016-11-01

Recent advances in Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) coupled with changes in the regulatory environment for operations of UAS in the National Airspace increase the potential value of UAS to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility. UAS include unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and tethered balloon systems (TBS). The roles UAVs and TBSs could play within the ARM Facility, particularly science questions they could help address, have been discussed in several workshops, reports, and vision documents, including: This document describes the implementation of a robust and vigorous program for use of UAV and TBS for the science missions ARM supports.

Prospective use of unmanned aerial vehicles for military medical evacuation in future conflicts.

Science.gov (United States)

Handford, Charles; Reeves, F; Parker, P

2018-03-09

In order to continue to deliver outstanding medical care on the battlefield, the UK Defence Medical Services must continue to adapt, overcome and actively embrace change. One potential area is the rapid proliferation and sophistication of automated and remote systems such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). UAVs are already used to deliver blood to remote military locations in Afghanistan and defibrillators to those that need them in the USA and Sweden. An area of future opportunity would be to facilitate rapid evacuation of wounded personnel from high intensity, high threat, remote and austere areas directly to specialist care. Such a capability would reduce threat to human life while allowing rapid extraction of casualties from high risk or inaccessible environments straight back to Role 3 care, all of which in these situations is either not possible or carries too much risk using conventional aerial assets. The article aims to highlight a potential future capability, stimulate debate and reflection, all of which is essential for innovation and future organisational development. The potential uses and benefits of UAVs are highlighted including both the challenges and rewards of utilising UAVs for casualty evacuation. Key benefits are reduced risk to human life, cost, ability to insert into areas conventional aircraft cannot and the rapidity of transfer. Challenges are likely to be airspace management, decisions on appropriate level of care to deliver during transit and ultimately user acceptability. The article also highlights that in order to maximise our ability to exploit new technologies, all arms and trades within the military must be involved in collective research and development. Furthermore, sensible corroboration with private companies will further enhance our ability to acquire products that best serve our needs. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use

Thermal/structural/optical integrated design for optical sensor mounted on unmanned aerial vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Gaopeng; Yang, Hongtao; Mei, Chao; Wu, Dengshan; Shi, Kui

2016-01-01

With the rapid development of science and technology and the promotion of many local wars in the world, altitude optical sensor mounted on unmanned aerial vehicle is more widely applied in the airborne remote sensing, measurement and detection. In order to obtain high quality image of the aero optical remote sensor, it is important to analysis its thermal-optical performance on the condition of high speed and high altitude. Especially for the key imaging assembly, such as optical window, the temperature variation and temperature gradient can result in defocus and aberrations in optical system, which will lead to the poor quality image. In order to improve the optical performance of a high speed aerial camera optical window, the thermal/structural/optical integrated design method is developed. Firstly, the flight environment of optical window is analyzed. Based on the theory of aerodynamics and heat transfer, the convection heat transfer coefficient is calculated. The temperature distributing of optical window is simulated by the finite element analysis software. The maximum difference in temperature of the inside and outside of optical window is obtained. Then the deformation of optical window under the boundary condition of the maximum difference in temperature is calculated. The optical window surface deformation is fitted in Zernike polynomial as the interface, the calculated Zernike fitting coefficients is brought in and analyzed by CodeV Optical Software. At last, the transfer function diagrams of the optical system on temperature field are comparatively analyzed. By comparing and analyzing the result, it can be obtained that the optical path difference caused by thermal deformation of the optical window is 138.2 nm, which is under PV ≤1 4λ . The above study can be used as an important reference for other optical window designs.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Based Wireless Sensor Network for Marine-Coastal Environment Monitoring.

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Trasviña-Moreno, Carlos A; Blasco, Rubén; Marco, Álvaro; Casas, Roberto; Trasviña-Castro, Armando

2017-02-24

Marine environments are delicate ecosystems which directly influence local climates, flora, fauna, and human activities. Their monitorization plays a key role in their preservation, which is most commonly done through the use of environmental sensing buoy networks. These devices transmit data by means of satellite communications or close-range base stations, which present several limitations and elevated infrastructure costs. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) are another alternative for remote environmental monitoring which provide new types of data and ease of use. These aircraft are mainly used in video capture related applications, in its various light spectrums, and do not provide the same data as sensing buoys, nor can they be used for such extended periods of time. The aim of this research is to provide a flexible, easy to deploy and cost-effective Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) for monitoring marine environments. This proposal uses a UAV as a mobile data collector, low-power long-range communications and sensing buoys as part of a single WSN. A complete description of the design, development, and implementation of the various parts of this system is presented, as well as its validation in a real-world scenario.

Drift Correction of Lightweight Microbolometer Thermal Sensors On-Board Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

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Francisco-Javier Mesas-Carrascosa

2018-04-01

Full Text Available The development of lightweight sensors compatible with mini unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs has expanded the agronomical applications of remote sensing. Of particular interest in this paper are thermal sensors based on lightweight microbolometer technology. These are mainly used to assess crop water stress with thermal images where an accuracy greater than 1 °C is necessary. However, these sensors lack precise temperature control, resulting in thermal drift during image acquisition that requires correction. Currently, there are several strategies to manage thermal drift effect. However, these strategies reduce useful flight time over crops due to the additional in-flight calibration operations. This study presents a drift correction methodology for microbolometer sensors based on redundant information from multiple overlapping images. An empirical study was performed in an orchard of high-density hedgerow olive trees with flights at different times of the day. Six mathematical drift correction models were developed and assessed to explain and correct drift effect on thermal images. Using the proposed methodology, the resulting thermally corrected orthomosaics yielded a rate of error lower than 1° C compared to those where no drift correction was applied.

A meta-analysis of human-system interfaces in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) swarm management.

Science.gov (United States)

Hocraffer, Amy; Nam, Chang S

2017-01-01

A meta-analysis was conducted to systematically evaluate the current state of research on human-system interfaces for users controlling semi-autonomous swarms composed of groups of drones or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). UAV swarms pose several human factors challenges, such as high cognitive demands, non-intuitive behavior, and serious consequences for errors. This article presents findings from a meta-analysis of 27 UAV swarm management papers focused on the human-system interface and human factors concerns, providing an overview of the advantages, challenges, and limitations of current UAV management interfaces, as well as information on how these interfaces are currently evaluated. In general allowing user and mission-specific customization to user interfaces and raising the swarm's level of autonomy to reduce operator cognitive workload are beneficial and improve situation awareness (SA). It is clear more research is needed in this rapidly evolving field. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Intelligent Unmanned Vehicle Systems Suitable For Individual or Cooperative Missions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Matthew O. Anderson; Mark D. McKay; Derek C. Wadsworth

2007-04-01

The Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has been researching autonomous unmanned vehicle systems for the past several years. Areas of research have included unmanned ground and aerial vehicles used for hazardous and remote operations as well as teamed together for advanced payloads and mission execution. Areas of application include aerial particulate sampling, cooperative remote radiological sampling, and persistent surveillance including real-time mosaic and geo-referenced imagery in addition to high resolution still imagery. Both fixed-wing and rotary airframes are used possessing capabilities spanning remote control to fully autonomous operation. Patented INL-developed auto steering technology is taken advantage of to provide autonomous parallel path swathing with either manned or unmanned ground vehicles. Aerial look-ahead imagery is utilized to provide a common operating picture for the ground and air vehicle during cooperative missions. This paper will discuss the various robotic vehicles, including sensor integration, used to achieve these missions and anticipated cost and labor savings.

Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV to Quantify Spatial Gap Patterns in Forests

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Stephan Getzin

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Gap distributions in forests reflect the spatial impact of man-made tree harvesting or naturally-induced patterns of tree death being caused by windthrow, inter-tree competition, disease or senescence. Gap sizes can vary from large (>100 m2 to small (<10 m2, and they may have contrasting spatial patterns, such as being aggregated or regularly distributed. However, very small gaps cannot easily be recorded with conventional aerial or satellite images, which calls for new and cost-effective methodologies of forest monitoring. Here, we used an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV and very high-resolution images to record the gaps in 10 temperate managed and unmanaged forests in two regions of Germany. All gaps were extracted for 1-ha study plots and subsequently analyzed with spatially-explicit statistics, such as the conventional pair correlation function (PCF, the polygon-based PCF and the mark correlation function. Gap-size frequency was dominated by small gaps of an area <5 m2, which were particularly frequent in unmanaged forests. We found that gap distances showed a variety of patterns. However, the polygon-based PCF was a better descriptor of patterns than the conventional PCF, because it showed randomness or aggregation for cases when the conventional PCF showed small-scale regularity; albeit, the latter was only a mathematical artifact. The mark correlation function revealed that gap areas were in half of the cases negatively correlated and in the other half independent. Negative size correlations may likely be the result of single-tree harvesting or of repeated gap formation, which both lead to nearby small gaps. Here, we emphasize the usefulness of UAV to record forest gaps of a very small size. These small gaps may originate from repeated gap-creating disturbances, and their spatial patterns should be monitored with spatially-explicit statistics at recurring intervals in order to further insights into forest dynamics.

Intelligent Autonomous Aerial Vehicles in the National Airspace, Phase I

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National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and, in particular, intelligent, autonomous aircraft operating in the National Airspace (NAS) have the potential to significantly...

Autonomous Wireless Self-Charging for Multi-Rotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

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Ali Bin Junaid

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Rotary-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs have the ability to operate in confined spaces and to hover over point of interest, but they have limited flight time and endurance. Conventional contact-based charging system for UAVs has been used, but it requires high landing accuracy for proper docking. Instead of the conventional system, autonomous wireless battery charging system for UAVs in outdoor conditions is proposed in this paper. UAVs can be wirelessly charged using the proposed charging system, regardless of yaw angle between UAVs and wireless charging pad, which can further reduce their control complexity for autonomous landing. The increased overall mission time eventually relaxes the limitations on payload and flight time. In this paper, a cost effective automatic recharging solution for UAVs in outdoor environments is proposed using wireless power transfer (WPT. This research proposes a global positioning system (GPS and vision-based closed-loop target detection and a tracking system for precise landing of quadcopters in outdoor environments. The system uses the onboard camera to detect the shape, color and position of the defined target in image frame. Based on the offset of the target from the center of the image frame, control commands are generated to track and maintain the center position. Commercially available AR.Drone. was used to demonstrate the proposed concept which is equppied with bottom camera and GPS. Experiments and analyses showed good performance, and about 75% average WPT efficiency was achieved in this research.

Low Power Greenhouse Gas Sensors for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

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David J. Lary

2012-05-01

Full Text Available We demonstrate compact, low power, lightweight laser-based sensors for measuring trace gas species in the atmosphere designed specifically for electronic unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV platforms. The sensors utilize non-intrusive optical sensing techniques to measure atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations with unprecedented vertical and horizontal resolution (~1 m within the planetary boundary layer. The sensors are developed to measure greenhouse gas species including carbon dioxide, water vapor and methane in the atmosphere. Key innovations are the coupling of very low power vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs to low power drive electronics and sensitive multi-harmonic wavelength modulation spectroscopic techniques. The overall mass of each sensor is between 1–2 kg including batteries and each one consumes less than 2 W of electrical power. In the initial field testing, the sensors flew successfully onboard a T-Rex Align 700E robotic helicopter and showed a precision of 1% or less for all three trace gas species. The sensors are battery operated and capable of fully automated operation for long periods of time in diverse sensing environments. Laser-based trace gas sensors for UAVs allow for high spatial mapping of local greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmospheric boundary layer where land/atmosphere fluxes occur. The high-precision sensors, coupled to the ease-of-deployment and cost effectiveness of UAVs, provide unprecedented measurement capabilities that are not possible with existing satellite-based and suborbital aircraft platforms.

A Summary of NASA Research Exploring the Acoustics of Small Unmanned Aerial Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Zawodny, Nikolas S.; Christian, Andrew; Cabell, Randolph

2018-01-01

Proposed uses of small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) have the potential to expose large portions of communities to a new noise source. In order to understand the potential noise impact of sUAS, NASA initiated acoustics research as one component of the 3-year DELIVER project, with the goal of documenting the feasibility of using existing aircraft design tools and methods on this class of vehicles. This paper summarizes the acoustics research conducted within the DELIVER project. The research described here represents an initial study, and subsequent research building on the findings of this work has been proposed for other NASA projects. The paper summarizes acoustics research in four areas: measurements of noise generated by flyovers of small unmanned aerial vehicles, measurements in controlled test facilities to understand the noise generated by components of these vehicles, computational predictions of component and full vehicle noise, and psychoacoustic tests including auralizations conducted to assess human annoyance to the noise generated by these vehicles.

Hybrid Aerial/Rover Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Bachelder, Aaron

2003-01-01

A proposed instrumented robotic vehicle called an "aerover" would fly, roll along the ground, and/or float on bodies of liquid, as needed. The aerover would combine features of an aerobot (a robotic lighter-than-air balloon) and a wheeled robot of the "rover" class. An aerover would also look very much like a variant of the "beach-ball" rovers. Although the aerover was conceived for use in scientific exploration of Titan (the largest moon of the planet Saturn), the aerover concept could readily be adapted to similar uses on Earth.

Approach for Autonomous Control of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Using Intelligent Agents for Knowledge Creation

Science.gov (United States)

Dufrene, Warren R., Jr.

2004-01-01

This paper describes the development of a planned approach for Autonomous operation of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). A Hybrid approach will seek to provide Knowledge Generation thru the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Intelligent Agents (IA) for UAV control. The application of many different types of AI techniques for flight will be explored during this research effort. The research concentration will be directed to the application of different AI methods within the UAV arena. By evaluating AI approaches, which will include Expert Systems, Neural Networks, Intelligent Agents, Fuzzy Logic, and Complex Adaptive Systems, a new insight may be gained into the benefits of AI techniques applied to achieving true autonomous operation of these systems thus providing new intellectual merit to this research field. The major area of discussion will be limited to the UAV. The systems of interest include small aircraft, insects, and miniature aircraft. Although flight systems will be explored, the benefits should apply to many Unmanned Vehicles such as: Rovers, Ocean Explorers, Robots, and autonomous operation systems. The flight system will be broken down into control agents that will represent the intelligent agent approach used in AI. After the completion of a successful approach, a framework of applying a Security Overseer will be added in an attempt to address errors, emergencies, failures, damage, or over dynamic environment. The chosen control problem was the landing phase of UAV operation. The initial results from simulation in FlightGear are presented.

Fusion of pixel and object-based features for weed mapping using unmanned aerial vehicle imagery

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Junfeng; Liao, Wenzhi; Nuyttens, David; Lootens, Peter; Vangeyte, Jürgen; Pižurica, Aleksandra; He, Yong; Pieters, Jan G.

2018-05-01

The developments in the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and advanced imaging sensors provide new opportunities for ultra-high resolution (e.g., less than a 10 cm ground sampling distance (GSD)) crop field monitoring and mapping in precision agriculture applications. In this study, we developed a strategy for inter- and intra-row weed detection in early season maize fields from aerial visual imagery. More specifically, the Hough transform algorithm (HT) was applied to the orthomosaicked images for inter-row weed detection. A semi-automatic Object-Based Image Analysis (OBIA) procedure was developed with Random Forests (RF) combined with feature selection techniques to classify soil, weeds and maize. Furthermore, the two binary weed masks generated from HT and OBIA were fused for accurate binary weed image. The developed RF classifier was evaluated by 5-fold cross validation, and it obtained an overall accuracy of 0.945, and Kappa value of 0.912. Finally, the relationship of detected weeds and their ground truth densities was quantified by a fitted linear model with a coefficient of determination of 0.895 and a root mean square error of 0.026. Besides, the importance of input features was evaluated, and it was found that the ratio of vegetation length and width was the most significant feature for the classification model. Overall, our approach can yield a satisfactory weed map, and we expect that the obtained accurate and timely weed map from UAV imagery will be applicable to realize site-specific weed management (SSWM) in early season crop fields for reducing spraying non-selective herbicides and costs.

Structural design and fabrication techniques of composite unmanned aerial vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Hunt, Daniel Stephen

Popularity of unmanned aerial vehicles has grown substantially in recent years both in the private sector, as well as for government functions. This growth can be attributed largely to the increased performance of the technology that controls these vehicles, as well as decreasing cost and size of this technology. What is sometimes forgotten though, is that the research and advancement of the airframes themselves are equally as important as what is done with them. With current computer-aided design programs, the limits of design optimization can be pushed further than ever before, resulting in lighter and faster airframes that can achieve longer endurances, higher altitudes, and more complex missions. However, realization of a paper design is still limited by the physical restrictions of the real world and the structural constraints associated with it. The purpose of this paper is to not only step through current design and manufacturing processes of composite UAVs at Oklahoma State University, but to also focus on composite spars, utilizing and relating both calculated and empirical data. Most of the experience gained for this thesis was from the Cessna Longitude project. The Longitude is a 1/8 scale, flying demonstrator Oklahoma State University constructed for Cessna. For the project, Cessna required dynamic flight data for their design process in order to make their 2017 release date. Oklahoma State University was privileged enough to assist Cessna with the mission of supporting the validation of design of their largest business jet to date. This paper will detail the steps of the fabrication process used in construction of the Longitude, as well as several other projects, beginning with structural design, machining, molding, skin layup, and ending with final assembly. Also, attention will be paid specifically towards spar design and testing in effort to ease the design phase. This document is intended to act not only as a further development of current

Superpixel-Based Feature for Aerial Image Scene Recognition

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Hongguang Li

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Image scene recognition is a core technology for many aerial remote sensing applications. Different landforms are inputted as different scenes in aerial imaging, and all landform information is regarded as valuable for aerial image scene recognition. However, the conventional features of the Bag-of-Words model are designed using local points or other related information and thus are unable to fully describe landform areas. This limitation cannot be ignored when the aim is to ensure accurate aerial scene recognition. A novel superpixel-based feature is proposed in this study to characterize aerial image scenes. Then, based on the proposed feature, a scene recognition method of the Bag-of-Words model for aerial imaging is designed. The proposed superpixel-based feature that utilizes landform information establishes top-task superpixel extraction of landforms to bottom-task expression of feature vectors. This characterization technique comprises the following steps: simple linear iterative clustering based superpixel segmentation, adaptive filter bank construction, Lie group-based feature quantification, and visual saliency model-based feature weighting. Experiments of image scene recognition are carried out using real image data captured by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV. The recognition accuracy of the proposed superpixel-based feature is 95.1%, which is higher than those of scene recognition algorithms based on other local features.

Comparative Study of Wing Lift Distribution Analysis for High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) Unmaned Aerial Vehicle

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Silitonga, Faber Y.; Agoes Moelyadi, M.

2018-04-01

The development of High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) has been emerged for both civil and military purposes. Its ability of operating in high altitude with long endurance is important in supporting maritime applications.Preliminary analysis of HALE UAV lift distribution of the wing presented to give decisive consideration for its early development. Ensuring that the generated lift is enough to compensate its own weight. Therotical approach using Pradtl’s non-linear lifting line theory will be compared with modern numerical approach using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). Results of wing lift distribution calculated from both methods will be compared to study the reliability of it. HALE UAV ITB has high aspect ratio wing and will be analyze at cruise flight condition. The result indicates difference between Non-linear Lifting Line and CFD method.

Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for monitoring glacial moulins

Science.gov (United States)

Santagata, Tommaso

2016-04-01

The exploration of cavities on glaciers has always represented a fascinating activity that attracts scientists and researchers since many decades. Several explorations performed by speleologists and scientists since 1985 on the Gorner Gletscher (Mount Rosa group, SW Switzerland) have allowed to survey more than 40 endoglacial caves and some marginal tunnels of this glacier, which is the most interesting in the Alps for its supraglacial and englacial pseudo-karst forms. In recent years, the study of these caves has led to the distinction of two morphological and genetic types: marginal tunnels, that generally forms at the contact between ice and lateral moraine, and swallow holes (moulins) which are vertical shafts where a supraglacial stream sinks into the ice. During the first International glacier-caving camp organized in October 2014 as part of the project "Inside the glaciers" which had the main objective to explore the cavities of this glacier and to study the cryo-karstic processes that lead to the formation of deep shafts, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) equipped with camera and GPS system was used for the first time to perform photogrammetric surveys on three different areas. This technique allowed to derive detailed 3D models with very high resolution and accuracy of the entrance of the main moulins and other interesting parts of this glacier. Thanks to the acquisition of geo-referenced images and post-processing the acquired data (i.e. motion corrections), with the realized 3D point clouds and mesh models it was possible to obtain geo-referenced ortophoto and digital surface models which have been used to calculate contour lines and calculate the difference of position of the same moulins detected during the last years expeditions. Moreover, the data acquired have allowed to perform other different type of surface analysis and obtain an excellent photographic database that will surely be useful for further comparisons in future, proving the importance of

Spatial Quality Evaluation of Resampled Unmanned Aerial Vehicle-Imagery for Weed Mapping.

Science.gov (United States)

Borra-Serrano, Irene; Peña, José Manuel; Torres-Sánchez, Jorge; Mesas-Carrascosa, Francisco Javier; López-Granados, Francisca

2015-08-12

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) combined with different spectral range sensors are an emerging technology for providing early weed maps for optimizing herbicide applications. Considering that weeds, at very early phenological stages, are similar spectrally and in appearance, three major components are relevant: spatial resolution, type of sensor and classification algorithm. Resampling is a technique to create a new version of an image with a different width and/or height in pixels, and it has been used in satellite imagery with different spatial and temporal resolutions. In this paper, the efficiency of resampled-images (RS-images) created from real UAV-images (UAV-images; the UAVs were equipped with two types of sensors, i.e., visible and visible plus near-infrared spectra) captured at different altitudes is examined to test the quality of the RS-image output. The performance of the object-based-image-analysis (OBIA) implemented for the early weed mapping using different weed thresholds was also evaluated. Our results showed that resampling accurately extracted the spectral values from high spatial resolution UAV-images at an altitude of 30 m and the RS-image data at altitudes of 60 and 100 m, was able to provide accurate weed cover and herbicide application maps compared with UAV-images from real flights.

Development of Design Methodology for a Small Solar-Powered Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

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Parvathy Rajendran

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Existing mathematical design models for small solar-powered electric unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs only focus on mass, performance, and aerodynamic analyses. Presently, UAV designs have low endurance. The current study aims to improve the shortcomings of existing UAV design models. Three new design aspects (i.e., electric propulsion, sensitivity, and trend analysis, three improved design properties (i.e., mass, aerodynamics, and mission profile, and a design feature (i.e., solar irradiance are incorporated to enhance the existing small solar UAV design model. A design validation experiment established that the use of the proposed mathematical design model may at least improve power consumption-to-take-off mass ratio by 25% than that of previously designed UAVs. UAVs powered by solar (solar and battery and nonsolar (battery-only energy were also compared, showing that nonsolar UAVs can generally carry more payloads at a particular time and place than solar UAVs with sufficient endurance requirement. The investigation also identified that the payload results in the highest effect on the maximum take-off weight, followed by the battery, structure, and propulsion weight with the three new design aspects (i.e., electric propulsion, sensitivity, and trend analysis for sizing consideration to optimize UAV designs.

Sediment Sampling in Estuarine Mudflats with an Aerial-Ground Robotic Team

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Pedro Deusdado

2016-09-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a robotic team suited for bottom sediment sampling and retrieval in mudflats, targeting environmental monitoring tasks. The robotic team encompasses a four-wheel-steering ground vehicle, equipped with a drilling tool designed to be able to retain wet soil, and a multi-rotor aerial vehicle for dynamic aerial imagery acquisition. On-demand aerial imagery, properly fused on an aerial mosaic, is used by remote human operators for specifying the robotic mission and supervising its execution. This is crucial for the success of an environmental monitoring study, as often it depends on human expertise to ensure the statistical significance and accuracy of the sampling procedures. Although the literature is rich on environmental monitoring sampling procedures, in mudflats, there is a gap as regards including robotic elements. This paper closes this gap by also proposing a preliminary experimental protocol tailored to exploit the capabilities offered by the robotic system. Field trials in the south bank of the river Tagus’ estuary show the ability of the robotic system to successfully extract and transport bottom sediment samples for offline analysis. The results also show the efficiency of the extraction and the benefits when compared to (conventional human-based sampling.

Sediment Sampling in Estuarine Mudflats with an Aerial-Ground Robotic Team

Science.gov (United States)

Deusdado, Pedro; Guedes, Magno; Silva, André; Marques, Francisco; Pinto, Eduardo; Rodrigues, Paulo; Lourenço, André; Mendonça, Ricardo; Santana, Pedro; Corisco, José; Almeida, Susana Marta; Portugal, Luís; Caldeira, Raquel; Barata, José; Flores, Luis

2016-01-01

This paper presents a robotic team suited for bottom sediment sampling and retrieval in mudflats, targeting environmental monitoring tasks. The robotic team encompasses a four-wheel-steering ground vehicle, equipped with a drilling tool designed to be able to retain wet soil, and a multi-rotor aerial vehicle for dynamic aerial imagery acquisition. On-demand aerial imagery, properly fused on an aerial mosaic, is used by remote human operators for specifying the robotic mission and supervising its execution. This is crucial for the success of an environmental monitoring study, as often it depends on human expertise to ensure the statistical significance and accuracy of the sampling procedures. Although the literature is rich on environmental monitoring sampling procedures, in mudflats, there is a gap as regards including robotic elements. This paper closes this gap by also proposing a preliminary experimental protocol tailored to exploit the capabilities offered by the robotic system. Field trials in the south bank of the river Tagus’ estuary show the ability of the robotic system to successfully extract and transport bottom sediment samples for offline analysis. The results also show the efficiency of the extraction and the benefits when compared to (conventional) human-based sampling. PMID:27618060

Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV for High-Resolution Reconstruction of Topography: The Structure from Motion Approach on Coastal Environments

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Francesco Mancini

2013-12-01

Full Text Available The availability of high-resolution Digital Surface Models of coastal environments is of increasing interest for scientists involved in the study of the coastal system processes. Among the range of terrestrial and aerial methods available to produce such a dataset, this study tests the utility of the Structure from Motion (SfM approach to low-altitude aerial imageries collected by Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV. The SfM image-based approach was selected whilst searching for a rapid, inexpensive, and highly automated method, able to produce 3D information from unstructured aerial images. In particular, it was used to generate a dense point cloud and successively a high-resolution Digital Surface Models (DSM of a beach dune system in Marina di Ravenna (Italy. The quality of the elevation dataset produced by the UAV-SfM was initially evaluated by comparison with point cloud generated by a Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS surveys. Such a comparison served to highlight an average difference in the vertical values of 0.05 m (RMS = 0.19 m. However, although the points cloud comparison is the best approach to investigate the absolute or relative correspondence between UAV and TLS methods, the assessment of geomorphic features is usually based on multi-temporal surfaces analysis, where an interpolation process is required. DSMs were therefore generated from UAV and TLS points clouds and vertical absolute accuracies assessed by comparison with a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS survey. The vertical comparison of UAV and TLS DSMs with respect to GNSS measurements pointed out an average distance at cm-level (RMS = 0.011 m. The successive point by point direct comparison between UAV and TLS elevations show a very small average distance, 0.015 m, with RMS = 0.220 m. Larger values are encountered in areas where sudden changes in topography are present. The UAV-based approach was demonstrated to be a straightforward one and accuracy of the vertical dataset

Volumetric calculation using low cost unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) approach

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Rahman, A. A. Ab; Maulud, K. N. Abdul; Mohd, F. A.; Jaafar, O.; Tahar, K. N.

2017-12-01

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) technology has evolved dramatically in the 21st century. It is used by both military and general public for recreational purposes and mapping work. Operating cost for UAV is much cheaper compared to that of normal aircraft and it does not require a large work space. The UAV systems have similar functions with the LIDAR and satellite images technologies. These systems require a huge cost, labour and time consumption to produce elevation and dimension data. Measurement of difficult objects such as water tank can also be done by using UAV. The purpose of this paper is to show the capability of UAV to compute the volume of water tank based on a different number of images and control points. The results were compared with the actual volume of the tank to validate the measurement. In this study, the image acquisition was done using Phantom 3 Professional, which is a low cost UAV. The analysis in this study is based on different volume computations using two and four control points with variety set of UAV images. The results show that more images will provide a better quality measurement. With 95 images and four GCP, the error percentage to the actual volume is about 5%. Four controls are enough to get good results but more images are needed, estimated about 115 until 220 images. All in all, it can be concluded that the low cost UAV has a potential to be used for volume of water and dimension measurement.

THE USE OF MOBILE LASER SCANNING DATA AND UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE IMAGES FOR 3D MODEL RECONSTRUCTION

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L. Zhu

2013-08-01

Full Text Available The increasing availability in multiple data sources acquired by different sensor platforms has provided the great advantages for desired result achievement. This paper proposes the use of both mobile laser scanning (MLS data and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV images for 3D model reconstruction. Due to no available exterior orientation parameters for UAV images, the first task is to georeference these images to 3D points. In order to fast and accurate acquire 3D points which are also easy to be found the corresponding locations on UAV images, automated pole extraction from MLS was developed. After georeferencing UAV images, building roofs are acquired from those images and building walls are extracted from MLS data. The roofs and the walls are combined to achieve the complete building models.

Multi-Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Cooperative Fault Detection Employing Differential Global Positioning (DGPS), Inertial and Vision Sensors.

Science.gov (United States)

Heredia, Guillermo; Caballero, Fernando; Maza, Iván; Merino, Luis; Viguria, Antidio; Ollero, Aníbal

2009-01-01

This paper presents a method to increase the reliability of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) sensor Fault Detection and Identification (FDI) in a multi-UAV context. Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) and inertial sensors are used for sensor FDI in each UAV. The method uses additional position estimations that augment individual UAV FDI system. These additional estimations are obtained using images from the same planar scene taken from two different UAVs. Since accuracy and noise level of the estimation depends on several factors, dynamic replanning of the multi-UAV team can be used to obtain a better estimation in case of faults caused by slow growing errors of absolute position estimation that cannot be detected by using local FDI in the UAVs. Experimental results with data from two real UAVs are also presented.

Vibration control of a camera mount system for an unmanned aerial vehicle using piezostack actuators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oh, Jong-Seok; Choi, Seung-Bok; Han, Young-Min

2011-01-01

This work proposes an active mount for the camera systems of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) in order to control unwanted vibrations. An active actuator of the proposed mount is devised as an inertial type, in which a piezostack actuator is directly connected to the inertial mass. After evaluating the actuating force of the actuator, it is combined with the rubber element of the mount, whose natural frequency is determined based on the measured vibration characteristics of UAV. Based on the governing equations of motion of the active camera mount, a robust sliding mode controller (SMC) is then formulated with consideration of parameter uncertainties and hysteresis behavior of the actuator. Subsequently, vibration control performances of the proposed active mount are experimentally evaluated in the time and frequency domains. In addition, a full camera mount system of UAVs that is supported by four active mounts is considered and its vibration control performance is evaluated in the frequency domain using a hardware-in-the-loop simulation (HILS) method

The remote characterization of vegetation using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle photography

Science.gov (United States)

Rango, A.; Laliberte, A.; Winters, C.; Maxwell, C.; Steele, C.

2008-12-01

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) can fly in place of piloted aircraft to gather remote sensing information on vegetation characteristics. The type of sensors flown depends on the instrument payload capacity available, so that, depending on the specific UAV, it is possible to obtain video, aerial photographic, multispectral and hyperspectral radiometric, LIDAR, and radar data. The characteristics of several small UAVs less than 55lbs (25kg)) along with some payload instruments will be reviewed. Common types of remote sensing coverage available from a small, limited-payload UAV are video and hyperspatial, digital photography. From evaluation of these simple types of remote sensing data, we conclude that UAVs can play an important role in measuring and monitoring vegetation health and structure of the vegetation/soil complex in rangelands. If we fly our MLB Bat-3 at an altitude of 700ft (213m), we can obtain a digital photographic resolution of 6cm. The digital images acquired cover an area of approximately 29,350sq m. Video imaging is usually only useful for monitoring the flight path of the UAV in real time. In our experiments with the 6cm resolution data, we have been able to measure vegetation patch size, crown width, gap sizes between vegetation, percent vegetation and bare soil cover, and type of vegetation. The UAV system is also being tested to acquire height of the vegetation canopy using shadow measurements and a digital elevation model obtained with stereo images. Evaluation of combining the UAV digital photography with LIDAR data of the Jornada Experimental Range in south central New Mexico is ongoing. The use of UAVs is increasing and is becoming a very promising tool for vegetation assessment and change, but there are several operational components to flying UAVs that users need to consider. These include cost, a whole set of, as yet, undefined regulations regarding flying in the National Air Space(NAS), procedures to gain approval for flying in the NAS

Integrating adjustable autonomy in an intelligent control framework

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DeKoven, Elyon A. M.; Wood, Scott D.

2005-10-01

Currently, multiple humans are needed to operate a single uninhabited aerial vehicle (UAV). In the near future, combat techniques will involve single operators controlling multiple uninhabited ground and air vehicles. This situation creates both technological hurdles as well as interaction design challenges that must be addressed to support future fighters. In particular, the system will need to negotiate with the operator about proper task delegation, keeping the operator appropriately apprised of autonomous actions. This in turn implies that the system must know what the user is doing, what needs to be done in the present situation, and the comparative strengths for of the human and the system in each task. Towards building such systems, we are working on an Intelligent Control Framework (ICF) that provides a layer of intelligence to support future warfighters in complex task environments. The present paper presents the Adjustable Autonomy Module (AAM) in ICF. The AAM encapsulates some capabilities for user plan recognition, situation reasoning, and authority delegation control. The AAM has the knowledge necessary to support operator-system dialogue about autonomy changes, and it also provides the system with the ability to act on this knowledge. Combined with careful interaction design, planning and plan-execution capabilities, the AAM enables future design and development of effective human-robot teams.

Photovoltaic electric power applied to Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV)

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Geis, Jack; Arnold, Jack H.

1994-09-01

Photovoltaic electric-powered flight is receiving a great deal of attention in the context of the United States' Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) program. This paper addresses some of the enabling technical areas and their potential solutions. Of particular interest are the long-duration, high-altitude class of UAV's whose mission it is to achieve altitudes between 60,000 and 100,000 feet, and to remain at those altitudes for prolonged periods performing various mapping and surveillance activities. Addressed herein are studies which reveal the need for extremely light-weight and efficient solar cells, high-efficiency electric motor-driven propeller modules, and power management and distribution control elements. Since the potential payloads vary dramatically in their power consumption and duty cycles, a typical load profile has been selected to provide commonality for the propulsion power comparisons. Since missions vary widely with respect to ground coverage requirements, from repeated orbiting over a localized target to long-distance routes over irregular terrain, we have also averaged the power requirements for on-board guidance and control power, as well as ground control and communication link utilization. In the context of the national technology reinvestment program, wherever possible we modeled components and materials which have been qualified for space and defense applications, yet are compatible with civilian UAV activities. These include, but are not limited to, solar cell developments, electric storage technology for diurnal operation, local and ground communications, power management and distribution, and control servo design. And finally, the results of tests conducted by Wright Laboratory on ultralight, highly efficient MOCVD GaAs solar cells purchased from EPI Materials Ltd. (EML) of the UK are presented. These cells were also used for modeling the flight characteristics of UAV aircraft.

Photovoltaic electric power applied to Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV)

Science.gov (United States)

Geis, Jack; Arnold, Jack H.

1994-01-01

Photovoltaic electric-powered flight is receiving a great deal of attention in the context of the United States' Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) program. This paper addresses some of the enabling technical areas and their potential solutions. Of particular interest are the long-duration, high-altitude class of UAV's whose mission it is to achieve altitudes between 60,000 and 100,000 feet, and to remain at those altitudes for prolonged periods performing various mapping and surveillance activities. Addressed herein are studies which reveal the need for extremely light-weight and efficient solar cells, high-efficiency electric motor-driven propeller modules, and power management and distribution control elements. Since the potential payloads vary dramatically in their power consumption and duty cycles, a typical load profile has been selected to provide commonality for the propulsion power comparisons. Since missions vary widely with respect to ground coverage requirements, from repeated orbiting over a localized target to long-distance routes over irregular terrain, we have also averaged the power requirements for on-board guidance and control power, as well as ground control and communication link utilization. In the context of the national technology reinvestment program, wherever possible we modeled components and materials which have been qualified for space and defense applications, yet are compatible with civilian UAV activities. These include, but are not limited to, solar cell developments, electric storage technology for diurnal operation, local and ground communications, power management and distribution, and control servo design. And finally, the results of tests conducted by Wright Laboratory on ultralight, highly efficient MOCVD GaAs solar cells purchased from EPI Materials Ltd. (EML) of the UK are presented. These cells were also used for modeling the flight characteristics of UAV aircraft.

Object Based Building Extraction and Building Period Estimation from Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Data

Science.gov (United States)

Comert, Resul; Kaplan, Onur

2018-04-01

The aim of this study is to examine whether it is possible to estimate the building periods with respect to the building heights in the urban scale seismic performance assessment studies by using the building height retrieved from the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) data. For this purpose, a small area, which includes eight residential reinforced concrete buildings, was selected in Eskisehir (Turkey) city center. In this paper, the possibilities of obtaining the building heights that are used in the estimation of building periods from UAV based data, have been investigated. The investigations were carried out in 3 stages; (i) Building boundary extraction with Object Based Image Analysis (OBIA), (ii) height calculation for buildings of interest from nDSM and accuracy assessment with the terrestrial survey. (iii) Estimation of building period using height information. The average difference between the periods estimated according to the heights obtained from field measurements and from the UAV data is 2.86 % and the maximum difference is 13.2 %. Results of this study have shown that the building heights retrieved from the UAV data can be used in the building period estimation in the urban scale vulnerability assessments.

Integrating dynamic and distributed compressive sensing techniques to enhance image quality of the compressive line sensing system for unmanned aerial vehicles application

Science.gov (United States)

Ouyang, Bing; Hou, Weilin; Caimi, Frank M.; Dalgleish, Fraser R.; Vuorenkoski, Anni K.; Gong, Cuiling

2017-07-01

The compressive line sensing imaging system adopts distributed compressive sensing (CS) to acquire data and reconstruct images. Dynamic CS uses Bayesian inference to capture the correlated nature of the adjacent lines. An image reconstruction technique that incorporates dynamic CS in the distributed CS framework was developed to improve the quality of reconstructed images. The effectiveness of the technique was validated using experimental data acquired in an underwater imaging test facility. Results that demonstrate contrast and resolution improvements will be presented. The improved efficiency is desirable for unmanned aerial vehicles conducting long-duration missions.

Neural network control of a parallel hybrid-electric propulsion system for a small unmanned aerial vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Harmon, Frederick G.

2005-11-01

Parallel hybrid-electric propulsion systems would be beneficial for small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) used for military, homeland security, and disaster-monitoring missions. The benefits, due to the hybrid and electric-only modes, include increased time-on-station and greater range as compared to electric-powered UAVs and stealth modes not available with gasoline-powered UAVs. This dissertation contributes to the research fields of small unmanned aerial vehicles, hybrid-electric propulsion system control, and intelligent control. A conceptual design of a small UAV with a parallel hybrid-electric propulsion system is provided. The UAV is intended for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions. A conceptual design reveals the trade-offs that must be considered to take advantage of the hybrid-electric propulsion system. The resulting hybrid-electric propulsion system is a two-point design that includes an engine primarily sized for cruise speed and an electric motor and battery pack that are primarily sized for a slower endurance speed. The electric motor provides additional power for take-off, climbing, and acceleration and also serves as a generator during charge-sustaining operation or regeneration. The intelligent control of the hybrid-electric propulsion system is based on an instantaneous optimization algorithm that generates a hyper-plane from the nonlinear efficiency maps for the internal combustion engine, electric motor, and lithium-ion battery pack. The hyper-plane incorporates charge-depletion and charge-sustaining strategies. The optimization algorithm is flexible and allows the operator/user to assign relative importance between the use of gasoline, electricity, and recharging depending on the intended mission. A MATLAB/Simulink model was developed to test the control algorithms. The Cerebellar Model Arithmetic Computer (CMAC) associative memory neural network is applied to the control of the UAVs parallel hybrid

Aerial robotic data acquisition system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hofstetter, K.J.; Hayes, D.W.; Pendergast, M.M.

1995-01-01

A small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) equipped with sensors for physical and chemical measurements of remote environments, is described. A miniature helicopter airframe is used as a platform for sensor testing and development. The sensor output is integrated with the flight control system for real-time, interactive, data acquisition and analysis. Pre programmed flight missions will be flown with several sensors to demonstrate the cost-effective surveillance capabilities of this new technology. (author) 10 refs

Acquisition of Bidirectional Reflectance Factor Dataset Using a Micro Unmanned Aerial Vehicle and a Consumer Camera

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Jouni I. Peltoniemi

2010-03-01

Full Text Available This paper describes a method for retrieving the bidirectional reflectance factor (BRF of land-surface areas, using a small consumer camera on board an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV and introducing an advanced calibration routine. Images with varying view directions were taken of snow cover using the UAV. The vignetting effect was corrected from the images, and reflectance factor images were calculated using a calibrated white target as a reference. After spatial registration of the images using a corresponding point method, the target surface was divided into a grid, and a BRF was generated for each grid element. Lastly a model was fitted to the BRF dataset for data interpretation. The retrieved BRF were compared to parallel ground measurements. Comparison showed similar BRF and reflectance factor characteristics, which suggests that accurate measurements can be taken with cheap consumer cameras, if enough attention is paid to calibration of the images.

Mapping Reflectance Anisotropy of a Potato Canopy Using Aerial Images Acquired with an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

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Peter P. J. Roosjen

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Viewing and illumination geometry has a strong influence on optical measurements of natural surfaces due to their anisotropic reflectance properties. Typically, cameras on-board unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs are affected by this because of their relatively large field of view (FOV and thus large range of viewing angles. In this study, we investigated the magnitude of reflectance anisotropy effects in the 500–900 nm range, captured by a frame camera mounted on a UAV during a standard mapping flight. After orthorectification and georeferencing of the images collected by the camera, we calculated the viewing geometry of all observations of each georeferenced ground pixel, forming a dataset with multi-angular observations. We performed UAV flights on two days during the summer of 2016 over an experimental potato field where different zones in the field received different nitrogen fertilization treatments. These fertilization levels caused variation in potato plant growth and thereby differences in structural properties such as leaf area index (LAI and canopy cover. We fitted the Rahman–Pinty–Verstraete (RPV model through the multi-angular observations of each ground pixel to quantify, interpret, and visualize the anisotropy patterns in our study area. The Θ parameter of the RPV model, which controls the proportion of forward and backward scattering, showed strong correlation with canopy cover, where in general an increase in canopy cover resulted in a reduction of backward scattering intensity, indicating that reflectance anisotropy contains information on canopy structure. In this paper, we demonstrated that anisotropy data can be extracted from measurements using a frame camera, collected during a typical UAV mapping flight. Future research will focus on how to use the anisotropy signal as a source of information for estimation of physical vegetation properties.

Detection of Catchment-Scale Gully-Affected Areas Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV on the Chinese Loess Plateau

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Kai Liu

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The Chinese Loess Plateau suffers from serious gully erosion induced by natural and human causes. Gully-affected areas detection is the basic work in this region for gully erosion assessment and monitoring. For the first time, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV was applied to extract gully features in this region. Two typical catchments in Changwu and Ansai were selected to represent loess tableland and loess hilly regions, respectively. A high-powered quadrocopter (md4-1000 equipped with a non-metric camera was used for image acquisition. InPho and MapMatrix were applied for semi-automatic workflow including aerial triangulation and model generation. Based on the stereo-imaging and the ground control points, the highly detailed digital elevation models (DEMs and ortho-mosaics were generated. Subsequently, an object-based approach combined with the random forest classifier was designed to detect gully-affected areas. Two experiments were conducted to investigate the influences of segmentation strategy and feature selection. Results showed that vertical and horizontal root-mean-square errors were below 0.5 and 0.2 m, respectively, which were ideal for the Loess Plateau region. The overall extraction accuracy in Changwu and Ansai achieved was 84.62% and 86.46%, respectively, which indicated the potential of the proposed workflow for extracting gully features. This study demonstrated that UAV can bridge the gap between field measurement and satellite-based remote sensing, obtaining a balance in resolution and efficiency for catchment-scale gully erosion research.

A Near-Hover Adaptive Attitude Control Strategy of a Ducted Fan Micro Aerial Vehicle with Actuator Dynamics

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Shouzhao Sheng

2015-09-01

Full Text Available The aerodynamic parameters of ducted fan micro aerial vehicles (MAVs are difficult and expensive to precisely measure and are, therefore, not available in most cases. Furthermore, the actuator dynamics with risks of potentially destabilizing the overall system are important but often neglected consideration factors in the control system design of ducted fan MAVs. This paper presents a near-hover adaptive attitude control strategy of a prototype ducted fan MAV with actuator dynamics and without any prior information about the behavior of the MAV. The proposed strategy consists of an online parameter estimation algorithm and an adaptive gain scheduling algorithm, with the former accommodating parametric uncertainties, and the latter approximately eliminating the coupling among axes and guaranteeing the control quality of the MAV. The effectiveness of the proposed strategy is verified numerically and experimentally.

Challenges in Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Photogrammetry for Archaeological Mapping at High Elevations

Science.gov (United States)

Adams, J. A.; Wernke, S.

2015-12-01

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), especially multi-rotor vehicles, are becoming ubiquitous and their appeal for generating photogrammetry-based maps has grown. The options are many and costs have plummeted in last five years; however, many challenges persist with their deployment. We mapped the archaeological site Maw­chu Llacta, a settlement in the southern highlands of Peru (Figure 1). Mawchu Llacta is a planned colonial town built over a major Inka-era center in the high-elevation grasslands at ~4,000m asl. The "general resettlement of Indians" was a massive forced resettlement program, for which very little local-level documentation exists. Mawachu Llacta's excellently preserved architecture includes >500 buildings and hundreds of walls spread across ~13h posed significant mapping challenges. Many environmental factors impact UAV deployment. The air pressure at 4,100 m asl is dramatically lower than at sea level. The dry season diurnal temperature differentials can vary from 7°C to 22°C daily. High and hot conditions frequently occur from late morning to early afternoon. Reaching Mawchu Llacta requires hiking 4km with 400m of vertical gain over steep and rocky terrain. There is also no on-site power or secure storage. Thus, the UAV must be packable. FAA regulations govern US UAV deployments, but regulations were less stringent in Peru. However, ITAR exemptions and Peruvian customs requirements were required. The Peruvian government has established an importation and approval process that entails leaving the UAV at customs, while obtaining the necessary government approvals, both of which can be problematic. We have deployed the Aurora Flight Sciences Skate fixed wing ßUAV, an in-house fixed wing UAV based on the Skywalker X-5 flying wing, and a tethered 9 m3 capacity latex meteorological weather balloon. Development of an autonomous blimp/balloon has been ruled-out. A 3DR Solo is being assessed for excavation mapping.

Health monitoring of unmanned aerial vehicle based on optical fiber sensor array

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Yuxiang; Shen, Jingshi; Shao, Fei; Guo, Chunhui; Yang, Ning; Zhang, Jiande

2017-10-01

The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in flight needs to face the complicated environment, especially to withstand harsh weather conditions, such as the temperature and pressure. Compared with conventional sensors, fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensor has the advantages of small size, light weight, high reliability, high precision, anti-electromagnetic interference, long lift-span, moistureproof and good resistance to causticity. It's easy to be embedded in composite structural components of UAVs. In the paper, over 1000 FBG sensors distribute regularly on a wide range of UAVs body, combining wavelength division multiplexing (WDM), time division multiplexing (TDM) and multichannel parallel architecture. WDM has the advantage of high spatial resolution. TDM has the advantage of large capacity and wide range. It is worthful to constitute a sensor network by different technologies. For the signal demodulation of FBG sensor array, WDM works by means of wavelength scanning light sources and F-P etalon. TDM adopts the technology of optical time-domain reflectometry. In order to demodulate efficiently, the most proper sensor multiplex number with some reflectivity is given by the curves fitting. Due to the regular array arrangement of FBG sensors on the UAVs, we can acquire the health state of UAVs in the form of 3D visualization. It is helpful to master the information of health status rapidly and give a real-time health evaluation.

An improved artificial bee colony algorithm based on balance-evolution strategy for unmanned combat aerial vehicle path planning.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Bai; Gong, Li-gang; Yang, Wen-lun

2014-01-01

Unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs) have been of great interest to military organizations throughout the world due to their outstanding capabilities to operate in dangerous or hazardous environments. UCAV path planning aims to obtain an optimal flight route with the threats and constraints in the combat field well considered. In this work, a novel artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm improved by a balance-evolution strategy (BES) is applied in this optimization scheme. In this new algorithm, convergence information during the iteration is fully utilized to manipulate the exploration/exploitation accuracy and to pursue a balance between local exploitation and global exploration capabilities. Simulation results confirm that BE-ABC algorithm is more competent for the UCAV path planning scheme than the conventional ABC algorithm and two other state-of-the-art modified ABC algorithms.

Quantitative Technology Assessment (QTA). Delivery Order 0007: Vehicle Design Technology Developments for Uninhabited Aerial Systems (UAS)

Science.gov (United States)

2015-02-01

80 LIST OF SYMBOLS ...directions. When the shear modulus of the composite above Tg is graphed in a similar manner, the familiar flower shape returns. The error between...rectangular plates: a variational symbolic solution," Computers and Structures, vol. 77, pp. 117-128, 2000. 79 Approved for public release

Design and testing of shape memory alloy actuation mechanism for flapping wing micro unmanned aerial vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Kamaruzaman, N. F.; Abdullah, E. J.

2017-12-01

Shape memory alloy (SMA) actuator offers great solution for aerospace applications with low weight being its most attractive feature. A SMA actuation mechanism for the flapping micro unmanned aerial vehicle (MAV) is proposed in this study, where SMA material is the primary system that provides the flapping motion to the wings. Based on several established design criteria, a design prototype has been fabricated to validate the design. As a proof of concept, an experiment is performed using an electrical circuit to power the SMA actuator to evaluate the flapping angle. During testing, several problems have been observed and their solutions for future development are proposed. Based on the experiment, the average recorded flapping wing angle is 14.33° for upward deflection and 12.12° for downward deflection. This meets the required design criteria and objective set forth for this design. The results prove the feasibility of employing SMA actuators in flapping wing MAV.

Three-Dimensional Digital Documentation of Heritage Sites Using Terrestrial Laser Scanning and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Photogrammetry

Science.gov (United States)

Jo, Y. H.; Kim, J. Y.

2017-08-01

Three-dimensional digital documentation is an important technique for the maintenance and monitoring of cultural heritage sites. This study focuses on the three-dimensional digital documentation of the Magoksa Temple, Republic of Korea, using a combination of terrestrial laser scanning and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) photogrammetry. Terrestrial laser scanning mostly acquired the vertical geometry of the buildings. In addition, the digital orthoimage produced by UAV photogrammetry had higher horizontal data acquisition rate than that produced by terrestrial laser scanning. Thus, the scanning and UAV photogrammetry were merged by matching 20 corresponding points and an absolute coordinate system was established using seven ground control points. The final, complete threedimensional shape had perfect horizontal and vertical geometries. This study demonstrates the potential of integrating terrestrial laser scanning and UAV photogrammetry for three-dimensional digital documentation. This new technique is expected to contribute to the three-dimensional digital documentation and spatial analysis of cultural heritage sites.

The Design of the Longitudinal Autopilot for the LSU-05 Unmanned Aerial Surveillance Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Fajar, Muhammad; Arifianto, Ony

2018-04-01

Longitudinal autopilot design for the LAPAN Surveillance Vehicle LSU-05 will be described in this paper. The LSU-05 is the most recent Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) project of the Aeronautics Technology Center (Pusat Teknologi Penerbangan – Pustekbang), LAPAN. This UAV is expected to be able to carry 30 kg of payload, four surveillance purposes. The longitudinal autopilot described in this paper consists of four modes, those are Pitch damper, Pitch Attitude Hold, Altitude Hold, and Speed Hold. The Autopilot of the UAV will be designed at four operating speeds, namely 15 m/s, 20 m/s, 25 m/s, and 30 m/. The Athena Vortex Lattice software is used to generate the aerodynamic model of the LSU-05. Non-linear longitudinal aircraft dynamics model is then developed in MATLAB/SIMULINK environment. Linearization of the non-linear model is performed using the linearization tool of SIMULINK. The controller is designed, based on the linear model of the aircraft in the state space form. A Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) controller structure is chosen, using root locus method to determine mainly the proportional (P) gain. Integral (I) and derivative (D) gain will only be used if the proportional gain can not achieve the desired target or if an overshoot / undershoot reduction is required. The overshoot/undershoot should not exceed 5% and settling time is less than 20 seconds. The controller designed is simulated using MATLAB and SIMULINK. Preliminary analysis of the controller performance shows that the controller can be used to stabilize the aircraft and to automatize the speed and altitude control throughout the considered speed range.

Configuration and specifications of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV for early site specific weed management.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jorge Torres-Sánchez

Full Text Available A new aerial platform has risen recently for image acquisition, the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV. This article describes the technical specifications and configuration of a UAV used to capture remote images for early season site- specific weed management (ESSWM. Image spatial and spectral properties required for weed seedling discrimination were also evaluated. Two different sensors, a still visible camera and a six-band multispectral camera, and three flight altitudes (30, 60 and 100 m were tested over a naturally infested sunflower field. The main phases of the UAV workflow were the following: 1 mission planning, 2 UAV flight and image acquisition, and 3 image pre-processing. Three different aspects were needed to plan the route: flight area, camera specifications and UAV tasks. The pre-processing phase included the correct alignment of the six bands of the multispectral imagery and the orthorectification and mosaicking of the individual images captured in each flight. The image pixel size, area covered by each image and flight timing were very sensitive to flight altitude. At a lower altitude, the UAV captured images of finer spatial resolution, although the number of images needed to cover the whole field may be a limiting factor due to the energy required for a greater flight length and computational requirements for the further mosaicking process. Spectral differences between weeds, crop and bare soil were significant in the vegetation indices studied (Excess Green Index, Normalised Green-Red Difference Index and Normalised Difference Vegetation Index, mainly at a 30 m altitude. However, greater spectral separability was obtained between vegetation and bare soil with the index NDVI. These results suggest that an agreement among spectral and spatial resolutions is needed to optimise the flight mission according to every agronomical objective as affected by the size of the smaller object to be discriminated (weed plants or weed patches.

Configuration and specifications of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) for early site specific weed management.

Science.gov (United States)

Torres-Sánchez, Jorge; López-Granados, Francisca; De Castro, Ana Isabel; Peña-Barragán, José Manuel

2013-01-01

A new aerial platform has risen recently for image acquisition, the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). This article describes the technical specifications and configuration of a UAV used to capture remote images for early season site- specific weed management (ESSWM). Image spatial and spectral properties required for weed seedling discrimination were also evaluated. Two different sensors, a still visible camera and a six-band multispectral camera, and three flight altitudes (30, 60 and 100 m) were tested over a naturally infested sunflower field. The main phases of the UAV workflow were the following: 1) mission planning, 2) UAV flight and image acquisition, and 3) image pre-processing. Three different aspects were needed to plan the route: flight area, camera specifications and UAV tasks. The pre-processing phase included the correct alignment of the six bands of the multispectral imagery and the orthorectification and mosaicking of the individual images captured in each flight. The image pixel size, area covered by each image and flight timing were very sensitive to flight altitude. At a lower altitude, the UAV captured images of finer spatial resolution, although the number of images needed to cover the whole field may be a limiting factor due to the energy required for a greater flight length and computational requirements for the further mosaicking process. Spectral differences between weeds, crop and bare soil were significant in the vegetation indices studied (Excess Green Index, Normalised Green-Red Difference Index and Normalised Difference Vegetation Index), mainly at a 30 m altitude. However, greater spectral separability was obtained between vegetation and bare soil with the index NDVI. These results suggest that an agreement among spectral and spatial resolutions is needed to optimise the flight mission according to every agronomical objective as affected by the size of the smaller object to be discriminated (weed plants or weed patches).

Computational Simulation of the Flow Past an Airfoil for an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

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L. Velázquez-Araque

2013-08-01

Full Text Available This paper deals with the numerical simulation of the two-dimensional, incompressible, steady air flow past a NACA 2415 airfoil and four modifications of this one. The modification of this airfoil was made in order to create a blowing outlet with the shape of a step on the suction surface. Therefore, five different locations along the cord line for this blowing outlet were analyzed. This analysis involved the aerodynamic performance which meant obtaining lift, drag and pitching moment coefficients curves as a function of the angle of attack for the situation where the engine of the aerial vehicle is turned off called the no blowing condition by means computational fluid dynamics. The RNG k-ε model is utilized to describe the turbulent flow process. The simulations were held at a Reynolds number of 105. Results allowed obtaining lift and drag forces and pitching moment coefficient and also the location of the separation and reattachment point in some cases for different angles of attack, from 0 to 16 degrees with the smallest increment of 4 degrees. Finally, numerical results were compared with results obtained from wind tunnel tests by means of an aerodynamic balance and also oil and smoke visualization techniques and found to be in very good agreement.

Low altitude unmanned aerial vehicle for characterising remediation effectiveness following the FDNPP accident

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martin, P.G.; Payton, O.D.; Fardoulis, J.S.; Richards, D.A.; Yamashiki, Y.; Scott, T.B.

2016-01-01

On the 12th of March 2011, The Great Tōhoku Earthquake occurred 70 km off the eastern coast of Japan, generating a large 14 m high tsunami. The ensuing catalogue of events over the succeeding 12 d resulted in the release of considerable quantities of radioactive material into the environment. Important to the large-scale remediation of the affected areas is the accurate and high spatial resolution characterisation of contamination, including the verification of decontaminated areas. To enable this, a low altitude unmanned aerial vehicle equipped with a lightweight gamma-spectrometer and height normalisation system was used to produce sub-meter resolution maps of contamination. This system provided a valuable method to examine both contaminated and remediated areas rapidly, whilst greatly reducing the dose received by the operator, typically in localities formerly inaccessible to ground-based survey methods. The characterisation of three sites within Fukushima Prefecture is presented; one remediated (and a site of much previous attention), one un-remediated and a third having been subjected to an alternative method to reduce emitted radiation dose. - Highlights: • Contamination near FDNPP was mapped with a UAV. • Effectiveness of remediation is observed. • Sub-meter resolution mapping is achieved. • Isotopic nature of radiation is determined.

Metadata-Assisted Global Motion Estimation for Medium-Altitude Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Video Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hongguang Li

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Global motion estimation (GME is a key technology in unmanned aerial vehicle remote sensing (UAVRS. However, when a UAV’s motion and behavior change significantly or the image information is not rich, traditional image-based methods for GME often perform poorly. Introducing bottom metadata can improve precision in a large-scale motion condition and reduce the dependence on unreliable image information. GME is divided into coarse and residual GME through coordinate transformation and based on the study hypotheses. In coarse GME, an auxiliary image is built to convert image matching from a wide baseline condition to a narrow baseline one. In residual GME, a novel information and contrast feature detection algorithm is proposed for big-block matching to maximize the use of reliable image information and ensure that the contents of interest are well estimated. Additionally, an image motion monitor is designed to select the appropriate processing strategy by monitoring the motion scales of translation, rotation, and zoom. A medium-altitude UAV is employed to collect three types of large-scale motion datasets. Peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR and motion scale are computed. This study’s result is encouraging and applicable to other medium- or high-altitude UAVs with a similar system structure.

Near Real-Time Georeference of Umanned Aerial Vehicle Images for Post-Earthquake Response

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, S.; Wang, X.; Dou, A.; Yuan, X.; Ding, L.; Ding, X.

2018-04-01

The rapid collection of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) remote sensing images plays an important role in the fast submitting disaster information and the monitored serious damaged objects after the earthquake. However, for hundreds of UAV images collected in one flight sortie, the traditional data processing methods are image stitching and three-dimensional reconstruction, which take one to several hours, and affect the speed of disaster response. If the manual searching method is employed, we will spend much more time to select the images and the find images do not have spatial reference. Therefore, a near-real-time rapid georeference method for UAV remote sensing disaster data is proposed in this paper. The UAV images are achieved georeference combined with the position and attitude data collected by UAV flight control system, and the georeferenced data is organized by means of world file which is developed by ESRI. The C # language is adopted to compile the UAV images rapid georeference software, combined with Geospatial Data Abstraction Library (GDAL). The result shows that it can realize rapid georeference of remote sensing disaster images for up to one thousand UAV images within one minute, and meets the demand of rapid disaster response, which is of great value in disaster emergency application.

A fully convolutional network for weed mapping of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) imagery.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Huasheng; Deng, Jizhong; Lan, Yubin; Yang, Aqing; Deng, Xiaoling; Zhang, Lei

2018-01-01

Appropriate Site Specific Weed Management (SSWM) is crucial to ensure the crop yields. Within SSWM of large-scale area, remote sensing is a key technology to provide accurate weed distribution information. Compared with satellite and piloted aircraft remote sensing, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is capable of capturing high spatial resolution imagery, which will provide more detailed information for weed mapping. The objective of this paper is to generate an accurate weed cover map based on UAV imagery. The UAV RGB imagery was collected in 2017 October over the rice field located in South China. The Fully Convolutional Network (FCN) method was proposed for weed mapping of the collected imagery. Transfer learning was used to improve generalization capability, and skip architecture was applied to increase the prediction accuracy. After that, the performance of FCN architecture was compared with Patch_based CNN algorithm and Pixel_based CNN method. Experimental results showed that our FCN method outperformed others, both in terms of accuracy and efficiency. The overall accuracy of the FCN approach was up to 0.935 and the accuracy for weed recognition was 0.883, which means that this algorithm is capable of generating accurate weed cover maps for the evaluated UAV imagery.

Multi-temporal high resolution monitoring of debris-covered glaciers using unmanned aerial vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Kraaijenbrink, Philip; Immerzeel, Walter; de Jong, Steven; Shea, Joseph; Pellicciotti, Francesca; Meijer, Sander; Shresta, Arun

2016-04-01

Debris-covered glaciers in the Himalayas are relatively unstudied due to the difficulties in fieldwork caused by the inaccessible terrain and the presence of debris layers, which complicate in situ measurements. To overcome these difficulties an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has been deployed multiple times over two debris covered glaciers in the Langtang catchment, located in the Nepalese Himalayas. Using differential GPS measurements and the Structure for Motion algorithm the UAV imagery was processed into accurate high-resolution digital elevation models and orthomosaics for both pre- and post-monsoon periods. These data were successfully used to estimate seasonal surface flow and mass wasting by using cross-correlation feature tracking and DEM differencing techniques. The results reveal large heterogeneity in mass loss and surface flow over the glacier surfaces, which are primarily caused by the presence of surface features such as ice cliffs and supra-glacial lakes. Accordingly, we systematically analyze those features using an object-based approach and relate their characteristics to the observed dynamics. We show that ice cliffs and supra-glacial lakes are contributing to a significant portion of the melt water of debris covered glaciers and we conclude that UAVs have great potential in understanding the key surface processes that remain largely undetected by using satellite remote sensing.

NEAR REAL-TIME GEOREFERENCE OF UMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE IMAGES FOR POST-EARTHQUAKE RESPONSE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Wang

2018-04-01

Full Text Available The rapid collection of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV remote sensing images plays an important role in the fast submitting disaster information and the monitored serious damaged objects after the earthquake. However, for hundreds of UAV images collected in one flight sortie, the traditional data processing methods are image stitching and three-dimensional reconstruction, which take one to several hours, and affect the speed of disaster response. If the manual searching method is employed, we will spend much more time to select the images and the find images do not have spatial reference. Therefore, a near-real-time rapid georeference method for UAV remote sensing disaster data is proposed in this paper. The UAV images are achieved georeference combined with the position and attitude data collected by UAV flight control system, and the georeferenced data is organized by means of world file which is developed by ESRI. The C # language is adopted to compile the UAV images rapid georeference software, combined with Geospatial Data Abstraction Library (GDAL. The result shows that it can realize rapid georeference of remote sensing disaster images for up to one thousand UAV images within one minute, and meets the demand of rapid disaster response, which is of great value in disaster emergency application.

High-Throughput 3-D Monitoring of Agricultural-Tree Plantations with Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Technology

Science.gov (United States)

Torres-Sánchez, Jorge; López-Granados, Francisca; Serrano, Nicolás; Arquero, Octavio; Peña, José M.

2015-01-01

The geometric features of agricultural trees such as canopy area, tree height and crown volume provide useful information about plantation status and crop production. However, these variables are mostly estimated after a time-consuming and hard field work and applying equations that treat the trees as geometric solids, which produce inconsistent results. As an alternative, this work presents an innovative procedure for computing the 3-dimensional geometric features of individual trees and tree-rows by applying two consecutive phases: 1) generation of Digital Surface Models with Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technology and 2) use of object-based image analysis techniques. Our UAV-based procedure produced successful results both in single-tree and in tree-row plantations, reporting up to 97% accuracy on area quantification and minimal deviations compared to in-field estimations of tree heights and crown volumes. The maps generated could be used to understand the linkages between tree grown and field-related factors or to optimize crop management operations in the context of precision agriculture with relevant agro-environmental implications. PMID:26107174

High-Throughput 3-D Monitoring of Agricultural-Tree Plantations with Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Torres-Sánchez, Jorge; López-Granados, Francisca; Serrano, Nicolás; Arquero, Octavio; Peña, José M

2015-01-01

The geometric features of agricultural trees such as canopy area, tree height and crown volume provide useful information about plantation status and crop production. However, these variables are mostly estimated after a time-consuming and hard field work and applying equations that treat the trees as geometric solids, which produce inconsistent results. As an alternative, this work presents an innovative procedure for computing the 3-dimensional geometric features of individual trees and tree-rows by applying two consecutive phases: 1) generation of Digital Surface Models with Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technology and 2) use of object-based image analysis techniques. Our UAV-based procedure produced successful results both in single-tree and in tree-row plantations, reporting up to 97% accuracy on area quantification and minimal deviations compared to in-field estimations of tree heights and crown volumes. The maps generated could be used to understand the linkages between tree grown and field-related factors or to optimize crop management operations in the context of precision agriculture with relevant agro-environmental implications.

A Computational Study of the Effect of Winglets on the Performance of Micro-Aerial Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Mönttinen, Jarmo T.; Reed, Helen L.; Squires, Kyle D.; Saric, William S.

2003-11-01

Since mid-1990's an increased interest in developing Micro-Aerial Vehicles (MAVs) has been expressed by military and civilian entities. An MAV is required to have a nominal maximum dimension of 6 inches and to fly at 5 to 20 m/s, which leads to chord Reynolds numbers of 50,000 to 200,000. Despite a wide variety of research projects in universities, companies, and government agencies, the MAV-design problem remains unsolved to a satisfactory manner. The current study uses the Finite Volume solver Cobalt to computationally investigate the effect of winglets on the performance of MAVs. Historically the effectiveness of winglets is addressed in terms of drag reduction. For MAVs, the increase in lift obtained through the addition of winglets is more important as this increase is required to enable low-speed flight. The current results show that winglets can lead to an increase in lift that is sufficiently large to improve the lift-to-drag-ratio as well despite the increased form drag that is typically larger than the decrease in the induced drag.

High-Throughput 3-D Monitoring of Agricultural-Tree Plantations with Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV Technology.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jorge Torres-Sánchez

Full Text Available The geometric features of agricultural trees such as canopy area, tree height and crown volume provide useful information about plantation status and crop production. However, these variables are mostly estimated after a time-consuming and hard field work and applying equations that treat the trees as geometric solids, which produce inconsistent results. As an alternative, this work presents an innovative procedure for computing the 3-dimensional geometric features of individual trees and tree-rows by applying two consecutive phases: 1 generation of Digital Surface Models with Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV technology and 2 use of object-based image analysis techniques. Our UAV-based procedure produced successful results both in single-tree and in tree-row plantations, reporting up to 97% accuracy on area quantification and minimal deviations compared to in-field estimations of tree heights and crown volumes. The maps generated could be used to understand the linkages between tree grown and field-related factors or to optimize crop management operations in the context of precision agriculture with relevant agro-environmental implications.

Modeling and Robust Trajectory Tracking Control for a Novel Six-Rotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chengshun Yang

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Modeling and trajectory tracking control of a novel six-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV is concerned to solve problems such as smaller payload capacity and lack of both hardware redundancy and anticrosswind capability for quad-rotor. The mathematical modeling for the six-rotor UAV is developed on the basis of the Newton-Euler formalism, and a second-order sliding-mode disturbance observer (SOSMDO is proposed to reconstruct the disturbances of the rotational dynamics. In consideration of the under-actuated and strong coupling properties of the six-rotor UAV, a nested double loops trajectory tracking control strategy is adopted. In the outer loop, a position error PID controller is designed, of which the task is to compare the desired trajectory with real position of the six-rotor UAV and export the desired attitude angles to the inner loop. In the inner loop, a rapid-convergent nonlinear differentiator (RCND is proposed to calculate the derivatives of the virtual control signal, instead of using the analytical differentiation, to avoid “differential expansion” in the procedure of the attitude controller design. Finally, the validity and effectiveness of the proposed technique are demonstrated by the simulation results.

Deep convolutional neural network for classifying Fusarium wilt of radish from unmanned aerial vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Ha, Jin Gwan; Moon, Hyeonjoon; Kwak, Jin Tae; Hassan, Syed Ibrahim; Dang, Minh; Lee, O. New; Park, Han Yong

2017-10-01

Recently, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have gained much attention. In particular, there is a growing interest in utilizing UAVs for agricultural applications such as crop monitoring and management. We propose a computerized system that is capable of detecting Fusarium wilt of radish with high accuracy. The system adopts computer vision and machine learning techniques, including deep learning, to process the images captured by UAVs at low altitudes and to identify the infected radish. The whole radish field is first segmented into three distinctive regions (radish, bare ground, and mulching film) via a softmax classifier and K-means clustering. Then, the identified radish regions are further classified into healthy radish and Fusarium wilt of radish using a deep convolutional neural network (CNN). In identifying radish, bare ground, and mulching film from a radish field, we achieved an accuracy of ≥97.4%. In detecting Fusarium wilt of radish, the CNN obtained an accuracy of 93.3%. It also outperformed the standard machine learning algorithm, obtaining 82.9% accuracy. Therefore, UAVs equipped with computational techniques are promising tools for improving the quality and efficiency of agriculture today.

Coastal Ecosystem Assessment, Development and Creation of a Policy Tool using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for: A Case Study of Western Puerto Rico Coastal Region

Science.gov (United States)

Munoz Barreto, J.; Pillich, J.; Aponte Bermúdez, L. D.; Torres Pagan, G.

2017-12-01

This project utilizes low-cost Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) based systems for different applications, such as low-altitude (high resolution) aerial photogrammetry for aerial analysis of vegetation, reconstruction of beach topography and mapping coastal erosion to understand, and estimated ecosystem values. As part of this work, five testbeds coastal sites, designated as the Caribbean Littoral Aerial Surveillance System (CLASS), were established. The sites are distributed along western Puerto Rico coastline where population and industry (tourism) are very much clustered and dense along the coast. Over the past year, rapid post-storm deployment of UAV surveying has been successfully integrated into the CLASS sites, specifically at Rincon (Puerto Rico), where coastal erosion has raised the public and government concern over the past decades. A case study is presented here where we collected aerial photos before and after the swells caused by Hurricane Mathew (October 2016). We merged the point cloud obtained from the UAV photogrammetric assessment with topo-bathymetric data, to get a complete beach topography. Using the rectified and georeferenced UAV orthophotos, we identified the maximum wave runup for the pre-swell and post-swell events. Also, we used numerical modeling (X-Beach) to simulate the rate-of-change dynamics of the coastal zones and compare the model results to observed values (including multiple historic shoreline positions). In summary, our project has accomplished the first milestone which is the Development and Implementation of an Effective Shoreline Monitoring Program using UAVs. The activities of the monitoring program have enabled the collection of crucial data for coastal mapping along Puerto Rico's shorelines with emphasis on coastal erosion hot spots zones and ecosystem values. Our results highlight the potential of the synergy between UAVs, photogrammetry, and Geographic Information Systems to provide faster and low-cost reliable

A method for using unmanned aerial vehicles for emergency investigation of single geo-hazards and sample applications of this method

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Haifeng; Long, Jingjing; Yi, Wu; Yi, Qinglin; Zhang, Guodong; Lei, Bangjun

2017-11-01

In recent years, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have become widely used in emergency investigations of major natural hazards over large areas; however, UAVs are less commonly employed to investigate single geo-hazards. Based on a number of successful investigations in the Three Gorges Reservoir area, China, a complete UAV-based method for performing emergency investigations of single geo-hazards is described. First, a customized UAV system that consists of a multi-rotor UAV subsystem, an aerial photography subsystem, a ground control subsystem and a ground surveillance subsystem is described in detail. The implementation process, which includes four steps, i.e., indoor preparation, site investigation, on-site fast processing and application, and indoor comprehensive processing and application, is then elaborated, and two investigation schemes, automatic and manual, that are used in the site investigation step are put forward. Moreover, some key techniques and methods - e.g., the layout and measurement of ground control points (GCPs), route planning, flight control and image collection, and the Structure from Motion (SfM) photogrammetry processing - are explained. Finally, three applications are given. Experience has shown that using UAVs for emergency investigation of single geo-hazards greatly reduces the time, intensity and risks associated with on-site work and provides valuable, high-accuracy, high-resolution information that supports emergency responses.

Autonomous charging to enable long-endurance missions for small aerial robots

Science.gov (United States)

Mulgaonkar, Yash; Kumar, Vijay

2014-06-01

The past decade has seen an increased interest towards research involving Autonomous Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs). The predominant reason for this is their agility and ability to perform tasks too difficult or dangerous for their human counterparts and to navigate into places where ground robots cannot reach. Among MAVs, rotary wing aircraft such as quadrotors have the ability to operate in confined spaces, hover at a given point in space and perch1 or land on a flat surface. This makes the quadrotor a very attractive aerial platform giving rise to a myriad of research opportunities. The potential of these aerial platforms is severely limited by the constraints on the flight time due to limited battery capacity. This in turn arises from limits on the payload of these rotorcraft. By automating the battery recharging process, creating autonomous MAVs that can recharge their on-board batteries without any human intervention and by employing a team of such agents, the overall mission time can be greatly increased. This paper describes the development, testing, and implementation of a system of autonomous charging stations for a team of Micro Aerial Vehicles. This system was used to perform fully autonomous long-term multi-agent aerial surveillance experiments with persistent station keeping. The scalability of the algorithm used in the experiments described in this paper was also tested by simulating a persistence surveillance scenario for 10 MAVs and charging stations. Finally, this system was successfully implemented to perform a 9½ hour multi-agent persistent flight test. Preliminary implementation of this charging system in experiments involving construction of cubic structures with quadrotors showed a three-fold increase in effective mission time.

Assessing the Accuracy of Georeferenced Point Clouds Produced via Multi-View Stereopsis from Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV Imagery

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arko Lucieer

2012-05-01

Full Text Available Sensor miniaturisation, improved battery technology and the availability of low-cost yet advanced Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV have provided new opportunities for environmental remote sensing. The UAV provides a platform for close-range aerial photography. Detailed imagery captured from micro-UAV can produce dense point clouds using multi-view stereopsis (MVS techniques combining photogrammetry and computer vision. This study applies MVS techniques to imagery acquired from a multi-rotor micro-UAV of a natural coastal site in southeastern Tasmania, Australia. A very dense point cloud ( < 1–3 cm point spacing is produced in an arbitrary coordinate system using full resolution imagery, whereas other studies usually downsample the original imagery. The point cloud is sparse in areas of complex vegetation and where surfaces have a homogeneous texture. Ground control points collected with Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS are identified and used for georeferencing via a Helmert transformation. This study compared georeferenced point clouds to a Total Station survey in order to assess and quantify their geometric accuracy. The results indicate that a georeferenced point cloud accurate to 25–40 mm can be obtained from imagery acquired from 50 m. UAV-based image capture provides the spatial and temporal resolution required to map and monitor natural landscapes. This paper assesses the accuracy of the generated point clouds based on field survey points. Based on our key findings we conclude that sub-decimetre terrain change (in this case coastal erosion can be monitored.

An Improved Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm Based on Balance-Evolution Strategy for Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle Path Planning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bai Li

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs have been of great interest to military organizations throughout the world due to their outstanding capabilities to operate in dangerous or hazardous environments. UCAV path planning aims to obtain an optimal flight route with the threats and constraints in the combat field well considered. In this work, a novel artificial bee colony (ABC algorithm improved by a balance-evolution strategy (BES is applied in this optimization scheme. In this new algorithm, convergence information during the iteration is fully utilized to manipulate the exploration/exploitation accuracy and to pursue a balance between local exploitation and global exploration capabilities. Simulation results confirm that BE-ABC algorithm is more competent for the UCAV path planning scheme than the conventional ABC algorithm and two other state-of-the-art modified ABC algorithms.

UNMANNED AIR VEHICLE STABILIZATION BASED ON NEURAL NETWORK REGULATOR

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S. S. Andropov

2016-09-01

Full Text Available A problem of stabilizing for the multirotor unmanned aerial vehicle in an environment with external disturbances is researched. A classic proportional-integral-derivative controller is analyzed, its flaws are outlined: inability to respond to changing of external conditions and the need for manual adjustment of coefficients. The paper presents an adaptive adjustment method for coefficients of the proportional-integral-derivative controller based on neural networks. A neural network structure, its input and output data are described. Neural networks with three layers are used to create an adaptive stabilization system for the multirotor unmanned aerial vehicle. Training of the networks is done with the back propagation method. Each neural network produces regulator coefficients for each angle of stabilization as its output. A method for network training is explained. Several graphs of transition process on different stages of learning, including processes with external disturbances, are presented. It is shown that the system meets stabilization requirements with sufficient number of iterations. Described adjustment method for coefficients can be used in remote control of unmanned aerial vehicles, operating in the changing environment.

3D Tree Dimensionality Assessment Using Photogrammetry and Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.

Science.gov (United States)

Gatziolis, Demetrios; Lienard, Jean F; Vogs, Andre; Strigul, Nikolay S

2015-01-01

Detailed, precise, three-dimensional (3D) representations of individual trees are a prerequisite for an accurate assessment of tree competition, growth, and morphological plasticity. Until recently, our ability to measure the dimensionality, spatial arrangement, shape of trees, and shape of tree components with precision has been constrained by technological and logistical limitations and cost. Traditional methods of forest biometrics provide only partial measurements and are labor intensive. Active remote technologies such as LiDAR operated from airborne platforms provide only partial crown reconstructions. The use of terrestrial LiDAR is laborious, has portability limitations and high cost. In this work we capitalized on recent improvements in the capabilities and availability of small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), light and inexpensive cameras, and developed an affordable method for obtaining precise and comprehensive 3D models of trees and small groups of trees. The method employs slow-moving UAVs that acquire images along predefined trajectories near and around targeted trees, and computer vision-based approaches that process the images to obtain detailed tree reconstructions. After we confirmed the potential of the methodology via simulation we evaluated several UAV platforms, strategies for image acquisition, and image processing algorithms. We present an original, step-by-step workflow which utilizes open source programs and original software. We anticipate that future development and applications of our method will improve our understanding of forest self-organization emerging from the competition among trees, and will lead to a refined generation of individual-tree-based forest models.

Uncertainty management for aerial vehicles: Coordination, deconfliction, and disturbance rejection

Science.gov (United States)

Panyakeow, Prachya

The presented dissertation aims to develop control algorithms that deal with three types of uncertainties managements. First, we examine the situation when unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) fly through uncertain environments that contain both stationary and moving obstacles. Moreover, a guarantee of collision avoidance is necessary when UAVs operate in close proximity of each other. Second, we look at the communication uncertainty among the network of cooperative UAVs and the efforts to establish and maintain the connectivity throughout their entire missions. Third, we explore the scenario when the aircraft flies through wind gust. The introduction of an appropriate control scheme to actively alleviate the gust loads can result into weight reduction and consequently lower the fuel cost. In the first part of this dissertation, we develop a deconfliction algorithm that guarantees collision avoidance between a pair of constant speed unicycle-type UAVs as well as convergence to the desired destination for each UAV in presence of static obstacles. We use a combination of navigation and swirling functions to direct the unicycle vehicles along the planned trajectories while avoiding inter-vehicle collisions. The main feature of our contribution is proposing means of designing a deconfliction algorithm for unicycle vehicles that more closely capture the dynamics of constant speed UAVs as opposed to double integrator models. Specifically, we consider the issue of UAV turn-rate constraints and proceed to explore the selection of key algorithmic parameters in order to minimize undesirable trajectories and overshoots induced by the avoidance algorithm. The avoidance and convergence analysis of the proposed algorithm is then performed for two cooperative UAVs and simulation results are provided to support the viability of the proposed framework for more general mission scenarios. For the uncertainty of the UAV network, we provides two approaches to establish connectivity among a

Solid oxide fuel cell/gas turbine hybrid system analysis for high-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aguiar, P.; Brandon, N.P. [Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ (United Kingdom); Brett, D.J.L. [The Centre for CO{sub 2} Technology, University College London, London WC1E 7JE (United Kingdom)

2008-12-15

High-altitude long-endurance (HALE) unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are ideally suited to provide surveillance, remote sensing and communication relay capabilities for both military and civilian applications. HALE UAVs typically cruise at an altitude between 15 km and 20 km, travelling at low speed and circling specific areas of interest. The work reported aims to investigate alternative power system architectures that enable an efficiency increase and consequent fuel consumption reduction to realise a one-week endurance target. Specifically, the application of a solid oxide fuel cell combined with a gas turbine is considered; with different system configurations modelled with a view to maximising overall efficiency. It is found that modularising the fuel cell capacity into a number of discrete stacks such that the fuel is distributed in parallel and air is fed in series results in an increased system efficiency compared with a single-stack design. An overall system efficiency of 66.3% (LHV) when operating on hydrogen is predicted for a three-stack system. (author)

Nonlinear automatic landing control of unmanned aerial vehicles on moving platforms via a 3D laser radar

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hervas, Jaime Rubio; Tang, Hui [School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 639798 (Singapore); Reyhanoglu, Mahmut [Physical Sciences Department, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, FL 32114 (United States)

2014-12-10

This paper presents a motion tracking and control system for automatically landing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) on an oscillating platform using Laser Radar (LADAR) observations. The system itself is assumed to be mounted on a ship deck. A full nonlinear mathematical model is first introduced for the UAV. The ship motion is characterized by a Fourier transform based method which includes a realistic characterization of the sea waves. LADAR observation models are introduced and an algorithm to process those observations for yielding the relative state between the vessel and the UAV is presented, from which the UAV's state relative to an inertial frame can be obtained and used for feedback purposes. A sliding mode control algorithm is derived for tracking a landing trajectory defined by a set of desired waypoints. An extended Kalman filter (EKF) is proposed to account for process and observation noises in the design of a state estimator. The effectiveness of the control algorithm is illustrated through a simulation example.

Nonlinear automatic landing control of unmanned aerial vehicles on moving platforms via a 3D laser radar

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hervas, Jaime Rubio; Tang, Hui; Reyhanoglu, Mahmut

2014-01-01

This paper presents a motion tracking and control system for automatically landing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) on an oscillating platform using Laser Radar (LADAR) observations. The system itself is assumed to be mounted on a ship deck. A full nonlinear mathematical model is first introduced for the UAV. The ship motion is characterized by a Fourier transform based method which includes a realistic characterization of the sea waves. LADAR observation models are introduced and an algorithm to process those observations for yielding the relative state between the vessel and the UAV is presented, from which the UAV's state relative to an inertial frame can be obtained and used for feedback purposes. A sliding mode control algorithm is derived for tracking a landing trajectory defined by a set of desired waypoints. An extended Kalman filter (EKF) is proposed to account for process and observation noises in the design of a state estimator. The effectiveness of the control algorithm is illustrated through a simulation example

Study of Movement and Seepage Along Levees Using DINSAR and the Airborne UAVSAR Instrument

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Cathleen E.; Bawden, Gerald; Deverel, Steven; Dudas, Joel; Hensley, Scott

2012-01-01

We have studied the utility of high resolution SAR (synthetic aperture radar) for levee monitoring using UAVSAR (Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar) data collected along the dikes and levees in California's Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and along the lower Mississippi River. Our study has focused on detecting and tracking changes that are indicative of potential problem spots, namely deformation of the levees, subsidence along the levee toe, and seepage through the levees, making use of polarimetric and interferometric SAR techniques. Here was present some results of those studies, which show that high resolution, low noise SAR imaging could supplement more traditional ground-based monitoring methods by providing early indicators of seepage and deformation.

Aerial surveillance based on hierarchical object classification for ground target detection

Science.gov (United States)

Vázquez-Cervantes, Alberto; García-Huerta, Juan-Manuel; Hernández-Díaz, Teresa; Soto-Cajiga, J. A.; Jiménez-Hernández, Hugo

2015-03-01

Unmanned aerial vehicles have turned important in surveillance application due to the flexibility and ability to inspect and displace in different regions of interest. The instrumentation and autonomy of these vehicles have been increased; i.e. the camera sensor is now integrated. Mounted cameras allow flexibility to monitor several regions of interest, displacing and changing the camera view. A well common task performed by this kind of vehicles correspond to object localization and tracking. This work presents a hierarchical novel algorithm to detect and locate objects. The algorithm is based on a detection-by-example approach; this is, the target evidence is provided at the beginning of the vehicle's route. Afterwards, the vehicle inspects the scenario, detecting all similar objects through UTM-GPS coordinate references. Detection process consists on a sampling information process of the target object. Sampling process encode in a hierarchical tree with different sampling's densities. Coding space correspond to a huge binary space dimension. Properties such as independence and associative operators are defined in this space to construct a relation between the target object and a set of selected features. Different densities of sampling are used to discriminate from general to particular features that correspond to the target. The hierarchy is used as a way to adapt the complexity of the algorithm due to optimized battery duty cycle of the aerial device. Finally, this approach is tested in several outdoors scenarios, proving that the hierarchical algorithm works efficiently under several conditions.

Method of transmission of dynamic multibit digital images from micro-unmanned aerial vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Petrov, E. P.; Kharina, N. L.

2018-01-01

In connection with successful usage of nanotechnologies in remote sensing great attention is paid to the systems in micro-unmanned aerial vehicles (MUAVs) capable to provide high spatial resolution of dynamic multibit digital images (MDI). Limited energy resources on board the MUAV do not allow transferring a large amount of video information in the shortest possible time. It keeps back the broad development of MUAV. The search for methods to shorten the transmission time of dynamic MDIs from MUAV over the radio channel leads to the methods of MDI compression without computational operations onboard the MUAV. The known compression codecs of video information can not be applied because of the limited energy resources. In this paper we propose a method for reducing the transmission time of dynamic MDIs without computational operations and distortions onboard the MUAV. To develop the method a mathematical apparatus of the theory of conditional Markov processes with discrete arguments was used. On its basis a mathematical model for the transformation of the MDI represented by binary images (BI) in the MDI, consisting of groups of neighboring BIs (GBI) transmitted by multiphase (MP) signals, is constructed. The algorithm for multidimensional nonlinear filtering of MP signals is synthesized, realizing the statistical redundancy of the MDI to compensate for the noise stability losses caused by the use of MP signals.

High-Throughput Phenotyping of Plant Height: Comparing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Ground LiDAR Estimates.

Science.gov (United States)

Madec, Simon; Baret, Fred; de Solan, Benoît; Thomas, Samuel; Dutartre, Dan; Jezequel, Stéphane; Hemmerlé, Matthieu; Colombeau, Gallian; Comar, Alexis

2017-01-01

The capacity of LiDAR and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to provide plant height estimates as a high-throughput plant phenotyping trait was explored. An experiment over wheat genotypes conducted under well watered and water stress modalities was conducted. Frequent LiDAR measurements were performed along the growth cycle using a phénomobile unmanned ground vehicle. UAV equipped with a high resolution RGB camera was flying the experiment several times to retrieve the digital surface model from structure from motion techniques. Both techniques provide a 3D dense point cloud from which the plant height can be estimated. Plant height first defined as the z -value for which 99.5% of the points of the dense cloud are below. This provides good consistency with manual measurements of plant height (RMSE = 3.5 cm) while minimizing the variability along each microplot. Results show that LiDAR and structure from motion plant height values are always consistent. However, a slight under-estimation is observed for structure from motion techniques, in relation with the coarser spatial resolution of UAV imagery and the limited penetration capacity of structure from motion as compared to LiDAR. Very high heritability values ( H 2 > 0.90) were found for both techniques when lodging was not present. The dynamics of plant height shows that it carries pertinent information regarding the period and magnitude of the plant stress. Further, the date when the maximum plant height is reached was found to be very heritable ( H 2 > 0.88) and a good proxy of the flowering stage. Finally, the capacity of plant height as a proxy for total above ground biomass and yield is discussed.

Implementations of Sensor Webs Utilizing Uninhabited Aerial Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Sullivan, Donald V.

2009-01-01

In this paper we describe the web services, processes, communication protocols and ad-hoc service chains utilized in the late summer and early fall 2007 Ikhana UAS response to the wildfires burning in southern California. Additionally, we describe the lessons learned that will be applied to the upcoming Global Hawk UAS Aura Satellite Validation Experiment planned for early 2009.

The System Design of a Global Communications System for Military and Commercial use Utilizing High Altitude Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and Terrestrial Local Multipoint Distribution Service (LMDS) Sites

OpenAIRE

Banks, Bradley

2000-01-01

This thesis proposes the design of the UAV-LMDS communication system for military and commercial use. The UAV-LMDS system is a digital, wireless communication system that provides service using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) flying at 60,000 ft. acting as communication hubs. This thesis provides background information on UAV-LMDS system elements, a financial analysis, theory, link budgets, system component design and implementation issues. To begin the design, we develop link budgets t...

Low-Altitude Aerial Methane Concentration Mapping

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bara J. Emran

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Detection of leaks of fugitive greenhouse gases (GHGs from landfills and natural gas infrastructure is critical for not only their safe operation but also for protecting the environment. Current inspection practices involve moving a methane detector within the target area by a person or vehicle. This procedure is dangerous, time consuming, labor intensive and above all unavailable when access to the desired area is limited. Remote sensing by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV equipped with a methane detector is a cost-effective and fast method for methane detection and monitoring, especially for vast and remote areas. This paper describes the integration of an off-the-shelf laser-based methane detector into a multi-rotor UAV and demonstrates its efficacy in generating an aerial methane concentration map of a landfill. The UAV flies a preset flight path measuring methane concentrations in a vertical air column between the UAV and the ground surface. Measurements were taken at 10 Hz giving a typical distance between measurements of 0.2 m when flying at 2 m/s. The UAV was set to fly at 25 to 30 m above the ground. We conclude that besides its utility in landfill monitoring, the proposed method is ready for other environmental applications as well as the inspection of natural gas infrastructure that can release methane with much higher concentrations.

Internal air flow analysis of a bladeless micro aerial vehicle hemisphere body using computational fluid dynamic

Science.gov (United States)

Othman, M. N. K.; Zuradzman, M. Razlan; Hazry, D.; Khairunizam, Wan; Shahriman, A. B.; Yaacob, S.; Ahmed, S. Faiz; Hussain, Abadalsalam T.

2014-12-01

This paper explain the analysis of internal air flow velocity of a bladeless vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) Micro Aerial Vehicle (MAV) hemisphere body. In mechanical design, before produce a prototype model, several analyses should be done to ensure the product's effectiveness and efficiency. There are two types of analysis method can be done in mechanical design; mathematical modeling and computational fluid dynamic. In this analysis, I used computational fluid dynamic (CFD) by using SolidWorks Flow Simulation software. The idea came through to overcome the problem of ordinary quadrotor UAV which has larger size due to using four rotors and the propellers are exposed to environment. The bladeless MAV body is designed to protect all electronic parts, which means it can be used in rainy condition. It also has been made to increase the thrust produced by the ducted propeller compare to exposed propeller. From the analysis result, the air flow velocity at the ducted area increased to twice the inlet air. This means that the duct contribute to the increasing of air velocity.

Internal air flow analysis of a bladeless micro aerial vehicle hemisphere body using computational fluid dynamic

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Othman, M. N. K.; Zuradzman, M. Razlan; Hazry, D.; Khairunizam, Wan; Shahriman, A. B.; Yaacob, S.; Ahmed, S. Faiz

2014-01-01

This paper explain the analysis of internal air flow velocity of a bladeless vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) Micro Aerial Vehicle (MAV) hemisphere body. In mechanical design, before produce a prototype model, several analyses should be done to ensure the product's effectiveness and efficiency. There are two types of analysis method can be done in mechanical design; mathematical modeling and computational fluid dynamic. In this analysis, I used computational fluid dynamic (CFD) by using SolidWorks Flow Simulation software. The idea came through to overcome the problem of ordinary quadrotor UAV which has larger size due to using four rotors and the propellers are exposed to environment. The bladeless MAV body is designed to protect all electronic parts, which means it can be used in rainy condition. It also has been made to increase the thrust produced by the ducted propeller compare to exposed propeller. From the analysis result, the air flow velocity at the ducted area increased to twice the inlet air. This means that the duct contribute to the increasing of air velocity

Target tracking control and semi-physical simulation of Qball-X4 quad-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lu Liu

2017-01-01

Full Text Available In this article, a set of integrated ground target tracking flight system has been proposed based on the Qball-X4 quad-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle hardware platform and the QuaRC software platform. Both of the hardware and software platforms are developed by Quanser Company, Canada. The proposed tracking and positioning algorithm could be divided into several stages. First, a tracker is developed based on an optical flow method to track the target; and then, in order to improve the reliability of tracking algorithm and also help in retrieving the lost target, a cascade target detector is developed; meanwhile, a model updated scheme aiming at some possible errors in tracking and detecting process is presented based on Positive-Negative (P-N learning system; at last, a monocular visual positioning system is designed based on the corresponding navigation message. In addition, the effectiveness of the proposed flight control system is verified by both simulation and hardware-in-loop system results in several tracking flight tests.

Trajectory Tracking of a Tri-Rotor Aerial Vehicle Using an MRAC-Based Robust Hybrid Control Algorithm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zain Anwar Ali

2017-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper, a novel Model Reference Adaptive Control (MRAC-based hybrid control algorithm is presented for the trajectory tracking of a tri-rotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV. The mathematical model of the tri-rotor is based on the Newton–Euler formula, whereas the MRAC-based hybrid controller consists of Fuzzy Proportional Integral Derivative (F-PID and Fuzzy Proportional Derivative (F-PD controllers. MRAC is used as the main controller for the dynamics, while the parameters of the adaptive controller are fine-tuned by the F-PD controller for the altitude control subsystem and the F-PID controller for the attitude control subsystem of the UAV. The stability of the system is ensured and proven by Lyapunov stability analysis. The proposed control algorithm is tested and verified using computer simulations for the trajectory tracking of the desired path as an input. The effectiveness of our proposed algorithm is compared with F-PID and the Fuzzy Logic Controller (FLC. Our proposed controller exhibits much less steady state error, quick error convergence in the presence of disturbance or noise, and model uncertainties.

Design of a reconfigurable liquid hydrogen fuel tank for use in the Genii unmanned aerial vehicle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adam, Patrick; Leachman, Jacob

2014-01-01

Long endurance flight, on the order of days, is a leading flight performance characteristic for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). Liquid hydrogen (LH2) is well suited to providing multi-day flight times with a specific energy 2.8 times that of conventional kerosene based fuels. However, no such system of LH2 storage, delivery, and use is currently available for commercial UAVs. In this paper, we develop a light weight LH2 dewar for integration and testing in the proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell powered, student designed and constructed, Genii UAV. The fuel tank design is general for scaling to suit various UAV platforms. A cylindrical vacuum-jacketed design with removable end caps was chosen to incorporate various fuel level gauging, pressurizing, and slosh mitigation systems. Heat and mechanical loadings were modeled to compare with experimental results. Mass performance of the fuel tank is characterized by the fraction of liquid hydrogen to full tank mass, and the insulation performance was characterized by effective thermal conductivity and boil-off rate

Design of a reconfigurable liquid hydrogen fuel tank for use in the Genii unmanned aerial vehicle

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Adam, Patrick; Leachman, Jacob [HYdrogen Properties for Energy Research (HYPER) Laboratory, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-2920 (United States)

2014-01-29

Long endurance flight, on the order of days, is a leading flight performance characteristic for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). Liquid hydrogen (LH2) is well suited to providing multi-day flight times with a specific energy 2.8 times that of conventional kerosene based fuels. However, no such system of LH2 storage, delivery, and use is currently available for commercial UAVs. In this paper, we develop a light weight LH2 dewar for integration and testing in the proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell powered, student designed and constructed, Genii UAV. The fuel tank design is general for scaling to suit various UAV platforms. A cylindrical vacuum-jacketed design with removable end caps was chosen to incorporate various fuel level gauging, pressurizing, and slosh mitigation systems. Heat and mechanical loadings were modeled to compare with experimental results. Mass performance of the fuel tank is characterized by the fraction of liquid hydrogen to full tank mass, and the insulation performance was characterized by effective thermal conductivity and boil-off rate.

Internal air flow analysis of a bladeless micro aerial vehicle hemisphere body using computational fluid dynamic

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Othman, M. N. K., E-mail: najibkhir86@gmail.com, E-mail: zuradzman@unimap.edu.my, E-mail: hazry@unimap.edu.my, E-mail: khairunizam@unimap.edu.my, E-mail: shahriman@unimap.edu.my, E-mail: s.yaacob@unimap.edu.my, E-mail: syedfaiz@unimap.edu.my, E-mail: abadal@unimap.edu.my; Zuradzman, M. Razlan, E-mail: najibkhir86@gmail.com, E-mail: zuradzman@unimap.edu.my, E-mail: hazry@unimap.edu.my, E-mail: khairunizam@unimap.edu.my, E-mail: shahriman@unimap.edu.my, E-mail: s.yaacob@unimap.edu.my, E-mail: syedfaiz@unimap.edu.my, E-mail: abadal@unimap.edu.my; Hazry, D., E-mail: najibkhir86@gmail.com, E-mail: zuradzman@unimap.edu.my, E-mail: hazry@unimap.edu.my, E-mail: khairunizam@unimap.edu.my, E-mail: shahriman@unimap.edu.my, E-mail: s.yaacob@unimap.edu.my, E-mail: syedfaiz@unimap.edu.my, E-mail: abadal@unimap.edu.my; Khairunizam, Wan, E-mail: najibkhir86@gmail.com, E-mail: zuradzman@unimap.edu.my, E-mail: hazry@unimap.edu.my, E-mail: khairunizam@unimap.edu.my, E-mail: shahriman@unimap.edu.my, E-mail: s.yaacob@unimap.edu.my, E-mail: syedfaiz@unimap.edu.my, E-mail: abadal@unimap.edu.my; Shahriman, A. B., E-mail: najibkhir86@gmail.com, E-mail: zuradzman@unimap.edu.my, E-mail: hazry@unimap.edu.my, E-mail: khairunizam@unimap.edu.my, E-mail: shahriman@unimap.edu.my, E-mail: s.yaacob@unimap.edu.my, E-mail: syedfaiz@unimap.edu.my, E-mail: abadal@unimap.edu.my; Yaacob, S., E-mail: najibkhir86@gmail.com, E-mail: zuradzman@unimap.edu.my, E-mail: hazry@unimap.edu.my, E-mail: khairunizam@unimap.edu.my, E-mail: shahriman@unimap.edu.my, E-mail: s.yaacob@unimap.edu.my, E-mail: syedfaiz@unimap.edu.my, E-mail: abadal@unimap.edu.my; Ahmed, S. Faiz, E-mail: najibkhir86@gmail.com, E-mail: zuradzman@unimap.edu.my, E-mail: hazry@unimap.edu.my, E-mail: khairunizam@unimap.edu.my, E-mail: shahriman@unimap.edu.my, E-mail: s.yaacob@unimap.edu.my, E-mail: syedfaiz@unimap.edu.my, E-mail: abadal@unimap.edu.my [Centre of Excellence for Unmanned Aerial Systems, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, 01000 Kangar, Perlis (Malaysia); and others

2014-12-04

This paper explain the analysis of internal air flow velocity of a bladeless vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) Micro Aerial Vehicle (MAV) hemisphere body. In mechanical design, before produce a prototype model, several analyses should be done to ensure the product's effectiveness and efficiency. There are two types of analysis method can be done in mechanical design; mathematical modeling and computational fluid dynamic. In this analysis, I used computational fluid dynamic (CFD) by using SolidWorks Flow Simulation software. The idea came through to overcome the problem of ordinary quadrotor UAV which has larger size due to using four rotors and the propellers are exposed to environment. The bladeless MAV body is designed to protect all electronic parts, which means it can be used in rainy condition. It also has been made to increase the thrust produced by the ducted propeller compare to exposed propeller. From the analysis result, the air flow velocity at the ducted area increased to twice the inlet air. This means that the duct contribute to the increasing of air velocity.

Test bed for applications of heterogeneous unmanned vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Filiberto Muñoz Palacios

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This article addresses the development and implementation of a test bed for applications of heterogeneous unmanned vehicle systems. The test bed consists of unmanned aerial vehicles (Parrot AR.Drones versions 1 or 2, Parrot SA, Paris, France, and Bebop Drones 1.0 and 2.0, Parrot SA, Paris, France, ground vehicles (WowWee Rovio, WowWee Group Limited, Hong Kong, China, and the motion capture systems VICON and OptiTrack. Such test bed allows the user to choose between two different options of development environments, to perform aerial and ground vehicles applications. On the one hand, it is possible to select an environment based on the VICON system and LabVIEW (National Instruments or robotics operating system platforms, which make use the Parrot AR.Drone software development kit or the Bebop_autonomy Driver to communicate with the unmanned vehicles. On the other hand, it is possible to employ a platform that uses the OptiTrack system and that allows users to develop their own applications, replacing AR.Drone’s original firmware with original code. We have developed four experimental setups to illustrate the use of the Parrot software development kit, the Bebop Driver (AutonomyLab, Simon Fraser University, British Columbia, Canada, and the original firmware replacement for performing a strategy that involves both ground and aerial vehicle tracking. Finally, in order to illustrate the effectiveness of the developed test bed for the implementation of advanced controllers, we present experimental results of the implementation of three consensus algorithms: static, adaptive, and neural network, in order to accomplish that a team of multiagents systems move together to track a target.

A Smart Irrigation Approach Aided by Monitoring Surface Soil Moisture using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Wienhold, K. J.; Li, D.; Fang, N. Z.

2017-12-01

Soil moisture is a critical component in the optimization of irrigation scheduling in water resources management. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) equipped with multispectral sensors represent an emerging technology capable of detecting and estimating soil moisture for irrigation and crop management. This study demonstrates a method of using a UAV as an optical and thermal remote sensing platform combined with genetic programming to derive high-resolution, surface soil moisture (SSM) estimates. The objective is to evaluate the feasibility of spatially-variable irrigation management for a golf course (about 50 acres) in North Central Texas. Multispectral data is collected over the course of one month in the visible, near infrared and longwave infrared spectrums using a UAV capable of rapid and safe deployment for daily estimates. The accuracy of the model predictions is quantified using a time domain reflectometry (TDR) soil moisture sensor and a holdout validation test set. The model produces reasonable estimates for SSM with an average coefficient of correlation (r) = 0.87 and coefficient of determination of (R2) = 0.76. The study suggests that the derived SSM estimates be used to better inform irrigation scheduling decisions for lightly vegetated areas such as the turf or native roughs found on golf courses.

Modeling Aboveground Biomass in Hulunber Grassland Ecosystem by Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Discrete Lidar.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Dongliang; Xin, Xiaoping; Shao, Quanqin; Brolly, Matthew; Zhu, Zhiliang; Chen, Jin

2017-01-19

Accurate canopy structure datasets, including canopy height and fractional cover, are required to monitor aboveground biomass as well as to provide validation data for satellite remote sensing products. In this study, the ability of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) discrete light detection and ranging (lidar) was investigated for modeling both the canopy height and fractional cover in Hulunber grassland ecosystem. The extracted mean canopy height, maximum canopy height, and fractional cover were used to estimate the aboveground biomass. The influences of flight height on lidar estimates were also analyzed. The main findings are: (1) the lidar-derived mean canopy height is the most reasonable predictor of aboveground biomass ( R ² = 0.340, root-mean-square error (RMSE) = 81.89 g·m -2 , and relative error of 14.1%). The improvement of multiple regressions to the R ² and RMSE values is unobvious when adding fractional cover in the regression since the correlation between mean canopy height and fractional cover is high; (2) Flight height has a pronounced effect on the derived fractional cover and details of the lidar data, but the effect is insignificant on the derived canopy height when the flight height is within the range (lidar returns.

Development and integration of a solar powered unmanned aerial vehicle and a wireless sensor network to monitor greenhouse gases.

Science.gov (United States)

Malaver, Alexander; Motta, Nunzio; Corke, Peter; Gonzalez, Felipe

2015-02-11

Measuring gases for environmental monitoring is a demanding task that requires long periods of observation and large numbers of sensors. Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) currently represent the best alternative to monitor large, remote, and difficult access areas, as these technologies have the possibility of carrying specialized gas sensing systems. This paper presents the development and integration of a WSN and an UAV powered by solar energy in order to enhance their functionality and broader their applications. A gas sensing system implementing nanostructured metal oxide (MOX) and non-dispersive infrared sensors was developed to measure concentrations of CH4 and CO2. Laboratory, bench and field testing results demonstrate the capability of UAV to capture, analyze and geo-locate a gas sample during flight operations. The field testing integrated ground sensor nodes and the UAV to measure CO2 concentration at ground and low aerial altitudes, simultaneously. Data collected during the mission was transmitted in real time to a central node for analysis and 3D mapping of the target gas. The results highlights the accomplishment of the first flight mission of a solar powered UAV equipped with a CO2 sensing system integrated with a WSN. The system provides an effective 3D monitoring and can be used in a wide range of environmental applications such as agriculture, bushfires, mining studies, zoology and botanical studies using a ubiquitous low cost technology.

Development and Integration of a Solar Powered Unmanned Aerial Vehicle and a Wireless Sensor Network to Monitor Greenhouse Gases

Science.gov (United States)

Malaver, Alexander; Motta, Nunzio; Corke, Peter; Gonzalez, Felipe

2015-01-01

Measuring gases for environmental monitoring is a demanding task that requires long periods of observation and large numbers of sensors. Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) currently represent the best alternative to monitor large, remote, and difficult access areas, as these technologies have the possibility of carrying specialized gas sensing systems. This paper presents the development and integration of a WSN and an UAV powered by solar energy in order to enhance their functionality and broader their applications. A gas sensing system implementing nanostructured metal oxide (MOX) and non-dispersive infrared sensors was developed to measure concentrations of CH4 and CO2. Laboratory, bench and field testing results demonstrate the capability of UAV to capture, analyze and geo-locate a gas sample during flight operations. The field testing integrated ground sensor nodes and the UAV to measure CO2 concentration at ground and low aerial altitudes, simultaneously. Data collected during the mission was transmitted in real time to a central node for analysis and 3D mapping of the target gas. The results highlights the accomplishment of the first flight mission of a solar powered UAV equipped with a CO2 sensing system integrated with a WSN. The system provides an effective 3D monitoring and can be used in a wide range of environmental applications such as agriculture, bushfires, mining studies, zoology and botanical studies using a ubiquitous low cost technology. PMID:25679312

Development and Integration of a Solar Powered Unmanned Aerial Vehicle and a Wireless Sensor Network to Monitor Greenhouse Gases

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexander Malaver

2015-02-01

Full Text Available Measuring gases for environmental monitoring is a demanding task that requires long periods of observation and large numbers of sensors. Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs currently represent the best alternative to monitor large, remote, and difficult access areas, as these technologies have the possibility of carrying specialized gas sensing systems. This paper presents the development and integration of a WSN and an UAV powered by solar energy in order to enhance their functionality and broader their applications. A gas sensing system implementing nanostructured metal oxide (MOX and non-dispersive infrared sensors was developed to measure concentrations of CH4 and CO2. Laboratory, bench and field testing results demonstrate the capability of UAV to capture, analyze and geo-locate a gas sample during flight operations. The field testing integrated ground sensor nodes and the UAV to measure CO2 concentration at ground and low aerial altitudes, simultaneously. Data collected during the mission was transmitted in real time to a central node for analysis and 3D mapping of the target gas. The results highlights the accomplishment of the first flight mission of a solar powered UAV equipped with a CO2 sensing system integrated with a WSN. The system provides an effective 3D monitoring and can be used in a wide range of environmental applications such as agriculture, bushfires, mining studies, zoology and botanical studies using a ubiquitous low cost technology.

Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to Assess Vegetative Cover in Sagebrush Steppe Ecosytstems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Robert P. Breckenridge

2005-09-01

The Idaho National Laboratory (INL), in conjunction with the University of Idaho, is evaluating novel approaches for using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as a quicker and safer method for monitoring biotic resources. Evaluating vegetative cover is an important factor in understanding the sustainability of many ecosystems. In assessing vegetative cover, methods that improve accuracy and cost efficiency could revolutionize how biotic resources are monitored on western federal lands. Sagebrush steppe ecosystems provide important habitat for a variety of species, some of which are important indicator species (e.g., sage grouse). Improved methods are needed to support monitoring these habitats because there are not enough resource specialists or funds available for comprehensive ground evaluation of these ecosystems. In this project, two types of UAV platforms (fixed wing and helicopter) were used to collect still-frame imagery to assess cover in sagebrush steppe ecosystems. This paper discusses the process for collecting and analyzing imagery from the UAVs to (1) estimate total percent cover, (2) estimate percent cover for six different types of vegetation, and (3) locate sage grouse based on representative decoys. The field plots were located on the INL site west of Idaho Falls, Idaho, in areas with varying amounts and types of vegetative cover. A software program called SamplePoint developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) was used to evaluate the imagery for percent cover for the six vegetation types (bare ground, litter, shrubs, dead shrubs, grasses, and forbs). Results were compared against standard field measurements to assess accuracy.

USAGE OF UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES IN GENERAL AVIATION: CURRENT SITUATION AND PROSPECTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The article aims at analyzing the current and future trends in usage of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV in gen- eral aviation (branches of economy. The main goal of the analysis is to determine the branches of economy, in which the usage of UAVs would be the most beneficial in the near- to mid-term future. The main requirements and restrictions of usage of the aircraft in general aviation were used as a basis for determining the types of operations, in which the usage of UAVs will be the most rational and effective. The effectiveness evaluation was based on the developed method, involving evaluation of the following factors such as: advantages of usage of manned aircraft, advantages of usage of unmanned air- craft, problems associated with the usage of manned aircraft, problems associated with the usage of unmanned aircraft. After evaluation of the mentioned aspects above the safety, operational productivity and ecological indicators were evaluat- ed. These qualitative assessments allowed identifying the branches of economy, where the usage of UAVs could potentially be the most advantageous. The article also discusses the possible strategies of UAVs development for general aviation. The so-called “mixed” strategy of UAV development is identified as the best in the current situation. This strategy combines the conversion of the existing military UAVs with the purpose of fitting them in to civilian use with the parallel development of brand new UAVs, which would be designed for operation in branches of economy right from the beginning (from scratch.

A PRECISE POSITION AND ATTITUDE DETERMINATION SYSTEM FOR LIGHTWEIGHT UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. Eling

2013-08-01

Full Text Available In many unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV applications a direct georeferencing is required. The reason can be that the UAV flies autonomous and must be navigated precisely, or that the UAV performs a remote sensing operation, where the position of the camera has to be known at the moment of the recording. In our application, a project called Mapping on Demand, we are motivated by both of these reasons. The goal of this project is to develop a lightweight autonomously flying UAV that is able to identify and measure inaccessible three-dimensional objects by use of visual information. Due to payload and space limitations, precise position and attitude determination of micro- and mini-sized UAVs is very challenging. The limitations do not only affect the onboard computing capacity, but they are also noticeable when choosing the georeferencing sensors. In this article, we will present a new developed onboard direct georeferencing system which is real-time capable, applicable for lightweight UAVs and provides very precise results (position accuracy σ σ < 0.5 deg. In this system GPS, inertial sensors, magnetic field sensors, a barometer as well as stereo video cameras are used as georeferencing sensors. We will describe the hardware development and will go into details of the implemented software. In this context especially the RTK-GPS software and the concept of the attitude determination by use of inertial sensors, magnetic field sensors as well as an onboard GPS baseline will be highlighted. Finally, results of first field tests as well as an outlook on further developments will conclude this contribution.

3D Tree Dimensionality Assessment Using Photogrammetry and Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Demetrios Gatziolis

Full Text Available Detailed, precise, three-dimensional (3D representations of individual trees are a prerequisite for an accurate assessment of tree competition, growth, and morphological plasticity. Until recently, our ability to measure the dimensionality, spatial arrangement, shape of trees, and shape of tree components with precision has been constrained by technological and logistical limitations and cost. Traditional methods of forest biometrics provide only partial measurements and are labor intensive. Active remote technologies such as LiDAR operated from airborne platforms provide only partial crown reconstructions. The use of terrestrial LiDAR is laborious, has portability limitations and high cost. In this work we capitalized on recent improvements in the capabilities and availability of small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, light and inexpensive cameras, and developed an affordable method for obtaining precise and comprehensive 3D models of trees and small groups of trees. The method employs slow-moving UAVs that acquire images along predefined trajectories near and around targeted trees, and computer vision-based approaches that process the images to obtain detailed tree reconstructions. After we confirmed the potential of the methodology via simulation we evaluated several UAV platforms, strategies for image acquisition, and image processing algorithms. We present an original, step-by-step workflow which utilizes open source programs and original software. We anticipate that future development and applications of our method will improve our understanding of forest self-organization emerging from the competition among trees, and will lead to a refined generation of individual-tree-based forest models.

Perancangan dan Implementasi Kontroler PID untuk Pengaturan Heading dan Pengaturan Arah pada Fixed-Wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hery setyo widodo

2012-09-01

Full Text Available UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle merupakan kendaraan udara tanpa awak yang dikendalikan dari jarak jauh oleh atau tanpa seorang pilot (Autopilot. Kontrol pesawat UAV ada dua variasi utama, variasi pertama yaitu dikontrol melalui pengendali jarak jauh dan variasi kedua adalah pesawat yang terbang secara mandiri berdasarkan program yang dimasukan. Sebuah fixed-winng UAV harus mampu mempertahankan posisinya pada lintasan yang sudah ditentukan selama melakukan tracking lintasan. Keakuratan dalam tracking arah dan heading pesawat sangat berpengaruh terhadap keberhasilan misi penerbangan pesawat UAV dalam memperthankan lintasannya untuk mencapai target. Oleh karena itu pada Tugas Akhir ini dirancang sistem pengaturan dengan menggunakan metode kontrol PID untuk mengatasi kesalahan dalam menjaga lintasan pesawat. Pengaturan arah dan heading pesawat UAV dilakukan dengan memanfaatkan dinamika gerak lateral yang meliputi gerak roll dan yaw dan input dari GPS (Global Positioning System. Dari simulasi diperoleh proses tracking dapat mengikuti rancangan gerak yang diinginkan Pergeseran lintasan pesawat pada saat implementasi kontroler PID disebabkan akurasi GPS yang masih rendah yaitu 3 meter.

A workflow for extracting plot-level biophysical indicators from aerially acquired multispectral imagery

Science.gov (United States)

Advances in technologies associated with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has allowed for researchers, farmers and agribusinesses to incorporate UAVs coupled with various imaging systems into data collection activities and aid expert systems for making decisions. Multispectral imageries allow for a q...

REAL-TIME MONITORING SYSTEM USING UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE INTEGRATED WITH SENSOR OBSERVATION SERVICE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Witayangkurn

2012-09-01

Full Text Available The Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV is an emerging technology being adapted for a wide range of applications. Real-time monitoring is essential to enhance the effectiveness of UAV applications. Sensor networks are networks constructed from various sensor nodes. International standard such as OGC's SOS (Sensor Observation Service makes it possible to share sensor data with other systems as well as to provide accessibility to globally distributed users. In this paper, we propose a system combining UAV technology and sensor network technology to use an UAV as a mobile node of sensor network so that the sensor data from UAV is published and shared real-time. A UAV can extend the observation range of a sensor network to remote areas where it is usually difficult to access such as disaster area. We constructed a UAV system using remote-controlled helicopter and various sensors such as GPS, gyrocompass, laser range finder, Digital camera and Thermometer. Furthermore, we extended the Sensor Observation Service (SOS and Sensor Service Grid (SSG to support mobile sensor nodes. Then, we conducted experiments of flying the helicopter over an area of the interest. During the flight, the system measured environmental data using its sensors and captured images of the ground. The data was sent to a SOS node as the ground station via Wi-Fi which was published using SSG to give real- time access to globally distributed users.

Unmanned aerial complexes as a way of NPP and environment radiation monitoring

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Babak, V.P.; Kanchenko, V.A.; Klyuchnikov, A.A.; Krasnov, V.A.; Chepur, N.L.

2012-01-01

As a example of the using of unmanned aircraft for video monitoring and radiation background measurement in the accident area at the NPP Fukushima -1 are shown the efficiency of its use. The analyse of possible environmental monitoring remotely piloted ultralight unmanned aerial vehicle are carried out

Data Acquisition (DAQ) system dedicated for remote sensing applications on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV)

Science.gov (United States)

Keleshis, C.; Ioannou, S.; Vrekoussis, M.; Levin, Z.; Lange, M. A.

2014-08-01

Continuous advances in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and the increased complexity of their applications raise the demand for improved data acquisition systems (DAQ). These improvements may comprise low power consumption, low volume and weight, robustness, modularity and capability to interface with various sensors and peripherals while maintaining the high sampling rates and processing speeds. Such a system has been designed and developed and is currently integrated on the Autonomous Flying Platforms for Atmospheric and Earth Surface Observations (APAESO/NEA-YΠOΔOMH/NEKΠ/0308/09) however, it can be easily adapted to any UAV or any other mobile vehicle. The system consists of a single-board computer with a dual-core processor, rugged surface-mount memory and storage device, analog and digital input-output ports and many other peripherals that enhance its connectivity with various sensors, imagers and on-board devices. The system is powered by a high efficiency power supply board. Additional boards such as frame-grabbers, differential global positioning system (DGPS) satellite receivers, general packet radio service (3G-4G-GPRS) modems for communication redundancy have been interfaced to the core system and are used whenever there is a mission need. The onboard DAQ system can be preprogrammed for automatic data acquisition or it can be remotely operated during the flight from the ground control station (GCS) using a graphical user interface (GUI) which has been developed and will also be presented in this paper. The unique design of the GUI and the DAQ system enables the synchronized acquisition of a variety of scientific and UAV flight data in a single core location. The new DAQ system and the GUI have been successfully utilized in several scientific UAV missions. In conclusion, the novel DAQ system provides the UAV and the remote-sensing community with a new tool capable of reliably acquiring, processing, storing and transmitting data from any sensor integrated

Use of Model-Based Design Methods for Enhancing Resiliency Analysis of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Knox, Lenora A.

The most common traditional non-functional requirement analysis is reliability. With systems becoming more complex, networked, and adaptive to environmental uncertainties, system resiliency has recently become the non-functional requirement analysis of choice. Analysis of system resiliency has challenges; which include, defining resilience for domain areas, identifying resilience metrics, determining resilience modeling strategies, and understanding how to best integrate the concepts of risk and reliability into resiliency. Formal methods that integrate all of these concepts do not currently exist in specific domain areas. Leveraging RAMSoS, a model-based reliability analysis methodology for Systems of Systems (SoS), we propose an extension that accounts for resiliency analysis through evaluation of mission performance, risk, and cost using multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) modeling and design trade study variability modeling evaluation techniques. This proposed methodology, coined RAMSoS-RESIL, is applied to a case study in the multi-agent unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) domain to investigate the potential benefits of a mission architecture where functionality to complete a mission is disseminated across multiple UAVs (distributed) opposed to being contained in a single UAV (monolithic). The case study based research demonstrates proof of concept for the proposed model-based technique and provides sufficient preliminary evidence to conclude which architectural design (distributed vs. monolithic) is most resilient based on insight into mission resilience performance, risk, and cost in addition to the traditional analysis of reliability.

Action cameras and low-cost aerial vehicles in archaeology

Science.gov (United States)

Ballarin, M.; Balletti, C.; Guerra, F.

2015-05-01

This research is focused on the analysis of the potential of a close range aerial photogrammetry system, which is accessible both in economic terms and in terms of simplicity of use. In particular the Go Pro Hero3 Black Edition and the Parrot Ar. Drone 2.0 were studied. There are essentially two limitations to the system and they were found for both the instruments used. Indeed, the frames captured by the Go Pro are subject to great distortion and consequently pose numerous calibration problems. On the other hand, the limitation of the system lies in the difficulty of maintaining a flight configuration suitable for photogrammetric purposes in unfavourable environmental conditions. The aim of this research is to analyse how far the limitations highlighted can influence the precision of the survey and consequent quality of the results obtained. To this end, the integrated GoPro and Parrot system was used during a survey campaign on the Altilia archaeological site, in Molise. The data obtained was compared with that gathered by more traditional methods, such as the laser scanner. The system was employed in the field of archaeology because here the question of cost often has a considerable importance and the metric aspect is frequently subordinate to the qualitative and interpretative aspects. Herein one of the products of these systems; the orthophoto will be analysed, which is particularly useful in archaeology, especially in situations such as this dig in which there aren't many structures in elevation present. The system proposed has proven to be an accessible solution for producing an aerial documentation, which adds the excellent quality of the result to metric data for which the precision is known.

Evaluation of unmanned aerial vehicle shape, flight path and camera type for waterfowl surveys: disturbance effects and species recognition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John F. McEvoy

2016-03-01

Full Text Available The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs for ecological research has grown rapidly in recent years, but few studies have assessed the disturbance impacts of these tools on focal subjects, particularly when observing easily disturbed species such as waterfowl. In this study we assessed the level of disturbance that a range of UAV shapes and sizes had on free-living, non-breeding waterfowl surveyed in two sites in eastern Australia between March and May 2015, as well as the capability of airborne digital imaging systems to provide adequate resolution for unambiguous species identification of these taxa. We found little or no obvious disturbance effects on wild, mixed-species flocks of waterfowl when UAVs were flown at least 60m above the water level (fixed wing models or 40m above individuals (multirotor models. Disturbance in the form of swimming away from the UAV through to leaving the water surface and flying away from the UAV was visible at lower altitudes and when fixed-wing UAVs either approached subjects directly or rapidly changed altitude and/or direction near animals. Using tangential approach flight paths that did not cause disturbance, commercially available onboard optical equipment was able to capture images of sufficient quality to identify waterfowl and even much smaller taxa such as swallows. Our results show that with proper planning of take-off and landing sites, flight paths and careful UAV model selection, UAVs can provide an excellent tool for accurately surveying wild waterfowl populations and provide archival data with fewer logistical issues than traditional methods such as manned aerial surveys.

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) application to the structural health assessment of large civil engineering structures

Science.gov (United States)

Castiglioni, Carlo A.; Rabuffetti, Angelo S.; Chiarelli, Gian P.; Brambilla, Giovanni; Georgi, Julia

2017-09-01

This paper summarizes the experience gained in the structural assessment of an existing Thermal Power Plant (TPP) located near Pristina, focusing on the cooling tower and the flue gas stack, which are the main structures of the TPP. Scope of the work was the evaluation of the actual conditions of the structures and to identify the eventual repair measures in order to guarantee a safe and reliable operation of the TPP in view of the extension of its operational lifetime for the next 30 years. With this aim, a sequence of different activities was performed, like: a topographic survey to compare the actual geometrical configuration with the design one, an investigation of the material properties, an in depth visual inspection in order to detect any visible existing damage. Due to the very high elevations of the constructions and to the lack of appropriate structures aimed to their inspections and maintenance, this activity could not be performed without using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). This resulted the safest, most economical and less time-consuming solution identified to map the surface damage in the reinforced concrete elements of these large structures including zones that could not be inspected because out of reach by other means.

Remote Estimation of Vegetation Fraction and Yield in Oilseed Rape with Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Data

Science.gov (United States)

Peng, Y.; Fang, S.; Liu, K.; Gong, Y.

2017-12-01

This study developed an approach for remote estimation of Vegetation Fraction (VF) and yield in oilseed rape, which is a crop species with conspicuous flowers during reproduction. Canopy reflectance in green, red, red edge and NIR bands was obtained by a camera system mounted on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) when oilseed rape was in the vegetative growth and flowering stage. The relationship of several widely-used Vegetation Indices (VI) vs. VF was tested and found to be different in different phenology stages. At the same VF when oilseed rape was flowering, canopy reflectance increased in all bands, and the tested VI decreased. Therefore, two algorithms to estimate VF were calibrated respectively, one for samples during vegetative growth and the other for samples during flowering stage. During the flowering season, we also explored the potential of using canopy reflectance or VIs to estimate Flower Fraction (FF) in oilseed rape. Based on FF estimates, rape yield can be estimated using canopy reflectance data. Our model was validated in oilseed rape planted under different nitrogen fertilization applications and in different phenology stages. The results showed that it was able to predict VF and FF accurately in oilseed rape with estimation error below 6% and predict yield with estimation error below 20%.

Drones at the Beach - Surf Zone Monitoring Using Rotary Wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Rynne, P.; Brouwer, R.; de Schipper, M. A.; Graham, F.; Reniers, A.; MacMahan, J. H.

2014-12-01

We investigate the potential of rotary wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to monitor the surf zone. In recent years, the arrival of lightweight, high-capacity batteries, low-power electronics and compact high-definition cameras has driven the development of commercially available UAVs for hobbyists. Moreover, the low operation costs have increased their potential for scientific research as these UAVs are extremely flexible surveying platforms. The UAVs can fly for ~12 min with a mean loiter radius of 1 - 3.5 m and a mean loiter error of 0.75 - 4.5 m, depending on the environmental conditions, flying style, battery type and vehicle type. Our experiments using multiple, alternating UAVs show that it is possible to have near continuous imagery data with similar Fields Of View. The images obtained from the UAVs (Fig. 1a), and in combination with surveyed Ground Control Points (GCPs) (Fig. 1b, red squares and white circles), can be geo-rectified (Fig. 1c) to pixel resolution between 0.01 - 1 m and a reprojection error, i.e. the difference between the surveyed GPS location of a GCP and the location of the GCP obtained from the geo-rectified image, of O(1 m). These geo-rectified images provide data on a variety of coastal aspects, such as beach width (Wb(x,t)), surf zone width (Wsf(x,t)), wave breaking location (rectangle B), beach usage (circle C) and location of dune vegegation (rectangle D), amongst others. Additionally, the possibility to have consecutive, high frequency (up to 2 Hz) rectified images makes the UAVs a great data instrument for spatially and temporally variable systems, such as the surf zone. Our first observations with the UAVs reveal the potential to quickly obtain surf zone and beach characteristics in response to storms or for day to day beach information, as well as the scientific pursuits of surf zone kinematics on different spatial and temporal scales, and dispersion and advection estimates of pollutants/dye. A selection of findings from

Vehicle Routing Problems for Drone Delivery

OpenAIRE

Dorling, Kevin; Heinrichs, Jordan; Messier, Geoffrey G.; Magierowski, Sebastian

2016-01-01

Unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, have the potential to significantly reduce the cost and time of making last-mile deliveries and responding to emergencies. Despite this potential, little work has gone into developing vehicle routing problems (VRPs) specifically for drone delivery scenarios. Existing VRPs are insufficient for planning drone deliveries: either multiple trips to the depot are not permitted, leading to solutions with excess drones, or the effect of battery and payload weight ...

Real-time people and vehicle detection from UAV imagery

Science.gov (United States)

Gaszczak, Anna; Breckon, Toby P.; Han, Jiwan

2011-01-01

A generic and robust approach for the real-time detection of people and vehicles from an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) is an important goal within the framework of fully autonomous UAV deployment for aerial reconnaissance and surveillance. Here we present an approach for the automatic detection of vehicles based on using multiple trained cascaded Haar classifiers with secondary confirmation in thermal imagery. Additionally we present a related approach for people detection in thermal imagery based on a similar cascaded classification technique combining additional multivariate Gaussian shape matching. The results presented show the successful detection of vehicle and people under varying conditions in both isolated rural and cluttered urban environments with minimal false positive detection. Performance of the detector is optimized to reduce the overall false positive rate by aiming at the detection of each object of interest (vehicle/person) at least once in the environment (i.e. per search patter flight path) rather than every object in each image frame. Currently the detection rate for people is ~70% and cars ~80% although the overall episodic object detection rate for each flight pattern exceeds 90%.

Prediction of indoor concentration of 0.5-4 µm particles of outdoor origin in an uninhabited apartment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schneider, T.; Jensen, K.A.; Clausen, P.A.

2004-01-01

Indoor and outdoor particle size distributions, indoor-outdoor pressure difference, indoor air-exchange rate, and meteorological conditions were measured at an uninhabited apartment located in a busy street in Copenhagen during 1-month long fall, winter and spring campaigns. Particle penetration...... was estimated from concentration rebound measurements following HEPA filtering of the indoor air by fitting a simple deterministic model. The model included measured air exchange rates and published surface deposition loss rates. This model was then used to predict indoor particle concentration. The model...

Design and development of a Compact Aerial Radiation Monitoring System (CARMS)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Raman, N.; Chaudhury, Probal; Padmanabhan, N.; Pradeepkumar, K.S.; Sharma, D.N.

2005-01-01

Operation of nuclear facilities, increasing usage of radioisotopes in industrial, scientific and medical applications and transport of nuclear and radioactive materials may have impact on the surrounding environment. There is thus a need to periodically monitor the environmental radiation background all over the country and particularly around the nuclear facilities for assessing any possible impact on the environment. Preparedness required for response to emergencies caused due to radiological/nuclear incidents/ accidents or due to radiological/nuclear terrorism also demands state of the art systems and methodology for quick assessment of radiological impact over large affected areas. In order to meet these requirements, a Compact Aerial Radiation Monitoring System (CARMS) has been designed and developed. This system is battery operated, portable and rugged for mobile radiation monitoring and can be placed in aerial platforms like helicopters or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for unattended operation. CARMS uses energy compensated multiple GM detectors for enhancing sensitivity and is attached with commercially available Global Positioning System (GPS) for online acquisition of positional coordinates with time. The AT89LV52 microcontroller used in the system tags the dose rate data with time and positional information and stores contiguously in a serial data memory for radiological mapping of the area surveyed using any mobile platform such as aircraft/train/boat/road vehicle. The system consumes ∼150 mA including the GPS at 12 V DC enabling ∼50 hours of continuous monitoring with a 7 Ah battery source. The system has been used in aerial, rail and road based environmental radiation surveys carried out at various places of the country. With PC support, the system can map the radiological status online onto the map of the area being surveyed to help decision-making on countermeasures during the survey. (author)

Two-Step System Identification and Primitive-Based Motion Planning for Control of Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Grymin, David J.

This dissertation addresses motion planning, modeling, and feedback control for autonomous vehicle systems. A hierarchical approach for motion planning and control of nonlinear systems operating in obstacle environments is presented. To reduce computation time during the motion planning process, dynamically feasible trajectories are generated in real-time through concatenation of pre-specified motion primitives. The motion planning task is posed as a search over a directed graph, and the applicability of informed graph search techniques is investigated. Specifically, a locally greedy algorithm with effective backtracking ability is developed and compared to weighted A* search. The greedy algorithm shows an advantage with respect to solution cost and computation time when larger motion primitive libraries that do not operate on a regular state lattice are utilized. Linearization of the nonlinear system equations about the motion primitive library results in a hybrid linear time-varying model, and an optimal control algorithm using the l 2-induced norm as the performance measure is applied to ensure that the system tracks the desired trajectory. The ability of the resulting controller to closely track the trajectory obtained from the motion planner, despite various disturbances and uncertainties, is demonstrated through simulation. Additionally, an approach for obtaining dynamically feasible reference trajectories and feedback controllers for a small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) based on an aerodynamic model derived from flight tests is presented. The modeling approach utilizes the two step method (TSM) with stepwise multiple regression to determine relevant explanatory terms for the aerodynamic models. Dynamically feasible trajectories are then obtained through the solution of an optimal control problem using pseudospectral optimal control software. Discretetime feedback controllers are then obtained to regulate the vehicle along the desired reference trajectory

Drogue tracking using 3D flash lidar for autonomous aerial refueling

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Chao-I.; Stettner, Roger

2011-06-01

Autonomous aerial refueling (AAR) is an important capability for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to increase its flying range and endurance without increasing its size. This paper presents a novel tracking method that utilizes both 2D intensity and 3D point-cloud data acquired with a 3D Flash LIDAR sensor to establish relative position and orientation between the receiver vehicle and drogue during an aerial refueling process. Unlike classic, vision-based sensors, a 3D Flash LIDAR sensor can provide 3D point-cloud data in real time without motion blur, in the day or night, and is capable of imaging through fog and clouds. The proposed method segments out the drogue through 2D analysis and estimates the center of the drogue from 3D point-cloud data for flight trajectory determination. A level-set front propagation routine is first employed to identify the target of interest and establish its silhouette information. Sufficient domain knowledge, such as the size of the drogue and the expected operable distance, is integrated into our approach to quickly eliminate unlikely target candidates. A statistical analysis along with a random sample consensus (RANSAC) is performed on the target to reduce noise and estimate the center of the drogue after all 3D points on the drogue are identified. The estimated center and drogue silhouette serve as the seed points to efficiently locate the target in the next frame.

The control of a parallel hybrid-electric propulsion system for a small unmanned aerial vehicle using a CMAC neural network.

Science.gov (United States)

Harmon, Frederick G; Frank, Andrew A; Joshi, Sanjay S

2005-01-01

A Simulink model, a propulsion energy optimization algorithm, and a CMAC controller were developed for a small parallel hybrid-electric unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The hybrid-electric UAV is intended for military, homeland security, and disaster-monitoring missions involving intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR). The Simulink model is a forward-facing simulation program used to test different control strategies. The flexible energy optimization algorithm for the propulsion system allows relative importance to be assigned between the use of gasoline, electricity, and recharging. A cerebellar model arithmetic computer (CMAC) neural network approximates the energy optimization results and is used to control the parallel hybrid-electric propulsion system. The hybrid-electric UAV with the CMAC controller uses 67.3% less energy than a two-stroke gasoline-powered UAV during a 1-h ISR mission and 37.8% less energy during a longer 3-h ISR mission.

Research of aerial imaging spectrometer data acquisition technology based on USB 3.0

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Junze; Wang, Yueming; He, Daogang; Yu, Yanan

2016-11-01

With the emergence of UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) platform for aerial imaging spectrometer, research of aerial imaging spectrometer DAS(data acquisition system) faces new challenges. Due to the limitation of platform and other factors, the aerial imaging spectrometer DAS requires small-light, low-cost and universal. Traditional aerial imaging spectrometer DAS system is expensive, bulky, non-universal and unsupported plug-and-play based on PCIe. So that has been unable to meet promotion and application of the aerial imaging spectrometer. In order to solve these problems, the new data acquisition scheme bases on USB3.0 interface.USB3.0 can provide guarantee of small-light, low-cost and universal relying on the forward-looking technology advantage. USB3.0 transmission theory is up to 5Gbps.And the GPIF programming interface achieves 3.2Gbps of the effective theoretical data bandwidth.USB3.0 can fully meet the needs of the aerial imaging spectrometer data transmission rate. The scheme uses the slave FIFO asynchronous data transmission mode between FPGA and USB3014 interface chip. Firstly system collects spectral data from TLK2711 of high-speed serial interface chip. Then FPGA receives data in DDR2 cache after ping-pong data processing. Finally USB3014 interface chip transmits data via automatic-dma approach and uploads to PC by USB3.0 cable. During the manufacture of aerial imaging spectrometer, the DAS can achieve image acquisition, transmission, storage and display. All functions can provide the necessary test detection for aerial imaging spectrometer. The test shows that system performs stable and no data lose. Average transmission speed and storage speed of writing SSD can stabilize at 1.28Gbps. Consequently ,this data acquisition system can meet application requirements for aerial imaging spectrometer.

Monitoring the Invasion of Spartina alterniflora Using Very High Resolution Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Imagery in Beihai, Guangxi (China

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Huawei Wan

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Spartina alterniflora was introduced to Beihai, Guangxi (China, for ecological engineering purposes in 1979. However, the exceptional adaptability and reproductive ability of this species have led to its extensive dispersal into other habitats, where it has had a negative impact on native species and threatens the local mangrove and mudflat ecosystems. To obtain the distribution and spread of Spartina alterniflora, we collected HJ-1 CCD imagery from 2009 and 2011 and very high resolution (VHR imagery from the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV. The invasion area of Spartina alterniflora was 357.2 ha in 2011, which increased by 19.07% compared with the area in 2009. A field survey was conducted for verification and the total accuracy was 94.0%. The results of this paper show that VHR imagery can provide details on distribution, progress, and early detection of Spartina alterniflora invasion. OBIA, object based image analysis for remote sensing (RS detection method, can enable control measures to be more effective, accurate, and less expensive than a field survey of the invasive population.

Comparison of Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Performance Using Image Processing

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Esteban Cano

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Precision agriculture is a farm management technology that involves sensing and then responding to the observed variability in the field. Remote sensing is one of the tools of precision agriculture. The emergence of small unmanned aerial vehicles (sUAV have paved the way to accessible remote sensing tools for farmers. This paper describes the development of an image processing approach to compare two popular off-the-shelf sUAVs: 3DR Iris+ and DJI Phantom 2. Both units are equipped with a camera gimbal attached with a GoPro camera. The comparison of the two sUAV involves a hovering test and a rectilinear motion test. In the hovering test, the sUAV was allowed to hover over a known object and images were taken every quarter of a second for two minutes. For the image processing evaluation, the position of the object in the images was measured and this was used to assess the stability of the sUAV while hovering. In the rectilinear test, the sUAV was allowed to follow a straight path and images of a lined track were acquired. The lines on the images were then measured on how accurate the sUAV followed the path. The hovering test results show that the 3DR Iris+ had a maximum position deviation of 0.64 m (0.126 m root mean square RMS displacement while the DJI Phantom 2 had a maximum deviation of 0.79 m (0.150 m RMS displacement. In the rectilinear motion test, the maximum displacement for the 3DR Iris+ and the DJI phantom 2 were 0.85 m (0.134 m RMS displacement and 0.73 m (0.372 m RMS displacement. These results demonstrated that the two sUAVs performed well in both the hovering test and the rectilinear motion test and thus demonstrated that both sUAVs can be used for civilian applications such as agricultural monitoring. The results also showed that the developed image processing approach can be used to evaluate performance of a sUAV and has the potential to be used as another feedback control parameter for autonomous navigation.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) in out-of-hospital-cardiac-arrest.

Science.gov (United States)

Claesson, A; Fredman, D; Svensson, L; Ringh, M; Hollenberg, J; Nordberg, P; Rosenqvist, M; Djarv, T; Österberg, S; Lennartsson, J; Ban, Y

2016-10-12

The use of an automated external defibrillator (AED) prior to EMS arrival can increase 30-day survival in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) significantly. Drones or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) can fly with high velocity and potentially transport devices such as AEDs to the site of OHCAs. The aim of this explorative study was to investigate the feasibility of a drone system in decreasing response time and delivering an AED. Data of Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates from historical OHCA in Stockholm County was used in a model using a Geographic Information System (GIS) to find suitable placements and visualize response times for the use of an AED equipped drone. Two different geographical models, urban and rural, were calculated using a multi-criteria evaluation (MCE) model. Test-flights with an AED were performed on these locations in rural areas. In total, based on 3,165 retrospective OHCAs in Stockholm County between 2006-2013, twenty locations were identified for the potential placement of a drone. In a GIS-simulated model of urban OHCA, the drone arrived before EMS in 32 % of cases, and the mean amount of time saved was 1.5 min. In rural OHCA the drone arrived before EMS in 93 % of cases with a mean amount of time saved of 19 min. In these rural locations during (n = 13) test flights, latch-release of the AED from low altitude (3-4 m) or landing the drone on flat ground were the safest ways to deliver an AED to the bystander and were superior to parachute release. The difference in response time for EMS between urban and rural areas is substantial, as is the possible amount of time saved using this UAV-system. However, yet another technical device needs to fit into the chain of survival. We know nothing of how productive or even counterproductive this system might be in clinical reality. To use drones in rural areas to deliver an AED in OHCA may be safe and feasible. Suitable placement of drone systems can be designed by using GIS models

High-resolution sensing for precision agriculture: from Earth-observing satellites to unmanned aerial vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

McCabe, Matthew F.; Houborg, Rasmus; Lucieer, Arko

2016-10-01

With global population projected to approach 9 billion by 2050, it has been estimated that a 40% increase in cereal production will be required to satisfy the worlds growing nutritional demands. Any such increases in agricultural productivity are likely to occur within a system that has limited room for growth and in a world with a climate that is different from that of today. Fundamental to achieving food and water security, is the capacity to monitor the health and condition of agricultural systems. While space-agency based satellites have provided the backbone for earth observation over the last few decades, many developments in the field of high-resolution earth observation have been advanced by the commercial sector. These advances relate not just to technological developments in the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), but also the advent of nano-satellite constellations that offer a radical shift in the way earth observations are now being retrieved. Such technologies present opportunities for improving our description of the water, energy and carbon cycles. Efforts towards developing new observational techniques and interpretative frameworks are required to provide the tools and information needed to improve the management and security of agricultural and related sectors. These developments are one of the surest ways to better manage, protect and preserve national food and water resources. Here we review the capabilities of recently deployed satellite systems and UAVs and examine their potential for application in precision agriculture.

High-resolution sensing for precision agriculture: from Earth-observing satellites to unmanned aerial vehicles

KAUST Repository

McCabe, Matthew

2016-10-25

With global population projected to approach 9 billion by 2050, it has been estimated that a 40% increase in cereal production will be required to satisfy the worlds growing nutritional demands. Any such increases in agricultural productivity are likely to occur within a system that has limited room for growth and in a world with a climate that is different from that of today. Fundamental to achieving food and water security, is the capacity to monitor the health and condition of agricultural systems. While space-Agency based satellites have provided the backbone for earth observation over the last few decades, many developments in the field of high-resolution earth observation have been advanced by the commercial sector. These advances relate not just to technological developments in the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), but also the advent of nano-satellite constellations that offer a radical shift in the way earth observations are now being retrieved. Such technologies present opportunities for improving our description of the water, energy and carbon cycles. Efforts towards developing new observational techniques and interpretative frameworks are required to provide the tools and information needed to improve the management and security of agricultural and related sectors. These developments are one of the surest ways to better manage, protect and preserve national food and water resources. Here we review the capabilities of recently deployed satellite systems and UAVs and examine their potential for application in precision agriculture.

Technical Note: Advances in flash flood monitoring using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. T. Perks

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs have the potential to capture information about the earth's surface in dangerous and previously inaccessible locations. Through image acquisition of flash flood events and subsequent object-based analysis, highly dynamic and oft-immeasurable hydraulic phenomena may be quantified at previously unattainable spatial and temporal resolutions. The potential for this approach to provide valuable information about the hydraulic conditions present during dynamic, high-energy flash floods has until now not been explored. In this paper we adopt a novel approach, utilizing the Kande–Lucas–Tomasi (KLT algorithm to track features present on the water surface which are related to the free-surface velocity. Following the successful tracking of features, a method analogous to the vector correction method has enabled accurate geometric rectification of velocity vectors. Uncertainties associated with the rectification process induced by unsteady camera movements are subsequently explored. Geo-registration errors are relatively stable and occur as a result of persistent residual distortion effects following image correction. The apparent ground movement of immobile control points between measurement intervals ranges from 0.05 to 0.13 m. The application of this approach to assess the hydraulic conditions present in the Alyth Burn, Scotland, during a 1 : 200 year flash flood resulted in the generation of an average 4.2 at a rate of 508 measurements s−1. Analysis of these vectors provides a rare insight into the complexity of channel–overbank interactions during flash floods. The uncertainty attached to the calculated velocities is relatively low, with a spatial average across the area of ±0.15 m s−1. Little difference is observed in the uncertainty attached to out-of-bank velocities (±0.15 m s−1, and within-channel velocities (±0.16 m s−1, illustrating the consistency of the approach.

Investigation of Natural Gas Fugitive Leak Detection Using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, S.; Talbot, R. W.; Frish, M. B.; Golston, L.; Aubut, N. F.; Zondlo, M. A.

2017-12-01

The U.S is now the world's largest natural gas producer, of which methane (CH4) is the main component. About 2% of the CH4 is lost through fugitive leaks. This research is under the DOE Methane Observation Networks with Innovative Technology to Obtain Reductions (MONITOR) program of ARPA-E. Our sentry measurement system is composed of four state-of-the-art technologies centered around the RMLDTM (Remote Methane Leak Detector). An open path RMLDTM measures column-integrated CH4 concentration that incorporates fluctuations in the vertical CH4 distribution. Based on Backscatter Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy and Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, the sentry system can autonomously, consistently and cost-effectively monitor and quantify CH4 leakage from sites associated with natural gas production. This system provides an advanced capability in detecting leaks at hard-to-access sites (e.g., wellheads) compared to traditional manual methods. Automated leak detecting and reporting algorithms combined with wireless data link implement real-time leak information reporting. Early data were gathered to set up and test the prototype system, and to optimize the leak localization and calculation strategies. The flight pattern is based on a raster scan which can generate interpolated CH4 concentration maps. The localization and quantification algorithms can be derived from the plume images combined with wind vectors. Currently, the accuracy of localization algorithm can reach 2 m and the calculation algorithm has a factor of 2 accuracy. This study places particular emphasis on flux quantification. The data collected at Colorado and Houston test fields were processed, and the correlation between flux and other parameters analyzed. Higher wind speeds and lower wind variation are preferred to optimize flux estimation. Eventually, this system will supply an enhanced detection capability to significantly reduce fugitive CH4 emissions in the natural gas industry.

Using small unmanned aerial vehicle for instream habitat evaluation and modelling

Science.gov (United States)

Astegiano, Luca; Vezza, Paolo; Comoglio, Claudio; Lingua, Andrea; Spairani, Michele

2015-04-01

Recent advances in digital image collection and processing have led to the increased use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) for river research and management. In this paper, we assess the capabilities of a small UAV to characterize physical habitat for fish in three river stretches of North-Western Italy. The main aim of the study was identifying the advantages and challenges of this technology for environmental river management, in the context of the increasing river exploitation for hydropower production. The UAV used to acquire overlapping images was a small quadcopter with a two different high-resolution (non-metric) cameras (Nikon J1™ and Go-Pro Hero 3 Black Edition™). The quadcopter was preprogrammed to fly set waypoints using a small tablet PC. With the acquired imagery, we constructed a 5-cm resolution orthomosaic image and a digital surface model (DSM). The two products were used to map the distribution of aquatic and riparian habitat features, i.e., wetted area, morphological unit distributions, bathymetry, water surface gradient, substrates and grain sizes, shelters and cover for fish. The study assessed the quality of collected data and used such information to identify key reach-scale metrics and important aspects of fluvial morphology and aquatic habitat. The potential and limitations of using UAV for physical habitat survey were evaluated and the collected data were used to initialize and run common habitat simulation tools (MesoHABSIM). Several advantages of using UAV-based imagery were found, including low cost procedures, high resolution and efficiency in data collection. However, some challenges were identified for bathymetry extraction (vegetation obstructions, white waters, turbidity) and grain size assessment (preprocessing of data and automatic object detection). The application domain and possible limitation for instream habitat mapping were defined and will be used as a reference for future studies. Ongoing activities include the

Titan AVIATR - Aerial Vehicle for In Situ and Airborne Titan Reconnaissance

Science.gov (United States)

Kattenhorn, Simon A.; Barnes, J. W.; McKay, C. P.; Lemke, L.; Beyer, R. A.; Radebaugh, J.; Adamkovics, M.; Atkinson, D. H.; Burr, D. M.; Colaprete, T.; Foch, R.; Le Mouélic, S.; Merrison, J.; Mitchell, J.; Rodriguez, S.; Schaller, E.

2010-10-01

Titan AVIATR - Aerial Vehicle for In Situ and Airborne Titan Reconnaissance - is a small (120 kg), nuclear-powered Titan airplane in the Discovery/New Frontiers class based on the concept of Lemke (2008 IPPW). The scientific goals of the mission are designed around the unique flexibility offered by an airborne platform: to explore Titan's diversity of surface landforms, processes, and compositions, as well as to study and measure the atmospheric circulation, aerosols, and humidity. AVIATR would address and surpass many of the science goals of hot-air balloons in Titan flagship studies. The strawman instrument payload is narrowly focused on the stated scientific objectives. The optical remote sensing suite comprises three instruments - an off-nadir high-resolution 2-micron camera, a horizon-looking 5-micron imager, and a 1-6 micron pushbroom near-infrared spectrometer. The in situ instruments include atmospheric structure, a methane humidity sensor, and a raindrop detector. An airplane has operational advantages over a balloon. Its piloted nature allows a go-to capability to image locations of interest in real time, thereby allowing for directed exploration of many features of primary geologic interest: Titan's sand dunes, mountains, craters, channels, and lakes. Subsequent imaging can capture changes in these features during the primary mission. AVIATR can fly predesigned routes, building up large context mosaics of areas of interest before swooping down to low altitude to acquire high-resolution images at 30-cm spatial sampling, similar to that of HiRISE at Mars. The elevation flexibility of the airplane allows us to acquire atmospheric profiles as a function of altitude at any desired location. Although limited by the direct-to-Earth downlink bandwidth, the total scientific data return from AVIATR will be >40 times that returned from Huygens. To maximize the science per bit, novel data storage and downlink techniques will be employed, including lossy compression

Exergy analysis of a turbofan engine for an unmanned aerial vehicle during a surveillance mission

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Şöhret, Yasin; Dinç, Ali; Karakoç, T. Hikmet

2015-01-01

In this study, an exergy analysis of a turbofan engine, being the main power unit of an UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) over the course of a surveillance mission flight, is presented. In this framework, an engine model is firstly developed, based upon engine design parameters and conditions using a genuine code. Next, the exergy analysis is performed according to thermodynamic laws. At the end of the study, the combustion chamber is identified as the most irreversible component of the engine, while the high pressure turbine and compressor are identified as the most efficient components throughout the flight. The minimum exergy efficiency is 58.24% for the combustion chamber at the end of the ingress flight phase, while the maximum exergy efficiency is found to be 99.09% for the high pressure turbine at the start of the ingress flight phase and landing loiter. The highest exergy destruction within the engine occurs at landing loiter, take-off and start of climb, with rates of 16998.768 kW, 16820.317 kW and 16564.378 kW respectively. - Highlights: • This study reveals the exergy parameters of a turbofan engine for an UAV. • Exergy analysis is conducted for a complete surveillance mission flight. • Variation of exergy parameters of engine components during the flight is presented. • The impact of the environment conditions on exergy parameters is proven.

The application of the unmanned aerial vehicle remote sensing technology in the FAST project construction

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Boqin

2015-08-01

The purpose of using unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) remote sensing application in Five-hundred-meter aperture spherical telescope (FAST) project is to dynamically record the construction process with high resolution image, monitor the environmental impact, and provide services for local environmental protection and the reserve immigrants. This paper introduces the use of UAV remote sensing system and the course design and implementation for the FAST site. Through the analysis of the time series data, we found that: (1) since the year 2012, the project has been widely carried out; (2) till 2013, the internal project begun to take shape;(3) engineering excavation scope was kept stable in 2014, and the initial scale of the FAST engineering construction has emerged as in the meantime, the vegetation recovery went well on the bare soil area; (4) in 2015, none environmental problems caused by engineering construction and other engineering geological disaster were found in the work area through the image interpretation of UAV images. This paper also suggested that the UAV technology need some improvements to fulfill the requirements of surveying and mapping specification., including a new data acquisition and processing measures assigned with the background of highly diverse elevation, usage of telephoto camera, hierarchical photography with different flying height, and adjustment with terrain using the joint empty three settlement method.

Design and Analysis of a Single—Camera Omnistereo Sensor for Quadrotor Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carlos Jaramillo

2016-02-01

Full Text Available We describe the design and 3D sensing performance of an omnidirectional stereo (omnistereo vision system applied to Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs. The proposed omnistereo sensor employs a monocular camera that is co-axially aligned with a pair of hyperboloidal mirrors (a vertically-folded catadioptric configuration. We show that this arrangement provides a compact solution for omnidirectional 3D perception while mounted on top of propeller-based MAVs (not capable of large payloads. The theoretical single viewpoint (SVP constraint helps us derive analytical solutions for the sensor’s projective geometry and generate SVP-compliant panoramic images to compute 3D information from stereo correspondences (in a truly synchronous fashion. We perform an extensive analysis on various system characteristics such as its size, catadioptric spatial resolution, field-of-view. In addition, we pose a probabilistic model for the uncertainty estimation of 3D information from triangulation of back-projected rays. We validate the projection error of the design using both synthetic and real-life images against ground-truth data. Qualitatively, we show 3D point clouds (dense and sparse resulting out of a single image captured from a real-life experiment. We expect the reproducibility of our sensor as its model parameters can be optimized to satisfy other catadioptric-based omnistereo vision under different circumstances.

Algorithm for automatic image dodging of unmanned aerial vehicle images using two-dimensional radiometric spatial attributes

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Wenzhuo; Sun, Kaimin; Li, Deren; Bai, Ting

2016-07-01

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) remote sensing technology has come into wide use in recent years. The poor stability of the UAV platform, however, produces more inconsistencies in hue and illumination among UAV images than other more stable platforms. Image dodging is a process used to reduce these inconsistencies caused by different imaging conditions. We propose an algorithm for automatic image dodging of UAV images using two-dimensional radiometric spatial attributes. We use object-level image smoothing to smooth foreground objects in images and acquire an overall reference background image by relative radiometric correction. We apply the Contourlet transform to separate high- and low-frequency sections for every single image, and replace the low-frequency section with the low-frequency section extracted from the corresponding region in the overall reference background image. We apply the inverse Contourlet transform to reconstruct the final dodged images. In this process, a single image must be split into reasonable block sizes with overlaps due to large pixel size. Experimental mosaic results show that our proposed method reduces the uneven distribution of hue and illumination. Moreover, it effectively eliminates dark-bright interstrip effects caused by shadows and vignetting in UAV images while maximally protecting image texture information.

High Work, High-Efficiency Turbines for Uninhabited Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) Addendum to AFRL-RQ-WP-TR-2013-0198

Science.gov (United States)

2013-09-01

upstream and total pressure in the wake of the blades. A -0.2 to 0.8 in-H20 Druck pressure transducer was used for wake loss measurements, and 0 to...2.0 in-H20 Druck pressure transducer for Cp calculations. A single element hotwire was used to measure inlet velocity and calculate Reynolds number...Sheet for Conformal Surface Diagnostics A novel technique that generates curved laser-sheets of arbitrary wrappable 3D shapes has been developed

Insect-Inspired Flight Control for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Thakoor, Sarita; Stange, G.; Srinivasan, M.; Chahl, Javaan; Hine, Butler; Zornetzer, Steven

2005-01-01

Flight-control and navigation systems inspired by the structure and function of the visual system and brain of insects have been proposed for a class of developmental miniature robotic aircraft called "biomorphic flyers" described earlier in "Development of Biomorphic Flyers" (NPO-30554), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 28, No. 11 (November 2004), page 54. These form a subset of biomorphic explorers, which, as reported in several articles in past issues of NASA Tech Briefs ["Biomorphic Explorers" (NPO-20142), Vol. 22, No. 9 (September 1998), page 71; "Bio-Inspired Engineering of Exploration Systems" (NPO-21142), Vol. 27, No. 5 (May 2003), page 54; and "Cooperative Lander-Surface/Aerial Microflyer Missions for Mars Exploration" (NPO-30286), Vol. 28, No. 5 (May 2004), page 36], are proposed small robots, equipped with microsensors and communication systems, that would incorporate crucial functions of mobility, adaptability, and even cooperative behavior. These functions are inherent to biological organisms but are challenging frontiers for technical systems. Biomorphic flyers could be used on Earth or remote planets to explore otherwise difficult or impossible to reach sites. An example of an exploratory task of search/surveillance functions currently being tested is to obtain high-resolution aerial imagery, using a variety of miniaturized electronic cameras. The control functions to be implemented by the systems in development include holding altitude, avoiding hazards, following terrain, navigation by reference to recognizable terrain features, stabilization of flight, and smooth landing. Flying insects perform these and other functions remarkably well, even though insect brains contains fewer than 10(exp -4) as many neurons as does the human brain. Although most insects have immobile, fixed-focus eyes and lack stereoscopy (and hence cannot perceive depth directly), they utilize a number of ingenious strategies for perceiving, and navigating in, three dimensions. Despite

Robust Satisficing Decision Making for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Complex Missions under Severe Uncertainty.

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Xiaoting Ji

Full Text Available This paper presents a robust satisficing decision-making method for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs executing complex missions in an uncertain environment. Motivated by the info-gap decision theory, we formulate this problem as a novel robust satisficing optimization problem, of which the objective is to maximize the robustness while satisfying some desired mission requirements. Specifically, a new info-gap based Markov Decision Process (IMDP is constructed to abstract the uncertain UAV system and specify the complex mission requirements with the Linear Temporal Logic (LTL. A robust satisficing policy is obtained to maximize the robustness to the uncertain IMDP while ensuring a desired probability of satisfying the LTL specifications. To this end, we propose a two-stage robust satisficing solution strategy which consists of the construction of a product IMDP and the generation of a robust satisficing policy. In the first stage, a product IMDP is constructed by combining the IMDP with an automaton representing the LTL specifications. In the second, an algorithm based on robust dynamic programming is proposed to generate a robust satisficing policy, while an associated robustness evaluation algorithm is presented to evaluate the robustness. Finally, through Monte Carlo simulation, the effectiveness of our algorithms is demonstrated on an UAV search mission under severe uncertainty so that the resulting policy can maximize the robustness while reaching the desired performance level. Furthermore, by comparing the proposed method with other robust decision-making methods, it can be concluded that our policy can tolerate higher uncertainty so that the desired performance level can be guaranteed, which indicates that the proposed method is much more effective in real applications.

A generic approach for photogrammetric survey using a six-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tahar, K N; Mohd, W M N W; Ahmad, A; Akib, W A A W M

2014-01-01

This paper discusses a rapid production of slope mapping using multi-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The objective of this study is to determine the accuracy of the photogrammetric results based on novel method of multi-rotor UAV images as well as to analyze the slope error distribution that are obtained from the UAV images. This study only concentrates on multi-rotor UAV which also known as Hexacopter. An operator can control the speed of multi-rotor UAV during flight mission. Several ground control points and checkpoints were established using Real Time Kinematic Global Positioning System (RTK- GPS) at the slope area. Ground control points were used in exterior orientation during image processing in sequence to transform image coordinates into local coordinate system. Checkpoints were established at the slope area for accuracy assessment. A digital camera, Sony NEX-5N was used for image acquisition of slope area from UAV platforms. The digital camera was mounted vertically at the bottom of UAV and captured the images at an altitude. All acquired images went through photogrammetric processing including interior orientation, exterior orientation and bundle adjustment using photogrammetric software. Photogrammetric results such as digital elevation model, and digital orthophoto including slope map were assessed. UAV is able to acquire data within short period of time with low budget compared to the previous methods such as satellite images and airborne laser scanner. Analysis on slope analysis and error distribution analysis are discussed in this paper to determine the quality of slope map in the area of interest. In summary, multi-rotor UAV is suited in slope mapping studies

Aerial radiation surveys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jobst, J.

1980-01-01

A recent aerial radiation survey of the surroundings of the Vitro mill in Salt Lake City shows that uranium mill tailings have been removed to many locations outside their original boundary. To date, 52 remote sites have been discovered within a 100 square kilometer aerial survey perimeter surrounding the mill; 9 of these were discovered with the recent aerial survey map. Five additional sites, also discovered by aerial survey, contained uranium ore, milling equipment, or radioactive slag. Because of the success of this survey, plans are being made to extend the aerial survey program to other parts of the Salt Lake valley where diversions of Vitro tailings are also known to exist

Performance Characterization of a Lithium-ion Gel Polymer Battery Power Supply System for an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Reid, Concha M.; Manzo, Michelle A.; Logan, Michael J.

2004-01-01

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are currently under development for NASA missions, earth sciences, aeronautics, the military, and commercial applications. The design of an all electric power and propulsion system for small UAVs was the focus of a detailed study. Currently, many of these small vehicles are powered by primary (nonrechargeable) lithium-based batteries. While this type of battery is capable of satisfying some of the mission needs, a secondary (rechargeable) battery power supply system that can provide the same functionality as the current system at the same or lower system mass and volume is desired. A study of commercially available secondary battery cell technologies that could provide the desired performance characteristics was performed. Due to the strict mass limitations and wide operating temperature requirements of small UAVs, the only viable cell chemistries were determined to be lithium-ion liquid electrolyte systems and lithium-ion gel polymer electrolyte systems. Two lithium-ion gel polymer cell designs were selected as candidates and were tested using potential load profiles for UAV applications. Because lithium primary batteries have a higher specific energy and energy density, for the same mass and volume allocation, the secondary batteries resulted in shorter flight times than the primary batteries typically provide. When the batteries were operated at lower ambient temperatures (0 to -20 C), flight times were even further reduced. Despite the reduced flight times demonstrated, for certain UAV applications, the secondary batteries operated within the acceptable range of flight times at room temperature and above. The results of this testing indicate that a secondary battery power supply system can provide some benefits over the primary battery power supply system. A UAV can be operated for hundreds of flights using a secondary battery power supply system that provides the combined benefits of rechargeability and an inherently safer

Life-threatening motor vehicle crashes in bright sunlight

OpenAIRE

Redelmeier, Donald A.; Raza, Sheharyar

2017-01-01

Abstract Bright sunlight may create visual illusions that lead to driver error, including fallible distance judgment from aerial perspective. We tested whether the risk of a life-threatening motor vehicle crash was increased when driving in bright sunlight. This longitudinal, case-only, paired-comparison analysis evaluated patients hospitalized because of a motor vehicle crash between January 1, 1995 and December 31, 2014. The relative risk of a crash associated with bright sunlight was estim...

Baseline and Multimodal UAV GCS Interface Design

Science.gov (United States)

2013-07-01

complete a computerized version of the NASA - TLX assessment of perceived mental workload. 2.3 Results The baseline condition ran smoothly and with...System MALE Medium-altitude, Long-endurance NASA - TLX NASA Task Load Index SA Situation Awareness TDT Tucker Davis Technologies UAV Uninhabited Aerial

Cooperative Search with Autonomous Vehicles in a 3D Aquatic Testbed

Science.gov (United States)

2012-01-01

Cooperative Search with Autonomous Vehicles in a 3D Aquatic Testbed Matthew Keeter1, Daniel Moore2,3, Ryan Muller2,3, Eric Nieters1, Jennifer...Many applications for autonomous vehicles involve three-dimensional domains, notably aerial and aquatic environments. Such applications include mon...TYPE 3. DATES COVERED 00-00-2012 to 00-00-2012 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Cooperative Search With Autonomous Vehicles In A 3D Aquatic Testbed 5a

A Cyber-Vigilance System for Anti-Terrorist Drives Based on an Unmanned Aerial Vehicular Networking Signal Jammer for Specific Territorial Security

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dhiman Chowdhury

2018-05-01

Full Text Available During sudden anti-terrorist drives conducted by the law enforcement agencies, a localized cyber security system happens to be a special tactic to avert the unprecedented massacre and gruesome fatalities against the residents of that area by disconnecting the affected territory from the rest of the world; so that the militants and their outside accomplices cannot communicate with each other and also the terrorists cannot go through the ongoing apprehensive operation via wireless communications. This paper presents a novel framework of an unmanned aerial vehicular networking signal jammer which is oriented to block incoming and outgoing signals of all frequencies transmitted from a specifically marginalized territory scanned and explored by the aerial vehicle. During such a cyber-vigilance operation, the aerial vehicle is equipped with a transmitter and an auto-tuning band-pass filter module with automatic regulation of center frequencies according to the surrounding networking signals, which are considered to be the suppressing noise parameters. In order to restrict the signal blocking operation within the militant hub, the aerial vehicle with the network terminator is controlled to navigate within a particular boundary of a residential area and its navigation is continuously mapped and stored for effective evacuation process directed to save the innocent stranded people. A very low frequency (VLF metal detector has been designed to trace the explosives and buried landmines inside the exploration arena. An algorithm for 3-D mapping of the metal traces detected by the aerial navigator has been presented in this paper. Signal blocking, metal tracing and stable confined movements have been tested where the testbed is provided with signals of different frequencies along with variation in dimensions of the testing region to evaluate the reliability of the proposed framework.

Development of multi copter based autonomous unmanned aerial radiation monitoring system for the remote impact assessment of radiation emergencies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jose, Jis Romal; Gupta, Ashutosh; Bahadur, Shuchita; Chaudhury, Probal; Pradeepkumar, K.S.

2016-01-01

During any radiation emergency, the level and extent of radioactive contamination need to be monitored for the timely and effective implementation of countermeasures to reduce the radiation exposure to public. In such a scenario, radiation surveillance can be carried out using either ground based mobile monitoring techniques or aerial radiation monitoring. Aerial radiation monitoring is quick and capable of scanning the areas which are not easily accessible by the ground based mobile monitoring. Compact unmanned aerial vehicle based radiation surveillance system is ideal in above mentioned radiation emergency scenarios as it can be rapidly deployed in the affected area and radiation exposure to the monitoring personal can be totally avoided. This paper describes development of multi copter based autonomous unmanned aerial radiation monitoring system for the remote impact assessment of radiation emergencies

Aerospace toxicology overview: aerial application and cabin air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

Chaturvedi, Arvind K

2011-01-01

Aerospace toxicology is a rather recent development and is closely related to aerospace medicine. Aerospace toxicology can be defined as a field of study designed to address the adverse effects of medications, chemicals, and contaminants on humans who fly within or outside the atmosphere in aviation or on space flights. The environment extending above and beyond the surface of the Earth is referred to as aerospace. The term aviation is frequently used interchangeably with aerospace. The focus of the literature review performed to prepare this paper was on aerospace toxicology-related subject matters, aerial application and aircraft cabin air quality. Among the important topics addressed are the following: · Aerial applications of agricultural chemicals, pesticidal toxicity, and exposures to aerially applied mixtures of chemicals and their associated formulating solvents/surfactants The safety of aerially encountered chemicals and the bioanalytical methods used to monitor exposures to some of them · The presence of fumes and smoke, as well as other contaminants that may generally be present in aircraft/space vehicle cabin air · And importantly, the toxic effects of aerially encountered contaminants, with emphasis on the degradation products of oils, fluids, and lubricants used in aircraft, and finally · Analytical methods used for monitoring human exposure to CO and HCN are addressed in the review, as are the signs and symptoms associated with exposures to these combustion gases. Although many agricultural chemical monitoring studies have been published, few have dealt with the occurrence of such chemicals in aircraft cabin air. However, agricultural chemicals do appear in cabin air; indeed, attempts have been made to establish maximum allowable concentrations for several of the more potentially toxic ones that are found in aircraft cabin air. In this article, I emphasize the need for precautionary measures to be taken to minimize exposures to aerially

Multi-Model Estimation Based Moving Object Detection for Aerial Video

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yanning Zhang

2015-04-01

Full Text Available With the wide development of UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle technology, moving target detection for aerial video has become a popular research topic in the computer field. Most of the existing methods are under the registration-detection framework and can only deal with simple background scenes. They tend to go wrong in the complex multi background scenarios, such as viaducts, buildings and trees. In this paper, we break through the single background constraint and perceive the complex scene accurately by automatic estimation of multiple background models. First, we segment the scene into several color blocks and estimate the dense optical flow. Then, we calculate an affine transformation model for each block with large area and merge the consistent models. Finally, we calculate subordinate degree to multi-background models pixel to pixel for all small area blocks. Moving objects are segmented by means of energy optimization method solved via Graph Cuts. The extensive experimental results on public aerial videos show that, due to multi background models estimation, analyzing each pixel’s subordinate relationship to multi models by energy minimization, our method can effectively remove buildings, trees and other false alarms and detect moving objects correctly.

Unmanned aerial systems for photogrammetry and remote sensing: A review

Science.gov (United States)

Colomina, I.; Molina, P.

2014-06-01

We discuss the evolution and state-of-the-art of the use of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) in the field of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (PaRS). UAS, Remotely-Piloted Aerial Systems, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or simply, drones are a hot topic comprising a diverse array of aspects including technology, privacy rights, safety and regulations, and even war and peace. Modern photogrammetry and remote sensing identified the potential of UAS-sourced imagery more than thirty years ago. In the last five years, these two sister disciplines have developed technology and methods that challenge the current aeronautical regulatory framework and their own traditional acquisition and processing methods. Navety and ingenuity have combined off-the-shelf, low-cost equipment with sophisticated computer vision, robotics and geomatic engineering. The results are cm-level resolution and accuracy products that can be generated even with cameras costing a few-hundred euros. In this review article, following a brief historic background and regulatory status analysis, we review the recent unmanned aircraft, sensing, navigation, orientation and general data processing developments for UAS photogrammetry and remote sensing with emphasis on the nano-micro-mini UAS segment.

Person identification from aerial footage by a remote-controlled drone.

Science.gov (United States)

Bindemann, Markus; Fysh, Matthew C; Sage, Sophie S K; Douglas, Kristina; Tummon, Hannah M

2017-10-19

Remote-controlled aerial drones (or unmanned aerial vehicles; UAVs) are employed for surveillance by the military and police, which suggests that drone-captured footage might provide sufficient information for person identification. This study demonstrates that person identification from drone-captured images is poor when targets are unfamiliar (Experiment 1), when targets are familiar and the number of possible identities is restricted by context (Experiment 2), and when moving footage is employed (Experiment 3). Person information such as sex, race and age is also difficult to access from drone-captured footage (Experiment 4). These findings suggest that such footage provides a particularly poor medium for person identification. This is likely to reflect the sub-optimal quality of such footage, which is subject to factors such as the height and velocity at which drones fly, viewing distance, unfavourable vantage points, and ambient conditions.

What Does It Take to Establish that a World Is Uninhabited Prior to Exploitation? A Question of Ethics as well as Science

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Erik Persson

2014-08-01

Full Text Available If we find life on another world, it will be an extremely important discovery and we will have to take great care not to do anything that might endanger that life. If the life we find is sentient we will have moral obligations to that life. Whether it is sentient or not, we have a duty to ourselves to preserve it as a study object, and also because it would be commonly seen as valuable in its own right. In addition to this we would also have a duty to our fellow humans and other earthly life forms not to expose them to danger by advertently or inadvertently exposing them to potentially harmful space organisms. When space exploration turns into exploitation it will therefore be important to be able to show that a world that is up for exploitation is uninhabited before the exploitation starts. Showing that a world is uninhabited is, however, a different kind of task than showing that it is inhabited. The latter task can be accomplished through one positive finding but it is not clear how to go about the former task. In this paper I suggest that it is a gradual process asymptotically approaching certainty rather than a discovery in the traditional sense of the word. It has to be handled in two steps. The first is to connect degree of certainty with research setup. The second is to decide how certain we need to be. The first step is about the number, diversity and quality of observations. The second step is a decision we have to make based on the purpose of the investigation. The purpose and therefore the degree of certainty needed to establish that a world is uninhabited will be different for a world that is up for exploitation than for a world that is not. In the latter case it is only a matter of epistemic values. In the former case also ethical values have to be considered.

DETERMINING GEOMETRIC PARAMETERS OF AGRICULTURAL TREES FROM LASER SCANNING DATA OBTAINED WITH UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E. Hadas

2018-05-01

Full Text Available The estimation of dendrometric parameters has become an important issue for agriculture planning and for the efficient management of orchards. Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS data is widely used in forestry and many algorithms for automatic estimation of dendrometric parameters of individual forest trees were developed. Unfortunately, due to significant differences between forest and fruit trees, some contradictions exist against adopting the achievements of forestry science to agricultural studies indiscriminately. In this study we present the methodology to identify individual trees in apple orchard and estimate heights of individual trees, using high-density LiDAR data (3200 points/m2 obtained with Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV equipped with Velodyne HDL32-E sensor. The processing strategy combines the alpha-shape algorithm, principal component analysis (PCA and detection of local minima. The alpha-shape algorithm is used to separate tree rows. In order to separate trees in a single row, we detect local minima on the canopy profile and slice polygons from alpha-shape results. We successfully separated 92 % of trees in the test area. 6 % of trees in orchard were not separated from each other and 2 % were sliced into two polygons. The RMSE of tree heights determined from the point clouds compared to field measurements was equal to 0.09 m, and the correlation coefficient was equal to 0.96. The results confirm the usefulness of LiDAR data from UAV platform in orchard inventory.

Determining Geometric Parameters of Agricultural Trees from Laser Scanning Data Obtained with Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Hadas, E.; Jozkow, G.; Walicka, A.; Borkowski, A.

2018-05-01

The estimation of dendrometric parameters has become an important issue for agriculture planning and for the efficient management of orchards. Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) data is widely used in forestry and many algorithms for automatic estimation of dendrometric parameters of individual forest trees were developed. Unfortunately, due to significant differences between forest and fruit trees, some contradictions exist against adopting the achievements of forestry science to agricultural studies indiscriminately. In this study we present the methodology to identify individual trees in apple orchard and estimate heights of individual trees, using high-density LiDAR data (3200 points/m2) obtained with Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) equipped with Velodyne HDL32-E sensor. The processing strategy combines the alpha-shape algorithm, principal component analysis (PCA) and detection of local minima. The alpha-shape algorithm is used to separate tree rows. In order to separate trees in a single row, we detect local minima on the canopy profile and slice polygons from alpha-shape results. We successfully separated 92 % of trees in the test area. 6 % of trees in orchard were not separated from each other and 2 % were sliced into two polygons. The RMSE of tree heights determined from the point clouds compared to field measurements was equal to 0.09 m, and the correlation coefficient was equal to 0.96. The results confirm the usefulness of LiDAR data from UAV platform in orchard inventory.

Accuracy and Optimal Altitude for Physical Habitat Assessment (PHA of Stream Environments Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ângela Maria Klein Hentz

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Physical Habitat Assessments (PHA are useful to characterize and monitor stream and river habitat conditions, but can be costly and time-consuming. Alternative methods for data collection are getting attention, such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV. The objective of this work was to evaluate the accuracy of UAV-based remote sensing techniques relative to ground-based PHA measurements, and to determine the influence of flight altitude on those accuracies. A UAV quadcopter equipped with an RGB camera was flown at the altitudes of 30.5 m, 61.0 m, 91.5 m and 122.0 m, and the metrics wetted width (Ww, bankfull width (Wbf and distance to water (Dw were compared to field PHA. The UAV-PHA method generated similar values to observed PHA values, but underestimated distance to water, and overestimated wetted width. Bankfull width provided the largest RMSE (25–28%. No systematic error patterns were observed considering the different flight altitudes, and results indicated that all flight altitudes investigated can be reliably used for PHA measurements. However, UAV flight at 61 m provided the most accurate results (CI = 0.05 considering all metrics. All UAV parameters over all altitudes showed significant correlation with observed PHA data, validating the use of UAV-based remote sensing for PHA.

A hybrid system approach to airspeed, angle of attack and sideslip estimation in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

KAUST Repository

Shaqura, Mohammad

2015-06-01

Fixed wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are an increasingly common sensing platform, owing to their key advantages: speed, endurance and ability to explore remote areas. While these platforms are highly efficient, they cannot easily be equipped with air data sensors commonly found on their larger scale manned counterparts. Indeed, such sensors are bulky, expensive and severely reduce the payload capability of the UAVs. In consequence, UAV controllers (humans or autopilots) have little information on the actual mode of operation of the wing (normal, stalled, spin) which can cause catastrophic losses of control when flying in turbulent weather conditions. In this article, we propose a real-time air parameter estimation scheme that can run on commercial, low power autopilots in real-time. The computational method is based on a hybrid decomposition of the modes of operation of the UAV. A Bayesian approach is considered for estimation, in which the estimated airspeed, angle of attack and sideslip are described statistically. An implementation on a UAV is presented, and the performance and computational efficiency of this method are validated using hardware in the loop (HIL) simulation and experimental flight data and compared with classical Extended Kalman Filter estimation. Our benchmark tests shows that this method is faster than EKF by up to two orders of magnitude. © 2015 IEEE.

Development of Hardware-in-the-Loop Simulation Based on Gazebo and Pixhawk for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, Khoa Dang; Ha, Cheolkeun

2018-04-01

Hardware-in-the-loop simulation (HILS) is well known as an effective approach in the design of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) systems, enabling engineers to test the control algorithm on a hardware board with a UAV model on the software. Performance of HILS is determined by performances of the control algorithm, the developed model, and the signal transfer between the hardware and software. The result of HILS is degraded if any signal could not be transferred to the correct destination. Therefore, this paper aims to develop a middleware software to secure communications in HILS system for testing the operation of a quad-rotor UAV. In our HILS, the Gazebo software is used to generate a nonlinear six-degrees-of-freedom (6DOF) model, sensor model, and 3D visualization for the quad-rotor UAV. Meanwhile, the flight control algorithm is designed and implemented on the Pixhawk hardware. New middleware software, referred to as the control application software (CAS), is proposed to ensure the connection and data transfer between Gazebo and Pixhawk using the multithread structure in Qt Creator. The CAS provides a graphical user interface (GUI), allowing the user to monitor the status of packet transfer, and perform the flight control commands and the real-time tuning parameters for the quad-rotor UAV. Numerical implementations have been performed to prove the effectiveness of the middleware software CAS suggested in this paper.

Application of lightweight materials in structure concept design of large-scale solar energy unmanned aerial vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Wei; Lv, Shengli; Guan, XiQi

2017-09-01

Carbon fiber composites and film materials can be effectively used in light aircraft structures, especially for solar unmanned aerial vehicles. The use of light materials can reduce the weight of the aircraft, but also can effectively improve the aircraft's strength and stiffness. The structure of the large aspect ratio solar energy UAV was analyzed in detail, taking Solar-impulse solar aircraft as an example. The solar energy UAV has a wing aspect ratio greater than 20, and the detailed digital model of the wing structure including beam, ribs and skin was built, also the Finite Element Method was applied to analyze the static and dynamic performance of the structure. The upper skin of the wing is covered with silicon solar cells, while the lower skin is light and transparent film. The single beam truss form of carbon fiber lightweight material is used in the wing structure. The wing beam is a box beam with rectangular cross sections. The box beam connected the front parts and after parts of the ribs together. The fuselage of the aircraft was built by space truss structure. According to the static and dynamic analysis with Finite Element method, it was found that the aircraft has a small wingtip deflection relative to the wingspan in the level flight state. The first natural frequency of the wing structure is pretty low, which is closed to the gust load.

Using unmanned aerial vehicles and structure-from-motion photogrammetry to characterize sedimentary outcrops: An example from the Morrison Formation, Utah, USA

Science.gov (United States)

Chesley, J. T.; Leier, A. L.; White, S.; Torres, R.

2017-06-01

Recently developed data collection techniques allow for improved characterization of sedimentary outcrops. Here, we outline a workflow that utilizes unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry to produce sub-meter-scale outcrop reconstructions in 3-D. SfM photogrammetry uses multiple overlapping images and an image-based terrain extraction algorithm to reconstruct the location of individual points from the photographs in 3-D space. The results of this technique can be used to construct point clouds, orthomosaics, and digital surface models that can be imported into GIS and related software for further study. The accuracy of the reconstructed outcrops, with respect to an absolute framework, is improved with geotagged images or independently gathered ground control points, and the internal accuracy of 3-D reconstructions is sufficient for sub-meter scale measurements. We demonstrate this approach with a case study from central Utah, USA, where UAV-SfM data can help delineate complex features within Jurassic fluvial sandstones.

Cooperative conflict detection and resolution of civil unmanned aerial vehicles in metropolis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jian Yang

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Unmanned air vehicles have recently attracted attention of many researchers because of their potential civil applications. A systematic integration of unmanned air vehicles in non-segregated airspace is required that allows safe operation of unmanned air vehicles along with other manned aircrafts. One of the critical issues is conflict detection and resolution. This article proposes to solve unmanned air vehicles’ conflict detection and resolution problem in metropolis airspace. First, the structure of metropolis airspace in the coming future is studied, and the airspace conflict problem between different unmanned air vehicles is analyzed by velocity obstacle theory. Second, a conflict detection and resolution framework in metropolis is proposed, and factors that have influences on conflict-free solutions are discussed. Third, the multi-unmanned air vehicle conflict resolution problem is formalized as a nonlinear optimization problem with the aim of minimizing overall conflict resolution consumption. The safe separation constraint is further discussed to improve the computation efficiency. When the speeds of conflict-involved unmanned air vehicles are equal, the nonlinear safe separation constraint is transformed into linear constraints. The problem is solved by mixed integer convex programming. When unmanned air vehicles are with unequal speeds, we propose to solve the nonlinear optimization problem by stochastic parallel gradient descent–based method. Our approaches are demonstrated in computational examples.

Development of a Data Acquisition System for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) System Identification

Science.gov (United States)

Lear, Donald Joseph

Aircraft system identification techniques are developed for fixed wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). The use of a designed flight experiment with measured system inputs/outputs can be used to derive aircraft stability derivatives. This project set out to develop a methodology to support an experiment to model pitch damping in the longitudinal short-period mode of a UAV. A Central Composite Response Surface Design was formed using angle of attack and power levels as factors to test for the pitching moment coefficient response induced by a multistep pitching maneuver. Selecting a high-quality data acquisition platform was critical to the success of the project. This system was designed to support fixed wing research through the addition of a custom air data vane capable of measuring angle of attack and sideslip, as well as an airspeed sensor. A Pixhawk autopilot system serves as the core and modification of the device firmware allowed for the integration of custom sensors and custom RC channels dedicated to performing system identification maneuvers. Tests were performed on all existing Pixhawk sensors to validate stated uncertainty values. The air data system was calibrated in a low speed wind tunnel and dynamic performance was verified. The assembled system was then installed in a commercially available UAV known as an Air Titan FPV in order to test the Pixhawk's automated flight maneuvers and determine the final performance of each sensor. Flight testing showed all the critical sensors produced acceptable data for further research. The Air Titan FPV airframe was found to be very flexible and did not lend itself well to accurate measurement of inertial properties. This realization prohibited the construction of the required math models for longitudinal dynamics. It is recommended that future projects using the developed methods choose an aircraft with a more rigid airframe.

Port-based Telemanipulation Control of Underactuated Flying Vehicles

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mersha, A.Y.; Carloni, Raffaella; Stramigioli, Stefano

2011-01-01

Recently, the interest in the field of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is increasing due to the existence of diverse potential applications in civilian sector. These applications often require high level reasoning, which, in some cases, need specialist in the led. The step forward towards achieving

FEASIBILITY COMPARISON OF AIRBORNE LASER SCANNING DATA AND 3D-POINT CLOUDS FORMED FROM UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE (UAV-BASED IMAGERY USED FOR 3D PROJECTING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I. I. Rilskiy

2017-01-01

Full Text Available New, innovative methods of aerial surveys have changed the approaches to information provision of projecting dramatically for the last 15 years. Nowadays there are at least two methods that claim to be the most efficient way for collecting geospatial data intended for projecting – the airborne laser scanning (LIDAR data and photogrammetrically processed unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV-based aerial imagery, forming 3D point clouds. But these materials are not identical to each other neither in precision, nor in completeness.Airborne laser scanning (LIDAR is normally being performed using manned aircrafts. LIDAR data are very precise, they allow us to achieve data about relief even overgrown with vegetation, or to collect laser reflections from wires, metal constructions and poles. UAV surveys are normally being performed using frame digital cameras (lightweight, full-frame, or mid-size. These cameras form images that are being processed using 3D photogrammetric software in automatic mode that allows one to generate 3D point cloud, which is used for building digital elevation models, surfaces, orthomosaics, etc.All these materials are traditionally being used for making maps and GIS data. LIDAR data have been popular in design work. Also there have been some attempts to use for the same purpose 3D-point clouds, formed by photogrammetric software from images acquired from UAVs.After comparison of the datasets from these two different types of surveying (surveys were made simultaneously on the same territory, it became possible to define some specific, typical for LIDAR or imagery-based 3D data. It can be mentioned that imagery-based 3D data (3D point clouds, formed in automatic mode using photogrammetry, are much worse than LIDAR data – both in terms of precision and completeness.The article highlights these differences and makes attempts at explaining the origin of these differences. 

Power Management for Fuel Cell and Battery Hybrid Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Stein, Jared Robert

As electric powered unmanned aerial vehicles enter a new age of commercial viability, market opportunities in the small UAV sector are expanding. Extending UAV flight time through a combination of fuel cell and battery technologies enhance the scope of potential applications. A brief survey of UAV history provides context and examples of modern day UAVs powered by fuel cells are given. Conventional hybrid power system management employs DC-to-DC converters to control the power split between battery and fuel cell. In this study, a transistor replaces the DC-to-DC converter which lowers weight and cost. Simulation models of a lithium ion battery and a proton exchange membrane fuel cell are developed and integrated into a UAV power system model. Flight simulations demonstrate the operation of the transistor-based power management scheme and quantify the amount of hydrogen consumed by a 5.5 kg fixed wing UAV during a six hour flight. Battery power assists the fuel cell during high throttle periods but may also augment fuel cell power during cruise flight. Simulations demonstrate a 60 liter reduction in hydrogen consumption when battery power assists the fuel cell during cruise flight. Over the full duration of the flight, averaged efficiency of the power system exceeds 98%. For scenarios where inflight battery recharge is desirable, a constant current battery charger is integrated into the UAV power system. Simulation of inflight battery recharge is performed. Design of UAV hybrid power systems must consider power system weight against potential flight time. Data from the flight simulations are used to identify a simple formula that predicts flight time as a function of energy stored onboard the modeled UAV. A small selection of commercially available batteries, fuel cells, and compressed air storage tanks are listed to characterize the weight of possible systems. The formula is then used in conjunction with the weight data to generate a graph of power system weight

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Remote Sensing for Field-Based Crop Phenotyping: Current Status and Perspectives

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Guijun Yang

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Phenotyping plays an important role in crop science research; the accurate and rapid acquisition of phenotypic information of plants or cells in different environments is helpful for exploring the inheritance and expression patterns of the genome to determine the association of genomic and phenotypic information to increase the crop yield. Traditional methods for acquiring crop traits, such as plant height, leaf color, leaf area index (LAI, chlorophyll content, biomass and yield, rely on manual sampling, which is time-consuming and laborious. Unmanned aerial vehicle remote sensing platforms (UAV-RSPs equipped with different sensors have recently become an important approach for fast and non-destructive high throughput phenotyping and have the advantage of flexible and convenient operation, on-demand access to data and high spatial resolution. UAV-RSPs are a powerful tool for studying phenomics and genomics. As the methods and applications for field phenotyping using UAVs to users who willing to derive phenotypic parameters from large fields and tests with the minimum effort on field work and getting highly reliable results are necessary, the current status and perspectives on the topic of UAV-RSPs for field-based phenotyping were reviewed based on the literature survey of crop phenotyping using UAV-RSPs in the Web of Science™ Core Collection database and cases study by NERCITA. The reference for the selection of UAV platforms and remote sensing sensors, the commonly adopted methods and typical applications for analyzing phenotypic traits by UAV-RSPs, and the challenge for crop phenotyping by UAV-RSPs were considered. The review can provide theoretical and technical support to promote the applications of UAV-RSPs for crop phenotyping.

THE GENERATION OF BUILDING FLOOR PLANS USING PORTABLE AND UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE MAPPING SYSTEMS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. J. Tsai

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Indoor navigation or positioning systems have been widely developed for Location-Based Services (LBS applications and they come along with a keen demand of indoor floor plans for displaying results even improving the positioning performance. Generally, the floor plans produced by robot mapping focus on perceiving the environment to avoid obstacles and using the feature landmarks to update the robot position in the relative coordinate frame. These maps are not accurate enough to incorporate to the indoor positioning system. This study aims at developing Indoor Mobile Mapping System (Indoor MMS and concentrates on generating the highly accurate floor plans based on the robot mapping technique using the portable, robot and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV platform. The proposed portable mapping system prototype can be used in the chest package and the handheld approach. In order to evaluate and correct the generated floor plans from robot mapping techniques, this study builds the testing and calibration field using the outdoor control survey method implemented in the indoor environments. Based on control points and check points from control survey, this study presents the map rectification method that uses the affine transformation to solve the scale and deformation problems and also transfer the local coordinate system into world standard coordinate system. The preliminary results illustrate that the final version of the building floor plan reach 1 meter absolute positioning accuracy using the proposed mapping systems that combines with the novel map rectification approach proposed. These maps are well geo-referenced with world coordinate system thus it can be applied for future seamless navigation applications including indoor and outdoor scenarios.

Cutting the Cord: Discrimination and Command Responsibility in Autonomous Lethal Weapons

Science.gov (United States)

2014-02-13

subjects for study in relation to ALW. Many would object to the use of an all-machine army against human adversaries as prima facie unethical or...Employ Uninhabited Aerial Vehicles”, Journal of Military Ethics Vol. 9, No. 4, (2010) 342-368. Strawser asserts that there is an ethical obligation

A Modular Swarm Optimization Framework Enabling Multi-Vehicle Coordinated Path Planning, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The advancement of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) with computing power and communications hardware has enabled an increased capability set for multi-vehicle...

Research Article Special Issue

African Journals Online (AJOL)

2017-02-15

Feb 15, 2017 ... vehicles, autonomous uninhabited underwater vehicles, automatically controlled train ... operation provision when it is impossible to work via GPS channels .... construction and the monitoring of industrial and other objects ...

Land Surface Reflectance Retrieval from Hyperspectral Data Collected by an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle over the Baotou Test Site