WorldWideScience

Sample records for unmanned aircraft takes

  1. Adapting existing training standards for unmanned aircraft: finding ways to train staff for unmanned aircraft operations

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Burger, CR

    2011-09-01

    Full Text Available - unmanned aircraft; pilot training. I. INTRODUCTION Unmanned aircraft offer flexibility not found in manned aircraft. They can be made smaller and cheaper to operate. They offer payload advantages relative to small manned aircraft. They can also perform... certificate to non-state users. To facilitate useful operations by UAs, future operations must be subject to no more than routine notification (e.g. an ATC flight plan), just like manned aircraft already are. Before such operations can be established, some...

  2. Weed detection using unmanned aircraft vehicles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pflanz, Michael

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available In contrast to agricultural remote sensing technologies, which are based on images from satellites or manned aircrafts, photogrammetry at low altitude from unmanned aircraft vehicles lead to higher spatial resolution, real-time processing and lower costs. Moreover multicopter aircrafts are suitable vehicles to perform precise path or stationary flights. In terms of vegetation photogrammetry this minimises motion blur and provide better image overlapping for stitching and mapping procedures. Through improved image analyses and through the recent increase in the availability of powerful batteries, microcontrollers and multispectral cameras, it can be expected in future that spatial mapping of weeds from low altitudes will be promoted. A small unmanned aircraft vehicle with a modified RGB camera was tested taking images from agricultural fields. A microcopter with six rotors was applied. The hexacopter in particular is GPS controlled and operates within predefined areas at given altitudes (from 5 to 10 m. Different scenarios of photogrammetrically weed detection have been carried out regarding to variable altitude, image resolution, weed and crop growth stages. First experiences with microcopter showed a high potential for site-specific weed control. Images analyses with regards to recognition of weed patches can be used to adapt herbicide applications to varying weed occurrence across a field.

  3. Development of an Unmanned Aircraft Systems Program: ACUASI

    Science.gov (United States)

    Webley, P. W.; Cahill, C. F.; Rogers, M.; Hatfield, M. C.

    2017-12-01

    The Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration (ACUASI) has developed a comprehensive program that incorporates pilots, flight/mission planners, geoscientists, university undergraduate and graduate students, and engineers together as one. We lead and support unmanned aircraft system (UAS) missions for geoscience research, emergency response, humanitarian needs, engineering design, and policy development. We are the University of Alaska's UAS research program, lead the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Pan-Pacific UAS Test Range Complex (PPUTRC) with Hawaii, Oregon, and Mississippi and in 2015 became a core member of the FAA Center of Excellence for UAS Research, managed by Mississippi State University. ACUASI's suite of aircraft include small hand-launched/vertical take-off and landing assets for short-term rapid deployment to large fixed-wing gas powered systems that provide multiple hours of flight time. We have extensive experience in Arctic and sub-Arctic environments and will present on how we have used our aircraft and payloads in numerous missions that include beyond visual line of sight flights, mapping the river ice-hazard in Alaska during spring break-up, and providing UAS-based observations for local Alaskans to navigate through the changing ice shelf of Northern Alaska. Several sensor developments of interest in the near future include building payloads for thermal infrared mapping at high spatial resolutions, combining forward and nadir looking cameras on the same UAS aircraft for topographic mapping, and using neutral density and narrow band filters to map very high temperature thermally active hazards, such as forest fires and volcanic eruptions. The ACUASI team working together provide us the experience, tools, capabilities, and personnel to build and maintain a world class research center for unmanned aircraft systems as well as support both real-time operations and geoscience research.

  4. Unmanned aircraft system bridge inspection demonstration project phase II final report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-06-01

    An Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) is defined by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as an aircraft operated without the possibility of direct human intervention from within the aircraft. Unmanned aircraft are familiarly referred to as drones, a...

  5. Plotting the Flight Envelope of an Unmanned Aircraft System Air Vehicle

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Glīzde Nikolajs

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available The research is focused on the development of an Unmanned Aircraft System. One of the design process steps in the preliminary design phase is the calculation of the flight envelope for the Unmanned Aircraft System air vehicle. The results obtained will be used in the further design process. A flight envelope determines the minimum requirements for the object in Certification Specifications. The present situation does not impose any Certification Specification requirements for the class of the Unmanned Aircraft System under the development of the general European Union trend defined in the road map for the implementation of the Unmanned Aircraft System. However, operation in common European Aerospace imposes the necessity for regulations for micro class systems as well.

  6. Unmanned Aircraft Systems Roadmap, 2005-2030

    Science.gov (United States)

    2005-01-01

    UCAV Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle ISS Integrated Sensor Suite UCS Unmanned Control System ITU International Telecommunications Union UFO UHF...RDC) at Groton, CT. These have included alien and drug interdiction along the Texas coast and in the Caribbean, UA launch and recovery systems...altitude aircraft and UA; and narrowband services to support mobile and handheld services as a replacement or follow-on for the UHF Follow-On ( UFO

  7. Vulnerability Analysis of the MAVLink Protocol for Command and Control of Unmanned Aircraft

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-03-27

    Patton, Nikos Karapanos, Lorenz Meier, Peter Schwabe, Andrew Tridgell, Michael Oborne, Dr. Gareth Owen, and Capt Matthew Vincie, all of whom greatly...Frew and T. Brown . Networking Issues For Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems. In Unmanned Aircraft Systems : International Symposium on Unmanned Aerial

  8. Unmanned Aircraft Systems: The Road to Effective Integration

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Petrock, Christopher T; Huizenga, Thomas D

    2006-01-01

    ...) sharing airspace with manned assets. There have been at least two recent collisions between unmanned and rotary-wing aircraft at lower altitudes in Iraq, as well as numerous near misses with fixed-wing aircraft at higher altitudes...

  9. Ground impact probability distribution for small unmanned aircraft in ballistic descent

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    La Cour-Harbo, Anders

    2018-01-01

    Safety is a key factor in all aviation, and while years of development has made manned aviation relatively safe, the same has yet to happen for unmanned aircraft. However, the rapid development of unmanned aircraft technology means that the range of commercial and scientific applications is growing...

  10. Mission Planning for Unmanned Aircraft with Genetic Algorithms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Karl Damkjær

    unmanned aircraft are used for aerial surveying of the crops. The farmer takes the role of the analyst above, who does not necessarily have any specific interest in remote controlled aircraft but needs the outcome of the survey. The recurring method in the study is the genetic algorithm; a flexible...... contributions are made in the area of the genetic algorithms. One is a method to decide on the right time to stop the computation of the plan, when the right balance is stricken between using the time planning and using the time flying. The other contribution is a characterization of the evolutionary operators...... used in the genetic algorithm. The result is a measure based on entropy to evaluate and control the diversity of the population of the genetic algorithm, which is an important factor its effectiveness....

  11. Quantifying ground impact fatality rate for small unmanned aircraft

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    La Cour-Harbo, Anders

    2018-01-01

    is based on a standard stochastic model, and employs a parameterized high fidelity ground impact distribution model that accounts for both aircraft specifications, parameter uncertainties, and wind. The method also samples the flight path to create an almost continuous quantification of the risk......One of the major challenges of conducting operation of unmanned aircraft, especially operations beyond visual line-of-sight (BVLOS), is to make a realistic and sufficiently detailed risk assessment. An important part of such an assessment is to identify the risk of fatalities, preferably...... in a quantitative way since this allows for comparison with manned aviation to determine whether an equivalent level of safety is achievable. This work presents a method for quantifying the probability of fatalities resulting from an uncontrolled descent of an unmanned aircraft conducting a BVLOS flight. The method...

  12. Evaluation of Small Unmanned Aircraft Flight Trajectory Accuracy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ramūnas Kikutis

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Today small unmanned aircraft are being more widely adapted for practical tasks. These tasks require high reliability and flight path accuracy. For such aircraft we have to deal with the chalenge how to compensate external factors and how to ensure the accuracy of the flight trajectory according to new regulations and standards. In this paper, new regulations for the flights of small unmanned aircraft in Lithuanian air space are discussed. Main factors, which affect errors of the autonomous flight path tracking, are discussed too. The emphasis is on the wind factor and the flight path of Dubbin’s trajectories. Research was performed with mathematical-dynamic model of UAV and it was compared with theoretical calculations. All calculations and experiments were accomplished for the circular part of Dubbin’s paths when the airplane was trimmed for circular trajectory flight in calm conditions. Further, for such flight the wind influence was analysed.

  13. Bespilotne letelice zapadnih zemalja / Unmanned aircraft of Western countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Slavko Pokorni

    2002-11-01

    Full Text Available Trend sve češće primene bespilotnih letelica biće nastavljen nesumnjivo, i tokom ove decenije. U vezi s tim stiče se utisak da će razvoj borbenih bespilotnih letilica biti u usponu. Mada je u proteklom periodu težište bilo na razvoju bespilotnih letilica za vojne primene (gde su ulagana velika sredstva, a civilni sektor je, uglavnom, koristio rezultate razvoja vojnih bespilotnih letelica, u narednom periodu se očekuje porast ulaganja i u razvoj bespilotnih letelica u civilnom sektoru. Bespilotne letelice su imale značajnu ulogu u zadacima koje su obavljale multinacionalne snage u toku rata u Bosni i Hercegovini i agresije NATO-a na SRJ, pa je poznavanje karakteristika bespilotnih letelica, za pripadnike Vojske, od velikog značaja. U sažetom tabelarnom pregledu prikazani su podatci o bespilotnim letelicama uglavnom proizvođača iz zapadnih zemalja, što ne znači da ih ne proizvode i druge zemlje, posebno Ruska federacija kao i neke susedne zemlje (Bugarska, Hrvatska. / The increasingly frequent use of unmanned aircraft will continue unabated throughout this decade. About that the impression is that the development of combat drones will rise. Although in the past period the focus was on the development of unmanned military vehicles (where large funds were invested, and the civil sector used mainly the development of military drones, in the coming period, investment in the development of unmanned aircraft in the civil sector is expected . Unmanned aircraft played a significant role in the tasks performed by multinational forces during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina and NATO aggression in the FR Yugoslavia, so the knowledge of the characteristics of drones for members of the Army is of great importance. The summary table shows the data on unmanned aircraft mainly manufactured from Western countries, which does not mean that they are not produced by other countries, especially the Russian Federation as well as some neighboring

  14. Autonomous Agricultural Application using Unmanned Aircraft, Phase II

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Interest in Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) for civilian use has increased greatly in recent years and is expected to grow significantly in the future. NASA is...

  15. Analysis of the Hybrid Power System for High-Altitude Unmanned Aircraft

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kangwen Sun

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The application of single solar array on high-altitude unmanned aircraft will waste energy because of its low conversion efficiency. Furthermore, since its energy utilization is limited, the surface temperature of solar array will rise to 70°C due to the waste solar energy, thus reducing the electrical performance of the solar array. In order to reuse the energy converted into heat by solar array, a hybrid power system is presented in this paper. In the hybrid power system, a new electricity-generating method is adopted to spread the photovoltaic cell on the wing surface and arrange photothermal power in the wing box section. Because the temperature on the back of photovoltaic cell is high, it can be used as the high-temperature heat source. The lower wing surface can be a low-temperature cold source. A high-altitude unmanned aircraft was used to analyze the performances of pure solar-powered aircraft and hybrid powered aircraft. The analysis result showed that the hybrid system could reduce the area of wing by 19% and that high-altitude unmanned aircraft with a 35 m or less wingspan could raise the utilization rate of solar energy per unit area after adopting the hybrid power system.

  16. Applications for Navy Unmanned Aircraft Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    comunication intelligence (COMINT) collection, and airborne electronic attack applications. If the UCAS-D program is successful in addressing many of the...position navigation and timing RF radio frequency RSTA reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition SAB Scientific Advisory Board SAR synthetic...Aircraft Systems Roadmap 2005–2030 and Unmanned Systems Roadmap 2007–2032, and the 2003 Air Force Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) UAS study

  17. Core Flight Software for Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Phase I

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Use of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) is increasing worldwide, but multiple technical barriers restrict the greater use of UASs. The safe operation of UASs in the...

  18. Windhover Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Software Ecosystem, Phase II

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The safety of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) flights is currently the responsibility of the pilot who is required to keep the vehicle within their line of sight...

  19. Ikhana: Unmanned Aircraft System Western States Fire Missions. Monographs in Aerospace History, Number 44

    Science.gov (United States)

    Merlin, Peter W.

    2009-01-01

    In 2006, NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif., obtained a civil version of the General Atomics MQ-9 unmanned aircraft system and modified it for research purposes. Proposed missions included support of Earth science research, development of advanced aeronautical technology, and improving the utility of unmanned aerial systems in general. The project team named the aircraft Ikhana a Native American Choctaw word meaning intelligent, conscious, or aware in order to best represent NASA research goals. Building on experience with these and other unmanned aircraft, NASA scientists developed plans to use the Ikhana for a series of missions to map wildfires in the western United States and supply the resulting data to firefighters in near-real time. A team at NASA Ames Research Center, Mountain View, Calif., developed a multispectral scanner that was key to the success of what became known as the Western States Fire Missions. Carried out by team members from NASA, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, National Interagency Fire Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Federal Aviation Administration, and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., these flights represented an historic achievement in the field of unmanned aircraft technology.

  20. Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration in the National Airspace System Project

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — There is an increasing need to fly Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in the National Airspace System (NAS) to perform missions of vital importance to national security...

  1. Integrating the Unmanned Aircraft System into the National Airspace System

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-06-18

    HALE High Altitude Long Endurance IFR Instrument Flight Rules ISR Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance JFC Joint Force Commander JP...many advantages and disadvantages of unmanned aircraft now made national headlines as UAS executed missions, once reserved for manned aircraft...of this research. To operate above 18,000 feet MSL the UAS must be filed under Instrument Flight Rules, or IFR flight plan. Additionally, the

  2. The use of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS in combat operations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tomasz GUGAŁA

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available In this publication has been presented selected aspects of the wide spectrum of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS/UAV adaptation within the military structures. With regard to many years of experience of the author within the national and NATO Integrated Air Defence Command and Control System, the objective paper is also related to the Airspace Management (ASM in the light of present and future use of UAS in this environment. Wider and wider application of UAS in many areas of human life as well as in military and civilian services is forcing to take the definite steps in connection with elaboration of “New Concept of Polish Airspace Management in Context of UAS Development”, what is currently under consideration of the author. The respective publication is simultaneously the specific trial for inspiration of the civilian society to take an initiative heading for implementation of UAS out of military service.

  3. [Micron]ADS-B Detect and Avoid Flight Tests on Phantom 4 Unmanned Aircraft System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arteaga, Ricardo; Dandachy, Mike; Truong, Hong; Aruljothi, Arun; Vedantam, Mihir; Epperson, Kraettli; McCartney, Reed

    2018-01-01

    Researchers at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California and Vigilant Aerospace Systems collaborated for the flight-test demonstration of an Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast based collision avoidance technology on a small unmanned aircraft system equipped with the uAvionix Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast transponder. The purpose of the testing was to demonstrate that National Aeronautics and Space Administration / Vigilant software and algorithms, commercialized as the FlightHorizon UAS"TM", are compatible with uAvionix hardware systems and the DJI Phantom 4 small unmanned aircraft system. The testing and demonstrations were necessary for both parties to further develop and certify the technology in three key areas: flights beyond visual line of sight, collision avoidance, and autonomous operations. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration and Vigilant Aerospace Systems have developed and successfully flight-tested an Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast Detect and Avoid system on the Phantom 4 small unmanned aircraft system. The Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast Detect and Avoid system architecture is especially suited for small unmanned aircraft systems because it integrates: 1) miniaturized Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast hardware; 2) radio data-link communications; 3) software algorithms for real-time Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast data integration, conflict detection, and alerting; and 4) a synthetic vision display using a fully-integrated National Aeronautics and Space Administration geobrowser for three dimensional graphical representations for ownship and air traffic situational awareness. The flight-test objectives were to evaluate the performance of Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast Detect and Avoid collision avoidance technology as installed on two small unmanned aircraft systems. In December 2016, four flight tests

  4. Human factors implications of unmanned aircraft accidents : flight-control problems

    Science.gov (United States)

    2006-04-01

    This research focuses on three types of flight control problems associated with unmanned aircraft systems. The : three flight control problems are: 1) external pilot difficulties with inconsistent mapping of the controls to the : movement of the airc...

  5. Conceptual Design of a Small Hybrid Unmanned Aircraft System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Umberto Papa

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available UAS (Unmanned Aircraft System technologies are today extremely required in various fields of interest, from military to civil (search and rescue, environmental surveillance and monitoring, and entertainment. Besides safety and legislative issues, the main obstacle to civilian applications of UAS systems is the short time of flight (endurance, which depends on the equipped power system (battery pack and the flight mission (low/high speed or altitude. Long flight duration is fundamental, especially with tasks that require hovering capability (e.g., river flow monitoring, earthquakes, devastated areas, city traffic monitoring, and archeological sites inspection. This work presents the conceptual design of a Hybrid Unmanned Aircraft System (HUAS, merging a commercial off-the-shelf quadrotor and a balloon in order to obtain a good compromise between endurance and weight. The mathematical models for weights estimation and balloon static performance analysis are presented, together with experimental results in different testing scenarios and complex environments, which show 50% improvement of the flight duration.

  6. Engineering of Fast and Robust Adaptive Control for Fixed-Wing Unmanned Aircraft

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-06-01

    evaluate the use of adaptive control on fixed-wing unmanned aircraft . The growing demand for unmanned systems will inherit the costs associated with...aerospace environment . 2.2 Classical Feedback vs Adaptive Control Control of a system can be categorized into two required elements; the requirement to...stabilize the system in the presence of: 1. disturbances that affect the controlled states and outputs (pitch rate perturbation caused by environmental

  7. Robustness of mission plans for unmanned aircraft

    Science.gov (United States)

    Niendorf, Moritz

    This thesis studies the robustness of optimal mission plans for unmanned aircraft. Mission planning typically involves tactical planning and path planning. Tactical planning refers to task scheduling and in multi aircraft scenarios also includes establishing a communication topology. Path planning refers to computing a feasible and collision-free trajectory. For a prototypical mission planning problem, the traveling salesman problem on a weighted graph, the robustness of an optimal tour is analyzed with respect to changes to the edge costs. Specifically, the stability region of an optimal tour is obtained, i.e., the set of all edge cost perturbations for which that tour is optimal. The exact stability region of solutions to variants of the traveling salesman problems is obtained from a linear programming relaxation of an auxiliary problem. Edge cost tolerances and edge criticalities are derived from the stability region. For Euclidean traveling salesman problems, robustness with respect to perturbations to vertex locations is considered and safe radii and vertex criticalities are introduced. For weighted-sum multi-objective problems, stability regions with respect to changes in the objectives, weights, and simultaneous changes are given. Most critical weight perturbations are derived. Computing exact stability regions is intractable for large instances. Therefore, tractable approximations are desirable. The stability region of solutions to relaxations of the traveling salesman problem give under approximations and sets of tours give over approximations. The application of these results to the two-neighborhood and the minimum 1-tree relaxation are discussed. Bounds on edge cost tolerances and approximate criticalities are obtainable likewise. A minimum spanning tree is an optimal communication topology for minimizing the cumulative transmission power in multi aircraft missions. The stability region of a minimum spanning tree is given and tolerances, stability balls

  8. RQ-21A Blackjack Small Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System (STUAS): Initial Operational Test and Evaluation Report

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-06-29

    Evaluation Report June 2015 This report on the RQ-21A Blackjack Small Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System fulfills the provisions of Title 10...suitability of the RQ-21A Blackjack Small Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System (STUAS) during Initial Operational Test and Evaluation (IOT&E). The Navy’s...66.9 percent). The average service life of the propulsion modules was 48.9 hours, which does not meet the manufacturer’s stated 100-hour

  9. Wing configuration on Wind Tunnel Testing of an Unmanned Aircraft Vehicle

    Science.gov (United States)

    Daryanto, Yanto; Purwono, Joko; Subagyo

    2018-04-01

    Control surface of an Unmanned Aircraft Vehicle (UAV) consists of flap, aileron, spoiler, rudder, and elevator. Every control surface has its own special functionality. Some particular configurations in the flight mission often depend on the wing configuration. Configuration wing within flap deflection for takeoff setting deflection of flap 20° but during landing deflection of flap set on the value 40°. The aim of this research is to get the ultimate CLmax for take-off flap deflection setting. It is shown from Wind Tunnel Testing result that the 20° flap deflection gives optimum CLmax with moderate drag coefficient. The results of Wind Tunnel Testing representing by graphic plots show good performance as well as the stability of UAV.

  10. The Application of Unmanned Rotary-Wing Aircraft in Tactical Logistics in Support of Joint Operations

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-12-13

    Reconnaissance Squadrons with a fixed-wing unmanned aircraft troop or company, and is in the market for an autonomous cargo unmanned rotary-wing...Warwick, Graham. “Sky Patrol.” Aviation Week & Space Technology 174, no. 32 (September 3, 2012): 55. Military & Government Collection, EBSCOhost

  11. Development of Cursor-on-Target Control for Semi-Autonomous Unmanned Aircraft Systems

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Crouse, Joshua D

    2007-01-01

    .... The goal of this research is to develop a preliminary Cursor-on-Target control system to enable the operator to guide the unmanned aircraft with minimal workload during high task phases of flight...

  12. Building Toward an Unmanned Aircraft System Training Strategy

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-01-01

    and fly at altitudes higher than commercial airlines do. They file instrument flight rules flight plans. However, BAMS-D and Triton do not...incorporate sense-and-avoid technology, and conflicts can exist with visual flight rules aircraft in the airspace. Airspace issues exist at some Navy training...MODS, Washington, DC, February 2011, p. 1 of 10. 164 Peter La Franchi , “Directory: Unmanned Air Vehicles,” Flight International, June 21st, 2005, p. 56

  13. Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Integration in the National Airspace System (NAS) Project KDP-C Review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grindle, Laurie; Sakahara, Robert; Hackenberg, Davis; Johnson, William

    2017-01-01

    The topics discussed are the UAS-NAS project life-cycle and ARMD thrust flow down, as well as the UAS environments and how we operate in those environments. NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center at Edwards, CA, is leading a project designed to help integrate unmanned air vehicles into the world around us. The Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration in the National Airspace System project, or UAS in the NAS, will contribute capabilities designed to reduce technical barriers related to safety and operational challenges associated with enabling routine UAS access to the NAS. The project falls under the Integrated Systems Research Program office managed at NASA Headquarters by the agency's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate. NASA's four aeronautics research centers - Armstrong, Ames Research Center, Langley Research Center, and Glenn Research Center - are part of the technology development project. With the use and diversity of unmanned aircraft growing rapidly, new uses for these vehicles are constantly being considered. Unmanned aircraft promise new ways of increasing efficiency, reducing costs, enhancing safety and saving lives 460265main_ED10-0132-16_full.jpg Unmanned aircraft systems such as NASA's Global Hawks (above) and Predator B named Ikhana (below), along with numerous other unmanned aircraft systems large and small, are the prime focus of the UAS in the NAS effort to integrate them into the national airspace. Credits: NASA Photos 710580main_ED07-0243-37_full.jpg The UAS in the NAS project envisions performance-based routine access to all segments of the national airspace for all unmanned aircraft system classes, once all safety-related and technical barriers are overcome. The project will provide critical data to such key stakeholders and customers as the Federal Aviation Administration and RTCA Special Committee 203 (formerly the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics) by conducting integrated, relevant system-level tests to adequately address

  14. Advanced Fiber Optic-Based Sensing Technology for Unmanned Aircraft Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richards, Lance; Parker, Allen R.; Piazza, Anthony; Ko, William L.; Chan, Patrick; Bakalyar, John

    2011-01-01

    This presentation provides an overview of fiber optic sensing technology development activities performed at NASA Dryden in support of Unmanned Aircraft Systems. Examples of current and previous work are presented in the following categories: algorithm development, system development, instrumentation installation, ground R&D, and flight testing. Examples of current research and development activities are provided.

  15. Steps Towards Scalable and Modularized Flight Software for Unmanned Aircraft Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Johann C. Dauer

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available Unmanned aircraft (UA applications impose a variety of computing tasks on the on-board computer system. From a research perspective, it is often more convenient to evaluate algorithms on bigger aircraft as they are capable of lifting heavier loads and thus more powerful computational units. On the other hand, smaller systems are often less expensive and operation is less restricted in many countries. This paper thus presents a conceptual design for flight software that can be evaluated on the UA of convenient size. The integration effort required to transfer the algorithm to different sized UA is significantly reduced. This scalability is achieved by using exchangeable payload modules and a flexible process distribution on different processing units. The presented approach is discussed using the example of the flight software of a 14 kg unmanned helicopter and an equivalent of 1.5 kg. The proof of concept is shown by means of flight performance in a hardware-in-the-loop simulation.

  16. Formal Methods in Air Traffic Management: The Case of Unmanned Aircraft Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Munoz, Cesar A.

    2015-01-01

    As the technological and operational capabilities of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) continue to grow, so too does the need to introduce these systems into civil airspace. Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration in the National Airspace System is a NASA research project that addresses the integration of civil UAS into non-segregated airspace operations. One of the major challenges of this integration is the lack of an onboard pilot to comply with the legal requirement that pilots see and avoid other aircraft. The need to provide an equivalent to this requirement for UAS has motivated the development of a detect and avoid (DAA) capability to provide the appropriate situational awareness and maneuver guidance in avoiding and remaining well clear of traffic aircraft. Formal methods has played a fundamental role in the development of this capability. This talk reports on the formal methods work conducted under NASA's Safe Autonomous System Operations project in support of the development of DAA for UAS. This work includes specification of low-level and high-level functional requirements, formal verification of algorithms, and rigorous validation of software implementations. The talk also discusses technical challenges in formal methods research in the context of the development and safety analysis of advanced air traffic management concepts.

  17. Non-Parametric, Closed-Loop Testing of Autonomy in Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Phase I

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The proposed Phase I program aims to develop new methods to support safety testing for integration of Unmanned Aircraft Systems into the National Airspace (NAS) with...

  18. Real-Time Risk Assessment Framework for Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ancel, Ersin; Capristan, Francisco M.; Foster, John V.; Condotta, Ryan

    2017-01-01

    The new Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Small Unmanned Aircraft rule (Part 107) marks the first national regulations for commercial operation of small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) under 55 pounds within the National Airspace System (NAS). Although sUAS flights may not be performed beyond visual line-of-sight or over non- participant structures and people, safety of sUAS operations must still be maintained and tracked at all times. Moreover, future safety-critical operation of sUAS (e.g., for package delivery) are already being conceived and tested. NASA's Unmanned Aircraft System Trac Management (UTM) concept aims to facilitate the safe use of low-altitude airspace for sUAS operations. This paper introduces the UTM Risk Assessment Framework (URAF) which was developed to provide real-time safety evaluation and tracking capability within the UTM concept. The URAF uses Bayesian Belief Networks (BBNs) to propagate off -nominal condition probabilities based on real-time component failure indicators. This information is then used to assess the risk to people on the ground by calculating the potential impact area and the effects of the impact. The visual representation of the expected area of impact and the nominal risk level can assist operators and controllers with dynamic trajectory planning and execution. The URAF was applied to a case study to illustrate the concept.

  19. Trajectory Management of the Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS in Emergency Situation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrzej Majka

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Unmanned aircraft must be characterized by a level of safety, similar to that of manned aircraft, when performing flights over densely populated areas. Dangerous situations or emergencies are frequently connected with the necessity to change the profiles and parameters of a flight as well as the flight plans. The aim of this work is to present the methods used to determine an Unmanned Aircraft System’s (UAS flight profile after a dangerous situation or emergency occurs. The analysis was limited to the possibility of an engine system emergency and further flight continuing along a trajectory of which the shape depends on the type of the emergency. The suggested method also enables the determination of an optimal flying trajectory, based on the territory of a special protection zone (for example, large populated areas, in the case of an emergency that would disable continuation of the performed task. The method used in this work allows researchers, in a simplified way, to solve a variation task using the Ritz–Galerkin method, consisting of an approximate solution of the boundary value problem to determine the optimal flight path. The worked out method can become an element of the on-board system supporting UAS flight control.

  20. National Unmanned Aircraft Systems Project Office

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goplen, Susan E.; Sloan, Jeff L.

    2015-01-01

    The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Project Office leads the implementation of UAS technology in the Department of the Interior (DOI). Our mission is to support the transition of UAS into DOI as a new cost-effective tool for collecting remote-sensing data to monitor environmental conditions, respond to natural hazards, recognize the consequences and benefits of land and climate change and conduct wildlife inventories. The USGS is teaming with all DOI agencies and academia as well as local, State, and Tribal governments with guidance from the Federal Aviation Administration and the DOI Office of Aviation Services (OAS) to lead the safe, efficient, costeffective and leading-edge adoption of UAS technology into the scientific research and operational activities of the DOI.

  1. Evaluating the Impact of Unrestricted Operation of Unmanned Aircraft Systems in the National Airspace System

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) can be used for scientific, emergency management, and defense missions, among others. The existing federal air regulations,...

  2. Enabling Use of Unmanned Aircraft Systems for Arctic Environmental Monitoring

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Storvold, Rune; la Cour-Harbo, Anders; Mulac, Brenda

    , technical and logistical challenges facing scientists intending to use UAS in their arctic work. Future planned campaigns and science goals under the Coordinated Investigation of Climate-Cryosphere Interactions (CICCI) umbrella will be outlined. A new AMAP report on conducting safe UAS operations......, poor resolution, and the complicated surface of snow and ice. Measurements made from manned aircraft are also limited because of range and endurance, as well as the danger and costs presented by operating manned aircraft in harsh and remote environments like the Arctic. Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS...... on the environment. Operating UAS present unique challenges and it is necessary to understand and overcome those challenges. Based on the recommendations put forth by the Arctic scientists, the Arctic Council created a UAS Expert Group under the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program (AMAP) to help address...

  3. 78 FR 20168 - Twenty Fourth Meeting: RTCA Special Committee 203, Unmanned Aircraft Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-04-03

    ... Washington, DC, on March 28, 2013. Paige Williams, Management Analyst, NextGen, Business Operations Group... Introductions Review Meeting Agenda Review/Approval of Twenty Third Plenary Meeting Summary Leadership Update... for Unmanned Aircraft Systems and Minimum Aviation System Performance Standards Other Business Adjourn...

  4. U.S. Geological Survey Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Roadmap 2014

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cress, Jill J.; Hutt, Michael E.; Sloan, Jeff L.; Bauer, Mark A.; Feller, Mark R.; Goplen, Susan E.

    2015-01-01

    The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) is responsible for protecting the natural resources and heritage contained on almost 20 percent of the land in the United States. This responsibility requires acquisition of remotely sensed data throughout vast lands, including areas that are remote and potentially dangerous to access. One promising new technology for data collection is unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), which may be better suited (achieving superior science, safety, and savings) than traditional methods. UAS, regardless of their size, have the same operational components: aircraft, payloads, communications unit, and operator control unit. The aircraft is the platform that flies and carries any required payloads. For Department of the Interior missions these payloads will be either a sensor or set of sensors that can acquire the specific type of remotely sensed data that is needed. The aircraft will also carry the payload that is responsible for transmitting live airborne video images, compass headings, and location information to the operator control unit. The communications unit, which transfers information between the aircraft and the operator control unit, consists of the hardware and software required to establish both uplink and downlink communications. Finally, the operator control unit both controls and monitors the aircraft and can be operated either by a pilot on the ground or autonomously.

  5. Capabilities of unmanned aircraft vehicles for low altitude weed detection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pflanz, Michael; Nordmeyer, Henning

    2014-05-01

    Sustainable crop production and food security require a consumer and environmental safe plant protection. It is recently known, that precise weed monitoring approaches could help apply pesticides corresponding to field variability. In this regard the site-specific weed management may contribute to an application of herbicides with higher ecologically aware and economical savings. First attempts of precision agriculture date back to the 1980's. Since that time, remote sensing from satellites or manned aircrafts have been investigated and used in agricultural practice, but are currently inadequate for the separation of weeds in an early growth stage from cultivated plants. In contrast, low-cost image capturing at low altitude from unmanned aircraft vehicles (UAV) provides higher spatial resolution and almost real-time processing. Particularly, rotary-wing aircrafts are suitable for precise path or stationary flight. This minimises motion blur and provides better image overlapping for stitching and mapping procedures. Through improved image analyses and the recent increase in the availability of microcontrollers and powerful batteries for UAVs, it can be expected that the spatial mapping of weeds will be enhanced in the future. A six rotors microcopter was equipped with a modified RGB camera taking images from agricultural fields. The hexacopter operates within predefined pathways at adjusted altitudes (from 5 to 10 m) by using GPS navigation. Different scenarios of optical weed detection have been carried out regarding to variable altitude, image resolution, weed and crop growth stages. Our experiences showed high capabilities for site-specific weed control. Image analyses with regard to recognition of weed patches can be used to adapt herbicide application to varying weed occurrence across a field.

  6. 78 FR 18932 - Public Meeting: Unmanned Aircraft Systems Test Site Program; Privacy Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-03-28

    ... discussion about which privacy issues are raised by UAS operations and how law, public policy, and the...-0061] Public Meeting: Unmanned Aircraft Systems Test Site Program; Privacy Approach AGENCY: Federal... a public engagement session on Wednesday, April 3, 2013, on the proposed privacy policy approach for...

  7. A third-party casualty risk model for unmanned aircraft system operations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Melnyk, Richard; Schrage, Daniel; Volovoi, Vitali; Jimenez, Hernando

    2014-01-01

    Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) integration into the National Airspace System (NAS) is an important goal of many members of the Aerospace community including stakeholders such as the military, law enforcement and potential civil users of UAS. However, integration efforts have remained relatively limited due to safety concerns. Due to the nature of UAS, safety predictions must look beyond the system itself and take the operating environment into account. A framework that can link UAS reliability and physical characteristics to the effects on the bystander population is required. This study proposes using a Target Level of Safety approach and an event tree format, populated with data from existing studies that share characteristics of UAS crashes to enable casualty prediction for UAS operations. - Highlights: • A framework for predicting bystander casualties caused by UAS mishaps. • A method to facilitate UAS integration by linking system reliability to system safety. • A tool to help develop UAS certification standards

  8. Initial Study of An Effective Fast-Time Simulation Platform for Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xue, Min; Rios, Joseph

    2017-01-01

    Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (sUAVs), typically 55 lbs and below, are envisioned to play a major role in surveilling critical assets, collecting important information, and delivering goods. Large scale small UAV operations are expected to happen in low altitude airspace in the near future. Many static and dynamic constraints exist in low altitude airspace because of manned aircraft or helicopter activities, various wind conditions, restricted airspace, terrain and man-made buildings, and conflict-avoidance among sUAVs. High sensitivity and high maneuverability are unique characteristics of sUAVs that bring challenges to effective system evaluations and mandate such a simulation platform different from existing simulations that were built for manned air traffic system and large unmanned fixed aircraft. NASA's Unmanned aircraft system Traffic Management (UTM) research initiative focuses on enabling safe and efficient sUAV operations in the future. In order to help define requirements and policies for a safe and efficient UTM system to accommodate a large amount of sUAV operations, it is necessary to develop a fast-time simulation platform that can effectively evaluate requirements, policies, and concepts in a close-to-reality environment. This work analyzed the impacts of some key factors including aforementioned sUAV's characteristics and demonstrated the importance of these factors in a successful UTM fast-time simulation platform.

  9. Manned and Unmanned Aircraft Effectiveness in Fast Attack Craft / Fast Inshore Attack Craft ASUW Kill Chain Execution

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-09-01

    aircraft: the MH-60S Knighthawk, the MQ-8C Fire Scout and the RQ-21A Blackjack . We choose the aircraft configurations based on unclassified Naval Air...unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in support of operational and tactical requirements. This analysis evaluates the life cycle costs and combat...reduced. The scope of this benefit is significantly greater for UAVs versus manned aircraft due to the lack of life support and in-aircraft control

  10. 78 FR 59974 - Centennial Challenges 2014 Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Airspace Operations Challenge (AOC)

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-09-30

    ... NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION Centennial Challenges 2014 Unmanned Aircraft Systems... wish to compete may now register. Centennial Challenges is a program of prize competitions to stimulate...: http://www.uasaoc.org For general information on the NASA Centennial Challenges Program please visit...

  11. The Value of Step-by-Step Risk Assessment for Unmanned Aircraft

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    La Cour-Harbo, Anders

    2018-01-01

    The new European legislation expected in 2018 or 2019 will introduce a step-by-step process for conducting risk assessments for unmanned aircraft flight operations. This is a relatively simple approach to a very complex challenge. This work compares this step-by-step process to high fidelity risk...... modeling, and shows that at least for a series of example flight missions there is reasonable agreement between the two very different methods....

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

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Unmanned aerial systems (UAS's) and in particular intelligent, autonomous rotorcraft and fixed-wing aircraft have the potential to significantly impact modern...

  13. Unmanned Aircraft Systems for Emergency Management: A Guide for Policy Makers and Practitioners

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-07-29

    75 Figure 8. New Mexico State University Approved COA ................................ 76 Figure 9. Decision Tree ...APPENDIX B. UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS DECISION TREE .......... 107 LIST OF REFERENCES...maritime border, which is patrolled in collaboration with the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG).66 Between 2011 and 2014, the UASs operated by the CBP logged over

  14. Unmanned aircraft systems in wildlife research: Current and future applications of a transformative technology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Christie, Katherine S.; Gilbert, Sophie L.; Brown, Casey L.; Hatfield, Michael; Hanson, Leanne

    2016-01-01

    Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) – also called unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones – are an emerging tool that may provide a safer, more cost-effective, and quieter alternative to traditional research methods. We review examples where UAS have been used to document wildlife abundance, behavior, and habitat, and illustrate the strengths and weaknesses of this technology with two case studies. We summarize research on behavioral responses of wildlife to UAS, and discuss the need to understand how recreational and commercial applications of this technology could disturb certain species. Currently, the widespread implementation of UAS by scientists is limited by flight range, regulatory frameworks, and a lack of validation. UAS are most effective when used to examine smaller areas close to their launch sites, whereas manned aircraft are recommended for surveying greater distances. The growing demand for UAS in research and industry is driving rapid regulatory and technological progress, which in turn will make them more accessible and effective as analytical tools.

  15. Integrated Modelling of an Unmanned High-Altitude Solar-Powered Aircraft for Control Law Design Analysis

    OpenAIRE

    Klöckner, Andreas; Leitner, Martin; Schlabe, Daniel; Looye, Gertjan

    2013-01-01

    Solar-powered high-altitude unmanned platforms are highly optimized and integrated aircraft. In order to account for the complex, multi-physical interactions between their systems, we propose using integrated simulation models throughout the aircraft’s life cycle. Especially small teams with limited ressources should benefit from this approach. In this paper, we describe our approach to an integrated model of the Electric High-Altitude Solar-Powered Aircraft ELHASPA. It includes aspects of th...

  16. The Proposed Use of Unmanned Aerial System Surrogate Research Aircraft for National Airspace System Integration Research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Howell, Charles T., III

    2011-01-01

    Research is needed to determine what procedures, aircraft sensors and other systems will be required to allow Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) to safely operate with manned aircraft in the National Airspace System (NAS). This paper explores the use of Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Surrogate research aircraft to serve as platforms for UAS systems research, development, and flight testing. These aircraft would be manned with safety pilots and researchers that would allow for flight operations almost anywhere in the NAS without the need for a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Certificate of Authorization (COA). With pilot override capability, these UAS Surrogate aircraft would be controlled from ground stations like true UAS s. It would be possible to file and fly these UAS Surrogate aircraft in the NAS with normal traffic and they would be better platforms for real world UAS research and development over existing vehicles flying in restricted ranges or other sterilized airspace. These UAS surrogate aircraft could be outfitted with research systems as required such as computers, state sensors, video recording, data acquisition, data link, telemetry, instrumentation, and Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B). These surrogate aircraft could also be linked to onboard or ground based simulation facilities to further extend UAS research capabilities. Potential areas for UAS Surrogate research include the development, flight test and evaluation of sensors to aide in the process of air traffic "see-and-avoid". These and other sensors could be evaluated in real-time and compared with onboard human evaluation pilots. This paper examines the feasibility of using UAS Surrogate research aircraft as test platforms for a variety of UAS related research.

  17. INTEGRATING UNMANNED AIRCRAFT VEHICLES IN THE ROMANIAN NATIONAL AIRSPACE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sorana Alina Catinca POP

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available The use of unmanned aerial vehicles in the Romanian civil airspace brings us back to the 1920's, when the first aircraft started to fly over the Romanian sky. Little did the legislators at that time know how to create the proper legal framework for the use of such machines so that all aspects related to their use be covered, as well as identify all potential risks and effects. Nowadays, UAVs are the new aircraft and it is a challenge for the legislators to properly identify the legal framework so that the safety and security of civil aviation are not affected. The paper will address the challenges the regulator faces in the integration of the UAVs in the Romanian civil airspace, developments and issues raised by the current regulation, as well as aspects related to the national regulations expected to enter into force at the end of 2015, beginning of 2016.

  18. Operational Impact of Data Collected from the Global Hawk Unmanned Aircraft During SHOUT

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wick, G. A.; Dunion, J. P.; Sippel, J.; Cucurull, L.; Aksoy, A.; Kren, A.; Christophersen, H.; Black, P.

    2017-12-01

    The primary scientific goal of the Sensing Hazards with Operational Unmanned Technology (SHOUT) Project was to determine the potential utility of observations from high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aircraft systems such as the Global Hawk (GH) aircraft to improve operational forecasts of high-impact weather events or mitigate potential degradation of forecasts in the event of a future gap in satellite coverage. Hurricanes and tropical cyclones are among the most potentially destructive high-impact weather events and pose a major forecasting challenge to NOAA. Major winter storms over the Pacific Ocean, including atmospheric river events, which make landfall and bring strong winds and extreme precipitation to the West Coast and Alaska are also important to forecast accurately because of their societal impact in those parts of the country. In response, the SHOUT project supported three field campaigns with the GH aircraft and dedicated data impact studies exploring the potential for the real-time data from the aircraft to improve the forecasting of both tropical cyclones and landfalling Pacific storms. Dropsonde observations from the GH aircraft were assimilated into the operational Hurricane Weather Research and Forecasting (HWRF) and Global Forecast System (GFS) models. The results from several diverse but complementary studies consistently demonstrated significant positive forecast benefits spanning the regional and global models. Forecast skill improvements within HWRF reached up to about 9% for track and 14% for intensity. Within GFS, track skill improvements for multi-storm averages exceeded 10% and improvements for individual storms reached over 20% depending on forecast lead time. Forecasted precipitation was also improved. Impacts for Pacific winter storms were smaller but still positive. The results are highly encouraging and support the potential for operational utilization of data from a platform like the GH. This presentation summarizes the

  19. Requirements to micro-unmanned aircraft systems in civil protection and environmental monitoring

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fischer-Stabel, Peter; Hardt, Christopher [Univ. of Applied Sciences Trier, Birkenfeld (Germany). Dept. of Environmental Planning

    2013-07-01

    Especially in application fields such as environmental monitoring or in the field of information and operations management with technical or natural disasters, increased demands on communication and sensor technology to micro unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) are given. These are currently covered by the system manufacturers, however inadequately. The use case of wildlife monitoring with micro UAS comes with some special requirements and problems, addressed in this paper. (orig.)

  20. UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS FOR RAPID NEAR SURFACE GEOPHYSICAL MEASUREMENTS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. B. Stoll

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available This paper looks at some of the unmanned aircraft systems (UAS options and deals with a magnetometer sensor system which might be of interest in conducting rapid near surface geophysical measurements. Few of the traditional airborne geophysical sensors are now capable of being miniaturized to sizes and payload within mini UAS limits (e.g. airborne magnetics, gamma ray spectrometer. Here the deployment of a fluxgate magnetometer mounted on an UAS is presented demonstrating its capability of detecting metallic materials that are buried in the soil. The effectiveness in finding ferrous objects (e.g. UXO, landslides is demonstrated in two case studies.

  1. Unmanned Aircraft Systems Detect and Avoid System: End-to-End Verification and Validation Simulation Study of Minimum Operations Performance Standards for Integrating Unmanned Aircraft into the National Airspace System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghatas, Rania W.; Jack, Devin P.; Tsakpinis, Dimitrios; Sturdy, James L.; Vincent, Michael J.; Hoffler, Keith D.; Myer, Robert R.; DeHaven, Anna M.

    2017-01-01

    As Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) make their way to mainstream aviation operations within the National Airspace System (NAS), research efforts are underway to develop a safe and effective environment for their integration into the NAS. Detect and Avoid (DAA) systems are required to account for the lack of "eyes in the sky" due to having no human on-board the aircraft. The technique, results, and lessons learned from a detailed End-to-End Verification and Validation (E2-V2) simulation study of a DAA system representative of RTCA SC-228's proposed Phase I DAA Minimum Operational Performance Standards (MOPS), based on specific test vectors and encounter cases, will be presented in this paper.

  2. Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Integration in the National Airspace System (NAS) Project FY16 Annual Review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grindle, Laurie; Hackenberg, Davis

    2016-01-01

    This presentation gives insight into the research activities and efforts being executed in order to integrate unmanned aircraft systems into the national airspace system. This briefing is to inform others of the UAS-NAS FY16 progress and future directions.

  3. U.S. Army Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) - A Historical Perspective to Identifying and Understanding Stakeholder Relationships

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-06-01

    U.S. Army (USA) to train Nike anti-aircraft missile crews and others through the 1970s. Mach 2 UAV targets consisted of several prototypes such as...manufacturers with the largest share of the global UAS market include General Atomics (20.4 percent), Northrop Grumman (18.9 percent), Boeing (1.5... mix of both manned and unmanned aircraft systems. By combining advanced sensors, tactical RSTA, MUM teaming of UAS, attack and reconnaissance

  4. Fault tolerant attitude control for small unmanned aircraft systems equipped with an airflow sensor array.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shen, H; Xu, Y; Dickinson, B T

    2014-11-18

    Inspired by sensing strategies observed in birds and bats, a new attitude control concept of directly using real-time pressure and shear stresses has recently been studied. It was shown that with an array of onboard airflow sensors, small unmanned aircraft systems can promptly respond to airflow changes and improve flight performances. In this paper, a mapping function is proposed to compute aerodynamic moments from the real-time pressure and shear data in a practical and computationally tractable formulation. Since many microscale airflow sensors are embedded on the small unmanned aircraft system surface, it is highly possible that certain sensors may fail. Here, an adaptive control system is developed that is robust to sensor failure as well as other numerical mismatches in calculating real-time aerodynamic moments. The advantages of the proposed method are shown in the following simulation cases: (i) feedback pressure and wall shear data from a distributed array of 45 airflow sensors; (ii) 50% failure of the symmetrically distributed airflow sensor array; and (iii) failure of all the airflow sensors on one wing. It is shown that even if 50% of the airflow sensors have failures, the aircraft is still stable and able to track the attitude commands.

  5. Evaluation of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) for Weather and Climate using the Multi-testbed approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baker, B.; Lee, T.; Buban, M.; Dumas, E. J.

    2017-12-01

    Evaluation of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) for Weather and Climate using the Multi-testbed approachC. Bruce Baker1, Ed Dumas1,2, Temple Lee1,2, Michael Buban1,21NOAA ARL, Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division, Oak Ridge, TN2Oak Ridge Associated Universities, Oak Ridge, TN The development of a small Unmanned Aerial System (sUAS) testbeds that can be used to validate, integrate, calibrate and evaluate new technology and sensors for routine boundary layer research, validation of operational weather models, improvement of model parameterizations, and recording observations within high-impact storms is important for understanding the importance and impact of using sUAS's routinely as a new observing platform. The goal of the multi-testbed approach is to build a robust set of protocols to assess the cost and operational feasibility of unmanned observations for routine applications using various combinations of sUAS aircraft and sensors in different locations and field experiments. All of these observational testbeds serve different community needs, but they also use a diverse suite of methodologies for calibration and evaluation of different sensors and platforms for severe weather and boundary layer research. The primary focus will be to evaluate meteorological sensor payloads to measure thermodynamic parameters and define surface characteristics with visible, IR, and multi-spectral cameras. This evaluation will lead to recommendations for sensor payloads for VTOL and fixed-wing sUAS.

  6. On Integrating Unmanned Aircraft Systems into the National Airspace System Issues, Challenges, Operational Restrictions, Certification, and Recommendations

    CERN Document Server

    Dalamagkidis, Konstantinos; Piegl, Les A

    2012-01-01

    This book presents, in a comprehensive way, current unmanned aviation regulation, airworthiness certification, special aircraft categories, pilot certification, federal aviation requirements, operation rules, airspace classes and regulation development models. It discusses unmanned aircraft systems levels of safety derived mathematically based on the corresponding levels for manned aviation. It provides an overview of the history and current status of UAS airworthiness and operational regulation worldwide. Existing regulations have been developed considering the need for a complete regulatory framework for UAS. It focuses on UAS safety assessment and functional requirements, achieved in terms of defining an “Equivalent Level of Safety”, or ELOS, with that of manned aviation, specifying what the ELOS requirement entails for UAS regulations. To accomplish this, the safety performance of manned aviation is first evaluated, followed by a novel model to derive reliability requirements for achieving target lev...

  7. 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.

  8. Arctic Atmospheric Measurements Using Manned and Unmanned Aircraft, Tethered Balloons, and Ground-Based Systems at U.S. DOE ARM Facilities on the North Slope Of Alaska

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ivey, M.; Dexheimer, D.; Roesler, E. L.; Hillman, B. R.; Hardesty, J. O.

    2016-12-01

    The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) provides scientific infrastructure and data to the international Arctic research community via research sites located on the North Slope of Alaska and an open data archive maintained by the ARM program. In 2016, DOE continued investments in improvements to facilities and infrastructure at Oliktok Point Alaska to support operations of ground-based facilities and unmanned aerial systems for science missions in the Arctic. The Third ARM Mobile Facility, AMF3, now deployed at Oliktok Point, was further expanded in 2016. Tethered instrumented balloons were used at Oliktok to make measurements of clouds in the boundary layer including mixed-phase clouds and to compare measurements with those from the ground and from unmanned aircraft operating in the airspace above AMF3. The ARM facility at Oliktok Point includes Special Use Airspace. A Restricted Area, R-2204, is located at Oliktok Point. Roughly 4 miles in diameter, it facilitates operations of tethered balloons and unmanned aircraft. R-2204 and a new Warning Area north of Oliktok, W-220, are managed by Sandia National Laboratories for DOE Office of Science/BER. These Special Use Airspaces have been successfully used to launch and operate unmanned aircraft over the Arctic Ocean and in international airspace north of Oliktok Point.A steady progression towards routine operations of unmanned aircraft and tethered balloon systems continues at Oliktok. Small unmanned aircraft (DataHawks) and tethered balloons were successfully flown at Oliktok starting in June of 2016. This poster will discuss how principal investigators may apply for use of these Special Use Airspaces, acquire data from the Third ARM Mobile Facility, or bring their own instrumentation for deployment at Oliktok Point, Alaska.

  9. Tracking of a Fluorescent Dye in a Freshwater Lake with an Unmanned Surface Vehicle and an Unmanned Aircraft System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Craig Powers

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Recent catastrophic events in our oceans, including the spill of toxic oil from the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig and the rapid dispersion of radioactive particulates from the meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, underscore the need for new tools and technologies to rapidly respond to hazardous agents. Our understanding of the movement and aerosolization of hazardous agents from natural aquatic systems can be expanded upon and used in prevention and tracking. New technologies with coordinated unmanned robotic systems could lead to faster identification and mitigation of hazardous agents in lakes, rivers, and oceans. In this study, we released a fluorescent dye (fluorescein into a freshwater lake from an anchored floating platform. A fluorometer (fluorescence sensor was mounted underneath an unmanned surface vehicle (USV, unmanned boat and was used to detect and track the released dye in situ in real-time. An unmanned aircraft system (UAS was used to visualize the dye and direct the USV to sample different areas of the dye plume. Image processing tools were used to map concentration profiles of the dye plume from aerial images acquired from the UAS, and these were associated with concentration measurements collected from the sensors onboard the USV. The results of this project have the potential to transform monitoring strategies for hazardous agents, enabling timely and accurate exposure assessment and response in affected areas. Fast response is essential in reacting to the introduction of hazardous agents, in order to quickly predict and contain their spread.

  10. RISK DEFINITION IN CIVIL UNMANNED AVIATION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Volodymyr Kharchenko

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Objective: The risks in unmanned civil aviation are considered as one of the most important. In the article is proved applicability of ensuring the flight safety of aircraft and considered the basic risks of manned civil aviation. Methods: Analyzed statistical data on aviation accidents, organized probabilities distribution of aviation accidents for manned and unmanned civil aviation to identify factors that influence the occurrence of emergency situations in manned and unmanned aviation. Results: We proposed typology of risk components in civil aviation and systematized methods and techniques to reduce risks. Over the analogies defined possible risks, their causes and remedies in civil unmanned aircraft. Weight coefficients distribution was justified between risk types for development of recommendations on risk management in unmanned civil aviation. Discussion: We found that the most probable risk in manned civil aviation is the human factor, organization of air traffic control, design flaws of unmanned aviation system as a whole, as well as maintenance of unmanned aviation system.

  11. A survey of autonomous vision-based See and Avoid for Unmanned Aircraft Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mcfadyen, Aaron; Mejias, Luis

    2016-01-01

    This paper provides a comprehensive review of the vision-based See and Avoid problem for unmanned aircraft. The unique problem environment and associated constraints are detailed, followed by an in-depth analysis of visual sensing limitations. In light of such detection and estimation constraints, relevant human, aircraft and robot collision avoidance concepts are then compared from a decision and control perspective. Remarks on system evaluation and certification are also included to provide a holistic review approach. The intention of this work is to clarify common misconceptions, realistically bound feasible design expectations and offer new research directions. It is hoped that this paper will help us to unify design efforts across the aerospace and robotics communities.

  12. Assembly and Initial Analysis of a Database of the Characteristics of Fixed-Wing Unmanned Aircraft Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-11-01

    directly (e.g. on their websites or in brochures ) or, in its absence, by Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft: Unmanned [15], as the data it provides is...Proposer Information Pamphlet (PIP) for Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Defense Sciences Office (DSO) Nano Air Vehicle (NAV

  13. Real-time unmanned aircraft systems surveillance video mosaicking using GPU

    Science.gov (United States)

    Camargo, Aldo; Anderson, Kyle; Wang, Yi; Schultz, Richard R.; Fevig, Ronald A.

    2010-04-01

    Digital video mosaicking from Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) is being used for many military and civilian applications, including surveillance, target recognition, border protection, forest fire monitoring, traffic control on highways, monitoring of transmission lines, among others. Additionally, NASA is using digital video mosaicking to explore the moon and planets such as Mars. In order to compute a "good" mosaic from video captured by a UAS, the algorithm must deal with motion blur, frame-to-frame jitter associated with an imperfectly stabilized platform, perspective changes as the camera tilts in flight, as well as a number of other factors. The most suitable algorithms use SIFT (Scale-Invariant Feature Transform) to detect the features consistent between video frames. Utilizing these features, the next step is to estimate the homography between two consecutives video frames, perform warping to properly register the image data, and finally blend the video frames resulting in a seamless video mosaick. All this processing takes a great deal of resources of resources from the CPU, so it is almost impossible to compute a real time video mosaic on a single processor. Modern graphics processing units (GPUs) offer computational performance that far exceeds current CPU technology, allowing for real-time operation. This paper presents the development of a GPU-accelerated digital video mosaicking implementation and compares it with CPU performance. Our tests are based on two sets of real video captured by a small UAS aircraft; one video comes from Infrared (IR) and Electro-Optical (EO) cameras. Our results show that we can obtain a speed-up of more than 50 times using GPU technology, so real-time operation at a video capture of 30 frames per second is feasible.

  14. Evaluation of Forest Health Conditions using Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hatfield, M. C.; Heutte, T. M.

    2016-12-01

    US Forest Service Alaska Region Forest Health Protection (FHP) and University of Alaska Fairbanks, Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration (ACUASI) are evaluating capability of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) to monitor forest health conditions in Alaska's Interior Region. In July 2016, the team deployed UAS at locations in the Tanana Valley near Fairbanks in order to familiarize FHP staff with capabilities of UAS for evaluating insect and disease damage. While many potential uses of UAS to evaluate and monitor forest health can be envisioned, this project focused on use of a small UAS for rapid assessment of insect and disease damage. Traditional ground-based methods are limited by distance from ground to canopy and inaccessibility of forest stands due to terrain conditions. Observation from fixed-wing aircraft provide a broad overview of conditions but are limited by minimum safe flying altitude (500' AGL) and aircraft speed ( 100 mph). UAS may provide a crucial bridge to fill in gaps between ground and airborne methods, and offer significant cost savings and greater flexibility over helicopter-based observations. Previous uses of UAS for forest health monitoring are limited - this project focuses on optimizing choice of vehicle, sensors, resolution and area scanned from different altitudes, and use of visual spectrum vs NIR image collection. The vehicle selected was the ACUASI Ptarmigan, a small hexacopter (based on DJI S800 airframe and 3DR autopilot) capable of carrying a 1.5 kg payload for 15 min for close-range environmental monitoring missions. Sites were chosen for conditions favorable to UAS operation and presence of forest insect and disease agents including spruce broom rust, aspen leaf miner, birch leaf roller, and willow leafblotch miner. A total of 29 flights were conducted with 9000+ images collected. Mission variables included camera height, UAS speed, and medium- (Sony NEX-7) vs low-resolution (GoPro Hero) cameras. Invaluable

  15. SIMPLIFIED MATHEMATICAL MODEL OF SMALL SIZED UNMANNED AIRCRAFT VEHICLE LAYOUT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Strong reduction of new aircraft design period using new technology based on artificial intelligence is the key problem mentioned in forecasts of leading aerospace industry research centers. This article covers the approach to devel- opment of quick aerodynamic design methods based on artificial intelligence neural system. The problem is being solved for the classical scheme of small sized unmanned aircraft vehicle (UAV. The principal parts of the method are the mathe- matical model of layout, layout generator of this type of aircraft is built on aircraft neural networks, automatic selection module for cleaning variety of layouts generated in automatic mode, robust direct computational fluid dynamics method, aerodynamic characteristics approximators on artificial neural networks.Methods based on artificial neural networks have intermediate position between computational fluid dynamics methods or experiments and simplified engineering approaches. The use of ANN for estimating aerodynamic characteris-tics put limitations on input data. For this task the layout must be presented as a vector with dimension not exceeding sev-eral hundred. Vector components must include all main parameters conventionally used for layouts description and com- pletely replicate the most important aerodynamics and structural properties.The first stage of the work is presented in the paper. Simplified mathematical model of small sized UAV was developed. To estimate the range of geometrical parameters of layouts the review of existing vehicle was done. The result of the work is the algorithm and computer software for generating the layouts based on ANN technolo-gy. 10000 samples were generated and the dataset containig geometrical and aerodynamic characteristics of layoutwas created.

  16. Analysis of the Sustainment Organization and Process for the Marine Corps’ RQ-11B Raven Small Unmanned Aircraft System (SUAS)

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-03-01

    Vehicle UAS Unmanned Aircraft System UCAV Unmanned Combat Air Vehicles xvii UNS Universal Needs Statement USMC United States Marine Corps VLC ...she helped motivate me to finish this project—as challenging as it may be to work under the conditions set by an infant. And, finally, thanks to...In every aspect of program management, the DoD acquisition workforce is constantly challenged to balance cost, schedule, and performance. In a

  17. Implementation of unmanned aircraft systems by the U.S. Geological Survey

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cress, J.J.; Sloan, J.L.; Hutt, M.E.

    2011-01-01

    The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Project Office is leading the implementation of UAS technology in anticipation of transforming the research methods and management techniques employed across the Department of the Interior. UAS technology is being made available to monitor environmental conditions, analyse the impacts of climate change, respond to natural hazards, understand landscape change rates and consequences, conduct wildlife inventories and support related land management missions. USGS is teaming with the Department of the Interior Aviation Management Directorate (AMD) to lead the safe and cost-effective adoption of UAS technology by the Department of the Interior Agencies and USGS scientists.

  18. SIERRA-Flux: Measuring Regional Surface Fluxes of Carbon Dioxide, Methane, and Water Vapor from an Unmanned Aircraft System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fladeland; Yates, Emma Louise; Bui, Thaopaul Van; Dean-Day, Jonathan; Kolyer, Richard

    2011-01-01

    The Eddy-Covariance Method for quantifying surface-atmosphere fluxes is a foundational technique for measuring net ecosystem exchange and validating regional-to-global carbon cycle models. While towers or ships are the most frequent platform for measuring surface-atmosphere exchange, experiments using aircraft for flux measurements have yielded contributions to several large-scale studies including BOREAS, SMACEX, RECAB by providing local-to-regional coverage beyond towers. The low-altitude flight requirements make airborne flux measurements particularly dangerous and well suited for unmanned aircraft.

  19. NASA Unmanned Aircraft (UA) Control and Non-Payload Communication (CNPC) System Waveform Trade Studies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chavez, Carlos; Hammel, Bruce; Hammel, Allan; Moore, John R.

    2014-01-01

    Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) represent a new capability that will provide a variety of services in the government (public) and commercial (civil) aviation sectors. The growth of this potential industry has not yet been realized due to the lack of a common understanding of what is required to safely operate UAS in the National Airspace System (NAS). To address this deficiency, NASA has established a project called UAS Integration in the NAS (UAS in the NAS), under the Integrated Systems Research Program (ISRP) of the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD). This project provides an opportunity to transition concepts, technology, algorithms, and knowledge to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and other stakeholders to help them define the requirements, regulations, and issues for routine UAS access to the NAS. The safe, routine, and efficient integration of UAS into the NAS requires new radio frequency (RF) spectrum allocations and a new data communications system which is both secure and scalable with increasing UAS traffic without adversely impacting the Air Traffic Control (ATC) communication system. These data communications, referred to as Control and Non-Payload Communications (CNPC), whose purpose is to exchange information between the unmanned aircraft and the ground control station to ensure safe, reliable, and effective unmanned aircraft flight operation. A Communications Subproject within the UAS in the NAS Project has been established to address issues related to CNPC development, certification and fielding. The focus of the Communications Subproject is on validating and allocating new RF spectrum and data link communications to enable civil UAS integration into the NAS. The goal is to validate secure, robust data links within the allocated frequency spectrum for UAS. A vision, architectural concepts, and seed requirements for the future commercial UAS CNPC system have been developed by RTCA Special Committee 203 (SC-203) in the process

  20. A Reference Software Architecture to Support Unmanned Aircraft Integration in the National Airspace System

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-07-01

    and Avoid ( SAA ) testbed that provides some of the core services . This paper describes the general architecture and a SAA testbed implementation that...that provides data and software services to enable a set of Unmanned Aircraft (UA) platforms to operate in a wide range of air domains which may...implemented by MIT Lincoln Laboratory in the form of a Sense and Avoid ( SAA ) testbed that provides some of the core services . This paper describes the general

  1. Unmanned Carrier-Based Aircraft System: Debate over Systems Role Led to Focus on Aerial Refueling

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-03-24

    Unmanned Carrier-Based Aircraft System: Debate over System’s Role Led to Focus on Aerial Refueling Prior to February 2016, the Navy had planned to...Background In a May 2015 report, we found that the intended mission and required capabilities of UCLASS were under review as there was debate ...environments, or largely strike with limited surveillance capability operating in highly contested environments.2 This debate delayed the expected

  2. Optimal Remote Sensing with Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems and Risk Management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stark, Brandon

    Over the past decade, the rapid rise of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UASs) has blossomed into a new component of the aviation industry. Though regulations within the United States lagged, the promise of the ability of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (SUASs), or those UAS that weigh less than 55 lbs, has driven significant advances in small scale aviation technology. The dream of a small, low-cost aerial platform that can fly anywhere and keep humans safely away from the `dull, dangerous and dirty' jobs, has encouraged many to examine the possibilities of utilizing SUAS in new and transformative ways, especially as a new tool in remote sensing. However, as with any new tool, there remains significant challenges in realizing the full potential of SUAS-based remote sensing. Within this dissertation, two specific challenges are addressed: validating the use of SUAS as a remote sensing platform and improving the safety and management of SUAS. The use of SUAS in remote sensing is a relatively new challenge and while it has many similarities to other remote sensing platforms, the dynamic nature of its operation makes it unique. In this dissertation, a closer look at the methodology of using SUAS reveals that while many view SUAS as an alternative to satellite imagery, this is an incomplete view and that the current common implementation introduces a new source of error that has significant implications on the reliability of the data collected. It can also be seen that a new approach to remote sensing with an SUAS can be developed by addressing the spatial, spectral and temporal factors that can now be more finely adjusted with the use of SUAS. However, to take the full advantage of the potential of SUAS, they must uphold the promise of improved safety. This is not a trivial challenge, especially for the integration into the National Airspace System (NAS) and for the safety management and oversight of diverse UAS operations. In this dissertation, the challenge of integrating

  3. Manned-Unmanned Teaming of Aircraft - Literature Search

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-12-01

    restricted to 2003 2013. Literature searches were conducted in eight databases Aerospace and High Technology, Scopus , NTIS, Inspec, Compendex, DTIC, Jane’si...Buddy Unmanned wingman Manned-Unmanned Teaming Dec 2013 Page 35 of 37 7.1.2 Sources Online databases • Scopus • Aerospace and High Technology

  4. Identification of Thrust, Lift, and Drag for Deep-stall Flight Data of a Fixed-wing Unmanned Aircraft

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cunis, Torbjørn; Leth, Tobias; Totu, Luminita Cristiana

    2018-01-01

    In this paper, we consider a small unmanned aircraft and data collected during regular and deep-stall flight. We present an identification method for the thrust force generated by the propulsion system based on the in-flight measurements where we make use of the well-known linear and quadratic...... force estimation in the full flight envelope....

  5. Aerodynamic study, design and construction of a Blended Wing Body (BWB) Unmanned Aircraft (UA)

    OpenAIRE

    De Toro Diaz, Aleix

    2015-01-01

    During this project a Blended Wing Body (BWB) UA (Unmanned Aircraft) model is built. BWBs are a combination of a common airplane with tail control surfaces and a flying wing. BWBs lack tail control surfaces, which makes its design to be very different and more complex regarding stability. To first start the BWB design, some research has been done about the basic parameters of the BWB designs. Moreover, different airfoils are considered to improve the stability of the UA. Two designs are creat...

  6. Toward a Safety Risk-Based Classification of Unmanned Aircraft

    Science.gov (United States)

    Torres-Pomales, Wilfredo

    2016-01-01

    There is a trend of growing interest and demand for greater access of unmanned aircraft (UA) to the National Airspace System (NAS) as the ongoing development of UA technology has created the potential for significant economic benefits. However, the lack of a comprehensive and efficient UA regulatory framework has constrained the number and kinds of UA operations that can be performed. This report presents initial results of a study aimed at defining a safety-risk-based UA classification as a plausible basis for a regulatory framework for UA operating in the NAS. Much of the study up to this point has been at a conceptual high level. The report includes a survey of contextual topics, analysis of safety risk considerations, and initial recommendations for a risk-based approach to safe UA operations in the NAS. The next phase of the study will develop and leverage deeper clarity and insight into practical engineering and regulatory considerations for ensuring that UA operations have an acceptable level of safety.

  7. 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

  8. 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.

  9. UNMANNED AIRCRAFT VEHICLE (UAV IN THE ROMANIAN AIRSPACE. AN OVERVIEW

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vasile PRISACARIU

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available For the last decade the unmanned aircraft vehicle (UAV field has evolved in terms of the sub-branches established in the aerospace industry. At national level the UAV market is still in its infancy but acknowledges an upward trend in the implementation and use of UAVs in civilian and military missions. The achievements of the past decade confirms that Romanian specialists are able to conceive, design and build UAVs at a technological and operational level comparable to the one achieved by large international producers creating the prerequisites of developing a sub-sector for the national aeronautic industry. The current article aims at providing an overview of all activities related to the conception, manufacturing, testing, improving, operating UAVs as these activities evolved within the national airspace filed with brief references to the missions and legislation in this area.

  10. 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

  11. Design Of Vertical Take-Off And Landing VTOL Aircraft System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Win Ko Ko Oo

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available Vertical Take Off and Landing Vehicles VTOL are the ones which can take off and land from the same place without need of long runway. This paper presents the design and implementation of tricopter mode and aircraft mode for VTOL aircraft system. Firstly the aircraft design is considered for VTOL mode. And then the mathematical model of the VTOL aircraft is applied to test stability. In this research the KK 2.1 flight controller is used for VTOL mode and aircraft mode. The first part is to develop the VTOL mode and the next part is the transition of VTOL mode to aircraft mode. This paper gives brief idea about numerous types of VTOLs and their advantages over traditional aircraftsand insight to various types of tricopter and evaluates their configurations.

  12. Fault Diagnosis and Fault Handling for Autonomous Aircraft

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Søren

    Unmanned Aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones are used increasingly for missions where piloted aircraft are unsuitable. The unmanned aircraft has a number of advantages with respect to size, weight and manoeuvrability that makes it possible for them to solve tasks that an aircraft previously has been...

  13. U.S. Geological Survey Emerging Applications of Unmanned Aircraft Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hutt, M. E.

    2012-12-01

    In anticipation of transforming the research methods and resource management techniques employed across the Department of the Interior, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Project Office is conducting missions using small UAS- sUAS platforms (technology in support of scientific, resource and land management missions. UAS technology is currently being used by USGS and our partners to monitor environmental conditions, analyze the impacts of climate change, respond to natural hazards, understand landscape change rates and consequences, conduct wildlife inventories and support related land management and law enforcement missions. Our ultimate goal is to support informed decision making by creating the opportunity, via UAS technology, to gain access to an increased level of persistent monitoring of earth surface processes (forest health conditions, wildfires, earthquake zones, invasive species, etc.) in areas that have been logistically difficult, cost prohibitive or technically impossible to obtain consistent, reliable, timely information. USGS is teaming with the Department of the Interior Aviation Management Directorate to ensure the safe and cost effective adoption of UAS technology. While the USGS is concentrating on operating sUAS, the immense value of increased flight time and more robust sensor capabilities available on larger platforms cannot be ignored. We are partnering with several groups including the Department of Homeland Security, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Department of Defense, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for access to data collected from their fleet of high altitude, long endurance (HALE) UAS. The HALE systems include state of the art sensors including Electro-Optical, Thermal Infrared and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR). The data being collected by High Altitude, Long Endurance (HALE) systems is can be routinely shared in near real time at several DOI- USGS locations. Analysis

  14. 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, ...

  15. Mobile test stand for evaluation of electric power plants for unmanned aircraft

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Serbezov Vladimir

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The absence of accurate performance data is a common problem with most civilian unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV power plant producers. The reasons for this are the small size of most of the manufacturers and the high price of precise wind tunnel testing and computer simulations. To overcome this problem at Dronamics Ltd., with support from the Department of Aeronautics of TU-Sofia, a mobile test stand for evaluation of electric power plants for unmanned aircraft was developed. The stand may be used statically, or may be installed on the roof of an automobile. The measurement system of the stand is based on popular hardware that is used in radio controlled models and in general automation. The verification of the measurement system is performed by comparing static test results with data published by the manufacturer of the tested electric motor. Tests were carried out with 2 different types of propellers and the results were compared with published results for common propellers as well as with results of theoretical studies. The results are satisfactory for practical applications. The use of this type of test stands can be a cheap and effective alternative for research and development start-up companies like Dronamics.

  16. Air Traffic Controller Acceptability of Unmanned Aircraft System Detect-and-Avoid Thresholds

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mueller, Eric R.; Isaacson, Douglas R.; Stevens, Derek

    2016-01-01

    A human-in-the-loop experiment was conducted with 15 retired air traffic controllers to investigate two research questions: (a) what procedures are appropriate for the use of unmanned aircraft system (UAS) detect-and-avoid systems, and (b) how long in advance of a predicted close encounter should pilots request or execute a separation maneuver. The controller participants managed a busy Oakland air route traffic control sector with mixed commercial/general aviation and manned/UAS traffic, providing separation services, miles-in-trail restrictions and issuing traffic advisories. Controllers filled out post-scenario and post-simulation questionnaires, and metrics were collected on the acceptability of procedural options and temporal thresholds. The states of aircraft were also recorded when controllers issued traffic advisories. Subjective feedback indicated a strong preference for pilots to request maneuvers to remain well clear from intruder aircraft rather than deviate from their IFR clearance. Controllers also reported that maneuvering at 120 seconds until closest point of approach (CPA) was too early; maneuvers executed with less than 90 seconds until CPA were more acceptable. The magnitudes of the requested maneuvers were frequently judged to be too large, indicating a possible discrepancy between the quantitative UAS well clear standard and the one employed subjectively by manned pilots. The ranges between pairs of aircraft and the times to CPA at which traffic advisories were issued were used to construct empirical probability distributions of those metrics. Given these distributions, we propose that UAS pilots wait until an intruder aircraft is approximately 80 seconds to CPA or 6 nmi away before requesting a maneuver, and maneuver immediately if the intruder is within 60 seconds and 4 nmi. These thresholds should make the use of UAS detect and avoid systems compatible with current airspace procedures and controller expectations.

  17. A Review of Current and Prospective Factors for Classification of Civil Unmanned Aircraft Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hayhurst, Kelly J.; Maddalon, Jeffrey M.; Morris, A. Terry; Neogi, Natasha; Verstynen, Harry A.

    2014-01-01

    While progress is being made on integrating unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) into our national airspace on a broad scale, much work remains to establish appropriate certification standards and operational procedures, particularly with respect to routine commercial operations. This paper summarizes research to examine the extent to which today's civil aircraft taxonomy applies to UAS, and, if needed, how that taxonomy could be amended to better cover different UAS designs and operations. Factors that shape the current taxonomy, as defined in the Federal Aviation Regulations, were assessed for applicability to UAS, potential incompatibilities were identified, and additional factors were proposed that might be useful for an updated aircraft taxonomy intended to cover UAS. The results suggest the possibility of constructing new groups in the taxonomy for UAS under a restricted category that share common airworthiness standards. Establishing distinct groups for UAS and associated standards that enable low risk operations for compensation or hire could be a timely step toward full integration. Such a step would allow the civil aviation industry and regulators to gain valuable experience with UAS while carefully controlling access and potential harm to the aviation system as a whole.

  18. Model-Free Trajectory Optimisation for Unmanned Aircraft Serving as Data Ferries for Widespread Sensors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ben Pearre

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available Given multiple widespread stationary data sources such as ground-based sensors, an unmanned aircraft can fly over the sensors and gather the data via a wireless link. Performance criteria for such a network may incorporate costs such as trajectory length for the aircraft or the energy required by the sensors for radio transmission. Planning is hampered by the complex vehicle and communication dynamics and by uncertainty in the locations of sensors, so we develop a technique based on model-free learning. We present a stochastic optimisation method that allows the data-ferrying aircraft to optimise data collection trajectories through an unknown environment in situ, obviating the need for system identification. We compare two trajectory representations, one that learns near-optimal trajectories at low data requirements but that fails at high requirements, and one that gives up some performance in exchange for a data collection guarantee. With either encoding the ferry is able to learn significantly improved trajectories compared with alternative heuristics. To demonstrate the versatility of the model-free learning approach, we also learn a policy to minimise the radio transmission energy required by the sensor nodes, allowing prolonged network lifetime.

  19. Technology Trends in Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) and Counter-UAS: A Five Year Outlook

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-11-01

    I N S T I T U T E F O R D E F E N S E ANALYSES Technology Trends in Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) and Counter-UAS: A Five-Year Outlook...the copyright license under the clause at DFARS 252.227-7013 (a)(16) [June 2013]. INSTITUTE FOR DEFENSE ANALYSES IDA Paper P-8823 Technology Trends...threats to infrastructure posed across all domains—air, land, sea, and cyber. Although threats and technologies are rapidly evolving across all

  20. Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration (ACUASI): Operational Support and Geoscience Research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Webley, P. W.; Cahill, C. F.; Rogers, M.; Hatfield, M. C.

    2016-12-01

    Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) have enormous potential for use in geoscience research and supporting operational needs from natural hazard assessment to the mitigation of critical infrastructure failure. They provide a new tool for universities, local, state, federal, and military organizations to collect new measurements not readily available from other sensors. We will present on the UAS capabilities and research of the Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration (ACUASI, http://acuasi.alaska.edu/). Our UAS range from the Responder with its dual visible/infrared payload that can provide simultaneous data to our new SeaHunter UAS with 90 lb. payload and multiple hour flight time. ACUASI, as a designated US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) test center, works closely with the FAA on integrating UAS into the national airspace. ACUASI covers all aspects of working with UAS from pilot training, airspace navigation, flight operations, and remote sensing analysis to payload design and integration engineers and policy experts. ACUASI's recent missions range from supporting the mapping of sea ice cover for safe passage of Alaskans across the hazardous winter ice to demonstrating how UAS can be used to provide support during oil spill response. Additionally, we will present on how ACUASI has worked with local authorities in Alaska to integrate UAS into search and rescue operations and with NASA and the FAA on their UAS Transport Management (UTM) project to fly UAS within the manned airspace. ACUASI is also working on developing new capabilities to sample volcanic plumes and clouds, map forest fire impacts and burn areas, and develop a new citizen network for monitoring snow extent and depth during Northern Hemisphere winters. We will demonstrate how UAS can be integrated in operational support systems and at the same time be used in geoscience research projects to provide high precision, accurate, and reliable observations.

  1. The Use of a Satellite Communications System for Command and Control of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Surrogate Unmanned Aerial System Research Aircraft

    Science.gov (United States)

    Howell, Charles T.; Jones, Frank; Hutchinson, Brian; Joyce, Claude; Nelson, Skip; Melum, Mike

    2017-01-01

    The NASA Langley Research Center has transformed a Cirrus Design SR22 general aviation (GA) aircraft into an Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Surrogate research aircraft which has served for several years as a platform for unmanned systems research and development. The aircraft is manned with a Safety Pilot and a Research Systems Operator (RSO) that allows for flight operations almost any-where in the national airspace system (NAS) without the need for a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Certificate of Authorization (COA). The UAS Surrogate can be remotely controlled from a modular, transportable ground control station (GCS) like a true UAS. Ground control of the aircraft is accomplished by the use of data links that allow the two-way passage of the required data to control the aircraft and provide the GCS with situational awareness. The original UAS Surrogate data-link system was composed of redundant very high frequency (VHF) data radio modems with a maximum range of approximately 40 nautical miles. A new requirement was developed to extend this range beyond visual range (BVR). This new requirement led to the development of a satellite communications system that provided the means to command and control the UAS Surrogate at ranges beyond the limits of the VHF data links. The system makes use of the Globalstar low earth orbit (LEO) satellite communications system. This paper will provide details of the development, implementation, and flight testing of the satellite data communications system on the UAS Surrogate research aircraft.

  2. STUDY ON SAFETY TECHNOLOGY SCHEME OF THE UNMANNED HELICOPTER

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Z. Lin

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available Nowadays the unmanned helicopter is widely used for its' unique strongpoint, however, the high failure rate of unmanned helicopter seriously limits its further application and development. For solving the above problems, in this paper, the reasons for the high failure rate of unmanned helicopter is analyzed and the corresponding solution schemes are proposed. The main problem of the failure cause of the unmanned helicopter is the aircraft engine fault, and the failure cause of the unmanned helicopter is analyzed particularly. In order to improving the safety performance of unmanned helicopter system, the scheme of adding the safety parachute system to the unmanned helicopter system is proposed and introduced. These schemes provide the safety redundancy of the unmanned helicopter system and lay on basis for the unmanned helicopter applying into residential areas.

  3. Unmanned Aircraft Systems Traffic Management (UTM) Safely Enabling UAS Operations in Low-Altitude Airspace

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kopardekar, Parimal H.

    2016-01-01

    Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) Enabling Civilian Low-Altitude Airspace and Unmanned Aircraft System Operations What is the problem? Many beneficial civilian applications of UAS have been proposed, from goods delivery and infrastructure surveillance, to search and rescue, and agricultural monitoring. Currently, there is no established infrastructure to enable and safely manage the widespread use of low-altitude airspace and UAS operations, regardless of the type of UAS. A UAS traffic management (UTM) system for low-altitude airspace may be needed, perhaps leveraging concepts from the system of roads, lanes, stop signs, rules and lights that govern vehicles on the ground today, whether the vehicles are driven by humans or are automated. What system technologies is NASA exploring? Building on its legacy of work in air traffic management for crewed aircraft, NASA is researching prototype technologies for a UAS Traffic Management (UTM) system that could develop airspace integration requirements for enabling safe, efficient low-altitude operations. While incorporating lessons learned from the today's well-established air traffic management system, which was a response that grew out of a mid-air collision over the Grand Canyon in the early days of commercial aviation, the UTM system would enable safe and efficient low-altitude airspace operations by providing services such as airspace design, corridors, dynamic geofencing, severe weather and wind avoidance, congestion management, terrain avoidance, route planning and re-routing, separation management, sequencing and spacing, and contingency management. One of the attributes of the UTM system is that it would not require human operators to monitor every vehicle continuously. The system could provide to human managers the data to make strategic decisions related to initiation, continuation, and termination of airspace operations. This approach would ensure that only authenticated UAS could operate

  4. The UAV take-off and landing system used for small areas of mobile vehicles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ren, Tian-Yu; Duanmu, Qing-Duo; Wu, Bo-Qi

    2018-03-01

    In order to realize an UAV formation cluster system based on the current GPS and the fault and insufficiency of Beidou integrated navigation system in strong jamming environment. Due to the impact of the compass on the plane crash, navigation system error caused by the mobile area to help reduce the need for large landing sites and not in the small fast moving area to achieve the reality of the landing. By using Strapdown inertial and all-optical system to form Composite UAV flight control system, the photoelectric composite strapdown inertial coupling is realized, and through the laser and microwave telemetry link compound communication mechanism, using all-optical strapdown inertial and visual navigation system to solve the deviation of take-off and landing caused by electromagnetic interference, all-optical bidirectional data link realizes two-way position correction of landing site and aircraft, thus achieves the accurate recovery of UAV formation cluster in the mobile narrow area which the traditional navigation system can't realize. This system is a set of efficient unmanned aerial vehicle Group Take-off/descending system, which is suitable for many tasks, and not only realizes the reliable continuous navigation under the complex electromagnetic interference environment, moreover, the intelligent flight and Take-off and landing of unmanned aerial vehicles relative to the fast moving and small recovery sites in complex electromagnetic interference environment can not only improve the safe operation rate of unmanned aerial vehicle, but also guarantee the operation safety of the aircraft, and the more has important social value for the application foreground of the aircraft.

  5. First Report of Using Portable Unmanned Aircraft Systems (Drones) for Search and Rescue.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Tilburg, Christopher

    2017-06-01

    Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), colloquially called drones, are used commonly for military, government, and civilian purposes, including both commercial and consumer applications. During a search and rescue mission in Oregon, a UAS was used to confirm a fatality in a slot canyon; this eliminated the need for a dangerous rappel at night by rescue personnel. A second search mission in Oregon used several UAS to clear terrain. This allowed search of areas that were not accessible or were difficult to clear by ground personnel. UAS with cameras may be useful for searching, observing, and documenting missions. It is possible that UAS might be useful for delivering equipment in difficult areas and in communication. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  6. Unmanned Aerial Aircraft Systems for transportation engineering: Current practice and future challenges

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emmanouil N. Barmpounakis

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available Acquiring and processing video streams from static cameras has been proposed as one of the most efficient tools for visualizing and gathering traffic information. With the latest advances in technology and visual media, combined with the increased needs in dealing with congestion more effectively and directly, the use of Unmanned Aerial Aircraft Systems (UAS has emerged in the field of traffic engineering. In this paper, we review studies and applications that incorporate UAS in transportation research and practice with the aim to set the grounds from the proper understanding and implementation of UAS related surveillance systems in transportation and traffic engineering. The studies reviewed are categorized in different transportation engineering areas. Additional significant applications from other research fields are also referenced to identify other promising applications. Finally, issues and emerging challenges in both a conceptual and methodological level are revealed and discussed.

  7. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Systems for Disaster Relief: Tornado Alley

    Science.gov (United States)

    DeBusk, Wesley M.

    2009-01-01

    Unmanned aerial vehicle systems are currently in limited use for public service missions worldwide. Development of civil unmanned technology in the United States currently lags behind military unmanned technology development in part because of unresolved regulatory and technological issues. Civil unmanned aerial vehicle systems have potential to augment disaster relief and emergency response efforts. Optimal design of aerial systems for such applications will lead to unmanned vehicles which provide maximum potentiality for relief and emergency response while accounting for public safety concerns and regulatory requirements. A case study is presented that demonstrates application of a civil unmanned system to a disaster relief mission with the intent on saving lives. The concept utilizes unmanned aircraft to obtain advanced warning and damage assessments for tornados and severe thunderstorms. Overview of a tornado watch mission architecture as well as commentary on risk, cost, need for, and design tradeoffs for unmanned aerial systems are provided.

  8. Focused Lens on Unmanned Aerial Systems: An Evaluation of Department of Defense’s Unmanned Aerial Vision 2011

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-06-13

    Break Free of Regulations.” 69Barbara Opall -Rome, “ Israel Tackles The Last Frontier Of UAS Technology: Israel Moves Closer Toward Flying UASs In...with the new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter once it comes online, or with helicopters aboard the Littoral Combat Ship. Unmanned mine hunters could operate...Office, 2002. ———. Unmanned Aircraft Systems Roadmap 2005-2030. Washington, DC: Government Publishing Office, 2005. Opall -Rome, Barbra. “Israel

  9. Flight Test Evaluation of an Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM) Concept for Multiple Beyond-Visual-Line-of-Sight Operations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Marcus; Jung, Jaewoo; Rios, Joseph; Mercer, Joey; Homola, Jeffrey; Prevot, Thomas; Mulfinger, Daniel; Kopardekar, Parimal

    2017-01-01

    This study evaluates a traffic management concept designed to enable simultaneous operations of multiple small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in the national airspace system (NAS). A five-day flight-test activity is described that examined the feasibility of operating multiple UAS beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) of their respective operators in the same airspace. Over the five-day campaign, three groups of five flight crews operated a total of eleven different aircraft. Each group participated in four flight scenarios involving five simultaneous missions. Each vehicle was operated BVLOS up to 1.5 miles from the pilot in command. Findings and recommendations are presented to support the feasibility and safety of routine BVLOS operations for small UAS.

  10. A synergistic glance at the prospects of distributed propulsion technology and the electric aircraft concept for future unmanned air vehicles and commercial/military aviation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gohardani, Amir S.

    2013-02-01

    Distributed propulsion is one of the revolutionary candidates for future aircraft propulsion. In this journal article, the potential role of distributed propulsion technology in future aviation is investigated. Following a historical journey that revisits distributed propulsion technology in unmanned air vehicles and military aircraft, features of this specific technology are highlighted in synergy with an electric aircraft concept and a first-of-a-kind comparison to commercial aircraft employing distributed propulsion arrangements. In light of propulsion-airframe integration and complementary technologies such as boundary layer ingestion, thrust vectoring and circulation control, transpired opportunities and challenges are addressed in addition to a number of identified research directions proposed for future aircraft. The motivation behind enhanced means of communication between engineers, researchers and scientists has stimulated a novel proposed definition for the distributed propulsion technology in aviation and is presented herein.

  11. COCAP: a carbon dioxide analyser for small unmanned aircraft systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kunz, Martin; Lavric, Jost V.; Gerbig, Christoph; Tans, Pieter; Neff, Don; Hummelgård, Christine; Martin, Hans; Rödjegård, Henrik; Wrenger, Burkhard; Heimann, Martin

    2018-03-01

    Unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) could provide a cost-effective way to close gaps in the observation of the carbon cycle, provided that small yet accurate analysers are available. We have developed a COmpact Carbon dioxide analyser for Airborne Platforms (COCAP). The accuracy of COCAP's carbon dioxide (CO2) measurements is ensured by calibration in an environmental chamber, regular calibration in the field and by chemical drying of sampled air. In addition, the package contains a lightweight thermal stabilisation system that reduces the influence of ambient temperature changes on the CO2 sensor by 2 orders of magnitude. During validation of COCAP's CO2 measurements in simulated and real flights we found a measurement error of 1.2 µmol mol-1 or better with no indication of bias. COCAP is a self-contained package that has proven well suited for the operation on board small UASs. Besides carbon dioxide dry air mole fraction it also measures air temperature, humidity and pressure. We describe the measurement system and our calibration strategy in detail to support others in tapping the potential of UASs for atmospheric trace gas measurements.

  12. Exploration of the Trade Space Between Unmanned Aircraft Systems Descent Maneuver Performance and Sense-and-Avoid System Performance Requirements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jack, Devin P.; Hoffler, Keith D.; Johnson, Sally C.

    2014-01-01

    A need exists to safely integrate Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) into the United States' National Airspace System. Replacing manned aircraft's see-and-avoid capability in the absence of an onboard pilot is one of the key challenges associated with safe integration. Sense-and-avoid (SAA) systems will have to achieve yet-to-be-determined required separation distances for a wide range of encounters. They will also need to account for the maneuver performance of the UAS they are paired with. The work described in this paper is aimed at developing an understanding of the trade space between UAS maneuver performance and SAA system performance requirements, focusing on a descent avoidance maneuver. An assessment of current manned and unmanned aircraft performance was used to establish potential UAS performance test matrix bounds. Then, near-term UAS integration work was used to narrow down the scope. A simulator was developed with sufficient fidelity to assess SAA system performance requirements. The simulator generates closest-point-of-approach (CPA) data from the wide range of UAS performance models maneuvering against a single intruder with various encounter geometries. Initial attempts to model the results made it clear that developing maneuver performance groups is required. Discussion of the performance groups developed and how to know in which group an aircraft belongs for a given flight condition and encounter is included. The groups are airplane, flight condition, and encounter specific, rather than airplane-only specific. Results and methodology for developing UAS maneuver performance requirements are presented for a descent avoidance maneuver. Results for the descent maneuver indicate that a minimum specific excess power magnitude can assure a minimum CPA for a given time-to-go prediction. However, smaller amounts of specific excess power may achieve or exceed the same CPA if the UAS has sufficient speed to trade for altitude. The results of this study will

  13. Final Environmental Assessment for the Beddown and Flight Operations of Unmanned Aircraft Systems at Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota

    Science.gov (United States)

    2008-08-01

    southwest border and assisted in 3,065 apprehensions and the seizure of 14,240 pounds of marijuana . Four Predator B UASs now operate out of Sierra Vista...Sustainable design concepts emphasize state-of-the-art strategies for site development, efficient water and energy use and improved indoor environmental...improved indoor environmental quality. EA for the Beddown and Flight Operations of Unmanned Aircraft Systems at GFAFB, North Dakota Final 6-1 August

  14. Advancing Unmanned Aircraft Sensor Collection and Communication Capabilities with Optical Communications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lukaczyk, T.

    2015-12-01

    Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) are now being used for monitoring climate change over both land and seas. Their uses include monitoring of cloud conditions and atmospheric composition of chemicals and aerosols due to pollution, dust storms, fires, volcanic activity and air-sea fluxes. Additional studies of carbon flux are important for various ecosystem studies of both marine and terrestrial environments specifically, and can be related to climate change dynamics. Many measurements are becoming more complex as additional sensors become small enough to operate on more widely available small UAS. These include interferometric radars as well as scanning and fan-beam lidar systems which produce data streams even greater than those of high resolution video. These can be used to precisely map surfaces of the earth, ocean or ice features that are important for a variety of earth system studies. As these additional sensor capabilities are added to UAS the ability to transmit data back to ground or ship monitoring sites is limited by traditional wireless communication protocols. We describe results of tests of optical communication systems that provide significantly greater communication bandwidths for UAS, and discuss both the bandwidth and effective range of these systems, as well as their power and weight requirements both for systems on UAS, as well as those of ground-based receiver stations. We justify our additional use of Delay and Disruption Tolerant Networking (DTN) communication protocols with optical communication methods to ensure security and continuity of command and control operations. Finally, we discuss the implications for receiving, geo-referencing, archiving and displaying data streams from sensors communicated via optical communication to better enable real-time anomaly detection and adaptive sampling capabilities using multiple UAS or other unmanned or manned systems.

  15. 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

  16. Flight Test Evaluation of an Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM) Concept for Multiple Beyond-Visual-Line-of-Sight (BVLOS) Operations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Marcus; Jung, Jaewoo; Rios, Joseph; Mercer, Joey; Homola, Jeffrey; Prevot, Thomas; Mulfinger, Daniel; Kopardekar, Parimal

    2017-01-01

    This study evaluates a traffic management concept designed to enable simultaneous operations of multiple small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in the national airspace system (NAS). A five-day flight-test activity is described that examined the feasibility of operating multiple UAS beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) of their respective operators in the same airspace. Over the five-day campaign, three groups of five flight crews operated a total of eleven different aircraft. Each group participated in four flight scenarios involving five simultaneous missions. Each vehicle was operated BVLOS up to 1.5 miles from the pilot in command. Findings and recommendations are presented to support the feasibility and safety of routine BVLOS operations for small UAS.

  17. NPP post-accident monitoring system based on unmanned aircraft vehicle:concept, design principles

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sachenko, A.A.; Kochan, V.V.; Kharchenko, V.S.; Yanovskij, M.Eh.; Yastrebenetskij, M.A.; Fesenko, G.V.

    2016-01-01

    The paper presents a concept of designing the post-accident system for monitoring the equipment and territory of nuclear power plant after a severe accident based on unmanned aircraft vehicle (UAVs). Wired power and communications networks are found out as the most vulnerable ones during the accident monitoring, and informativity, reliability and veracity are recognized as system basic parameters. It is proposed to equip measurement and control modules with backup wireless communication channels and deploy the repeaters network based on UAVs to ensure the informativity. Modules possess the backup power battery, and repeaters appear in the appropriate places after the accident to provide the survivability. Moreover, an optimization of UAVs' location is proposed according to the minimum energy consumption criterion. To ensure the veracity, it is expected to design the noise-immune protocol for message exchange and archiving and self-diagnostics of all system components

  18. 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.

  19. Scientific Infrastructure To Support Manned And Unmanned Aircraft, Tethered Balloons, And Related Aerial Activities At Doe Arm Facilities On The North Slope Of Alaska

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ivey, M.; Dexheimer, D.; Hardesty, J.; Lucero, D. A.; Helsel, F.

    2015-12-01

    The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), through its scientific user facility, the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) facilities, provides scientific infrastructure and data to the international Arctic research community via its research sites located on the North Slope of Alaska. DOE has recently invested in improvements to facilities and infrastructure to support operations of unmanned aerial systems for science missions in the Arctic and North Slope of Alaska. A new ground facility, the Third ARM Mobile Facility, was installed at Oliktok Point Alaska in 2013. Tethered instrumented balloons were used to make measurements of clouds in the boundary layer including mixed-phase clouds. A new Special Use Airspace was granted to DOE in 2015 to support science missions in international airspace in the Arctic. Warning Area W-220 is managed by Sandia National Laboratories for DOE Office of Science/BER. W-220 was successfully used for the first time in July 2015 in conjunction with Restricted Area R-2204 and a connecting Altitude Reservation Corridor (ALTRV) to permit unmanned aircraft to operate north of Oliktok Point. Small unmanned aircraft (DataHawks) and tethered balloons were flown at Oliktok during the summer and fall of 2015. This poster will discuss how principal investigators may apply for use of these Special Use Airspaces, acquire data from the Third ARM Mobile Facility, or bring their own instrumentation for deployment at Oliktok Point, Alaska. The printed poster will include the standard DOE funding statement.

  20. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: Background and Issues for Congress

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Geer, Harlan; Bolkcom, Christopher

    2005-01-01

    .... Furthermore, the military effectiveness of UAVs in recent conflicts such as Iraq (1990) and Kosovo (1999) opened the eyes of many to both the advantages and disadvantages provided by unmanned aircraft...

  1. 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

  2. Multispectral and DSLR sensors for assessing crop stress in corn and cotton using fixed-wing unmanned air systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valasek, John; Henrickson, James V.; Bowden, Ezekiel; Shi, Yeyin; Morgan, Cristine L. S.; Neely, Haly L.

    2016-05-01

    As small unmanned aircraft systems become increasingly affordable, reliable, and formally recognized under federal regulation, they become increasingly attractive as novel platforms for civil applications. This paper details the development and demonstration of fixed-wing unmanned aircraft systems for precision agriculture tasks. Tasks such as soil moisture content and high throughput phenotyping are considered. Rationale for sensor, vehicle, and ground equipment selections are provided, in addition to developed flight operation procedures for minimal numbers of crew. Preliminary imagery results are presented and analyzed, and these results demonstrate that fixed-wing unmanned aircraft systems modified to carry non-traditional sensors at extended endurance durations can provide high quality data that is usable for serious scientific analysis.

  3. Electromagnetic launch systems for civil aircraft assisted take-off

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bertola Luca

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper considers the feasibility of different technologies for an electromagnetic launcher to assist civil aircraft take-off. This method is investigated to reduce the power required from the engines during initial acceleration. Assisted launch has the potential of reducing the required runway length, reducing noise near airports and improving overall aircraft efficiency through reducing engine thrust requirements. The research compares two possible linear motor topologies which may be efficaciously used for this application. The comparison is made on results from both analytical and finite element analysis (FEA.

  4. Superconducting and conventional electromagnetic launch system for civil aircraft assisted take-off

    OpenAIRE

    Bertola, Luca; Cox, Thomas; Wheeler, Patrick; Garvey, Seamus D.

    2016-01-01

    This paper compares three possible linear motor topologies for an electromagnetic launch system to assist civil aircraft take-off. Assisted launch of civil aircraft has the potential of reducing the required runway length, reducing noise and emissions near airports and improving overall aircraft efficiency through reducing engine thrust requirements. A comparison is made of practical designs of a linear induction motor, a linear permanent magnet synchronous motor and a superconducting linear ...

  5. 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.

  6. 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.

  7. RQ-2 Pioneer: The Flawed System that Redefined US Unmanned Aviation

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-02-01

    Periscope.com, “RQ-2 Pioneer,” http://www.militaryperiscope.com/weapons/aircraft/rpv- dron /w0004685.html 28 Ibid. 29 Jane’s Unmanned Aerial...Military Periscope.com, “RQ-2 Pioneer.” http://www.militaryperiscope.com/weapons/aircraft/rpv- dron /w0004685.html Polmar, Norman, The Naval

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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

  9. 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 ...

  10. Acoustic Characterization and Prediction of Representative, Small-Scale Rotary-Wing Unmanned Aircraft System Components

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zawodny, Nikolas S.; Boyd, D. Douglas, Jr.; Burley, Casey L.

    2016-01-01

    In this study, hover performance and acoustic measurements are taken on two different isolated rotors representative of small-scale rotary-wing unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) for a range of rotation rates. Each rotor system consists of two fixed-pitch blades powered by a brushless motor. For nearly the same thrust condition, significant differences in overall sound pressure level (OASPL), up to 8 dB, and directivity were observed between the two rotor systems. Differences are shown to be in part attributed to different rotor tip speeds, along with increased broadband and motor noise levels. In addition to acoustic measurements, aeroacoustic predictions were implemented in order to better understand the noise content of the rotor systems. Numerical aerodynamic predictions were computed using the unsteady Reynoldsaveraged Navier Stokes code OVERFLOW2 on one of the isolated rotors, while analytical predictions were computed using the Propeller Analysis System of the Aircraft NOise Prediction Program (ANOPP-PAS) on the two rotor configurations. Preliminary semi-empirical frequency domain broadband noise predictions were also carried out based on airfoil self-noise theory in a rotational reference frame. The prediction techniques further supported trends identified in the experimental data analysis. The brushless motors were observed to be important noise contributors and warrant further investigation. It is believed that UAS acoustic prediction capabilities must consider both rotor and motor components as part of a combined noise-generating system.

  11. Population census of a large common tern colony with a small unmanned aircraft.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dominique Chabot

    Full Text Available Small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS may be useful for conducting high-precision, low-disturbance waterbird surveys, but limited data exist on their effectiveness. We evaluated the capacity of a small UAS to census a large (>6,000 nests coastal Common tern (Sterna hirundo colony of which ground surveys are particularly disruptive and time-consuming. We compared aerial photographic tern counts to ground nest counts in 45 plots (5-m radius throughout the colony at three intervals over a nine-day period in order to identify sources of variation and establish a coefficient to estimate nest numbers from UAS surveys. We also compared a full colony ground count to full counts from two UAS surveys conducted the following day. Finally, we compared colony disturbance levels over the course of UAS flights to matched control periods. Linear regressions between aerial and ground counts in plots had very strong correlations in all three comparison periods (R2 = 0.972-0.989, P < 0.001 and regression coefficients ranged from 0.928-0.977 terns/nest. Full colony aerial counts were 93.6% and 94.0%, respectively, of the ground count. Varying visibility of terns with ground cover, weather conditions and image quality, and changing nest attendance rates throughout incubation were likely sources of variation in aerial detection rates. Optimally timed UAS surveys of Common tern colonies following our method should yield population estimates in the 93-96% range of ground counts. Although the terns were initially disturbed by the UAS flying overhead, they rapidly habituated to it. Overall, we found no evidence of sustained disturbance to the colony by the UAS. We encourage colonial waterbird researchers and managers to consider taking advantage of this burgeoning technology.

  12. CADASTRAL AUDIT AND ASSESSMENTS USING UNMANNED AERIAL SYSTEMS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    K. Cunningham

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available Ground surveys and remote sensing are integral to establishing fair and equitable property valuations necessary for real property taxation. The International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO has embraced aerial and street-view imaging as part of its standards related to property tax assessments and audits. New technologies, including unmanned aerial systems (UAS paired with imaging sensors, will become more common as local governments work to ensure their cadastre and tax rolls are both accurate and complete. Trends in mapping technology have seen an evolution in platforms from large, expensive manned aircraft to very small, inexpensive UAS. Traditional methods of photogrammetry have also given way to new equipment and sensors: digital cameras, infrared imagers, light detection and ranging (LiDAR laser scanners, and now synthetic aperture radar (SAR. At the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF, we work extensively with unmanned aerial systems equipped with each of these newer sensors. UAF has significant experience flying unmanned systems in the US National Airspace, having begun in 1969 with scientific rockets and expanded to unmanned aircraft in 2003. Ongoing field experience allows UAF to partner effectively with outside organizations to test and develop leading-edge research in UAS and remote sensing. This presentation will discuss our research related to various sensors and payloads for mapping. We will also share our experience with UAS and optical systems for creating some of the first cadastral surveys in rural Alaska.

  13. Take-off engine particle emission indices for in-service aircraft at Los Angeles International Airport

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moore, Richard H.; Shook, Michael A.; Ziemba, Luke D.; Digangi, Joshua P.; Winstead, Edward L.; Rauch, Bastian; Jurkat, Tina; Thornhill, Kenneth L.; Crosbie, Ewan C.; Robinson, Claire; Shingler, Taylor J.; Anderson, Bruce E.

    2017-12-01

    We present ground-based, advected aircraft engine emissions from flights taking off at Los Angeles International Airport. 275 discrete engine take-off plumes were observed on 18 and 25 May 2014 at a distance of 400 m downwind of the runway. CO2 measurements are used to convert the aerosol data into plume-average emissions indices that are suitable for modelling aircraft emissions. Total and non-volatile particle number EIs are of order 1016-1017 kg-1 and 1014-1016 kg-1, respectively. Black-carbon-equivalent particle mass EIs vary between 175-941 mg kg-1 (except for the GE GEnx engines at 46 mg kg-1). Aircraft tail numbers recorded for each take-off event are used to incorporate aircraft- and engine-specific parameters into the data set. Data acquisition and processing follow standard methods for quality assurance. A unique aspect of the data set is the mapping of aerosol concentration time series to integrated plume EIs, aircraft and engine specifications, and manufacturer-reported engine emissions certifications. The integrated data enable future studies seeking to understand and model aircraft emissions and their impact on air quality.

  14. Take-off engine particle emission indices for in-service aircraft at Los Angeles International Airport.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moore, Richard H; Shook, Michael A; Ziemba, Luke D; DiGangi, Joshua P; Winstead, Edward L; Rauch, Bastian; Jurkat, Tina; Thornhill, Kenneth L; Crosbie, Ewan C; Robinson, Claire; Shingler, Taylor J; Anderson, Bruce E

    2017-12-19

    We present ground-based, advected aircraft engine emissions from flights taking off at Los Angeles International Airport. 275 discrete engine take-off plumes were observed on 18 and 25 May 2014 at a distance of 400 m downwind of the runway. CO 2 measurements are used to convert the aerosol data into plume-average emissions indices that are suitable for modelling aircraft emissions. Total and non-volatile particle number EIs are of order 10 16 -10 17 kg -1 and 10 14 -10 16 kg -1 , respectively. Black-carbon-equivalent particle mass EIs vary between 175-941 mg kg -1 (except for the GE GEnx engines at 46 mg kg -1 ). Aircraft tail numbers recorded for each take-off event are used to incorporate aircraft- and engine-specific parameters into the data set. Data acquisition and processing follow standard methods for quality assurance. A unique aspect of the data set is the mapping of aerosol concentration time series to integrated plume EIs, aircraft and engine specifications, and manufacturer-reported engine emissions certifications. The integrated data enable future studies seeking to understand and model aircraft emissions and their impact on air quality.

  15. Live Aircraft Encounter Visualization at FutureFlight Central

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murphy, James R.; Chinn, Fay; Monheim, Spencer; Otto, Neil; Kato, Kenji; Archdeacon, John

    2018-01-01

    Researchers at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have developed an aircraft data streaming capability that can be used to visualize live aircraft in near real-time. During a joint Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)/NASA Airborne Collision Avoidance System flight series, test sorties between unmanned aircraft and manned intruder aircraft were shown in real-time at NASA Ames' FutureFlight Central tower facility as a virtual representation of the encounter. This capability leveraged existing live surveillance, video, and audio data streams distributed through a Live, Virtual, Constructive test environment, then depicted the encounter from the point of view of any aircraft in the system showing the proximity of the other aircraft. For the demonstration, position report data were sent to the ground from on-board sensors on the unmanned aircraft. The point of view can be change dynamically, allowing encounters from all angles to be observed. Visualizing the encounters in real-time provides a safe and effective method for observation of live flight testing and a strong alternative to travel to the remote test range.

  16. Small Unmanned Aircraft Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) Initial Assessment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jung, Jaewoo; Ippolito, Corey; Rogers, Christopher; Kerczewski, Robert; Downey, Alan; Matheou, Konstantin

    2018-01-01

    With many applications envisioned for small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS), and potentially millions of sUAS expected to be in operation in the future, the electromagnetic interference environment associated with the sUAS is of interest to understanding the potential performance impacts on the sUAS command and control communications link as well as the sUAS payload and payload links. As part of NASAâ€"TM"s UAS Traffic Management (UTM) Project, flight experiments are planned to characterize the RF environment at altitudes up to 400 ft to better understand how UTM command and control links can be expected to perform. The flight experiments will use an RF channel sensing payload attached to an sUAS. In terms of the payload being capable of measuring relatively low level signals at altitude, electromagnetic interference (EMI) emanating from the sUAS vehicle itself could potentially complicate the measurement process. For this reason, NASA was interested in measuring the EMI performance of the sUAS planned for these flight experiments, a DJI model S1000. The S1000 was thus measured in a controlled EMI test chamber at the NASA Ames Research Center. The S1000 is a carbon fiber based platform with eight rotors. As such, the EMI test results represent potential performance of a number of similar sUAS types. sUAS platforms significantly different from the S1000 may also require EMI testing, and the method employed for NASAâ€"TM"s S1000 EMI tests can be applied to other platforms. In this paper we describe the UTM project, the RF channel sensing payload, the EMI testing method and EMI test results for the S1000, and discuss the implications of these results.

  17. Experimental flights using a small unmanned aircraft system for mapping emergent sandbars

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kinzel, Paul J.; Bauer, Mark A.; Feller, Mark R.; Holmquist-Johnson, Christopher; Preston, Todd

    2015-01-01

    The US Geological Survey and Parallel Inc. conducted experimental flights with the Tarantula Hawk (T-Hawk) unmanned aircraft system (UAS ) at the Dyer and Cottonwood Ranch properties located along reaches of the Platte River near Overton, Nebraska, in July 2013. We equipped the T-Hawk UAS platform with a consumer-grade digital camera to collect imagery of emergent sandbars in the reaches and used photogrammetric software and surveyed control points to generate orthophotographs and digital elevation models (DEMS ) of the reaches. To optimize the image alignment process, we retained and/or eliminated tie points based on their relative errors and spatial resolution, whereby minimizing the total error in the project. Additionally, we collected seven transects that traversed emergent sandbars concurrently with global positioning system location data to evaluate the accuracy of the UAS survey methodology. The root mean square errors for the elevation of emergent points along each transect across the DEMS ranged from 0.04 to 0.12 m. If adequate survey control is established, a UAS combined with photogrammetry software shows promise for accurate monitoring of emergent sandbar morphology and river management activities in short (1–2 km) river reaches.

  18. The 3D Mesonet Concept: Extending Networked Surface Meteorological Tower Observations Through Unmanned Aircraft Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chilson, P. B.; Fiebrich, C. A.; Huck, R.; Grimsley, J.; Salazar-Cerreno, J.; Carson, K.; Jacob, J.

    2017-12-01

    Fixed monitoring sites, such as those in the US National Weather Service Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS) and the Oklahoma Mesonet provide valuable, high temporal resolution information about the atmosphere to forecasters and the general public. The Oklahoma Mesonet is comprised of a network of 120 surface sites providing a wide array of atmospheric measurements up to a height of 10 m with an update time of five minutes. The deployment of small unmanned aircraft to collect in-situ vertical measurements of the atmospheric state in conjunction with surface conditions has potential to significantly expand weather observation capabilities. This concept can enhance the safety of individuals and support commerce through improved observations and short-term forecasts of the weather and other environmental variables in the lower atmosphere. We report on a concept of adding the capability of collecting vertical atmospheric measurements (profiles) through the use of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) at remote Oklahoma sites deemed suitable for this application. While there are a number of other technologies currently available that can provide measurements of one or a few variables, the proposed UAS concept will be expandable and modular to accommodate several different sensor packages and provide accurate in-situ measurements in virtually all weather conditions. Such a system would facilitate off-site maintenance and calibration and would provide the ability to add new sensors as they are developed or as new requirements are identified. The small UAS must be capable of accommodating the weight of all sensor packages and have lighting, communication, and aircraft avoidance systems necessary to meet existing or future FAA regulations. The system must be able to operate unattended, which necessitates the inclusion of risk mitigation measures such as a detect and avoid radar and the ability to transmit and receive transponder signals. Moreover, the system should be able to

  19. Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) activities at the Department of the Interior

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quirk, Bruce K.; Hutt, Michael E.

    2014-01-01

    The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) is responsible for protecting and managing the natural resources and heritage on almost 20% of the land in the United States. The DOI’s mission requires access to remotely sensed data over vast lands, including areas that are remote and potentially dangerous to access. Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) technology has the potential to enable the DOI to be a better steward of the land by: (1) Improving natural hazard forecasting and the analysis of the impacts. (2) Improving the understanding of climate change to better plan for likely impacts. (3) Developing precipitation and evaporation forecasting to better manage water resources. (4) Monitoring Arctic ice change and its impacts on ecosystems, coasts, and transportation. (5) Increasing safety and effectiveness of wildland fire management. (6) Enhancing search and rescue capabilities. (7) Broadening the abilities to monitor environmental or landscape conditions and changes. (8) Better understanding and protecting the Nation’s ecosystems. The initial operational testing and evaluations performed by the DOI have proven that UAS technology can be used to support many of the Department’s activities. UAS technology provides scientists a way to look longer, closer and more frequently at some of Earth’s most remote areas—places that were previously too dangerous or expensive to monitor in detail. The flexibility of operations and relative low cost to purchase and operate Small Unmanned Aerial System (sUAS) enhances the ability to track long-term landscape and environmental change. The initial testing indicates the operational costs are approximately 10% of traditional manned aircraft. In addition, users can quickly assess landscape-altering events such as wildland fires, floods and volcanoes. UAS technology will allow the DOI to do more with less and in the process enhance the Department’s ability to provide unbiased scientific information to help stakeholders make

  20. Unmanned Vanguard: Leveraging The Operational Effectiveness Of The Israeli Unmanned Aircraft System Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-04-01

    The ACGS is capable of controlling multiple aircraft simultaneously similar to the USAF multiple aircraft control ( MAC ) GCS used with the MQ-1...technology offers a big improvement on workload for the pilots and allows them to focus on their mission and payloads versus flying the aircraft. Its...July 2010). 19 “Attack of the Drones,” The Economist , 3 September 2009, http://www.economist.com/node/14299496 (accessed 8 Apr 2012). 20 Owen

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  2. Incorporating Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) into High School Curricula in Hawaii

    Science.gov (United States)

    McGillivary, P. A.; Lukaczyk, T.; Brendan, B.; Tomita, M.; Ralston, T.; Purdy, G.

    2016-12-01

    The availability of low-cost unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) permits their integration in educational programs. We report on experiences and future opportunities for incorporating UAS into High School curricula in Hawaii. We first review existing high school UAS programs and teaching material to highlight curricula options and needs. By working on the privately owned Island of Lana'i, we had permission for extensive UAS operation. Our initial focus of UAS educational outreach was on coastal ecosystems where erosion of overgrazed lands affects coral reefs and traditional coastal Hawaiian fishpond restoration projects which include high school students. We provide results of our classroom approach allowing students to learn to fly small, inexpensive UAS and discuss the different results at different grade levels. In addition to providing basic concepts of flight aeronautics, we reviewed information on safe and legal operation of UAS, as well as data management issues including geo-registration and imaging mosaics. We recommend science projects where UAS can study short-term events (e.g. storm runoff) or can be used for routine environmental monitoring over longer periods. Additionally, by linking students with local drone and drone racing clubs student participation and interest in UAS was extended beyond the classroom in a complementary manner. We propose inclusion of UAS into a future high school curriculum via a program called the Moonshot Laboratory which strives to repurpose traditional education structures toward design thinking, making use of individual and group collaborations to address self-selected projects relevant to local community interests. A Moonshot facility allows students to spend a portion of their week in a technology equipped makerspace, with access to university, business and community mentors, both local and remote. UAS projects are expected to address basic student questions, such as: how can I build a drone to take water samples?; how can I

  3. Engine-propeller power plant aircraft community noise reduction key methods

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moshkov P., A.; Samokhin V., F.; Yakovlev A., A.

    2018-04-01

    Basic methods of aircraft-type flying vehicle engine-propeller power plant noise reduction were considered including single different-structure-and-arrangement propellers and piston engines. On the basis of a semiempirical model the expressions for blade diameter and number effect evaluation upon propeller noise tone components under thrust constancy condition were proposed. Acoustic tests performed at Moscow Aviation institute airfield on the whole qualitatively proved the obtained ratios. As an example of noise and detectability reduction provision a design-and-experimental estimation of propeller diameter effect upon unmanned aircraft audibility boundaries was performed. Future investigation ways were stated to solve a low-noise power plant design problem for light aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles.

  4. Simulating Sustainment for an Unmanned Logistics System Concept of Operation in Support of Distributed Operations

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-06-01

    SYSTEM CONCEPT OF OPERATION IN SUPPORT OF DISTRIBUTED OPERATIONS by Elle M. Ekman June 2017 Thesis...UNMANNED LOGISTICS SYSTEM CONCEPT OF OPERATION IN SUPPORT OF DISTRIBUTED OPERATIONS Elle M. Ekman Captain, United States Marine Corps B.S...Corps CO company CONEPS concept of employment CONOPS concept of operations CP command post CUAS cargo unmanned aircraft system DES discrete

  5. Radio Tracking Fish with Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dahlgren, R. P.; Anderson, K. R.; Hanson, L.; Pinsker, E. A.; Jonsson, J.; Chapman, D. C.; Witten, D. M.; O'Connor, K. A.

    2017-12-01

    Tracking radio tagged fish by boat or on foot in riverine systems is difficult and time consuming, particularly in large braided island complexes, shallow wetlands, and rocky reaches. Invasive Asian carp are commonly found in these hard to reach areas, but their near-surface feeding behavior makes radio tracking possible. To identify new methods of fish tracking that could same time and money, this study tested the feasibility of tracking Asian carp with Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS) in areas generally inaccessible to traditional tracking equipment. The U.S. Geological Survey worked with NanoElectromagnetics LLC and WWR Development to create and integrate a lightweight custom radio receiver, directional antenna, and accompanying software into a sUAS platform. The receiver includes independent GPS, software defined radio, and compass. The NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) completed payload integration, electromagnetic-interference and airworthiness testing, and provided a DJI Matrice 600 sUAS for this study. Additionally, ARC provided subject matter experts, airworthiness and flight readiness evaluation, and flight test facilities during preparation; and a pilot, range safety officer, and aircraft engineer during field deployment. Results demonstrate that this custom sUAS and sensor combination can detect radio tags at 100m above ground level and at horizontal ranges of 100m and 300m, with operators in either onshore or offshore locations. With this combination of sUAS and radio receiver, fish can be tracked in areas previously inaccessible and during flooding, providing new insights into riverine fish movement and habitat utilization.

  6. Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) National Campaign II

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aweiss, Arwa S.; Owens, Brandon D.; Rios, Joseph L.; Homola, Jeffrey R.; Mohlenbrink, Christoph P.

    2018-01-01

    The Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) effort at NASA aims to enable access to low-altitude airspace for small UAS. This goal is being pursued partly through partnerships that NASA has developed with the UAS stakeholder community, the FAA, other government agencies, and the designated FAA UAS Test Sites. By partnering with the FAA UAS Test Sites, NASA's UTM project has performed a geographically diverse, simultaneous set of UAS operations at locations in six states. The demonstrations used an architecture that was developed by NASA in partnership with the FAA to safely coordinate such operations. These demonstrations-the second or 'Technical Capability Level (TCL 2)' National Campaign of UTM testing-was performed from May 15 through June 9, 2017. Multiple UAS operations occurred during the testing at sites located in Alaska, Nevada, Texas, North Dakota, Virginia, and New York with multiple organizations serving as UAS Service Suppliers and/or UAS Operators per the specifications provided by NASA. By engaging various members of the UAS community in development and operational roles, this campaign provided initial validation of different aspects of the UTM concept including: UAS Service Supplier technologies and procedures; geofencing technologies/conformance monitoring; ground-based surveillance/sense and avoid; airborne sense and avoid; communication, navigation, surveillance; and human factors related to UTM data creation and display. Additionally, measures of performance were defined and calculated from the flight data to establish quantitative bases for comparing flight test activities and to provide potential metrics that might be routinely monitored in future operational UTM systems.

  7. 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.

  8. Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration into the National Airspace System Visual-Line-of-Sight Human-in-the-Loop Experiment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trujillo, Anna C.; Ghatas, Rania W.; Mcadaragh, Raymon; Burdette, Daniel W.; Comstock, James R.; Hempley, Lucas E.; Fan, Hui

    2015-01-01

    As part of the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in the National Airspace System (NAS) project, research on integrating small UAS (sUAS) into the NAS was underway by a human-systems integration (HSI) team at the NASA Langley Research Center. Minimal to no research has been conducted on the safe, effective, and efficient manner in which to integrate these aircraft into the NAS. sUAS are defined as aircraft weighing 55 pounds or less. The objective of this human system integration team was to build a UAS Ground Control Station (GCS) and to develop a research test-bed and database that provides data, proof of concept, and human factors guidelines for GCS operations in the NAS. The objectives of this experiment were to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of flying sUAS in Class D and Class G airspace utilizing manual control inputs and voice radio communications between the pilot, mission control, and air traffic control. The design of the experiment included three sets of GCS display configurations, in addition to a hand-held control unit. The three different display configurations were VLOS, VLOS + Primary Flight Display (PFD), and VLOS + PFD + Moving Map (Map). Test subject pilots had better situation awareness of their vehicle position, altitude, airspeed, location over the ground, and mission track using the Map display configuration. This configuration allowed the pilots to complete the mission objectives with less workload, at the expense of having better situation awareness of other aircraft. The subjects were better able to see other aircraft when using the VLOS display configuration. However, their mission performance, as well as their ability to aviate and navigate, was reduced compared to runs that included the PFD and Map displays.

  9. A Distributed Resilient Autonomous Framework for Manned/Unmanned Trajectory-Based Operations, Phase II

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Resilient Ops, working in collaboration with Metron Aviation, Inc., proposes to develop a prototype system for planning Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) trajectories...

  10. Diagnostic Reasoning using Prognostic Information for Unmanned Aerial Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schumann, Johann; Roychoudhury, Indranil; Kulkarni, Chetan

    2015-01-01

    With increasing popularity of unmanned aircraft, continuous monitoring of their systems, software, and health status is becoming more and more important to ensure safe, correct, and efficient operation and fulfillment of missions. The paper presents integration of prognosis models and prognostic information with the R2U2 (REALIZABLE, RESPONSIVE, and UNOBTRUSIVE Unit) monitoring and diagnosis framework. This integration makes available statistically reliable health information predictions of the future at a much earlier time to enable autonomous decision making. The prognostic information can be used in the R2U2 model to improve diagnostic accuracy and enable decisions to be made at the present time to deal with events in the future. This will be an advancement over the current state of the art, where temporal logic observers can only do such valuation at the end of the time interval. Usefulness and effectiveness of this integrated diagnostics and prognostics framework was demonstrated using simulation experiments with the NASA Dragon Eye electric unmanned aircraft.

  11. Spring 2008 Industry Study: Aircraft Industry

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Smith, John; Dedecker, Craig; Doerer, Robert; Dols, Jonathan; Ekwall, Bengt; Heck, Mark; Jungco, Rolando; Koch, David; Lolley, James; Matyi, Kyle; McCaffrey, Terrance; Provost, Carla; Snyder, Daniel; Szucs, Jozsef; Truhn, Harry; Tyler, J. R

    2008-01-01

    .... With the exception of the relatively less mature unmanned aircraft systems sector, significant changes to the number and identity of competing firms are not likely in the next few years, although...

  12. Evaluation and development of unmanned aircraft (UAV) for UDOT needs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-05-01

    This research involved the use of high-resolution aerial photography obtained from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) to aid UDOT in monitoring and documenting State Roadway structures and associated issues. Using geo-referenced UAV high resolution aeria...

  13. Using an Optionally Piloted Aircraft for Airborne Gravity Observations with the NOAA GRAV-D Project

    Science.gov (United States)

    Youngman, M.; Johnson, J. A.; van Westrum, D.; Damiani, T.

    2017-12-01

    The U.S. National Geodetic Survey's (NGS) Gravity for the Redefintion of the American Vertical Datum (GRAV-D) project is collecting airborne gravity data to support a 1 cm geoid. Started in 2008, this project will collect airborne gravity data over the entire U.S. and territories by 2022. As of June 30, 2017, the project was almost 62% complete. With recent technological developments, NGS has been exploring using unmanned aircraft for airborne gravity measurements. This presentation will focus on results from two surveys over the U.S. Appalachian and Rocky Mountains using the Aurora Centaur Optionally Piloted Aircraft and the Micro-g Lacoste Turnkey Airborne Gravimeter System 7 (TAGS7). Collecting high quality data as well as dealing with remote locations has been a challenge for the GRAV-D project and the field of airborne gravity in general. Unmanned aircraft could potentially improve data quality, handle hard to reach locations, and reduce pilot fatigue. The optionally piloted Centaur aircraft is an attractive option because it is not restricted in U.S. airspace and delivers high quality gravity data. Specifically, the Centaur meets U.S. Federal Aviation Administration regulations for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) by using a safety pilot on board to maintain line of sight and the ability to take control in the event of an emergency. Even though this is a sizeable UAS, most traditional gravimeters are too large and heavy for the platform. With a smaller and lighter design, the TAGS7 was used for its ability to conform to the aircraft's size restrictions, with the added benefit of upgraded performance capabilities. Two surveys were performed with this aircraft and gravimeter, one in April and one in August to September of 2017. Initial results indicate that the high-gain, fast response of the Centaur autopilot (optimized for flights without passengers), coupled with the full-force feedback sensor of the TAGS7, provides superior performance in all conditions, and

  14. Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Integration in the National Airspace System (NAS) Project: Terminal Operations HITL 1B Primary Results

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rorie, Conrad; Monk, Kevin; Roberts, Zach; Brandt, Summer

    2018-01-01

    This presentation provides an overview of the primary results from the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Integration in the National Airspace System (NAS) Project's second Terminal Operations human-in-the-loop simulation. This talk covers the background of this follow-on experiment, which includes an overview of the first Terminal Operations HITL performed by the project. The primary results include a look at the number and durations of detect and avoid (DAA) alerts issued by the two DAA systems under test. It also includes response time metrics and metrics on the ability of the pilot-in-command (PIC) to maintain sufficient separation. Additional interoperability metrics are included to illustrate how pilots interact with the tower controller. Implications and conclusions are covered at the end.

  15. 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.

  16. Development of a flight data acquisition system for small unmanned aircraft

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hood, Scott

    Current developments surrounding the use of unmanned aerial vehicles have produced a need for a high quality data acquisition platform developed specifically a research environment. This work was undertaken to produce such a system that is low cost, extensible, and better supports fixed wing research through the inclusion of a custom vane based air data probe capable of measuring airspeed, angle of attack, and angle of sideslip. This was accomplished by starting with the open source Pixhawk system as the core and then modifying the device firmware and adding sensors to suit the needs of current aerospace research at OSU. An overview of each component of the system is presented, as well as a description of various firmware modifications to the stock Pixhawk system. Tests were then performed on all of the major sensors using bench testing, wind tunnel analysis, and flight maneuvers to determine the final performance of each part of the system. This research shows that all of the critical sensors on the data acquisition platform produce data acceptable for flight research. The accelerometer has been shown to have an overall tolerance of +/-0.0545 m/s², with +/-0.223 deg/s for the gyroscopic sensor, +/-1.32 hPa for the barometric sensor, +/-0.318 m/s for the airspeed sensor, +/-1.65 °C for the outside air temperature sensor, and +/-0.00115 V for the analog to digital converter. The stock calibration curve for the airspeed sensor was determined to be correct to within +/-0.5 in H2O through wind tunnel testing, and an experimental step input analysis on the flow direction vanes showed that worst case steady state error and time to damp are acceptable for the system. Power spectral density and spectral coherence analysis of flight data was used to show that the custom air data probe is capable of following the flight dynamics of a given aircraft to within a 10 percent tolerance across a range of frequencies. Finally, general performance of the system was proven using

  17. Unmanned Aircraft Systems Human-in-the-Loop Controller and Pilot Acceptability Study: Collision Avoidance, Self-Separation, and Alerting Times (CASSAT)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Comstock, James R., Jr.; Ghatas, Rania W.; Vincent, Michael J.; Consiglio, Maria C.; Munoz, Cesar; Chamberlain, James P.; Volk, Paul; Arthur, Keith E.

    2016-01-01

    The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has been mandated by the Congressional funding bill of 2012 to open the National Airspace System (NAS) to Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). With the growing use of unmanned systems, NASA has established a multi-center "UAS Integration in the NAS" Project, in collaboration with the FAA and industry, and is guiding its research efforts to look at and examine crucial safety concerns regarding the integration of UAS into the NAS. Key research efforts are addressing requirements for detect-and-avoid (DAA), self-separation (SS), and collision avoidance (CA) technologies. In one of a series of human-in-the-loop experiments, NASA Langley Research Center set up a study known as Collision Avoidance, Self-Separation, and Alerting Times (CASSAT). The first phase assessed active air traffic controller interactions with DAA systems and the second phase examined reactions to the DAA system and displays by UAS Pilots at a simulated ground control station (GCS). Analyses of the test results from Phase I and Phase II are presented in this paper. Results from the CASSAT study and previous human-in-the-loop experiments will play a crucial role in the FAA's establishment of rules, regulations, and procedures to safely, efficiently, and effectively integrate UAS into the NAS.

  18. 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...

  19. Dhaksha, the Unmanned Aircraft System in its New Avatar-Automated Aerial Inspection of INDIA'S Tallest Tower

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kumar, K. S.; Rasheed, A. Mohamed; Krishna Kumar, R.; Giridharan, M.; Ganesh

    2013-08-01

    DHAKSHA, the unmanned aircraft system (UAS), developed after several years of research by Division of Avionics, Department of Aerospace Engineering, MIT Campus of Anna University has recently proved its capabilities during May 2012 Technology demonstration called UAVforge organised by Defence Research Project Agency, Department of Defence, USA. Team Dhaksha with its most stable design outperformed all the other contestants competing against some of the best engineers from prestigi ous institutions across the globe like Middlesex University from UK, NTU and NUS from Singapore, Tudelft Technical University, Netherlands and other UAV industry participants in the world's toughest UAV challenge. This has opened up an opportunity for Indian UAVs making a presence in the international scenario as well. In furtherance to the above effort at Fort Stewart military base at Georgia,USA, with suitable payloads, the Dhaksha team deployed the UAV in a religious temple festival during November 2012 at Thiruvannamalai District for Tamil Nadu Police to avail the instant aerial imagery services over the crowd of 10 lakhs pilgrims and also about the investigation of the structural strength of the India's tallest structure, the 300 m RCC tower during January 2013. The developed system consists of a custom-built Rotary Wing model with on-board navigation, guidance and control systems (NGC) and ground control station (GCS), for mission planning, remote access, manual overrides and imagery related computations. The mission is to fulfill the competition requirements by using an UAS capable of providing complete solution for the stated problem. In this work the effort to produce multirotor unmanned aerial systems (UAS) for civilian applications at the MIT, Avionics Laboratory is presented

  20. DHAKSHA,THE UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEM IN ITS NEW AVATAR-AUTOMATED AERIAL INSPECTION OF INDIA'S TALLEST TOWER

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    K. S. Kumar

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available DHAKSHA, the unmanned aircraft system (UAS, developed after several years of research by Division of Avionics, Department of Aerospace Engineering, MIT Campus of Anna University has recently proved its capabilities during May 2012 Technology demonstration called UAVforge organised by Defence Research Project Agency, Department of Defence, USA. Team Dhaksha with its most stable design outperformed all the other contestants competing against some of the best engineers from prestigi ous institutions across the globe like Middlesex University from UK, NTU and NUS from Singapore, Tudelft Technical University, Netherlands and other UAV industry participants in the world's toughest UAV challenge. This has opened up an opportunity for Indian UAVs making a presence in the international scenario as well. In furtherance to the above effort at Fort Stewart military base at Georgia,USA, with suitable payloads, the Dhaksha team deployed the UAV in a religious temple festival during November 2012 at Thiruvannamalai District for Tamil Nadu Police to avail the instant aerial imagery services over the crowd of 10 lakhs pilgrims and also about the investigation of the structural strength of the India's tallest structure, the 300 m RCC tower during January 2013. The developed system consists of a custom-built Rotary Wing model with on-board navigation, guidance and control systems (NGC and ground control station (GCS, for mission planning, remote access, manual overrides and imagery related computations. The mission is to fulfill the competition requirements by using an UAS capable of providing complete solution for the stated problem. In this work the effort to produce multirotor unmanned aerial systems (UAS for civilian applications at the MIT, Avionics Laboratory is presented

  1. Evaluation of Routine Atmospheric Sounding Measurements using Unmanned Systems (ERASMUS)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bland, Geoffrey [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD (United States)

    2016-06-30

    The use of small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) with miniature sensor systems for atmospheric research is an important capability to develop. The Evaluation of Routine Atmospheric Sounding Measurements using Unmanned Systems (ERASMUS) project, lead by Dr. Gijs de Boer of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES- a partnership of NOAA and CU-Boulder), is a significant milestone in realizing this new potential. This project has clearly demonstrated that the concept of sUAS utilization is valid, and miniature instrumentation can be used to further our understanding of the atmospheric boundary layer in the arctic.

  2. Predicting visibility of aircraft.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrew Watson

    Full Text Available Visual detection of aircraft by human observers is an important element of aviation safety. To assess and ensure safety, it would be useful to be able to be able to predict the visibility, to a human observer, of an aircraft of specified size, shape, distance, and coloration. Examples include assuring safe separation among aircraft and between aircraft and unmanned vehicles, design of airport control towers, and efforts to enhance or suppress the visibility of military and rescue vehicles. We have recently developed a simple metric of pattern visibility, the Spatial Standard Observer (SSO. In this report we examine whether the SSO can predict visibility of simulated aircraft images. We constructed a set of aircraft images from three-dimensional computer graphic models, and measured the luminance contrast threshold for each image from three human observers. The data were well predicted by the SSO. Finally, we show how to use the SSO to predict visibility range for aircraft of arbitrary size, shape, distance, and coloration.

  3. ICAROUS: Integrated Configurable Architecture for Unmanned Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Consiglio, Maria C.

    2016-01-01

    NASA's Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) project aims at enabling near-term, safe operations of small UAS vehicles in uncontrolled airspace, i.e., Class G airspace. A far-term goal of UTM research and development is to accommodate the expected rise in small UAS traffic density throughout the National Airspace System (NAS) at low altitudes for beyond visual line-of-sight operations. This video describes a new capability referred to as ICAROUS (Integrated Configurable Algorithms for Reliable Operations of Unmanned Systems), which is being developed under the auspices of the UTM project. ICAROUS is a software architecture comprised of highly assured algorithms for building safety-centric, autonomous, unmanned aircraft applications. Central to the development of the ICAROUS algorithms is the use of well-established formal methods to guarantee higher levels of safety assurance by monitoring and bounding the behavior of autonomous systems. The core autonomy-enabling capabilities in ICAROUS include constraint conformance monitoring and autonomous detect and avoid functions. ICAROUS also provides a highly configurable user interface that enables the modular integration of mission-specific software components.

  4. Systems and Methods for Collaboratively Controlling at Least One Aircraft

    Science.gov (United States)

    Estkowski, Regina I. (Inventor)

    2016-01-01

    An unmanned vehicle management system includes an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) control station controlling one or more unmanned vehicles (UV), a collaborative routing system, and a communication network connecting the UAS and the collaborative routing system. The collaborative routing system being configured to receive flight parameters from an operator of the UAS control station and, based on the received flight parameters, automatically present the UAS control station with flight plan options to enable the operator to operate the UV in a defined airspace.

  5. 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.

  6. Enhancing Combat Survivability of Existing Unmanned Aircraft Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    2008-12-01

    1 With efforts underway to develop rules integrating UAS’s into the National Airspace System, and...realizing that Federal Aviation Administration rule -making authority applied only to "aircraft," the term Remotely Operated Aircraft (ROA) was coined in...http://www.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=122 [10] Peter La Franchi , “US study recommends self-protection for UAVs”, Flight International, 7

  7. Meta-image navigation augmenters for unmanned aircraft systems (MINA for UAS)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Òªelik, Koray; Somani, Arun K.; Schnaufer, Bernard; Hwang, Patrick Y.; McGraw, Gary A.; Nadke, Jeremy

    2013-05-01

    GPS is a critical sensor for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UASs) due to its accuracy, global coverage and small hardware footprint, but is subject to denial due to signal blockage or RF interference. When GPS is unavailable, position, velocity and attitude (PVA) performance from other inertial and air data sensors is not sufficient, especially for small UASs. Recently, image-based navigation algorithms have been developed to address GPS outages for UASs, since most of these platforms already include a camera as standard equipage. Performing absolute navigation with real-time aerial images requires georeferenced data, either images or landmarks, as a reference. Georeferenced imagery is readily available today, but requires a large amount of storage, whereas collections of discrete landmarks are compact but must be generated by pre-processing. An alternative, compact source of georeferenced data having large coverage area is open source vector maps from which meta-objects can be extracted for matching against real-time acquired imagery. We have developed a novel, automated approach called MINA (Meta Image Navigation Augmenters), which is a synergy of machine-vision and machine-learning algorithms for map aided navigation. As opposed to existing image map matching algorithms, MINA utilizes publicly available open-source geo-referenced vector map data, such as OpenStreetMap, in conjunction with real-time optical imagery from an on-board, monocular camera to augment the UAS navigation computer when GPS is not available. The MINA approach has been experimentally validated with both actual flight data and flight simulation data and results are presented in the paper.

  8. BLM Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Resource Management Operations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hatfield, M. C.; Breen, A. L.; Thurau, R.

    2016-12-01

    The Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management is funding research at the University of Alaska Fairbanks to study Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Resource Management Operations. In August 2015, the team conducted flight research at UAF's Toolik Field Station (TFS). The purpose was to determine the most efficient use of small UAS to collect low-altitude airborne digital stereo images, process the stereo imagery into close-range photogrammetry products, and integrate derived imagery products into the BLM's National Assessment, Inventory and Monitoring (AIM) Strategy. The AIM Strategy assists managers in answering questions of land resources at all organizational levels and develop management policy at regional and national levels. In Alaska, the BLM began to implement its AIM strategy in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A) in 2012. The primary goals of AIM-monitoring at the NPR-A are to implement an ecological baseline to monitor ecological trends, and to develop a monitoring network to understand the efficacy of management decisions. The long-term AIM strategy also complements other ongoing NPR-A monitoring processes, collects multi-use and multi-temporal data, and supports understanding of ecosystem management strategies in order to implement defensible natural resource management policy. The campaign measured vegetation types found in the NPR-A, using UAF's TFS location as a convenient proxy. The vehicle selected was the ACUASI Ptarmigan, a small hexacopter (based on DJI S800 airframe and 3DR autopilot) capable of carrying a 1.5 kg payload for 15 min for close-range environmental monitoring missions. The payload was a stereo camera system consisting of Sony NEX7's with various lens configurations (16/20/24/35 mm). A total of 77 flights were conducted over a 4 ½ day period, with 1.5 TB of data collected. Mission variables included camera height, UAS speed, transect overlaps, and camera lenses/settings. Invaluable knowledge was gained as to

  9. 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.

  10. 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.

  11. Acoustic Characterization of a Multi-Rotor Unmanned Aircraft

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feight, Jordan; Gaeta, Richard; Jacob, Jamey

    2017-11-01

    In this study, the noise produced by a small multi-rotor rotary wing aircraft, or drone, is measured and characterized. The aircraft is tested in different configurations and environments to investigate specific parameters and how they affect the acoustic signature of the system. The parameters include rotor RPM, the number of rotors, distance and angle of microphone array from the noise source, and the ambient environment. The testing environments include an anechoic chamber for an idealized setting and both indoor and outdoor settings to represent real world conditions. PIV measurements are conducted to link the downwash and vortical flow structures from the rotors with the noise generation. The significant factors that arise from this study are the operational state of the aircraft and the microphone location (or the directivity of the noise source). The directivity in the rotor plane was shown to be omni-directional, regardless of the varying parameters. The tonal noise dominates the low to mid frequencies while the broadband noise dominates the higher frequencies. The fundamental characteristics of the acoustic signature appear to be invariant to the number of rotors. Flight maneuvers of the aircraft also significantly impact the tonal content in the acoustic signature.

  12. Hiawatha Aircraft Anti-Collision System, Phase II

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — For Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (SUAVs), the FAA mandate to equip all aircraft with ADS-B Out transmitters by 1 January 2020 to support NextGen goals presents...

  13. Design of a Symmetrical Quad-rotor Biplane Tail-Sitter Aircraft without Control Surfaces and Experimental Verification

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wang Hongyu

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents the design of a symmetrical quad-rotor biplane tail-sitter VTOL UAV (Vertical Take-off and Landing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle which is composed of four rotors and two symmetrically mounted fixed wings. This aircraft achieves high accuracy in the attitude control and smooth flight mode transition with four rotors rather than the conventional VTOL UAVs using control surfaces. The proposal of angled rotor mounting is adopted to address the issue of insufficient yaw control authority. The layout of symmetrically mounted fixed wings makes the aircraft have capability of rapid bidirectional flight mode transition to improve maneuverability. To validate the performance of the aircraft, simulation and flight experiments are both implemented. These results show that the aircraft has a rapid yaw response under condition of the stable attitude control. In comparative experiment, it is shown that the aircraft is more flexible than other similar configuration of aircrafts. This symmetrical quad-rotor biplane tail-sitter VTOL UAV will have a wide range of potential applications in the military and civilian areas due to its superior performance..

  14. Evaluation of Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) to Monitor Forest Health Conditions in Alaska

    Science.gov (United States)

    Webley, P. W.; Hatfield, M. C.; Heutte, T. M.; Winton, L. M.

    2017-12-01

    US Forest Service Alaska Region Forest Health Protection (FHP) and University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration (ACUASI) are evaluating the capability of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS, "drone" informally) to monitor forest health conditions in Alaska's Interior Region. On July 17-20 2017, FHP and ACUASI deployed two different UAS at permanent forest inventory plots managed by the UAF programs Bonanza Creek Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) and Cooperative Alaska Forest Inventory (CAFI). The purpose of the mission was to explore capabilities of UAS for evaluating aspen tree mortality at inaccessible locations and at a scale and precision not generally achievable with currently used ground- or air-based methods. Drawing from experience gained during the initial 2016 campaign, this year emphasized the efficient use of UAS to accomplish practical field research in a variety of realistic situations. The vehicles selected for this years' effort included the DJI Matrice quadcopter with the Zenmuse-X3 camera to quickly capture initial video of the site and tree conditions; followed by the ING Responder (single rotor electric helicopter based on the Gaui X7 airframe) outfitted with a Nikon D810 camera to collect high-resolution stills suitable for construction of orthomosaic models. A total of 12 flights were conducted over the campaign, with two full days dedicated to the Delta Junction Gerstle River Intermediate (GRI) sites and the remaining day at the Bonanza Creek site. In addition to demonstrating the ability of UAS to operate safely and effectively in various canopy conditions, the effort also validated the ability of teams to deliver UAS and scientific payloads into challenging terrain using all-terrain vehicles (ATV) and foot traffic. Analysis of data from the campaign is underway. Because the permanent plots have been recently evaluated it is known that nearly all aspen mortality is caused by an aggressive canker

  15. 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.

  16. Unmanned Aircraft Systems for Logistics Applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-01

    supply stock levels at acceptable risk by employing a mix of “ jingle air” (Mi-8 helicopters and small, fixed-wing aircraft flown by contractor air...crews), “ jingle trucks” (locally contracted trucks), and “green air” (U.S. Army aviation, typically CH-47s, though not exclu- sively) to move materiel

  17. PUSHBROOM HYPERSPECTRAL IMAGING FROM AN UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEM (UAS) – GEOMETRIC PROCESSINGWORKFLOW AND ACCURACY ASSESSMENT

    KAUST Repository

    Turner, D.

    2017-08-31

    In this study, we assess two push broom hyperspectral sensors as carried by small (10-15 kg) multi-rotor Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). We used a Headwall Photonics micro-Hyperspec push broom sensor with 324 spectral bands (4-5 nm FWHM) and a Headwall Photonics nano-Hyperspec sensor with 270 spectral bands (6 nm FWHM) both in the VNIR spectral range (400-1000 nm). A gimbal was used to stabilise the sensors in relation to the aircraft flight dynamics, and for the micro-Hyperspec a tightly coupled dual frequency Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver, an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), and Machine Vision Camera (MVC) were used for attitude and position determination. For the nano-Hyperspec, a navigation grade GNSS system and IMU provided position and attitude data. This study presents the geometric results of one flight over a grass oval on which a dense Ground Control Point (GCP) network was deployed. The aim being to ascertain the geometric accuracy achievable with the system. Using the PARGE software package (ReSe - Remote Sensing Applications) we ortho-rectify the push broom hyperspectral image strips and then quantify the accuracy of the ortho-rectification by using the GCPs as check points. The orientation (roll, pitch, and yaw) of the sensor is measured by the IMU. Alternatively imagery from a MVC running at 15 Hz, with accurate camera position data can be processed with Structure from Motion (SfM) software to obtain an estimated camera orientation. In this study, we look at which of these data sources will yield a flight strip with the highest geometric accuracy.

  18. Unmanned Aircraft Systems Minimum Operations Performance Standards End-to-End Verification and Validation (E2-V2) Simulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghatas, Rania W.; Jack, Devin P.; Tsakpinis, Dimitrios; Vincent, Michael J.; Sturdy, James L.; Munoz, Cesar A.; Hoffler, Keith D.; Dutle, Aaron M.; Myer, Robert R.; Dehaven, Anna M.; hide

    2017-01-01

    As Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) make their way to mainstream aviation operations within the National Airspace System (NAS), research efforts are underway to develop a safe and effective environment for their integration into the NAS. Detect and Avoid (DAA) systems are required to account for the lack of "eyes in the sky" due to having no human on-board the aircraft. The current NAS relies on pilot's vigilance and judgement to remain Well Clear (CFR 14 91.113) of other aircraft. RTCA SC-228 has defined DAA Well Clear (DAAWC) to provide a quantified Well Clear volume to allow systems to be designed and measured against. Extended research efforts have been conducted to understand and quantify system requirements needed to support a UAS pilot's ability to remain well clear of other aircraft. The efforts have included developing and testing sensor, algorithm, alerting, and display requirements. More recently, sensor uncertainty and uncertainty mitigation strategies have been evaluated. This paper discusses results and lessons learned from an End-to-End Verification and Validation (E2-V2) simulation study of a DAA system representative of RTCA SC-228's proposed Phase I DAA Minimum Operational Performance Standards (MOPS). NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) was called upon to develop a system that evaluates a specific set of encounters, in a variety of geometries, with end-to-end DAA functionality including the use of sensor and tracker models, a sensor uncertainty mitigation model, DAA algorithmic guidance in both vertical and horizontal maneuvering, and a pilot model which maneuvers the ownship aircraft to remain well clear from intruder aircraft, having received collective input from the previous modules of the system. LaRC developed a functioning batch simulation and added a sensor/tracker model from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) William J. Hughes Technical Center, an in-house developed sensor uncertainty mitigation strategy, and implemented a pilot

  19. 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)

  20. 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

  1. Adaptive and Online Health Monitoring System for Autonomous Aircraft

    OpenAIRE

    Mokhtar, Maizura; Zapatel-Bayo, Sergio Z.; Hussein, Saed; Howe, Joe M.

    2012-01-01

    Good situation awareness is one of the key attributes required to maintain safe flight, especially for an Unmanned Aerial System (UAS). Good situation awareness can be achieved by incorporating an Adaptive Health Monitoring System (AHMS) to the aircraft. The AHMS monitors the flight outcome or flight behaviours of the aircraft based on its external environmental conditions and the behaviour of its internal systems. The AHMS does this by associating a health value to the aircraft's behaviour b...

  2. 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 ...

  3. Potential for Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Applications for Identifying Groundwater-Surface Water Exchange in a Meandering River Reach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pai, H.; Malenda, H. F.; Briggs, M. A.; Singha, K.; González-Pinzón, R.; Gooseff, M. N.; Tyler, S. W.

    2017-12-01

    The exchange of groundwater and surface water (GW-SW), including dissolved constituents and energy, represents a critical yet challenging characterization problem for hydrogeologists and stream ecologists. Here we describe the use of a suite of high spatial resolution remote sensing techniques, collected using a small unmanned aircraft system (sUAS), to provide novel and complementary data to analyze GW-SW exchange. sUAS provided centimeter-scale resolution topography and water surface elevations, which are often drivers of exchange along the river corridor. Additionally, sUAS-based vegetation imagery, vegetation-top elevation, and normalized difference vegetation index mapping indicated GW-SW exchange patterns that are difficult to characterize from the land surface and may not be resolved from coarser satellite-based imagery. We combined these data with estimates of sediment hydraulic conductivity to provide a direct estimate of GW "shortcutting" through meander necks, which was corroborated by temperature data at the riverbed interface.

  4. QUALITY INFLUENCE OF SURFACE ON AIRCRAFT TAKE-OFF

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The article considers quality impact influence of surface on aircraft take-off. It considers the IL-114 takeoff with all the operating engines. The goal of this research is to conduct calculating experiment to determine quality influence of surface on alteration of IL-114 takeoff characteristics during operation. Researches were carried out using the system of mathematical modeling of a flight dynamics. The main part of the system is a unit for calculating increments of aerodynam- ic coefficients caused with changing of technical condition of the surface of the airframe (roughness, waviness, available protruding elements on the airframe surface, etc. and residual deformation of the wing, fuselage, vertical and horizontal tail, as well as the difference between the rods symmetrically operating engines. In order to compute loss of rod and an increase in engine fuel consumption due to engine operation time during operation, an integral factor of thrust loss and increase in fuel consumption coefficient were introduced. Research proved that the individual characteristics of the aircraft, due to loss of engine power and increase in drag do not affect the assigned level of flight safety. The plane has a considera- ble reserve as for unsafe takeoff speed and the full gradient of climb, that ensures safety of operation.

  5. 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...

  6. 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...

  7. Performance modeling of unmanned aerial vehicles with on-board energy harvesting

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anton, Steven R.; Inman, Daniel J.

    2011-03-01

    The concept of energy harvesting in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has received much attention in recent years. Solar powered flight of small aircraft dates back to the 1970s when the first fully solar flight of an unmanned aircraft took place. Currently, research has begun to investigate harvesting ambient vibration energy during the flight of UAVs. The authors have recently developed multifunctional piezoelectric self-charging structures in which piezoelectric devices are combined with thin-film lithium batteries and a substrate layer in order to simultaneously harvest energy, store energy, and carry structural load. When integrated into mass and volume critical applications, such as unmanned aircraft, multifunctional devices can provide great benefit over conventional harvesting systems. A critical aspect of integrating any energy harvesting system into a UAV, however, is the potential effect that the additional system has on the performance of the aircraft. Added mass and increased drag can significantly degrade the flight performance of an aircraft, therefore, it is important to ensure that the addition of an energy harvesting system does not adversely affect the efficiency of a host aircraft. In this work, a system level approach is taken to examine the effects of adding both solar and piezoelectric vibration harvesting to a UAV test platform. A formulation recently presented in the literature is applied to describe the changes to the flight endurance of a UAV based on the power available from added harvesters and the mass of the harvesters. Details of the derivation of the flight endurance model are reviewed and the formulation is applied to an EasyGlider remote control foam hobbyist airplane, which is selected as the test platform for this study. A theoretical study is performed in which the normalized change in flight endurance is calculated based on the addition of flexible thin-film solar panels to the upper surface of the wings, as well as the addition

  8. Applying Required Navigation Performance Concept for Traffic Management of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jung, Jaewoo; D'Souza, Sarah N.; Johnson, Marcus A.; Ishihara, Abraham K.; Modi, Hemil C.; Nikaido, Ben; Hasseeb, Hashmatullah

    2016-01-01

    In anticipation of a rapid increase in the number of civil Unmanned Aircraft System(UAS) operations, NASA is researching prototype technologies for a UAS Traffic Management (UTM) system that will investigate airspace integration requirements for enabling safe, efficient low-altitude operations. One aspect a UTM system must consider is the correlation between UAS operations (such as vehicles, operation areas and durations), UAS performance requirements, and the risk to people and property in the operational area. This paper investigates the potential application of the International Civil Aviation Organizations (ICAO) Required Navigation Performance (RNP) concept to relate operational risk with trajectory conformance requirements. The approach is to first define a method to quantify operational risk and then define the RNP level requirement as a function of the operational risk. Greater operational risk corresponds to more accurate RNP level, or smaller tolerable Total System Error (TSE). Data from 19 small UAS flights are used to develop and validate a formula that defines this relationship. An approach to assessing UAS-RNP conformance capability using vehicle modeling and wind field simulation is developed to investigate how this formula may be applied in a future UTM system. The results indicate the modeled vehicles flight path is robust to the simulated wind variation, and it can meet RNP level requirements calculated by the formula. The results also indicate how vehicle-modeling fidelity may be improved to adequately verify assessed RNP level.

  9. Remote sensing with simulated unmanned aircraft imagery for precision agriculture applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hunt, E. Raymond; Daughtry, Craig S.T.; Mirsky, Steven B.; Hively, W. Dean

    2014-01-01

    An important application of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) may be remote-sensing for precision agriculture, because of its ability to acquire images with very small pixel sizes from low altitude flights. The objective of this study was to compare information obtained from two different pixel sizes, one about a meter (the size of a small vegetation plot) and one about a millimeter. Cereal rye (Secale cereale) was planted at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center for a winter cover crop with fall and spring fertilizer applications, which produced differences in biomass and leaf chlorophyll content. UAS imagery was simulated by placing a Fuji IS-Pro UVIR digital camera at 3-m height looking nadir. An external UV-IR cut filter was used to acquire true-color images; an external red cut filter was used to obtain color-infrared-like images with bands at near-infrared, green, and blue wavelengths. Plot-scale Green Normalized Difference Vegetation Index was correlated with dry aboveground biomass ( ${mbi {r}} = 0.58$ ), whereas the Triangular Greenness Index (TGI) was not correlated with chlorophyll content. We used the SamplePoint program to select 100 pixels systematically; we visually identified the cover type and acquired the digital numbers. The number of rye pixels in each image was better correlated with biomass ( ${mbi {r}} = 0.73$ ), and the average TGI from only leaf pixels was negatively correlated with chlorophyll content ( ${mbi {r}} = -0.72$ ). Thus, better information for crop requirements may be obtained using very small pixel sizes, but new algorithms based on computer vision are needed for analysis. It may not be necessary to geospatially register large numbers of photographs with very small pixel sizes. Instead, images could be analyzed as single plots along field transects.

  10. Unmanned Aviation Systems Models of the Radio Communications Links: Study Results - Appendices Annex 2. Volume 1 and Volume 2

    Science.gov (United States)

    Birr, Richard B.; Spencer, Roy; Murray, Jennifer; Lash, Andrew

    2013-01-01

    This report describes the analysis of communications between the Control Station and an Unmanned Aircraft (UA) flying in the National Airspace System (NAS). This work is based on the RTCA SC-203 Operational Services and Environment Description (OSED). The OSED document seeks to characterize the highly different attributes of all UAs navigating the airspace and define their relationship to airspace users, air traffic services, and operating environments of the NAS. One goal of this report is to lead to the development of Minimum Aviation System Performance Standards for Control and Communications. This report takes the nine scenarios found in the OSED and analyzes the communication links.

  11. Homeland Security: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Border Surveillance

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-08

    outfit the Predator B with a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) system17 and a moving target indicator (MTI) radar. Adding SAR and MTI to the Predator B’s...Predator Squadrons,” Inside the Air Force, June 7, 2002. 17 For more information about Synthetic Aperture Radar, see http://www.sandia.gov/radar...contributed to the seizing of more than 22,000 pounds of marijuana and the apprehension of 5,000 illegal immigrants,” others disagree.24 “Unmanned aircraft

  12. A remotely piloted aircraft system in major incident management: concept and pilot, feasibility study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abrahamsen, Håkon B

    2015-06-10

    Major incidents are complex, dynamic and bewildering task environments characterised by simultaneous, rapidly changing events, uncertainty and ill-structured problems. Efficient management, communication, decision-making and allocation of scarce medical resources at the chaotic scene of a major incident is challenging and often relies on sparse information and data. Communication and information sharing is primarily voice-to-voice through phone or radio on specified radio frequencies. Visual cues are abundant and difficult to communicate between teams and team members that are not co-located. The aim was to assess the concept and feasibility of using a remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) system to support remote sensing in simulated major incident exercises. We carried out an experimental, pilot feasibility study. A custom-made, remotely controlled, multirotor unmanned aerial vehicle with vertical take-off and landing was equipped with digital colour- and thermal imaging cameras, a laser beam, a mechanical gripper arm and an avalanche transceiver. We collected data in five simulated exercises: 1) mass casualty traffic accident, 2) mountain rescue, 3) avalanche with buried victims, 4) fisherman through thin ice and 5) search for casualties in the dark. The unmanned aerial vehicle was remotely controlled, with high precision, in close proximity to air space obstacles at very low levels without compromising work on the ground. Payload capacity and tolerance to wind and turbulence were limited. Aerial video, shot from different altitudes, and remote aerial avalanche beacon search were streamed wirelessly in real time to a monitor at a ground base. Electromagnetic interference disturbed signal reception in the ground monitor. A small remotely piloted aircraft can be used as an effective tool carrier, although limited by its payload capacity, wind speed and flight endurance. Remote sensing using already existing remotely piloted aircraft technology in pre

  13. Propulsion Selection for 85kft Remotely Piloted Atmospheric Science Aircraft

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bents, David J.; Mockler, Ted; Maldonado, Jaime; Hahn, Andrew; Cyrus, John; Schmitz, Paul; Harp, Jim; King, Joseph

    1996-01-01

    This paper describes how a 3 stage turbocharged gasoline engine was selected to power NASA's atmospheric science unmanned aircraft now under development. The airplane, whose purpose is to fly sampling instruments through targeted regions of the upper atmosphere at the exact location and time (season, time of day) where the most interesting chemistry is taking place, must have a round trip range exceeding 1000 km, carry a payload of about 500 lb to altitudes exceeding 80 kft over the site, and be able to remain above that altitude for at least 30 minutes before returning to base. This is a subsonic aircraft (the aerodynamic heating and shock associated with supersonic flight could easily destroy the chemical species that are being sampled) and it must be constructed so it will operate out of small airfields at primitive remote sites worldwide, under varying climate and weather conditions. Finally it must be low cost, since less than $50 M is available for its development. These requirements put severe constraints on the aircraft design (for example, wing loading in the vicinity of 10 psf) and have in turn limited the propulsion choices to already-existing hardware, or limited adaptations of existing hardware. The only candidate that could emerge under these circumstances was a propeller driven aircraft powered by spark ignited (SI) gasoline engines, whose intake pressurization is accomplished by multiple stages of turbo-charging and intercooling. Fortunately the turbocharged SI powerplant, owing to its rich automotive heritage and earlier intensive aero powerplant development during WWII, enjoys in addition to its potentially low development costs some subtle physical advantages (arising from its near-stochiometric combustion) that may make it smaller and lighter than either a turbine engine or a diesel for these altitudes. Just as fortunately, the NASA/industry team developing this aircraft includes the same people who built multi-stage turbocharged SI powerplants

  14. ICAROUS - Integrated Configurable Algorithms for Reliable Operations Of Unmanned Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Consiglio, María; Muñoz, César; Hagen, George; Narkawicz, Anthony; Balachandran, Swee

    2016-01-01

    NASA's Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) project aims at enabling near-term, safe operations of small UAS vehicles in uncontrolled airspace, i.e., Class G airspace. A far-term goal of UTM research and development is to accommodate the expected rise in small UAS traffic density throughout the National Airspace System (NAS) at low altitudes for beyond visual line-of-sight operations. This paper describes a new capability referred to as ICAROUS (Integrated Configurable Algorithms for Reliable Operations of Unmanned Systems), which is being developed under the UTM project. ICAROUS is a software architecture comprised of highly assured algorithms for building safety-centric, autonomous, unmanned aircraft applications. Central to the development of the ICAROUS algorithms is the use of well-established formal methods to guarantee higher levels of safety assurance by monitoring and bounding the behavior of autonomous systems. The core autonomy-enabling capabilities in ICAROUS include constraint conformance monitoring and contingency control functions. ICAROUS also provides a highly configurable user interface that enables the modular integration of mission-specific software components.

  15. Evaluating remotely sensed plant count accuracy with differing unmanned aircraft system altitudes, physical canopy separations, and ground covers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leiva, Josue Nahun; Robbins, James; Saraswat, Dharmendra; She, Ying; Ehsani, Reza

    2017-07-01

    This study evaluated the effect of flight altitude and canopy separation of container-grown Fire Chief™ arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis L.) on counting accuracy. Images were taken at 6, 12, and 22 m above the ground using unmanned aircraft systems. Plants were spaced to achieve three canopy separation treatments: 5 cm between canopy edges, canopy edges touching, and 5 cm of canopy edge overlap. Plants were placed on two different ground covers: black fabric and gravel. A counting algorithm was trained using Feature Analyst®. Total counting error, false positives, and unidentified plants were reported for images analyzed. In general, total counting error was smaller when plants were fully separated. The effect of ground cover on counting accuracy varied with the counting algorithm. Total counting error for plants placed on gravel (-8) was larger than for those on a black fabric (-2), however, false positive counts were similar for black fabric (6) and gravel (6). Nevertheless, output images of plants placed on gravel did not show a negative effect due to the ground cover but was impacted by differences in image spatial resolution.

  16. Integration, Testing, and Validation of a Small Hybrid-Electric Remotely-Piloted Aircraft

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-03-22

    unmanned aircraft offers the capability to unrelentingly pursue a target in a way the stamina of a human pilot simply cannot match. Unmanned systems can...electricity in these examples is provided by batteries, other hybrid-electric systems use generators, solar cells , or even hydrogen fuel cells ... cells , or solar panels. Throughout this paper, HE-RPA will refer specifically to the battery and fossil fuel combination. Usually, the secondary energy

  17. PARAMETRIC ANALYSIS OF LONGITUDINAL STABILITY UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ievgen Udartsev

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available 1024x768 We consider the aerodynamic characteristics of unmanned aircraft container type, which were obtained in a wind tunnel and refined amended by soot blowing elements propeller system and the influence of the earth's surface. The estimation of longitudinal static stability and its dependence on altitude, damping, coordinates of center of gravity, shoulder horizontal tail, wings rejection of mechanization. The variation of these parameters enables to optimize balancing system with minimal losses. Normal 0 false false false

  18. Development of a low cost unmanned aircraft system for atmospheric carbon dioxide leak detection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mitchell, Taylor Austin

    Carbon sequestration, the storage of carbon dioxide gas underground, has the potential to reduce global warming by removing a greenhouse gas from the atmosphere. These storage sites, however, must first be monitored to detect if carbon dioxide is leaking back out to the atmosphere. As an alternative to traditional large ground-based sensor networks to monitor CO2 levels for leaks, unmanned aircraft offer the potential to perform in-situ atmospheric leak detection over large areas for a fraction of the cost. This project developed a proof-of-concept sensor system to map relative carbon dioxide levels to detect potential leaks. The sensor system included a Sensair K-30 FR CO2 sensor, GPS, and altimeter connected an Arduino microcontroller which logged data to an onboard SD card. Ground tests were performed to verify and calibrate the system including wind tunnel tests to determine the optimal configuration of the system for the quickest response time (4-8 seconds based upon flowrate). Tests were then conducted over a controlled release of CO 2 in addition to over controlled rangeland fires which released carbon dioxide over a large area as would be expected from a carbon sequestration source. 3D maps of carbon dioxide were developed from the system telemetry that clearly illustrated increased CO2 levels from the fires. These tests demonstrated the system's ability to detect increased carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere.

  19. Harmful Algal Bloom Characterization at Ultra-High Spatial and Temporal Resolution Using Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Deon Van der Merwe

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available Harmful algal blooms (HABs degrade water quality and produce toxins. The spatial distribution of HAbs may change rapidly due to variations wind, water currents, and population dynamics. Risk assessments, based on traditional sampling methods, are hampered by the sparseness of water sample data points, and delays between sampling and the availability of results. There is a need for local risk assessment and risk management at the spatial and temporal resolution relevant to local human and animal interactions at specific sites and times. Small, unmanned aircraft systems can gather color-infrared reflectance data at appropriate spatial and temporal resolutions, with full control over data collection timing, and short intervals between data gathering and result availability. Data can be interpreted qualitatively, or by generating a blue normalized difference vegetation index (BNDVI that is correlated with cyanobacterial biomass densities at the water surface, as estimated using a buoyant packed cell volume (BPCV. Correlations between BNDVI and BPCV follow a logarithmic model, with r2-values under field conditions from 0.77 to 0.87. These methods provide valuable information that is complimentary to risk assessment data derived from traditional risk assessment methods, and could help to improve risk management at the local level.

  20. Evolution of Unmanned Aerial Warfare: A Historical Look at Remote Airpower - A Case Study in Innovation

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-06-10

    could deliver messages from headquarters to other locations without requiring runners . An advanced concept of Messenger was the “Messenger Aerial...North Vietnamese fighters. The unmanned aircraft also proved to be far more resilient than anyone expected. The anticipated life expectancy of a

  1. 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.

  2. Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Integration in the National Airspace System (NAS) Project: KDP-A for Phase 2 Minimum Operational Performance Standards

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grindle, Laurie; Hackenberg, Davis L.

    2016-01-01

    UAS Integration in the NAS Project has: a) Developed Technical Challenges that are crucial to UAS integration, aligned with NASA's Strategic Plan and Thrusts, and support FAA standards development. b) Demonstrated rigorous project management processes through the execution of previous phases. c) Defined Partnership Plans. d) Established path to KDP-C. Request approval of Technical Challenges, execution of partnerships and plans, and execution of near-term FY17 activities. There is an increasing need to fly UAS in the NAS to perform missions of vital importance to National Security and Defense, Emergency Management, and Science. There is also an emerging need to enable commercial applications such as cargo transport (e.g. FedEx). Unencumbered NAS Access for Civil/Commercial UAS. Provide research findings, utilizing simulation and flight tests, to support the development and validation of DAA and C2 technologies necessary for integrating Unmanned Aircraft Systems into the National Airspace System.

  3. Unlocking the potential of small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) for Earth observation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hugenholtz, C.; Riddell, K.; Barchyn, T. E.

    2012-12-01

    Small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS, cost, and flexibility for scientists, and provides new opportunities to match the scale of sUAS data to the scale of the geophysical phenomenon under investigation. Although a mechanism is in place to make sUAS available to researchers and other non-military users through the US Federal Aviation Administration's Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 (FAAMRA), there are many regulatory hurdles before they are fully accepted and integrated into the National Airspace System. In this talk we will provide a brief overview of the regulatory landscape for sUAS, both in the USA and in Canada, where sUAS regulations are more flexible. We critically outline potential advantages and disadvantages of sUAS for EO applications under current and potential regulations. We find advantages: relatively low cost, potentially high temporal resolution, rapidly improving technology, and operational flexibility. We also find disadvantages: limited temporal and spatial extent, limited accuracy assessment and methodological development, and an immature regulatory landscape. From a case study we show an example of the accuracy of a photogrammetrically-derived digital terrain map (DTM) from sUAS imagery. We also compare the sUAS DTM to a LiDAR DTM. Our results suggest that sUAS-acquired imagery may provide a low-cost, rapid, and flexible alternative to airborne LiDAR. Overall, we are encouraged about the potential of sUAS for geophysical measurements; however, understanding and compliance with regulations is paramount to ensure that research is conducted legally and responsibly. Because UAS are new outside of military operations, we hope researchers will proceed carefully to ensure this great scientific opportunity remains a long term tool.

  4. In Situ Observations and Sampling of Volcanic Emissions with Unmanned Aircraft: A NASA/UCR Case Study at Turrialba Volcano, Costa Rica

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pieri, David; Diaz, Jorge Andres; Bland, Geoffrey; Fladeland, Matthew; Madrigal, Yetty; Corrales, Ernesto; Alan, Alfredo; Alegria, Oscar; Realmuto, Vincent; Miles, Ted

    2011-01-01

    Burgeoning new technology in the design and development of robotic aircraft-unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)-presents unprecedented opportunities for the volcanology community to observe, measure, and sample eruption plumes and drifting volcanic clouds in situ. While manned aircraft can sample dilute parts of such emissions, demonstrated hazards to air breathing, and most particularly turbine, engines preclude penetration of the zones of highest ash concentrations. Such areas within plumes are often of highest interest with respect to boundary conditions of applicable mass-loading retrieval models, as well as Lagrangian, Eulerian, and hybrid transport models used by hazard responders to predict plume trajectories, particularly in the context of airborne hazards. Before the 2010 Ejyafyallajokull eruption in Iceland, ICAO zero-ash-tolerance rules were typically followed, particularly for relatively uncrowded Pacific Rim airspace, and over North and South America, where often diversion of aircraft around ash plumes and clouds was practical. The 2010 eruption in Iceland radically changed the paradigm, in that critical airspace over continental Europe and the United Kingdom were summarily shut by local civil aviation authorities and EURO CONTROL. A strong desire emerged for better real-time knowledge of ash cloud characteristics, particularly ash concentrations, and especially for validation of orbital multispectral imaging. UAV platforms appear to provide a viable adjunct, if not a primary source, of such in situ data for volcanic plumes and drifting volcanic clouds from explosive eruptions, with prompt and comprehensive application to aviation safety and to the basic science of volcanology. Current work is underway in Costa Rica at Turrialba volcano by the authors, with the goal of developing and testing new small, economical UAV platforms, with miniaturized instrument payloads, within a volcanic plume. We are underway with bi-monthly deployments of tethered SO2-sondes

  5. 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.

  6. Design Requirements for Unmanned Rotorcraft Used in Low-Risk Concepts of Operation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hayhurst, Kelly J.; Maddalon, Jeffrey M.; Neogi, Natasha A.; Verstynen, Harry A.

    2016-01-01

    This technical report presents the results of the second of two research studies on design and performance requirements supporting airworthiness certification of midrange unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) intended for commercial use. The two studies focused attention on UAS in the middle of the multidimensional spectrum of UAS; that is, UAS with attributes and capabilities exceeding the criteria to operate under Part 107 of the Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs), but without the design or operational capabilities to comply with the airworthiness standards for commercially-operated manned aircraft. The goal of the two studies was to help address the gap in airworthiness standards for some UAS that fall between the extremes.

  7. Flight simulation program for high altitude long endurance unmanned vehicle; Kokodo mujinki no hiko simulation program

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Suzuki, H.; Hashidate, M. [National Aerospace Laboratory, Tokyo (Japan)

    1995-11-01

    An altitude of about 20 km has the atmospheric density too dilute for common aircraft, and the air resistance too great for satellites. Attention has been drawn in recent years on a high-altitude long-endurance unmanned vehicle that flies at this altitude for a long period of time to serve as a wave relaying base and perform traffic control. Therefore, a development was made on a flight simulation program to evaluate and discuss the guidance and control laws for the high-altitude unmanned vehicle. Equations of motion were derived for three-dimensional six freedom and three-dimensional three freedom. Aerodynamic characteristics of an unmanned vehicle having a Rectenna wing were estimated, and formulation was made according to the past research results on data of winds that the unmanned vehicle is anticipated to encounter at an altitude of 20 km. Noticing the inside of a horizontal plane, a proposal was given on a guidance law that follows a given path. A flight simulation was carried out to have attained a prospect that the unmanned vehicle may be enclosed in a limited space even if the vehicle is encountered with a relatively strong wind. 18 refs., 20 figs., 1 tab.

  8. Flight Test Evaluation of an Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM) Concept for Multiple Beyond-Visual-Line-of-Sight (BVLOS) Operations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Marcus; Jung, Jaewoo; Rios, Joseph; Mercer, Joey; Homola, Jeffrey; Prevot, Thomas; Mulfinger, Daniel; Kopardekar, Parimal

    2017-01-01

    Many applications of small Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) have been envisioned. These include surveillance of key assets such as pipelines, rail, or electric wires, deliveries, search and rescue, traffic monitoring, videography, and precision agriculture. These operations are likely to occur in the same airspace in the presence of many static and dynamic constraints such as airports, and high wind areas. Therefore, operations of small UAS need to be managed to ensure safety and operation efficiency is maintained. NASA has advanced a concept for UAS Traffic Management (UTM) and has initiated a research effort to refine that concept and develop operational and system requirements. A UTM research platform is in development and flight test activities to evaluate core functions and key assumptions focusing exclusively on UAS operations in different environments are underway. This seminar will present lessons learned from a recent flight test focused on enabling operations of multiple UAS in lower-risk environments within and beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS).

  9. Well clear: General aviation and commercial pilots' perception of unmanned aerial vehicles in the national airspace system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ott, Joseph T.

    The purpose of this research was to determine how different pilot types perceived the subjective concept of the Well Clear Boundary (WCB) and to observe if that boundary changed when dealing with manned versus unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) as well as the effects of other variables. Pilots' perceptions of the WCB were collected objectively through simulator recordings and subjectively through questionnaires. Together, these metrics provided quantitative and qualitative data about pilot WCB perception. The objective results of this study showed significant differences in WCB perception between two different pilot types, as well as WCB significant differences when comparing two different intruder types (manned versus unmanned aircraft). These differences were dependent on other manipulated variables, including intruder approach angle, ownship speed, and background traffic levels. Subjectively, there were evident differences in WCB perception across pilot types; general aviation (GA) pilots appeared to trust UAS aircraft slightly more than did the more experienced Airline Transport Pilots (ATPs). Overall, it is concluded that pilots' mental models of the WCB are more easily perceived as time-based boundaries in front of ownship, while being more easily perceived as distance-based boundaries to the rear of ownship.

  10. Evaluation and use of remotely piloted aircraft systems for operations and research - RxCADRE 2012

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas J. Zajkowski; Matthew B. Dickinson; J. Kevin Hiers; William Holley; Brett W. Williams; Alexander Paxton; Otto Martinez; Gregory W. Walker

    2016-01-01

    Small remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS), also known as unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), are expected to provide important contributions to wildland fire operations and research, but their evaluation and use have been limited. Our objectives were to leverage US Air Force-controlled airspace to (1) deploy RPAS in support of the 2012 Prescribed Fire...

  11. Autonomous vertical autorotation for unmanned helicopters

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dalamagkidis, Konstantinos

    Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) are considered the stepping stone for the integration of civil unmanned vehicles in the National Airspace System (NAS) because of their low cost and risk. Such systems are aimed at a variety of applications including search and rescue, surveillance, communications, traffic monitoring and inspection of buildings, power lines and bridges. Amidst these systems, small helicopters play an important role because of their capability to hold a position, to maneuver in tight spaces and to take off and land from virtually anywhere. Nevertheless civil adoption of such systems is minimal, mostly because of regulatory problems that in turn are due to safety concerns. This dissertation examines the risk to safety imposed by UAS in general and small helicopters in particular, focusing on accidents resulting in a ground impact. To improve the performance of small helicopters in this area, the use of autonomous autorotation is proposed. This research goes beyond previous work in the area of autonomous autorotation by developing an on-line, model-based, real-time controller that is capable of handling constraints and different cost functions. The approach selected is based on a non-linear model-predictive controller, that is augmented by a neural network to improve the speed of the non-linear optimization. The immediate benefit of this controller is that a class of failures that would otherwise result in an uncontrolled crash and possible injuries or fatalities can now be accommodated. Furthermore besides simply landing the helicopter, the controller is also capable of minimizing the risk of serious injury to people in the area. This is accomplished by minimizing the kinetic energy during the last phase of the descent. The presented research is designed to benefit the entire UAS community as well as the public, by allowing for safer UAS operations, which in turn also allow faster and less expensive integration of UAS in the NAS.

  12. 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.

  13. UAS in the NAS: Survey Responses by ATC, Manned Aircraft Pilots, and UAS Pilots

    Science.gov (United States)

    Comstock, James R., Jr.; McAdaragh, Raymon; Ghatas, Rania W.; Burdette, Daniel W.; Trujillo, Anna C.

    2014-01-01

    NASA currently is working with industry and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to establish future requirements for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) flying in the National Airspace System (NAS). To work these issues NASA has established a multi-center "UAS Integration in the NAS" project. In order to establish Ground Control Station requirements for UAS, the perspective of each of the major players in NAS operations was desired. Three on-line surveys were administered that focused on Air Traffic Controllers (ATC), pilots of manned aircraft, and pilots of UAS. Follow-up telephone interviews were conducted with some survey respondents. The survey questions addressed UAS control, navigation, and communications from the perspective of small and large unmanned aircraft. Questions also addressed issues of UAS equipage, especially with regard to sense and avoid capabilities. From the civilian ATC and military ATC perspectives, of particular interest are how mixed operations (manned / UAS) have worked in the past and the role of aircraft equipage. Knowledge gained from this information is expected to assist the NASA UAS Integration in the NAS project in directing research foci thus assisting the FAA in the development of rules, regulations, and policies related to UAS in the NAS.

  14. Development and experimental characterization of a fuel cell powered aircraft

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bradley, Thomas H.; Moffitt, Blake A.; Mavris, Dimitri N.; Parekh, David E. [Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332-0405 (United States)

    2007-09-27

    This paper describes the characteristics and performance of a fuel cell powered unmanned aircraft. The aircraft is novel as it is the largest compressed hydrogen fuel cell powered airplane built to date and is currently the only fuel cell aircraft whose design and test results are in the public domain. The aircraft features a 500 W polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell with full balance of plant and compressed hydrogen storage incorporated into a custom airframe. Details regarding the design requirements, implementation and control of the aircraft are presented for each major aircraft system. The performances of the aircraft and powerplant are analyzed using data from flights and laboratory tests. The efficiency and component power consumption of the fuel cell propulsion system are measured at a variety of flight conditions. The performance of the aircraft powerplant is compared to other 0.5-1 kW-scale fuel cell powerplants in the literature and means of performance improvement for this aircraft are proposed. This work represents one of the first studies of fuel cell powered aircraft to result in a demonstration aircraft. As such, the results of this study are of practical interest to fuel cell powerplant and aircraft designers. (author)

  15. Vertical Sampling Scales for Atmospheric Boundary Layer Measurements from Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Benjamin L. Hemingway

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available The lowest portion of the Earth’s atmosphere, known as the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL, plays an important role in the formation of weather events. Simple meteorological measurements collected from within the ABL, such as temperature, pressure, humidity, and wind velocity, are key to understanding the exchange of energy within this region, but conventional surveillance techniques such as towers, radar, weather balloons, and satellites do not provide adequate spatial and/or temporal coverage for monitoring weather events. Small unmanned aircraft, or aerial, systems (sUAS provide a versatile, dynamic platform for atmospheric sensing that can provide higher spatio-temporal sampling frequencies than available through most satellite sensing methods. They are also able to sense portions of the atmosphere that cannot be measured from ground-based radar, weather stations, or weather balloons and have the potential to fill gaps in atmospheric sampling. However, research on the vertical sampling scales for collecting atmospheric measurements from sUAS and the variabilities of these scales across atmospheric phenomena (e.g., temperature and humidity is needed. The objective of this study is to use variogram analysis, a common geostatistical technique, to determine optimal spatial sampling scales for two atmospheric variables (temperature and relative humidity captured from sUAS. Results show that vertical sampling scales of approximately 3 m for temperature and 1.5–2 m for relative humidity were sufficient to capture the spatial structure of these phenomena under the conditions tested. Future work is needed to model these scales across the entire ABL as well as under variable conditions.

  16. Effects of Shift Work and Sustained Operations: Operator Performance in Remotely Piloted Aircraft (OP-REPAIR)

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Thompson, William T; Lopez, Nadia; Hickey, Patrick; DaLuz, Christina; Caldwell, J. L; Tvaryanas, Anthony P

    2006-01-01

    The introduction of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) with "inhuman endurance" has led to operational requirements for extended duty days and varying shift schedules which are likely to reduce operator effectiveness because of fatigue...

  17. Aircraft path planning for optimal imaging using dynamic cost functions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Christie, Gordon; Chaudhry, Haseeb; Kochersberger, Kevin

    2015-05-01

    Unmanned aircraft development has accelerated with recent technological improvements in sensing and communications, which has resulted in an "applications lag" for how these aircraft can best be utilized. The aircraft are becoming smaller, more maneuverable and have longer endurance to perform sensing and sampling missions, but operating them aggressively to exploit these capabilities has not been a primary focus in unmanned systems development. This paper addresses a means of aerial vehicle path planning to provide a realistic optimal path in acquiring imagery for structure from motion (SfM) reconstructions and performing radiation surveys. This method will allow SfM reconstructions to occur accurately and with minimal flight time so that the reconstructions can be executed efficiently. An assumption is made that we have 3D point cloud data available prior to the flight. A discrete set of scan lines are proposed for the given area that are scored based on visibility of the scene. Our approach finds a time-efficient path and calculates trajectories between scan lines and over obstacles encountered along those scan lines. Aircraft dynamics are incorporated into the path planning algorithm as dynamic cost functions to create optimal imaging paths in minimum time. Simulations of the path planning algorithm are shown for an urban environment. We also present our approach for image-based terrain mapping, which is able to efficiently perform a 3D reconstruction of a large area without the use of GPS data.

  18. Operational implications and proposed infrastructure changes for NAS integration of remotely piloted aircraft (RPA)

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-12-01

    The intent of this report is to provide (1) an initial assessment of National Airspace System (NAS) infrastructure affected by continuing development and deployment of unmanned aircraft systems into the NAS, and (2) a description of process challenge...

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  20. The Use of Unmanned Aerial Systems in Marine Mammal Research

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lorenzo Fiori

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Unmanned aerial systems (UAS, commonly referred to as drones, are finding applications in several ecological research areas since remotely piloted aircraft (RPA technology has ceased to be a military prerogative. Fixed-wing RPA have been tested for line transect aerial surveys of geographically dispersed marine mammal species. Despite many advantages, their systematic use is far from a reality. Low altitude, long endurance systems are still highly priced. Regulatory bodies also impose limitations while struggling to cope with UAS rapid technological evolution. In contrast, small vertical take-off and landing (VTOL UAS have become increasingly affordable but lack the flight endurance required for long-range aerial surveys. Although this issue and civil aviation regulations prevent the use of VTOL UAS for marine mammal abundance estimation on a large scale, recent studies have highlighted other potential applications. The present note represents a general overview on the use of UAS as a survey tool for marine mammal studies. The literature pertaining to UAS marine mammal research applications is considered with special concern for advantages and limitations of the survey design. The use of lightweight VTOL UAS to collect marine mammal behavioral data is also discussed.

  1. Use of high-resolution imagery acquired from an unmanned aircraft system for fluvial mapping and estimating water-surface velocity in rivers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kinzel, P. J.; Bauer, M.; Feller, M.; Holmquist-Johnson, C.; Preston, T.

    2013-12-01

    The use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) for environmental monitoring in the United States is anticipated to increase in the coming years as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) further develops guidelines to permit their integration into the National Airspace System. The U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) National Unmanned Aircraft Systems Project Office routinely obtains Certificates of Authorization from the FAA for utilizing UAS technology for a variety of natural resource applications for the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI). We evaluated the use of a small UAS along two reaches of the Platte River near Overton Nebraska, USA, to determine the accuracy of the system for mapping the extent and elevation of emergent sandbars and to test the ability of a hovering UAS to identify and track tracers to estimate water-surface velocity. The UAS used in our study is the Honeywell Tarantula Hawk RQ16 (T-Hawk), developed for the U.S. Army as a reconnaissance and surveillance platform. The T-Hawk has been recently modified by USGS, and certified for airworthiness by the DOI - Office of Aviation Services, to accommodate a higher-resolution imaging payload than was originally deployed with the system. The T-Hawk is currently outfitted with a Canon PowerShot SX230 HS with a 12.1 megapixel resolution and intervalometer to record images at a user defined time step. To increase the accuracy of photogrammetric products, orthoimagery and DEMs using structure-from-motion (SFM) software, we utilized ground control points in the study reaches and acquired imagery using flight lines at various altitudes (200-400 feet above ground level) and oriented both parallel and perpendicular to the river. Our results show that the mean error in the elevations derived from SFM in the upstream reach was 17 centimeters and horizontal accuracy was 6 centimeters when compared to 4 randomly distributed targets surveyed on emergent sandbars. In addition to the targets, multiple transects were

  2. 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

  3. In-Flight Fault Diagnosis for Autonomous Aircraft Via Low-Rate Telemetry Channel

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Blanke, Mogens; Hansen, Søren

    2012-01-01

    An in-flight diagnosis system that is able to detect faults on an unmanned aircraft using real-time telemetry data could provide operator assistance to warn about imminent risks due to faults. However, limited bandwidth of the air-ground radio-link makes diagnosis difficult. Loss of information a...

  4. Application of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) for phenotypic mapping of white spruce genotypes along environmental gradients

    Science.gov (United States)

    D'Odorico, P.; Wong, C. Y.; Besik, A.; Earon, E.; Isabel, N.; Ensminger, I.

    2017-12-01

    Rapid climate change is expected to cause a mismatch between locally adapted tree populations and the optimal climatic conditions to which they have adapted. Plant breeding and reforestation programs will increasingly need to rely on high-throughput precision phenotyping tools for the selection of genotypes with increased drought and stress tolerance. In this work, we present the possibilities offered by Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) carrying optical sensors to monitor and assess differences in performance among white spruce genotypes. While high-throughput precision phenotyping using UAS has gained traction in agronomic crop research during the last few years, to our knowledge it is still at its infancy in forestry applications. UAS surveys were performed at different times during the growing season over large white spruce common garden experiments established by the Canadian Forest Service at four different sites, each characterized by 2000 clonally replicated genotypes. Sites are distributed over a latitudinal gradient, in Ontario and Quebec, Canada. The UAS payload consisted of a custom-bands multispectral sensor acquiring radiation at wavelength at which the reflectance spectrum of vegetation is known to capture physiological change under disturbance and stress. Ground based tree-top spectral reflectances and leaf level functional traits were also acquired for validation purposes parallel to UAS surveys. We will discuss the potential and the challenges of using optical sensors on UAS to infer genotypic variation in tree response to stress events and show how spectral data can function as the link between large-scale phenotype and genotype data.

  5. Insect detection and nitrogen management for irrigated potatoes using remote sensing from small unmanned aircraft systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hunt, E. Raymond; Rondon, Silvia I.; Hamm, Philip B.; Turner, Robert W.; Bruce, Alan E.; Brungardt, Josh J.

    2016-05-01

    Remote sensing with small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) has potential applications in agriculture because low flight altitudes allow image acquisition at very high spatial resolution. We set up experiments at the Oregon State University Hermiston Agricultural Research and Extension Center with different platforms and sensors to assess advantages and disadvantages of sUAS for precision farming. In 2013, we conducted an experiment with 4 levels of N fertilizer, and followed the changes in the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) over time. In late June, there were no differences in chlorophyll content or leaf area index (LAI) among the 3 higher application rates. Consistent with the field data, only plots with the lowest rate of applied N were distinguished by low NDVI. In early August, N deficiency was determined by NDVI, but it was too late to mitigate losses in potato yield and quality. Populations of the Colorado potato beetle (CPB) may rapidly increase, devouring the shoots, thus early detection and treatment could prevent yield losses. In 2014, we conducted an experiment with 4 levels of CPB infestation. Over one day, damage from CPB in some plots increased from 0 to 19%. A visual ranking of damage was not correlated with the total number of CPB or treatment. Plot-scale vegetation indices were not correlated with damage, although the damaged area determined by object-based feature extraction was highly correlated. Methods based on object-based image analysis of sUAS data have potential for early detection and reduced cost.

  6. Modern and prospective technologies for weather modification activities: Developing a framework for integrating autonomous unmanned aircraft systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    DeFelice, T. P.; Axisa, Duncan

    2017-09-01

    This paper builds upon the processes and framework already established for identifying, integrating and testing an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) with sensing technology for use in rainfall enhancement cloud seeding programs to carry out operational activities or to monitor and evaluate seeding operations. We describe the development and assessment methodologies of an autonomous and adaptive UAS platform that utilizes in-situ real time data to sense, target and implement seeding. The development of a UAS platform that utilizes remote and in-situ real-time data to sense, target and implement seeding deployed with a companion UAS ensures optimal, safe, secure, cost-effective seeding operations, and the dataset to quantify the results of seeding. It also sets the path for an innovative, paradigm shifting approach for enhancing precipitation independent of seeding mode. UAS technology is improving and their application in weather modification must be explored to lay the foundation for future implementation. The broader significance lies in evolving improved technology and automating cloud seeding operations that lowers the cloud seeding operational footprint and optimizes their effectiveness and efficiency, while providing the temporal and spatial sensitivities to overcome the predictability or sparseness of environmental parameters needed to identify conditions suitable for seeding, and how such might be implemented. The dataset from the featured approach will contain data from concurrent Eulerian and Lagrangian perspectives over sub-cloud scales that will facilitate the development of cloud seeding decision support tools.

  7. Artificial Intelligence for Controlling Robotic Aircraft

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krishnakumar, Kalmanje

    2005-01-01

    A document consisting mostly of lecture slides presents overviews of artificial-intelligence-based control methods now under development for application to robotic aircraft [called Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in the paper] and spacecraft and to the next generation of flight controllers for piloted aircraft. Following brief introductory remarks, the paper presents background information on intelligent control, including basic characteristics defining intelligent systems and intelligent control and the concept of levels of intelligent control. Next, the paper addresses several concepts in intelligent flight control. The document ends with some concluding remarks, including statements to the effect that (1) intelligent control architectures can guarantee stability of inner control loops and (2) for UAVs, intelligent control provides a robust way to accommodate an outer-loop control architecture for planning and/or related purposes.

  8. U.S. Army Unmanned Aircraft Systems Roadmap 2010-2035: Eyes of the Army

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-09

    disadvantages of manned versus unmanned, as well as fixed-wing versus vertical takeoff and landing, capabilities. 9.6 Synchronization Effort The...flight rules ( IFR ) flight plans. As the DoD CONOPS for UAS matures and as the Army ensures the airworthiness of our UAS, we will look toward...Flight Level (FL) 180 (18,000 feet mean sea level [MSL]) to FL600 (60,000 feet MSL). Flights within Class A airspace must be under IFR and under the

  9. Speech systems for autonomous unmanned aircraft: enabling autonomous unmanned aircraft to communicate in civil airspace

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Burger, CR

    2011-09-01

    Full Text Available (VFR) and Instrument Flight Rules (IFR). Typical local surveillance missions are done under VFR, but almost all passenger- carrying operations are done under IFR. Because many urban surveillance missions take place in close proximity to airline... hubs, IFR capability is required. Rural and peri-urban operations require VFR capability. The levels of control are: o Controlled airspace: In controlled airspace, a controller provides binding instructions to ensure that traffic separation...

  10. An Evaluation of Detect and Avoid (DAA) Displays for Unmanned Aircraft Systems: The Effect of Information Level and Display Location on Pilot Performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fern, Lisa; Rorie, R. Conrad; Pack, Jessica S.; Shively, R. Jay; Draper, Mark H.

    2015-01-01

    A consortium of government, industry and academia is currently working to establish minimum operational performance standards for Detect and Avoid (DAA) and Control and Communications (C2) systems in order to enable broader integration of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) into the National Airspace System (NAS). One subset of these performance standards will need to address the DAA display requirements that support an acceptable level of pilot performance. From a pilot's perspective, the DAA task is the maintenance of self separation and collision avoidance from other aircraft, utilizing the available information and controls within the Ground Control Station (GCS), including the DAA display. The pilot-in-the-loop DAA task requires the pilot to carry out three major functions: 1) detect a potential threat, 2) determine an appropriate resolution maneuver, and 3) execute that resolution maneuver via the GCS control and navigation interface(s). The purpose of the present study was to examine two main questions with respect to DAA display considerations that could impact pilots' ability to maintain well clear from other aircraft. First, what is the effect of a minimum (or basic) information display compared to an advanced information display on pilot performance? Second, what is the effect of display location on UAS pilot performance? Two levels of information level (basic, advanced) were compared across two levels of display location (standalone, integrated), for a total of four displays. The authors propose an eight-stage pilot-DAA interaction timeline from which several pilot response time metrics can be extracted. These metrics were compared across the four display conditions. The results indicate that the advanced displays had faster overall response times compared to the basic displays, however, there were no significant differences between the standalone and integrated displays. Implications of the findings on understanding pilot performance on the DAA task, the

  11. OPTIMUM PROGRAMMABLE CONTROL OF UNMANNED FLYING VEHICLE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. А. Lobaty

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper considers an analytical synthesis problem pertaining to programmable control of an unmanned flying vehicle while steering it to the fixed space point. The problem has been solved while applying a maximum principle which takes into account a final control purpose and its integral expenses. The paper presents an optimum law of controlling overload variation of a flying vehicle that has been obtained analytically

  12. Investigating Traffic Avoidance Maneuver Preferences of Unmanned Aircraft Operators

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-06-13

    aircraft in the NAS under instrument flight rules ( IFR ), in radio communications with ATC, and with a traffic display highlighting traffic within 80...Lincoln Laboratory developed uncorrelated encounter model [13] for evaluation of a preliminary pilot model. The UAS was assumed to be on an IFR ...Vol. 59, No. 1, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, Santa Monica, CA, 2015, pp. 45-49. [10] Rorie, R. C., Fern, L., and Shively R. J., “The impact

  13. 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.

  14. NASA's Zero-g aircraft operations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, R. K.

    1988-01-01

    NASA's Zero-g aircraft, operated by the Johnson Space Center, provides the unique weightless or zero-g environment of space flight for hardware development and test and astronaut training purposes. The program, which began in 1959, uses a slightly modified Boeing KC-135A aircraft, flying a parabolic trajectory, to produce weightless periods of 20 to 25 seconds. The program has supported the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, Apollo-Soyuz and Shuttle programs as well as a number of unmanned space operations. Typical experiments for flight in the aircraft have included materials processing experiments, welding, fluid manipulation, cryogenics, propellant tankage, satellite deployment dynamics, planetary sciences research, crew training with weightless indoctrination, space suits, tethers, etc., and medical studies including vestibular research. The facility is available to microgravity research organizations on a cost-reimbursable basis, providing a large, hands-on test area for diagnostic and support equipment for the Principal Investigators and providing an iterative-type design approach to microgravity experiment development. The facility allows concepts to be proven and baseline experimentation to be accomplished relatively inexpensively prior to committing to the large expense of a space flight.

  15. Straight-Line Target Tracking for Unmanned Surface Vehicles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Morten Breivik

    2008-10-01

    Full Text Available This paper considers the subject of straight-line target tracking for unmanned surface vehicles (USVs. Target-tracking represents motion control scenarios where no information about the target behavior is known in advance, i.e., the path that the target traverses is not defined apriori. Specifically, this work presents the design of a motion control system which enables an underactuated USV to track a target that moves in a straight line at high speed. The motion control system employs a guidance principle originally developed for interceptor missiles, as well as a novel velocity controller inspired by maneuverability and agility concepts found in fighter aircraft literature. The performance of the suggested design is illustrated through full-scale USV experiments in the Trondheimsfjord.

  16. Geomorphological evolution of landslides near an active normal fault in northern Taiwan, as revealed by lidar and unmanned aircraft system data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Kuo-Jen; Chan, Yu-Chang; Chen, Rou-Fei; Hsieh, Yu-Chung

    2018-03-01

    Several remote sensing techniques, namely traditional aerial photographs, an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), and airborne lidar, were used in this study to decipher the morphological features of obscure landslides in volcanic regions and how the observed features may be used for understanding landslide occurrence and potential hazard. A morphological reconstruction method was proposed to assess landslide morphology based on the dome-shaped topography of the volcanic edifice and the nature of its morphological evolution. Two large-scale landslides in the Tatun volcano group in northern Taiwan were targeted to more accurately characterize the landslide morphology through airborne lidar and UAS-derived digital terrain models and images. With the proposed reconstruction method, the depleted volume of the two landslides was estimated to be at least 820 ± 20 × 106 m3. Normal faulting in the region likely played a role in triggering the two landslides, because there are extensive geological and historical records of an active normal fault in this region. The subsequent geomorphological evolution of the two landslides is thus inferred to account for the observed morphological and tectonic features that are indicative of resulting in large and life-threatening landslides, as characterized using the recent remote sensing techniques.

  17. The design space exploration and preliminary testing of a new class of tailsitting quadrotor aircraft

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bodlak, Eric

    Within the last decade, multi-rotor aircraft have become the most prevalent form of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), with applications in the military, commercial, and civilian sectors. This is due primarily to advances in electronics that allow small-scale aircraft systems to be produced and controlled in an affordable manner. Such systems are maneuvered by precisely varying the thrust and torque of individual rotors to produce flight control forces, thereby eliminating much of the mechanical complexity inherent in conventional helicopter configurations. Although many UAV missions exploit the ability to hover in place, many also require the ability to quickly and efficiently dash from point to point. Rotorcraft, in general, are limited in this capacity, since rotor thrust must also be used to produce lift. Transitional aircraft represent an alternative that blends the vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) capabilities of rotorcraft with the forward flight performance of fixed-wing aircraft, but they often rely on cumbersome mechanisms, such as additional or rotating powerplants. UAVs, however, have no need to maintain cockpit orientation. Consequently, a tailsitting quadcopter concept was devised by Dr. Ron Barrett to combine quadcopter hovering performance with the high-speed flight of fixed-wing craft. This paper lays out the arguments for such an aircraft--the XQ-139 --and examines the performance of XQ-139 variants with installed power values ranging from 100 W to 10,000 kW. Battery-electric, rotary engine, turboprop, and hybrid propulsive options are considered, and the merits of each discussed. Additionally, an XQ-139 prototype was designed and constructed, and stationary test was used to compare the aircraft's installed efficiency with that of a typical quadcopter. The prototype was found to be approximately 5% more efficient in hover mode than the quadcopter to which it was compared.

  18. Manned Versus Unmanned Risk and Complexity Considerations for Future Midsized X-Planes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lechniak, Jason A.; Melton, John E.

    2017-01-01

    The objective of this work was to identify and estimate complexity and risks associated with the development and testing of new low-cost medium-scale X-plane aircraft primarily focused on air transport operations. Piloting modes that were evaluated for this task were manned, remotely piloted, and unmanned flight research programs. This analysis was conducted early in the data collection period for X-plane concept vehicles before preliminary designs were complete. Over 50 different aircraft and system topics were used to evaluate the three piloting control modes. Expert group evaluations from a diverse set of pilots, engineers, and other experts at Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate centers within the National Aeronautics and Space Administration provided qualitative reasoning on the many issues surrounding the decisions regarding piloting modes. The group evaluations were numerically rated to evaluate each topic quantitatively and were used to provide independent criteria for vehicle complexity and risk. An Edwards Air Force Base instruction document was identified that emerged as a source of the effects found in our qualitative and quantitative data. The study showed that a manned aircraft was the best choice to align with test activities for transport aircraft flight research from a low-complexity and low-risk perspective. The study concluded that a manned aircraft option would minimize the risk and complexity to improve flight-test efficiency and bound the cost of the flight-test portion of the program. Several key findings and discriminators between the three modes are discussed in detail.

  19. 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...

  20. 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.

  1. Combined Spectral and Spatial Modeling of Corn Yield Based on Aerial Images and Crop Surface Models Acquired with an Unmanned Aircraft System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jakob Geipel

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Precision Farming (PF management strategies are commonly based on estimations of within-field yield potential, often derived from remotely-sensed products, e.g., Vegetation Index (VI maps. These well-established means, however, lack important information, like crop height. Combinations of VI-maps and detailed 3D Crop Surface Models (CSMs enable advanced methods for crop yield prediction. This work utilizes an Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS to capture standard RGB imagery datasets for corn grain yield prediction at three early- to mid-season growth stages. The imagery is processed into simple VI-orthoimages for crop/non-crop classification and 3D CSMs for crop height determination at different spatial resolutions. Three linear regression models are tested on their prediction ability using site-specific (i unclassified mean heights, (ii crop-classified mean heights and (iii a combination of crop-classified mean heights with according crop coverages. The models show determination coefficients \\({R}^{2}\\ of up to 0.74, whereas model (iii performs best with imagery captured at the end of stem elongation and intermediate spatial resolution (0.04m\\(\\cdot\\px\\(^{-1}\\.Following these results, combined spectral and spatial modeling, based on aerial images and CSMs, proves to be a suitable method for mid-season corn yield prediction.

  2. Lower stratospheric observations from aircraft and satellite during the 2015/2016 El Nino

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rosenlof, K. H.; Avery, M. A.; Davis, S. M.; Gao, R. S.; Thornberry, T. D.

    2016-12-01

    Winter 2015/2016 experienced a strong El Nino that was heavily observed by aircraft, radiosonde and satellite platforms. During the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Sensing Hazards with Operational Unmanned Technology (SHOUT)/El Nino Rapid Response (ENRR) flights of the NASA Global Hawk, in situ ozone measurements were made in the lower stratosphere over the Pacific. These will be contrasted with ozone measurements taken during La Nina and ENSO neutral conditions during past Global Hawk aircraft campaigns. Additionally, lower stratospheric water vapor and ozone measurements from the Microwave Limb Sounder satellite instrument and stratospheric ice measurements above the tropopause from the Cloud-Aerosol Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) will be presented. Our aircraft ozone measurements are higher for the El Nino flights than during other missions previously sampled, while zonally averaged lower stratospheric water vapor and central Pacific ice path above the tropopause reached record highs. Implications and possible reasons for these anomalous observations will be discussed. Winter 2015/2016 experienced a strong El Nino that was heavily observed by aircraft, radiosonde and satellite platforms. During the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Sensing Hazards with Operational Unmanned Technology (SHOUT)/El Nino Rapid Response (ENRR) flights of the NASA Global Hawk, in situ ozone measurements were made in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) over the Pacific. These will be contrasted with ozone measurements made during La Nina and ENSO neutral conditions during past Global Hawk aircraft campaigns. Additionally, UTLS water vapor and ozone measurements from the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) satellite instrument and stratospheric ice measurements above the tropopause from the Cloud-Aerosol Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) will be presented. Our aircraft ozone

  3. Unmanned Maritime Systems Incremental Acquisition Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-12-01

    REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED MBA professional report 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE UNMANNED MARITIME SYSTEMS INCREMENTAL ACQUISITION APPROACH 5. FUNDING...Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited. UNMANNED MARITIME SYSTEMS INCREMENTAL ACQUISITION APPROACH Thomas Driscoll, Lieutenant...UNMANNED MARITIME SYSTEMS INCREMENTAL ACQUISITION APPROACH ABSTRACT The purpose of this MBA report is to explore and understand the issues

  4. Aircraft Ship Operations (Le Couple Aeronef-Navire dan les Operations)

    Science.gov (United States)

    1991-11-01

    The Netherlands Patuxent Riser Ml) 20670-530)4 United States HOST NATION COORDINATOR Prof. 3.1.. Lopez Ruiz SENER. Ingeniera & Sistemas S.A. C Raimundo...transports. The companion unmanned air vehicle for the LAMPS 2030 The CLO will need an air superiority aircraft that will might be the Tipjet concept...desired, the wing may be swept, as in the oblique wing A possible companion UAV for the ASTOVL fighter/attack concept, allowing operation at much higher

  5. 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.

  6. Maneuvering control and configuration adaptation of a biologically inspired morphing aircraft

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abdulrahim, Mujahid

    Natural flight as a source of inspiration for aircraft design was prominent with early aircraft but became marginalized as aircraft became larger and faster. With recent interest in small unmanned air vehicles, biological inspiration is a possible technology to enhance mission performance of aircraft that are dimensionally similar to gliding birds. Serial wing joints, loosely modeling the avian skeletal structure, are used in the current study to allow significant reconfiguration of the wing shape. The wings are reconfigured to optimize aerodynamic performance and maneuvering metrics related to specific mission tasks. Wing shapes for each mission are determined and related to the seagulls, falcons, albatrosses, and non-migratory African swallows on which the aircraft are based. Variable wing geometry changes the vehicle dynamics, affording versatility in flight behavior but also requiring appropriate compensation to maintain stability and controllability. Time-varying compensation is in the form of a baseline controller which adapts to both the variable vehicle dynamics and to the changing mission requirements. Wing shape is adapted in flight to minimize a cost function which represents energy, temporal, and spatial efficiency. An optimal control architecture unifies the control and adaptation tasks.

  7. Unmanned Systems in Perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-05-22

    36Gertler, 41-42. 37Gertler, 42; Spencer Ackerman, “Exclusive Pics: The Navy’s Unmanned, Autonomous ‘ UFO ’,” Wired, 31 July 2012, http...Pics: The Navy’s Unmanned, Autonomous ‘ UFO ’.” Wired, 31 July 2012. http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/07/x47b (accessed 1 March 2014). Air Force

  8. 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.

  9. 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.

  10. Da Vincis Children Take Flight: Unmanned Aircraft Systems in the Homeland

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-03-01

    ensuring disaster resilience .”60 Interest in UAS might include support for monitoring the nation’s extensive borders to disaster damage assessments or...straddle science and academia and will be important partners in UAS testing and development. 6. Illegal and Gray Areas Drug runners , terrorists and...other illicit enterprises: Often entrepreneurial themselves, drug runners are already using UAS to transfer products across borders. Terrorists are

  11. Breeding for Increased Water Use Efficiency in Corn (Maize) Using a Low-altitude Unmanned Aircraft System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shi, Y.; Veeranampalayam-Sivakumar, A. N.; Li, J.; Ge, Y.; Schnable, J. C.; Rodriguez, O.; Liang, Z.; Miao, C.

    2017-12-01

    Low-altitude aerial imagery collected by unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) at centimeter-level spatial resolution provides great potential to collect high throughput plant phenotyping (HTP) data and accelerate plant breeding. This study is focused on UAS-based HTP for breeding increased water use efficiency in corn in eastern Nebraska. The field trail is part of an effort by the Genomes to Fields consortium effort to grow and phenotype many of the same corn (maize) hybrids at approximately 40 locations across the United States and Canada in order to stimulate new research in crop modeling, the development of new plant phenotyping technologies and the identification of genetic loci that control the adaptation of specific corn (maize) lines to specific environments. It included approximately 250 maize hybrids primary generated using recently off patent material from major seed companies. These lines are the closest material to what farmers are growing today which can be legally used for research purposes and genotyped by the public sector. During the growing season, a hexacopter equipped with a multispectral and a RGB cameras was flown and used to image this 1-hectare field trial near Mead, NE. Sensor data from the UAS were correlated directly with grain yield, measured at the end of the growing season, and were also be used to quantify other traits of interest to breeders including flowering date, plant height, leaf orientation, canopy spectral, and stand count. The existing challenges of field data acquisition (to ensure data quality) and development of effective image processing algorithms (such as detecting corn tassels) will be discussed. The success of this study and others like it will speed up the process of phenotypic data collection, and provide more accurate and detailed trait data for plant biologists, plant breeders, and other agricultural scientists. Employing advanced UAS-based machine vision technologies in agricultural applications have the potential

  12. Natural interaction for unmanned systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taylor, Glenn; Purman, Ben; Schermerhorn, Paul; Garcia-Sampedro, Guillermo; Lanting, Matt; Quist, Michael; Kawatsu, Chris

    2015-05-01

    Military unmanned systems today are typically controlled by two methods: tele-operation or menu-based, search-andclick interfaces. Both approaches require the operator's constant vigilance: tele-operation requires constant input to drive the vehicle inch by inch; a menu-based interface requires eyes on the screen in order to search through alternatives and select the right menu item. In both cases, operators spend most of their time and attention driving and minding the unmanned systems rather than on being a warfighter. With these approaches, the platform and interface become more of a burden than a benefit. The availability of inexpensive sensor systems in products such as Microsoft Kinect™ or Nintendo Wii™ has resulted in new ways of interacting with computing systems, but new sensors alone are not enough. Developing useful and usable human-system interfaces requires understanding users and interaction in context: not just what new sensors afford in terms of interaction, but how users want to interact with these systems, for what purpose, and how sensors might enable those interactions. Additionally, the system needs to reliably make sense of the user's inputs in context, translate that interpretation into commands for the unmanned system, and give feedback to the user. In this paper, we describe an example natural interface for unmanned systems, called the Smart Interaction Device (SID), which enables natural two-way interaction with unmanned systems including the use of speech, sketch, and gestures. We present a few example applications SID to different types of unmanned systems and different kinds of interactions.

  13. 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.

  14. Unmanned operation of Hydro Power Plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Regula, E.

    2008-01-01

    Intentions to launch unmanned operation are no news, the very first occurred in Hydro Power Plants (HPP) at the time when the first computer technology was implemented into process of power generation, i.e. no later than in 1960 s . ENEL entering Slovenske elektrarne not only revived but significantly accelerated the implementation process of unmanned operation. Experience of ENEL says that unmanned operation means better reliability of the HPP and this is the priority. (author)

  15. Robust Control of an Ill-Conditioned Aircraft

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Breslin, S.G.; Tøffner-Clausen, S.; Grimble, M.J.

    1996-01-01

    A robust controller is designed for a linear model of an Advanced Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing (ASTOVL) aircraft at one operating point.......A robust controller is designed for a linear model of an Advanced Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing (ASTOVL) aircraft at one operating point....

  16. Autocalibrating vision guided navigation of unmanned air vehicles via tactical monocular cameras in GPS denied environments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Celik, Koray

    This thesis presents a novel robotic navigation strategy by using a conventional tactical monocular camera, proving the feasibility of using a monocular camera as the sole proximity sensing, object avoidance, mapping, and path-planning mechanism to fly and navigate small to medium scale unmanned rotary-wing aircraft in an autonomous manner. The range measurement strategy is scalable, self-calibrating, indoor-outdoor capable, and has been biologically inspired by the key adaptive mechanisms for depth perception and pattern recognition found in humans and intelligent animals (particularly bats), designed to assume operations in previously unknown, GPS-denied environments. It proposes novel electronics, aircraft, aircraft systems, systems, and procedures and algorithms that come together to form airborne systems which measure absolute ranges from a monocular camera via passive photometry, mimicking that of a human-pilot like judgement. The research is intended to bridge the gap between practical GPS coverage and precision localization and mapping problem in a small aircraft. In the context of this study, several robotic platforms, airborne and ground alike, have been developed, some of which have been integrated in real-life field trials, for experimental validation. Albeit the emphasis on miniature robotic aircraft this research has been tested and found compatible with tactical vests and helmets, and it can be used to augment the reliability of many other types of proximity sensors.

  17. High Assurance Control of Cyber-Physical Systems with Application to Unmanned Aircraft Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kwon, Cheolhyeon

    physical and logical process model of the CPS. Specifically, three main tasks are discussed in this presentation: (i) we first investigate diverse granularity of the interactions inside the CPS and propose feasible cyber attack models to characterize the compromised behavior of the CPS with various measures, from its severity to detectability; (ii) based on this risk information, our approach to securing the CPS addresses both monitoring of and high assurance control design against cyber attacks by developing on-line safety assessment and mitigation algorithms; and (iii) by extending the developed theories and methods from a single CPS to multiple CPSs, we examine the security and safety of multi-CPS network that are strongly dependent on the network topology, cooperation protocols between individual CPSs, etc. The effectiveness of the analytical findings is demonstrated and validated with illustrative examples, especially unmanned aircraft system (UAS) applications.

  18. Analysis of Unmanned Systems in Military Logistics

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-12-01

    performance measures: customer satisfaction , flexibility, visibility, and trust. If we apply this explanation of Li and Schulze (2011) to the military...unmanned systems, initially, we aimed to define current and proposed unmanned applications in civilian-sector logistics and current military...aimed to define current and proposed unmanned applications in civilian-sector logistics and current military logistics challenges. Then, justifying

  19. 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

  20. An Empirical Study of Overlapping Rotor Interference for a Small Unmanned Aircraft Propulsion System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mantas Brazinskas

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available The majority of research into full-sized helicopter overlapping propulsion systems involves co-axial setups (fully overlapped. Partially overlapping rotor setups (tandem, multirotor have received less attention, and empirical data produced over the years is limited. The increase in demand for compact small unmanned aircraft has exposed the need for empirical investigations of overlapping propulsion systems at a small scale (Reynolds Number < 250,000. Rotor-to-rotor interference at the static state in various overlapping propulsion system configurations was empirically measured using off the shelf T-Motor 16 inch × 5.4 inch rotors. A purpose-built test rig was manufactured allowing various overlapping rotor configurations to be tested. First, single rotor data was gathered, then performance measurements were taken at different thrust and tip speeds on a range of overlap configurations. The studies were conducted in a system torque balance mode. Overlapping rotor performance was compared to an isolated dual rotor propulsion system revealing interference factors which were compared to the momentum theory. Tests revealed that in the co-axial torque-balanced propulsion system the upper rotor outperforms the lower rotor at axial separation ratios between 0.05 and 0.85. Additionally, in the same region, thrust sharing between the two rotors changed by 21%; the upper rotor produced more thrust than the lower rotor at all times. Peak performance was recorded as a 22% efficiency loss when the axial separation ratio was greater than 0.25. The performance of a co-axial torque-balanced system reached a 27% efficiency loss when the axial separation ratio was equal to 0.05. The co-axial system swirl recovery effect was recorded to have a 4% efficiency gain in the axial separation ratio region between 0.05 and 0.85. The smallest efficiency loss (3% was recorded when the rotor separation ratio was between 0.95 and 1 (axial separation ratio was kept at 0

  1. Documentation of Sensory Information in the Operation of Unmanned Aircraft Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    2008-10-01

    spercepton.s.a. msmatch.between.vsual.and.vestbular.or.proproceptve. stmul.(Reed,.1977) . Advantages and disadvantages of sensory Modes G...and that are approved for IFR operations, a third attitude instrument must be provided that: (i) Is powered from a source independent of the...indicator, if the aircraft has a retractable landing gear. … B-17 (d) Instrument flight rules. For IFR flight, the following instruments and equipment

  2. Trace Gas Quantification with Small Unmanned Aerial Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schuyler, T. J.; Guzman, M. I.; Bailey, S.; Jacob, J.

    2017-12-01

    Measurements of atmospheric composition are generally performed with advanced instrumentation from ground stations using tall towers and weather balloons or with manned aircraft. Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) are a promising technology for atmospheric monitoring of trace atmospheric gases as they can bridge the gap between the regions of the atmospheric boundary layer measured by ground stations and aircraft. However, in general, the sophisticated instrumentation required for these measurements are heavy, preventing its deployment with small UAS. In order to successfully detect and quantify these gases, sensor packages aboard UAS must be lightweight, have low-power consumption, and possess limits of detection on the ppm scale or below with reasonably fast response times. Thus, a new generation of portable instrument is being developed in this work to meet these requirements employing new sensing packages. The cross sensitivity of these sensors to several gases is examined through laboratory testing of the instrument under variable environmental conditions prior to performing field measurements. Datasets include timestamps with position, temperature, relative humidity, pressure, along with variable mixing ratio values of important greenhouse gases. The work will present an analysis of the results gathered during authorized flights performed during the second CLOUD-MAP§ field campaign held in June 2017. §CLOUD-MAP: Collaboration Leading Operational UAS Development for Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics, a 4-year NSF funded effort.

  3. Optimal path planning for single and multiple aircraft using a reduced order formulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Twigg, Shannon S.

    High-flying unmanned reconnaissance and surveillance systems are now being used extensively in the United States military. Current development programs are producing demonstrations of next-generation unmanned flight systems that are designed to perform combat missions. Their use in first-strike combat operations will dictate operations in densely cluttered environments that include unknown obstacles and threats, and will require the use of terrain for masking. The demand for autonomy of operations in such environments dictates the need for advanced trajectory optimization capabilities. In addition, the ability to coordinate the movements of more than one aircraft in the same area is an emerging challenge. This thesis examines using an analytical reduced order formulation for trajectory generation for minimum time and terrain masking cases. First, pseudo-3D constant velocity equations of motion are used for path planning for a single vehicle. In addition, the inclusion of winds, moving targets and moving threats is considered. Then, this formulation is increased to using 3D equations of motion, both with a constant velocity and with a simplified varying velocity model. Next, the constant velocity equations of motion are expanded to include the simultaneous path planning of an unspecified number of vehicles, for both aircraft avoidance situations and formation flight cases.

  4. International Conference on Intelligent Unmanned Systems (ICIUS)

    CERN Document Server

    Kartidjo, Muljowidodo; Yoon, Kwang-Joon; Budiyono, Agus; Autonomous Control Systems and Vehicles : Intelligent Unmanned Systems

    2013-01-01

    The International Conference on Intelligent Unmanned Systems 2011 was organized by the International Society of Intelligent Unmanned Systems and locally by the Center for Bio-Micro Robotics Research at Chiba University, Japan. The event was the 7th conference continuing from previous conferences held in Seoul, Korea (2005, 2006), Bali, Indonesia (2007), Nanjing, China (2008), Jeju, Korea (2009), and Bali, Indonesia (2010). ICIUS 2011 focused on both theory and application, primarily covering the topics of robotics, autonomous vehicles, intelligent unmanned technologies, and biomimetics. We invited seven keynote speakers who dealt with related state-of-the-art technologies including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and micro air vehicles (MAVs), flapping wings (FWs), unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), underwater vehicles (UVs), bio-inspired robotics, advanced control, and intelligent systems, among others. This book is a collection of excellent papers that were updated after presentation at ICIUS2011. All papers ...

  5. Unmanned Mobile Monitoring for Nuclear Emergency Response

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Choi, YoungSoo; Park, JongWon; Kim, TaeWon; Jeong, KyungMin [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2016-10-15

    Severe accidents at nuclear power plant have led to significant consequences to the people, the environment or the facility. Therefore, the appropriate response is required for the mitigation of the accidents. In the past, most of responses were performed by human beings, but it was dangerous and risky. In this paper, we proposed unmanned mobile system for the monitoring of nuclear accident in order to response effectively. For the integrity of reactor cooling and containment building, reactor cooling pipe and hydrogen distribution monitoring with unmanned ground vehicle was designed. And, for the safety of workers, radiation distribution monitoring with unmanned aerial vehicle was designed. Unmanned mobile monitoring system was proposed to respond nuclear accidents effectively. Concept of reinforcing the integrity of RCS and containment building, and radiation distribution monitoring were described. RCS flow measuring, hydrogen distribution measuring and radiation monitoring deployed at unmanned vehicle were proposed. These systems could be a method for the preparedness of effective response of nuclear accidents.

  6. Development of a Geospatial Data-Sharing Method for Unmanned Vehicles Based on the Joint Architecture for Unmanned Systems (JAUS)

    Science.gov (United States)

    2005-08-01

    the Office of the Secretary of Defense chartered the Joint Architecture for Unmanned Ground Systems ( JAUGS ) Working Group to address these concerns...The JAUGS Working Group was tasked with developing an initial standard for interoperable unmanned ground systems. In 2002, the charter of the... JAUGS Working Group was 1 2 modified such that their efforts would extend to all unmanned systems, not only ground systems. The standard was

  7. A method to solve the aircraft magnetic field model basing on geomagnetic environment simulation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lin, Chunsheng; Zhou, Jian-jun; Yang, Zhen-yu

    2015-01-01

    In aeromagnetic survey, it is difficult to solve the aircraft magnetic field model by flying for some unman controlled or disposable aircrafts. So a model solving method on the ground is proposed. The method simulates the geomagnetic environment where the aircraft is flying and creates the background magnetic field samples which is the same as the magnetic field arose by aircraft’s maneuvering. Then the aircraft magnetic field model can be solved by collecting the magnetic field samples. The method to simulate the magnetic environment and the method to control the errors are presented as well. Finally, an experiment is done for verification. The result shows that the model solving precision and stability by the method is well. The calculated model parameters by the method in one district can be used in worldwide districts as well. - Highlights: • A method to solve the aircraft magnetic field model on the ground is proposed. • The method solves the model by simulating dynamic geomagnetic environment as in the real flying. • The way to control the error of the method was analyzed. • An experiment is done for verification

  8. Formation keeping of unmanned ground vehicles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Muangmin Kamonwan

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Controlling motions of an unmanned ground vehicle becomes more popular in real world practices. Its application is useful for household chores, military services, medical purposes, and industrial revolutions, etc. An analysis of motions by using the Fundamental Equations of Constrained Motion (FECM is one effective tool to determine the motions. Its conceptualization is done in three-step procedure as follows: (I Determining an unconstrained motion (II Assigning constraint equations and (III Computing a constrained motion. The equations of motion obtained are expressed as liner functions of acceleration. Then other kinematical information of the unmanned ground vehicles can be obtained by integration its acceleration. In this work, the FECM is used as a tool to analyze motions of a group of unmanned ground vehicles in various forms. The simulation results show that control forces obtained from the approach can regulate motions of unmanned ground vehicles to maneuver in desired formations.

  9. Prospective Architectures for Onboard vs Cloud-Based Decision Making for Unmanned Aerial Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sankararaman, Shankar; Teubert, Christopher

    2017-01-01

    This paper investigates propsective architectures for decision-making in unmanned aerial systems. When these unmanned vehicles operate in urban environments, there are several sources of uncertainty that affect their behavior, and decision-making algorithms need to be robust to account for these different sources of uncertainty. It is important to account for several risk-factors that affect the flight of these unmanned systems, and facilitate decision-making by taking into consideration these various risk-factors. In addition, there are several technical challenges related to autonomous flight of unmanned aerial systems; these challenges include sensing, obstacle detection, path planning and navigation, trajectory generation and selection, etc. Many of these activities require significant computational power and in many situations, all of these activities need to be performed in real-time. In order to efficiently integrate these activities, it is important to develop a systematic architecture that can facilitate real-time decision-making. Four prospective architectures are discussed in this paper; on one end of the spectrum, the first architecture considers all activities/computations being performed onboard the vehicle whereas on the other end of the spectrum, the fourth and final architecture considers all activities/computations being performed in the cloud, using a new service known as Prognostics as a Service that is being developed at NASA Ames Research Center. The four different architectures are compared, their advantages and disadvantages are explained and conclusions are presented.

  10. 77 FR 14319 - Unmanned Aircraft System Test Sites

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-03-09

    ... their numbers and uses are growing dramatically. In the United States alone, approximately 50 companies... crisis situations. They currently range in size from wingspans of six inches to over 240 feet; and can... and climatic diversity; (B) Take into consideration the location of ground infrastructure and research...

  11. Analysis of Hybrid-Electric Propulsion System Designs for Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-03-01

    small EM to provide extra power during acceleration and recharge during deceleration through regenerative braking . Power assist systems are similar...climbing (Fig. 4).18 Like automotive hybrids, the aircraft utilizes a form of regenerative braking by charging its battery pack through propeller...desirable.”5 The inherent risks of all three ISR mission categories lead towards small UAS being the best option in many cases to meet the military’s

  12. Collaborative Unmanned Vehicles for Maritime Domain Awareness

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Healey, A. J; Horner, D. P; Kragelund, S. P

    2005-01-01

    Unmanned vehicles are becoming a critical component of military operations. As the vehicles develop in capability, there will be a trend for heterogeneous classes of unmanned vehicles to be able to work in a more collaborative fashion...

  13. An adaptable, low cost test-bed for unmanned vehicle systems research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goppert, James M.

    2011-12-01

    An unmanned vehicle systems test-bed has been developed. The test-bed has been designed to accommodate hardware changes and various vehicle types and algorithms. The creation of this test-bed allows research teams to focus on algorithm development and employ a common well-tested experimental framework. The ArduPilotOne autopilot was developed to provide the necessary level of abstraction for multiple vehicle types. The autopilot was also designed to be highly integrated with the Mavlink protocol for Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) communication. Mavlink is the native protocol for QGroundControl, a MAV ground control program. Features were added to QGroundControl to accommodate outdoor usage. Next, the Mavsim toolbox was developed for Scicoslab to allow hardware-in-the-loop testing, control design and analysis, and estimation algorithm testing and verification. In order to obtain linear models of aircraft dynamics, the JSBSim flight dynamics engine was extended to use a probabilistic Nelder-Mead simplex method. The JSBSim aircraft dynamics were compared with wind-tunnel data collected. Finally, a structured methodology for successive loop closure control design is proposed. This methodology is demonstrated along with the rest of the test-bed tools on a quadrotor, a fixed wing RC plane, and a ground vehicle. Test results for the ground vehicle are presented.

  14. Controlling Unmanned Vehicles : the Human Factors Solution

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Erp, J.B.F. van

    2000-01-01

    Recent developments and experiences have proven the usefulness and potential of Unmanned Vehicles (UVs). Emerging technologies enable new missions, broadening the applicability of UVs from simple remote spies towards unmanned combat vehicles carrying lethal weapons. However, despite the emerging

  15. 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...

  16. Subscale Flight Testing for Aircraft Loss of Control: Accomplishments and Future Directions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cox, David E.; Cunningham, Kevin; Jordan, Thomas L.

    2012-01-01

    Subscale flight-testing provides a means to validate both dynamic models and mitigation technologies in the high-risk flight conditions associated with aircraft loss of control. The Airborne Subscale Transport Aircraft Research (AirSTAR) facility was designed to be a flexible and efficient research facility to address this type of flight-testing. Over the last several years (2009-2011) it has been used to perform 58 research flights with an unmanned, remotely-piloted, dynamically-scaled airplane. This paper will present an overview of the facility and its architecture and summarize the experimental data collected. All flights to date have been conducted within visual range of a safety observer. Current plans for the facility include expanding the test volume to altitudes and distances well beyond visual range. The architecture and instrumentation changes associated with this upgrade will also be presented.

  17. 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.

  18. 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.

  19. Responsible Design of Drones and Drone Services: Legal Perspective Synthetic Report

    OpenAIRE

    Du, Haomiao; Heldeweg, Michiel A.

    2017-01-01

    The term “drone” is the common language of all types of aircraft without a pilot on board and their ancillary components, such as a control station, if applicable. In addition to the common term “drone”, other terms and acronyms, among others, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), Unmanned Aircraft (UA), Pilotless Aircraft and Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) are also widely used in publications. In the past 5 years, drones have demonstrated significant growth in civil market as not only a leisure pr...

  20. Analysis of Radar and ADS-B Influences on Aircraft Detect and Avoid (DAA Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    William Semke

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Detect and Avoid (DAA systems are complex communication and locational technologies comprising multiple independent components. DAA technologies support communications between ground-based and space-based operations with aircraft. Both manned and unmanned aircraft systems (UAS rely on DAA communication and location technologies for safe flight operations. We examined the occurrence and duration of communication losses between radar and automatic dependent surveillance–broadcast (ADS-B systems with aircraft operating in proximate airspace using data collected during actual flight operations. Our objectives were to identify the number and duration of communication losses for both radar and ADS-B systems that occurred within a discrete time period. We also investigated whether other unique communication behavior and anomalies were occurring, such as reported elevation deviations. We found that loss of communication with both radar and ADS-B systems does occur, with variation in the length of communication losses. We also discovered that other unexpected behaviors were occurring with communications. Although our data were gathered from manned aircraft, there are also implications for UAS that are operating within active airspaces. We are unaware of any previously published work on occurrence and duration of communication losses between radar and ADS-B systems.

  1. Combat aircraft noise

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sgarbozza, M.; Depitre, A.

    1992-04-01

    A discussion of the characteristics and the noise levels of combat aircraft and of a transport aircraft in taking off and landing are presented. Some methods of noise reduction are discussed, including the following: operational anti-noise procedures; and concepts of future engines (silent post-combustion and variable cycle). Some measurement results concerning the noise generated in flight at great speeds and low altitude will also be examined. Finally, the protection of the environment of French air bases against noise will be described and the possibilities of regulation examined.

  2. Ice nucleating particles over the Eastern Mediterranean measured at ground and by unmanned aircraft systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weber, Daniel; Schrod, Jann; Drücke, Jaqueline; Keleshis, Christos; Pikridas, Michael; Ebert, Martin; Cvetkovic, Bojan; Nickovic, Slobodan; Baars, Holger; Marinou, Eleni; Vrekoussis, Mihalis; Sciare, Jean; Mihalopoulos, Nikos; Curtius, Joachim; Bingemer, Heinz G.

    2017-04-01

    During the intensive INUIT-BACCHUS-ACTRIS field campaign focusing on aerosols, clouds and ice nucleation in the Eastern Mediterranean in April 2016, we have measured the abundance of ice nucleating particles (INP) in the lower troposphere both with unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) as well as from the ground. Aerosol samples were collected by miniaturized electrostatic precipitators onboard the UAS and were analyzed immediately after collection on site in the ice nucleus counter FRIDGE for INP active at -20˚ C to -30˚ C in the deposition/condensation mode (INPD). Immersion freezing INP (INPI) were sampled on membrane filters and were analysed in aqueous extracts by the drop freezing method on the cold stage of FRIDGE. Ground samples were collected at the Cyprus Atmospheric Observatory (CAO) in Agia Marina Xyliatou (Latitude; 35˚ 2' 8" N; Longitude: 33˚ 3' 26" E; Altitude: 532 m a.s.l.). During the one-month campaign, we encountered a series of Saharan dust plumes that traveled at several kilometers altitude. Here we present INP data from 42 individual flights, together with OPC aerosol number concentrations, backscatter and depolarization retrievals from the Polly-XT Raman Lidar, dust concentrations derived by the dust transport model DREAM (Dust Regional Atmospheric Model), and results from scanning electron microscopy. The effect of the dust plumes is reflected by the coincidence of INP with the particulate mass (PM), the Lidar retrievals and the predicted dust mass of the model. This suggests that mineral dust or a constituent related to dust was a major contributor to the ice nucleating properties of the aerosol. Peak concentrations of above 100 INP std.l-1 were measured at -30˚ C. The INPD concentration in elevated plumes was on average a factor of 10 higher than at ground level. The INPI concentration at ground also agreed with PM levels and exceeded the ground-based INPD concentration by more than one order of magnitude. Since desert dust is transported

  3. Pathfinder-Plus aircraft in flight

    Science.gov (United States)

    1998-01-01

    The Pathfinder-Plus solar-powered aircraft is shown taking off from a runway, then flying at low altitude over the ocean. The vehicle, which looks like a flying ruler, operates at low airspeed. Among the missions proposed for a solar-powered aircraft are communications relay, atmospheric studies, pipeline monitoring and gas leak detection, environmental monitoring using thermal and radar images, and disaster relief and monitoring.

  4. Optimization of the Flight Path of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vasyl Myklukha

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available The article describes the features of optimizing the flight path of an unmanned aerial vehicle. The paper analyzes the composition and designation of main equipment and payload of unmanned aerial vehicle. In particular, attention is drawn to the basic requirements that relate to the unmanned aerial vehicle today.

  5. A REVIEW OF TACTICAL UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE DESIGN STUDIES

    OpenAIRE

    Coban, Sezer; Oktay, Tugrul

    2017-01-01

    In this study, a literaturesearch was conducted on tactical unmanned aerial vehicles. First of all, it wasclassified as an unmanned aerial vehicle. It is mentioned about thecharacteristics of ZANKA-III, which is highly autonomous, passive and activemorphing, aerodynamically perfect, tactical unmanned aerial vehicle (TUAV)ZANKA-III, supported by TUBITAK's 1001 Ardeb program 115M603 by TUBITAK and itis mentioned that they have superior characteristics from other tacticalunmanned aerial veh...

  6. Aircraft Fault Detection Using Real-Time Frequency Response Estimation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grauer, Jared A.

    2016-01-01

    A real-time method for estimating time-varying aircraft frequency responses from input and output measurements was demonstrated. The Bat-4 subscale airplane was used with NASA Langley Research Center's AirSTAR unmanned aerial flight test facility to conduct flight tests and collect data for dynamic modeling. Orthogonal phase-optimized multisine inputs, summed with pilot stick and pedal inputs, were used to excite the responses. The aircraft was tested in its normal configuration and with emulated failures, which included a stuck left ruddervator and an increased command path latency. No prior knowledge of a dynamic model was used or available for the estimation. The longitudinal short period dynamics were investigated in this work. Time-varying frequency responses and stability margins were tracked well using a 20 second sliding window of data, as compared to a post-flight analysis using output error parameter estimation and a low-order equivalent system model. This method could be used in a real-time fault detection system, or for other applications of dynamic modeling such as real-time verification of stability margins during envelope expansion tests.

  7. Delegation control of multiple unmanned systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flaherty, Susan R.; Shively, Robert J.

    2010-04-01

    Maturing technologies and complex payloads coupled with a future objective to reduce the logistics burden of current unmanned aerial systems (UAS) operations require a change to the 2-crew employment paradigm. Increased automation and operator supervisory control of unmanned systems have been advocated to meet the objective of reducing the crew requirements, while managing future technologies. Specifically, a delegation control employment strategy has resulted in reduced workload and higher situation awareness for single operators controlling multiple unmanned systems in empirical studies1,2. Delegation control is characterized by the ability for an operator to call a single "play" that initiates prescribed default actions for each vehicle and associated sensor related to a common mission goal. Based upon the effectiveness of delegation control in simulation, the U.S. Army Aeroflightdynamics Directorate (AFDD) developed a Delegation Control (DelCon) operator interface with voice recognition implementation for play selection, real-time play modification, and play status with automation transparency to enable single operator control of multiple unmanned systems in flight. AFDD successfully demonstrated delegation control in a Troops-in-Contact mission scenario at Ft. Ord in 2009. This summary showcases the effort as a beneficial advance in single operator control of multiple UAS.

  8. 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

  9. Vision enhanced navigation for unmanned systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wampler, Brandon Loy

    A vision based simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) algorithm is evaluated for use on unmanned systems. SLAM is a technique used by a vehicle to build a map of an environment while concurrently keeping track of its location within the map, without a priori knowledge. The work in this thesis is focused on using SLAM as a navigation solution when global positioning system (GPS) service is degraded or temporarily unavailable. Previous work on unmanned systems that lead up to the determination that a better navigation solution than GPS alone is first presented. This previous work includes control of unmanned systems, simulation, and unmanned vehicle hardware testing. The proposed SLAM algorithm follows the work originally developed by Davidson et al. in which they dub their algorithm MonoSLAM [1--4]. A new approach using the Pyramidal Lucas-Kanade feature tracking algorithm from Intel's OpenCV (open computer vision) library is presented as a means of keeping correct landmark correspondences as the vehicle moves through the scene. Though this landmark tracking method is unusable for long term SLAM due to its inability to recognize revisited landmarks, as opposed to the Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) and Speeded Up Robust Features (SURF), its computational efficiency makes it a good candidate for short term navigation between GPS position updates. Additional sensor information is then considered by fusing INS and GPS information into the SLAM filter. The SLAM system, in its vision only and vision/IMU form, is tested on a table top, in an open room, and finally in an outdoor environment. For the outdoor environment, a form of the slam algorithm that fuses vision, IMU, and GPS information is tested. The proposed SLAM algorithm, and its several forms, are implemented in C++ using an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF). Experiments utilizing a live video feed from a webcam are performed. The different forms of the filter are compared and conclusions are made on

  10. 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.

  11. Quasi-ADS-B Based UAV Conflict Detection and Resolution to Manned Aircraft

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chin E. Lin

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available A Conflict Detection and Resolution (CD&R system for manned/unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV based on Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B concept is designed and verified in this paper. The 900 MHz XBee-Pro is selected as data transponder to broadcast flight information among participating aircraft in omnirange. Standard Compact Position Report (CPR format packet data are automatically broadcasted by ID sequencing under Quasi-ADS-B mechanism. Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA monitoring checks the designated time slot and reallocates the conflict ID. This mechanism allows the transponder to effectively share data with multiple aircraft in near airspace. The STM32f103 microprocessor is designed to handle RF, GPS, and flight data with Windows application on manned aircraft and ground control station simultaneously. Different conflict detection and collision avoidance algorithms can be implemented into the system to ensure flight safety. The proposed UAV/CD&R using Quasi-ADS-B transceiver is tested using ultralight aircraft flying at 100–120 km/hr speed in small airspace for mission simulation. The proposed hardware is also useful to additional applications to mountain hikers for emergency search and rescue. The fundamental function by the proposed UAV/CD&R using Quasi-ADS-B is verified with effective signal broadcasting for surveillance and efficient collision alert and avoidance performance to low altitude flights.

  12. 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.

  13. Autonomous Planning and Replanning for Mine-Sweeping Unmanned Underwater Vehicles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gaines, Daniel M.

    2010-01-01

    This software generates high-quality plans for carrying out mine-sweeping activities under resource constraints. The autonomous planning and replanning system for unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) takes as input a set of prioritized mine-sweep regions, and a specification of available UUV resources including available battery energy, data storage, and time available for accomplishing the mission. Mine-sweep areas vary in location, size of area to be swept, and importance of the region. The planner also works with a model of the UUV, as well as a model of the power consumption of the vehicle when idle and when moving.

  14. Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) for high resolution topography and monitoring: civil protection purposes on hydrogeological contexts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bertacchini, Eleonora; Castagnetti, Cristina; Corsini, Alessandro; De Cono, Stefano

    2014-10-01

    The proposed work concerns the analysis of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS), also known as drones, UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) or UAS (Unmanned Aerial System), on hydrogeological contexts for civil protection purposes, underlying the advantages of using a flexible and relatively low cost system. The capabilities of photogrammetric RPAS multi-sensors platform were examined in term of mapping, creation of orthophotos, 3D models generation, data integration into a 3D GIS (Geographic Information System) and validation through independent techniques such as GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System). The RPAS used (multirotor OktoXL, of the Mikrokopter) was equipped with a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver, digital cameras for photos and videos, an inertial navigation system, a radio device for communication and telemetry, etc. This innovative way of viewing and understanding the environment showed huge potentialities for the study of the territory, and due to its characteristics could be well integrated with aircraft surveys. However, such characteristics seem to give priority to local applications for rigorous and accurate analysis, while it remains a means of expeditious investigation for more extended areas. According to civil protection purposes, the experimentation was carried out by simulating operational protocols, for example for inspection, surveillance, monitoring, land mapping, georeferencing methods (with or without Ground Control Points - GCP) based on high resolution topography (2D and 3D information).

  15. Estimating Soil Displacement from Timber Extraction Trails in Steep Terrain: Application of an Unmanned Aircraft for 3D Modelling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marek Pierzchała

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Skid trails constructed for timber extraction in steep terrain constitute a serious environmental concern if not well planned, executed and ameliorated. Carrying out post-harvest surveys in monitoring constructed trails in such terrain is an onerous task for forest administrators, as hundreds of meters need to be surveyed per site, and the quantification of parameters and volumes is largely based on assumptions of trail symmetry and terrain uniformity. In this study, aerial imagery captured from a multi-rotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle was used in generating a detailed post-harvest terrain model which included all skid trails. This was then compared with an Airborne Laser Scanning derived pre-harvest terrain model and the dimensions, slopes and cut-and-fill volumes associated with the skid trails were determined. The overall skid trail length was 954 m, or 381 m·ha−1 with segments varying from 40–60 m, inclinations from 3.9% to 9.6%, and cut volumes, from 1.7 to 3.7 m3 per running meter. The methods used in this work can be used in rapidly assessing the extent of disturbance and erosion risk on a wide range of sites. The multi-rotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV was found to be highly suited to the task, given the relatively small size of harvested stands, their shape and their location in the mountainous terrain.

  16. 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.

  17. Research on Aerodynamic Characteristics of Composite powered Unmanned Airship

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Yu; Wang, Yun; Wang, Lu; Ma, Chengyu; Xia, Jun

    2017-10-01

    The main structure of the composite powered unmanned airship is consists of airbags and four-rotor system, which airbag increases the available lift, and has more advantages in terms of load and flight when compared with the traditional four-rotor. In order to compare the aerodynamic performance of the composite powered unmanned airship and the traditional four-rotor, the SIMPLE algorithm and the RNG k-epsilon model method are be used. The energy consumption of the composite powered unmanned airship is lesser than the traditional four-rotor under the same load and range was found.

  18. Diagnosis of Wing Icing Through Lift and Drag Coefficient Change Detection for Small Unmanned Aircraft

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sørensen, Kim Lynge; Blanke, Mogens; Johansen, Tor Arne

    2015-01-01

    This paper address the issue of structural change, caused by ice accretion, on UAVs by utilising a Neyman Pearson (NP) based statistical change detection approach, for the identification of structural changes of fixed wing UAV airfoils. A structural analysis is performed on the nonlinear aircraft...

  19. Autonomous search and surveillance with small fixed wing aircraft

    Science.gov (United States)

    McGee, Timothy Garland

    Small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have the potential to act as low cost tools in a variety of both civilian and military applications including traffic monitoring, border patrol, and search and rescue. While most current operational UAV systems require human operators, advances in autonomy will allow these systems to reach their full potential as sensor platforms. This dissertation specifically focuses on developing advanced control, path planning, search, and image processing techniques that allow small fixed wing aircraft to autonomously collect data. The problems explored were motivated by experience with the development and experimental flight testing of a fleet of small autonomous fixed wing aircraft. These issues, which have not been fully addressed in past work done on ground vehicles or autonomous helicopters, include the influence of wind and turning rate constraints, the non-negligible velocity of ground targets relative to the aircraft velocity, and limitations on sensor size and processing power on small vehicles. Several contributions for the autonomous operation of small fixed wing aircraft are presented. Several sliding surface controllers are designed which extend previous techniques to include variable sliding surface coefficients and the use of spatial vehicle dynamics. These advances eliminate potential singularities in the control laws to follow spatially defined paths and allow smooth transition between controllers. The optimal solution for the problem of path planning through an ordered set of points for an aircraft with a bounded turning rate in the presence of a constant wind is then discussed. Path planning strategies are also explored to guarantee that a searcher will travel within sensing distance of a mobile ground target. This work assumes only a maximum velocity of the target and is designed to succeed for any possible path of the target. Closed-loop approximations of both the path planning and search techniques, using the sliding

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

  1. SILHIL Replication of Electric Aircraft Powertrain Dynamics and Inner-Loop Control for V&V of System Health Management Routines

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bole, Brian; Teubert, Christopher Allen; Cuong Chi, Quach; Hogge, Edward; Vazquez, Sixto; Goebel, Kai; George, Vachtsevanos

    2013-01-01

    Software-in-the-loop and Hardware-in-the-loop testing of failure prognostics and decision making tools for aircraft systems will facilitate more comprehensive and cost-effective testing than what is practical to conduct with flight tests. A framework is described for the offline recreation of dynamic loads on simulated or physical aircraft powertrain components based on a real-time simulation of airframe dynamics running on a flight simulator, an inner-loop flight control policy executed by either an autopilot routine or a human pilot, and a supervisory fault management control policy. The creation of an offline framework for verifying and validating supervisory failure prognostics and decision making routines is described for the example of battery charge depletion failure scenarios onboard a prototype electric unmanned aerial vehicle.

  2. ARM Aerial Facility ArcticShark Unmanned Aerial System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schmid, B.; Hubbell, M.; Mei, F.; Carroll, P.; Mendoza, A.; Ireland, C.; Lewko, K.

    2017-12-01

    The TigerShark Block 3 XP-AR "ArcticShark" Unmanned Aerial System (UAS), developed and manufactured by Navmar Applied Sciences Corporation (NASC), is a single-prop, 60 hp rotary-engine platform with a wingspan of 6.5 m and Maximum Gross Takeoff Weight of 295 Kg. The ArcticShark is owned by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and has been operated by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) since March 2017. The UAS will serve as an airborne atmospheric research observatory for DOE ARM, and, once fully operational, can be requested through ARM's annual call for proposals. The Arctic Shark is anticipated to measure a wide range of radiative, aerosol, and cloud properties using a variable instrument payload weighing up to 46 Kg. SATCOM-equipped, it is capable of taking measurements up to altitudes of 5.5 Km over ranges of up to 500 Km. The ArcticShark operates at airspeeds of 30 to 40 m/s, making it capable of slow sampling. With a full fuel load, its endurance exceeds 8 hours. The aircraft and its Mobile Operations Center (MOC) have been hardened specifically for operations in colder temperatures.ArcticShark's design facilitates rapid integration of various types of payloads. 2500 W of its 4000 W electrical systems is dedicated to payload servicing. It has an interior payload volume of almost 85 L and four wing-mounted pylons capable of carrying external probes. Its payload bay volume, electrical power, payload capacity, and flight characteristics enable the ArcticShark to accommodate multiple combinations of payloads in numerous configurations. Many instruments will be provided by the ARM Aerial Facility (AAF), but other organizations may eventually propose instrumentation for specific campaigns. AAF-provided measurement capabilities will include the following atmospheric state and thermodynamics: temperature, pressure, winds; gases: H2O and CO2; up- and down-welling broadband infrared and visible radiation; surface temperature; aerosol number concentration

  3. Small Aircraft Transportation System Higher Volume Operations Concept

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abbott, Terence S.; Consiglio, Maria C.; Baxley, Brian T.; Williams, Daniel M.; Jones, Kenneth M.; Adams, Catherine A.

    2006-01-01

    This document defines the Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) Higher Volume Operations concept. The general philosophy underlying this concept is the establishment of a newly defined area of flight operations called a Self-Controlled Area (SCA). Within the SCA, pilots would take responsibility for separation assurance between their aircraft and other similarly equipped aircraft. This document also provides details for a number of off-nominal and emergency procedures which address situations that could be expected to occur in a future SCA. The details for this operational concept along with a description of candidate aircraft systems to support this concept are provided.

  4. Advanced technology for future regional transport aircraft

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, L. J.

    1982-01-01

    In connection with a request for a report coming from a U.S. Senate committee, NASA formed a Small Transport Aircraft Technology (STAT) team in 1978. STAT was to obtain information concerning the technical improvements in commuter aircraft that would likely increase their public acceptance. Another area of study was related to questions regarding the help which could be provided by NASA's aeronautical research and development program to commuter aircraft manufacturers with respect to the solution of technical problems. Attention is given to commuter airline growth, current commuter/region aircraft and new aircraft in development, prospects for advanced technology commuter/regional transports, and potential benefits of advanced technology. A list is provided of a number of particular advances appropriate to small transport aircraft, taking into account small gas turbine engine component technology, propeller technology, three-dimensional wing-design technology, airframe aerodynamics/propulsion integration, and composite structure materials.

  5. Towards Real-time, On-board, Hardware-Supported Sensor and Software Health Management for Unmanned Aerial Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schumann, Johann; Rozier, Kristin Y.; Reinbacher, Thomas; Mengshoel, Ole J.; Mbaya, Timmy; Ippolito, Corey

    2013-01-01

    Unmanned aerial systems (UASs) can only be deployed if they can effectively complete their missions and respond to failures and uncertain environmental conditions while maintaining safety with respect to other aircraft as well as humans and property on the ground. In this paper, we design a real-time, on-board system health management (SHM) capability to continuously monitor sensors, software, and hardware components for detection and diagnosis of failures and violations of safety or performance rules during the flight of a UAS. Our approach to SHM is three-pronged, providing: (1) real-time monitoring of sensor and/or software signals; (2) signal analysis, preprocessing, and advanced on the- fly temporal and Bayesian probabilistic fault diagnosis; (3) an unobtrusive, lightweight, read-only, low-power realization using Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) that avoids overburdening limited computing resources or costly re-certification of flight software due to instrumentation. Our implementation provides a novel approach of combining modular building blocks, integrating responsive runtime monitoring of temporal logic system safety requirements with model-based diagnosis and Bayesian network-based probabilistic analysis. We demonstrate this approach using actual data from the NASA Swift UAS, an experimental all-electric aircraft.

  6. 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.

  7. 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...

  8. In situ Volcanic Plume Monitoring with small Unmanned Aerial Systems for Cal/Val of Satellite Remote Sensing Data: CARTA-UAV 2013 Mission (Invited)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diaz, J. A.; Pieri, D. C.; Bland, G.; Fladeland, M. M.

    2013-12-01

    The development of small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) with a variety of sensor packages, enables in situ and proximal remote sensing measurements of volcanic plumes. Using Costa Rican volcanoes as a Natural Laboratory, the University of Costa Rica as host institution, in collaboration with four NASA centers, have started an initiative to develop low-cost, field-deployable airborne platforms to perform volcanic gas & ash plume research, and in-situ volcanic monitoring in general, in conjunction with orbital assets and state-of-the-art models of plume transport and composition. Several gas sensors have been deployed into the active plume of Turrialba Volcano including a miniature mass spectrometer, and an electrochemical SO2 sensor system with temperature, pressure, relative humidity, and GPS sensors. Several different airborne platforms such as manned research aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, tethered balloons, as well as man-portable in-situ ground truth systems are being used for this research. Remote sensing data is also collected from the ASTER and OMI spaceborne instruments and compared with in situ data. The CARTA-UAV 2013 Mission deployment and follow up measurements successfully demonstrated a path to study and visualize gaseous volcanic emissions using mass spectrometer and gas sensor based instrumentation in harsh environment conditions to correlate in situ ground/airborne data with remote sensing satellite data for calibration and validation purposes. The deployment of such technology improves on our current capabilities to detect, analyze, monitor, model, and predict hazards presented to aircraft by volcanogenic ash clouds from active and impending volcanic eruptions.

  9. Parabolic Flights @ Home. An Unmanned Air Vehicle for Short-Duration Low-Gravity Experiments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hofmeister, Paul Gerke; Blum, Jürgen

    2011-02-01

    We developed an unmanned air vehicle (UAV) suitable for small parabolic-flight experiments. The flight speed of 100 m s - 1 is sufficient for zero-gravity parabolas of 16 s duration. The flight path's length of slightly more than 1 km and 400 m difference in altitude is suitable for ground controlled or supervised flights. Since this fits within the limits set for model aircraft, no additional clearance is required for operation. Our UAV provides a cost-effective platform readily available for low-g experiments, which can be performed locally without major preparation. A payload with a size of up to 0.9 ×0.3 ×0.3 m3 and a mass of ˜5 kg can be exposed to 0 g 0-5 g 0, with g 0 being the gravitational acceleration of the Earth. Flight-duration depends on the desired acceleration level, e.g. 17 s at 0.17 g 0 (lunar surface level) or 21 s at 0.38 g 0 (Martian surface level). The aircraft has a mass of 25 kg (including payload) and a wingspan of 2 m. It is powered by a jet engine with an exhaust speed of 450 m s - 1 providing a thrust of 180 N. The parabolic-flight curves are automated by exploiting the advantages of sophisticated micro-electronics to minimize acceleration errors.

  10. Determination of Power Required through Accelerated Flight with Application to Unmanned Vehicles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soltmann, Lars Michael

    Power required analysis is an important element of aircraft performance. The primary method for measuring this parameter is the classic PIW-VIW (power and velocity independent of weight) method which was developed in the first half of the 20th century. This method was originally developed for use with manned aircraft and therefore has some shortcomings when applied to unmanned aircraft, specifically those that are remotely piloted. The proposed method estimates the lift and drag models using the maximum likelihood technique which was applied to data acquired through acceleration and deceleration runs under the assumption that the pitch rate and lateral dynamics are negligible. The acceleration runs were performed by applying full throttle while the aircraft was flying just above the stall velocity and allowing it to naturally accelerate to maximum level flight velocity. The deceleration runs were performed in the opposite manner where the throttle was set to zero while the aircraft was ying at maximum velocity and allowed to naturally slow down until stall was reached. The collected data is reduced using the PIW-VIW technique whereby a single power curve is generated that is independent of aircraft weight and air density. Simulations indicate that deviations from the designed maneuvers, such as altitude changes and low pitch rates, are acceptable and do not change the resulting power curves. A hard limit on what constitutes low pitch rate was difficult to establish as system noise played a large role in determining the signal-to-noise ratio limit on the pitch rate. However, based on a model analysis it was concluded that the pitch rate could be safely ignored without consequences to the results. A low cost Raspberry Pi data collection system was designed for use on two test aircraft, the commercially available Nexstar and a reconfigurable research aircraft called Astraeus. Data points using the classic PIW-VIW method were collected during the flight test program

  11. DETERMINING ELECTRONIC AND CYBER ATTACK RISK LEVEL FOR UNMANNED AIRCRAFT IN A CONTESTED ENVIRONMENT

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-08-01

    facilitated by the luxury of operating in generally permissive airspace, facing little resistance from insurgent forces. Along with the increase of UAS...and would be almost exclusively cyber in nature. In this case, an enemy could target the highest levels of national C2 no matter where they lie... exclusively controlled by pilots in the cockpit, as are tankers, transports, and battlefield C2 aircraft. UAS assets can fill a variety of roles in this

  12. Remote sensing and actuation using unmanned vehicles

    CERN Document Server

    Chao, Haiyang

    2012-01-01

    Unmanned systems and robotics technologies have become very popular recently owing to their ability to replace human beings in dangerous, tedious, or repetitious jobs. This book fill the gap in the field between research and real-world applications, providing scientists and engineers with essential information on how to design and employ networked unmanned vehicles for remote sensing and distributed control purposes. Target scenarios include environmental or agricultural applications such as river/reservoir surveillance, wind profiling measurement, and monitoring/control of chemical leaks.

  13. Cooperative path planning of unmanned aerial vehicles

    CERN Document Server

    Tsourdos, Antonios; Shanmugavel, Madhavan

    2010-01-01

    An invaluable addition to the literature on UAV guidance and cooperative control, Cooperative Path Planning of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles is a dedicated, practical guide to computational path planning for UAVs. One of the key issues facing future development of UAVs is path planning: it is vital that swarm UAVs/ MAVs can cooperate together in a coordinated manner, obeying a pre-planned course but able to react to their environment by communicating and cooperating. An optimized path is necessary in order to ensure a UAV completes its mission efficiently, safely, and successfully. Focussing on the path planning of multiple UAVs for simultaneous arrival on target, Cooperative Path Planning of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles also offers coverage of path planners that are applicable to land, sea, or space-borne vehicles. Cooperative Path Planning of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles is authored by leading researchers from Cranfield University and provides an authoritative resource for researchers, academics and engineers working in...

  14. Intelligent autonomy for unmanned naval systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steinberg, Marc

    2006-05-01

    This paper provides an overview of the development and demonstration of intelligent autonomy technologies for control of heterogeneous unmanned naval air and sea vehicles and describes some of the current limitations of such technologies. The focus is on modular technologies that support highly automated retasking and fully autonomous dynamic replanning for up to ten heterogeneous unmanned systems based on high-level mission objectives, priorities, constraints, and Rules-of-Engagement. A key aspect of the demonstrations is incorporating frequent naval operator evaluations in order to gain better understanding of the integrated man/machine system and its tactical utility. These evaluations help ensure that the automation can provide information to the user in a meaningful way and that the user has a sufficient level of control and situation awareness to task the system as needed to complete complex mission tasks. Another important aspect of the program is examination of the interactions of higher-level autonomy algorithms with other relevant components that would be needed within the decision-making and control loops. Examples of these are vision and other sensor processing algorithms, sensor fusion, obstacle avoidance, and other lower level vehicle autonomous navigation, guidance, and control functions. Initial experiments have been completed using medium and high-fidelity vehicle simulations in a virtual warfare environment and inexpensive surrogate vehicles in flight and in-water demonstrations. Simulation experiments included integration of multi-vehicle task allocation, dynamic replanning under constraints, lower level autonomous vehicle control, automatic assessment of the impact of contingencies on plans, management of situation awareness data, operator alert management, and a mixed-initiative operator interface. In-water demonstrations of a maritime situation awareness capability were completed in both a river and a harbor environment using unmanned surface

  15. The Application of mu Analysis and Synthesis to the Control of an ASTOVL Aircraft

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tøffner-Clausen, S.; Andersen, Palle; Breslin, S.G.

    1995-01-01

    A robust controller is designed for a linear model of an Advanced Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing (ASTOVL) aircraft at one operating point.......A robust controller is designed for a linear model of an Advanced Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing (ASTOVL) aircraft at one operating point....

  16. Commercial multicopter unmanned aircraft system as a tool for early stage forest survey after wind damage

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mokros, Martin; Vybostok, Jozef; Merganic, Jan; Tomastik, Julian; Cernava, Juraj

    2017-04-01

    In recent years unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) are objects of research in many areas. This trend can be seen also in forest research where researchers are focusing on height, diameter and tree crown measurements, monitoring of forest fire, forest gaps and health condition. Our research is focusing on the use of UAS for detecting areas disturbed by wind and deriving the volume of fallen trees for management purposes. This information is crucial after the wind damage happened. We used DJI Phantom 2 Vision+ and acquired the imagery of one forest stand (5.7 ha). The UAS is a quadcopter "all in one" solution. It has a built-in camera with gimbal and a remote controller. The camera is controlled through the application (android/ios). The built-in camera has an image resolution of 4384×3288 (14 megapixels). We have placed five crosses within the plot to be able to georeference the point cloud from UAS. Their positions were measured by Topcon Hiper GGD survey-grade GNSS receiver. We measured the border of damaged area by four different GNSS devices - GeoExplorer 6000, Trimble Nomad, Garmin GPSMAP 60 CSx and by smartphone Sony Xperia X. To process images from UAS we used Agisoft Photoscan Professional, while ArcGIS 10.2 was used to calculate and compare the areas . From the UAS point cloud we calculated DTM and DSM and deducted them. The areas where the difference was close to zero (-0.2 to 0.2) were signed as potentially wind damage areas. Then we filtered the areas that were not signed correctly (for example routes). The calculated area from UAS was 2.66 ha, GeoExplorer 6000 was 2.20 ha, Nomad was 2.06 ha, Garmin was 2.21 ha and from Xperia was the area 2.24 ha. The differences between UAS and GPS devices vary from 0.42 ha to 0.6 ha. The differences were mostly caused by inability to detect small spots of fallen trees on UAS data. These small spots are difficult to measure by GPS devices because the signal is very poor under tree crowns and also it is difficult to find

  17. Educational Projects in Unmanned Aerial Systems at the NASA Ames Research Center

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dahlgren, Robert P.

    2017-01-01

    Unmanned aerial systems (UAS), autonomy and robotics technology have been fertile ground for developing a wide variety of interdisciplinary student learning opportunities. In this talk, several projects will be described that leverage small fixed-wing UAS that have been modified to carry science payloads. These aircraft provide a unique hands-on experience for a wide range of students from college juniors to graduate students pursuing degrees in electrical engineering, aeronautical engineering, mechanical engineering, applied mathematics, physics, structural engineering and other majors. By combining rapid prototyping, design reuse and open-source philosophies, a sustainable educational program has been organized structured as full-time internships during the summer, part-time internships during the school year, short details for military cadets, and paid positions. As part of this program, every summer one or more UAS is developed from concept through design, build and test phases using the tools and facilities at the NASA Ames Research Center, ultimately obtaining statements of airworthiness and flight release from the Agency before test flights are performed. In 2016 and 2017 student projects focused on the theme of 3D printed modular airframes that may be optimized for a given mission and payload. Now in its fifth year this program has served over 35 students, and has provided a rich learning experience as they learn to rapidly develop new aircraft concepts in a highly regulated environment, on systems that will support principal investigators at university, NASA, and other US federal agencies.

  18. Synthetic Diagnostics Of The JET System Of The JET-2 Unmanned Drone

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sabak Ryszard

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, , newer and newer designs of unmanned air vehicles have been appeared and in a spread and spread area. That is why, their service and in particular their diagnostics should be carried out both before and in each flight. In this paper, a description of both unmanned air vehicle JET-2 and its units and control system are presented. The paper includes also description of signals which are transmitted in a real time from the dron to the flight control station. These signals enable to state whether the vehicle works in a correct way. An interactive diagnostics model is presented as two united equations of state which are based on an observation that the usable value of the UAV resulting from its working standards, depends on its technical condition and what is more, technical condition depends on its working condition (intensity of usage. It should be stated that technical conditions are an environment for working conditions and working conditions are an environments for technical conditions. Presented model gives a comprehensive information about technical and working capability of a vehicle. It enables to plan next flights taking into account their currant potential and capability.

  19. 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.

  20. Probabilistic assessment of NPP safety under aircraft impact

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Birbraer, A.N.; Roleder, A.J.; Arhipov, S.B.

    1999-01-01

    Methodology of probabilistic assessment of NPP safety under aircraft impact is described below. The assessment is made taking into account not only the fact of aircraft fall onto the NPP building, but another casual parameters too, namely an aircraft class, velocity and mass, as well as point and angle of its impact with the building structure. This analysis can permit to justify the decrease of the required structure strength and dynamic loads on the NPP equipment. It can also be especially useful when assessing the safety of existing NPP. (author)

  1. 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...

  2. 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.

  3. Unmanned Aerial Technologies for Observations at Active Volcanoes: Advances and Prospects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pieri, D. C.; Diaz, J. A.; Bland, G.; Fladeland, M.; Makel, D.; Schwandner, F. M.; Buongiorno, M. F.; Elston, J. S.

    2017-12-01

    Modern application of unmanned aerial systems' (UASs) technology allow us to conduct in situ measurements in volcanic plumes and drifting volcanic clouds that were impossible to make in the past. Thus, we are now able to explore proximal airspace near and within eruption columns and or other active vents, at very high and at very low altitudes—risk to human investigators is vastly reduced (although not eliminated). We are now on the cusp of being able to make in situ measurements and conduct sampling at altitudes of 5000-6000 meters relatively routinely. We also are developing heat tolerant electronics and sensors that will deployed on, around, and over active lava lakes and lava flows at terrestrial volcanoes, but with a view toward developing planetary applications, for instance on the surface of Venus. We report on our 2012-present systematic UAS-based observations of light gases (e.g., SO2 CO2, H2S) at Turrialba Volcano in Costa Rica, at Italian volcanic sites (e.g., Isole Vulcano; La Solfatara), and most recently at Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii in collaboration with USGS and NPS colleagues. Other deployments for Fall 2017 and Winter 2018 are in planning stages for the Salton Sea Basin and Costa Rica, which will include an airborne miniature mass spectrometer onboard several different types of UAVs. In addition, under development is the first purpose-built-for-volcanology small unmanned aircraft. We discuss strategies for acquiring airborne data from proximal ash/gas plumes during restless periods and during eruptions, from distal drifting ash/gas clouds from eruptions, and from diffuse emissions (e.g., CO2) at very low altitudes, utilizing UASs (e.g., fixed wing, multi-rotor, aerostat), especially regarding inputs for source flux reverse models. This work was carried out, in part, at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology under contract to NASA.

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  5. The availability of unmanned air vehicles: a post-case study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Smith, M.A.J.; Dekker, R.; Kos, J.; Hontelez, J.A.M.

    2001-01-01

    An Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV) is an unmanned, remotely controlled, small air vehicle. It has an important role in antisurface warfare. This implies over-the-horizon detection, classification, targeting and battle damage assessment. To perform these tasks several UAVs are needed to assist or

  6. Unified Approach of Unmanned Surface Vehicle Navigation in Presence of Waves

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Oren Gal

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Most of the present work for unmanned surface vehicle (USV navigation does not take into account environmental disturbances such as ocean waves, winds, and currents. In some scenarios, waves should be treated as special case of dynamic obstacle and can be critical to USV’s safety. For the first time, this paper presents unique concept facing this challenge by combining ocean waves' formulation with the probabilistic velocity obstacle (PVO method for autonomous navigation. A simple navigation algorithm is presented in order to apply the method of USV’s navigation in presence of waves. A planner simulation dealing with waves and obstacles avoidance is introduced.

  7. 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.

  8. 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.

  9. 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.

  10. Rotary Balance Wind Tunnel Testing for the FASER Flight Research Aircraft

    Science.gov (United States)

    Denham, Casey; Owens, D. Bruce

    2016-01-01

    Flight dynamics research was conducted to collect and analyze rotary balance wind tunnel test data in order to improve the aerodynamic simulation and modeling of a low-cost small unmanned aircraft called FASER (Free-flying Aircraft for Sub-scale Experimental Research). The impetus for using FASER was to provide risk and cost reduction for flight testing of more expensive aircraft and assist in the improvement of wind tunnel and flight test techniques, and control laws. The FASER research aircraft has the benefit of allowing wind tunnel and flight tests to be conducted on the same model, improving correlation between wind tunnel, flight, and simulation data. Prior wind tunnel tests include a static force and moment test, including power effects, and a roll and yaw damping forced oscillation test. Rotary balance testing allows for the calculation of aircraft rotary derivatives and the prediction of steady-state spins. The rotary balance wind tunnel test was conducted in the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) 20-Foot Vertical Spin Tunnel (VST). Rotary balance testing includes runs for a set of given angular rotation rates at a range of angles of attack and sideslip angles in order to fully characterize the aircraft rotary dynamics. Tests were performed at angles of attack from 0 to 50 degrees, sideslip angles of -5 to 10 degrees, and non-dimensional spin rates from -0.5 to 0.5. The effects of pro-spin elevator and rudder deflection and pro- and anti-spin elevator, rudder, and aileron deflection were examined. The data are presented to illustrate the functional dependence of the forces and moments on angle of attack, sideslip angle, and angular rate for the rotary contributions to the forces and moments. Further investigation is necessary to fully characterize the control effectors. The data were also used with a steady state spin prediction tool that did not predict an equilibrium spin mode.

  11. America’s Army: The Strength of the Nation. 2010 Army Posture Statement

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-02-19

    that the Army Soldier is the best equipped and most re- spected combatant in the world. In order to ex- ecute Army Modernization and ensure the con...Force Traumatic Brain Injury ( TBI ) Unaccompanied Personnel Housing (UPH) Unmanned Aircraft, Raven Small System Unmanned Aircraft, Shadow System Unmanned...Services TBI Traumatic Brain Injury 30 LoyaLty | Duty | Respect | seLfLess seRvice | HonoR | integRity | peRsonaL couRage 2010 Army

  12. Unmanned Mine of the 21st Centuries

    Science.gov (United States)

    Semykina, Irina; Grigoryev, Aleksandr; Gargayev, Andrey; Zavyalov, Valeriy

    2017-11-01

    The article is analytical. It considers the construction principles of the automation system structure which realize the concept of «unmanned mine». All of these principles intend to deal with problems caused by a continuous complication of mining-and-geological conditions at coalmine such as the labor safety and health protection, the weak integration of different mining automation subsystems and the deficiency of optimal balance between a quantity of resource and energy consumed by mining machines and their throughput. The authors describe the main problems and neck stage of mining machines autonomation and automation subsystem. The article makes a general survey of the applied «unmanned technology» in the field of mining such as the remotely operated autonomous complexes, the underground positioning systems of mining machines using infrared radiation in mine workings etc. The concept of «unmanned mine» is considered with an example of the robotic road heading machine. In the final, the authors analyze the techniques and methods that could solve the task of underground mining without human labor.

  13. Application of slender wing benefits to military aircraft

    Science.gov (United States)

    Polhamus, E. C.

    1983-01-01

    A review is provided of aerodynamic research conducted at the Langley Research Center with respect to the application of slender wing benefits in the design of high-speed military aircraft, taking into account the supersonic performance and leading-edge vortex flow associated with very highly sweptback wings. The beginning of the development of modern classical swept wing jet aircraft is related to the German Me 262 project during World War II. In the U.S., a theoretical study conducted by Jones (1945) pointed out the advantages of the sweptback wing concept. Developments with respect to variable sweep wings are discussed, taking into account early research in 1946, a joint program of the U.S. with the United Kingdom, the tactical aircraft concept, and the important part which the Langley variable-sweep research program played in the development of the F-111, F-14, and B-1. Attention is also given to hybrid wings, vortex flow theory development, and examples of flow design technology.

  14. Influence of Plot Size on Efficiency of Biomass Estimates in Inventories of Dry Tropical Forests Assisted by Photogrammetric Data from an Unmanned Aircraft System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daud Jones Kachamba

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Applications of unmanned aircraft systems (UASs to assist in forest inventories have provided promising results in biomass estimation for different forest types. Recent studies demonstrating use of different types of remotely sensed data to assist in biomass estimation have shown that accuracy and precision of estimates are influenced by the size of field sample plots used to obtain reference values for biomass. The objective of this case study was to assess the influence of sample plot size on efficiency of UAS-assisted biomass estimates in the dry tropical miombo woodlands of Malawi. The results of a design-based field sample inventory assisted by three-dimensional point clouds obtained from aerial imagery acquired with a UAS showed that the root mean square errors as well as the standard error estimates of mean biomass decreased as sample plot sizes increased. Furthermore, relative efficiency values over different sample plot sizes were above 1.0 in a design-based and model-assisted inferential framework, indicating that UAS-assisted inventories were more efficient than purely field-based inventories. The results on relative costs for UAS-assisted and pure field-based sample plot inventories revealed that there is a trade-off between inventory costs and required precision. For example, in our study if a standard error of less than approximately 3 Mg ha−1 was targeted, then a UAS-assisted forest inventory should be applied to ensure more cost effective and precise estimates. Future studies should therefore focus on finding optimum plot sizes for particular applications, like for example in projects under the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, plus forest conservation, sustainable management of forest and enhancement of carbon stocks (REDD+ mechanism with different geographical scales.

  15. ON MODERN APPROACH TO AIRPLANE-TYPE UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES DESIGN WITH SHORT TAKEOFF AND LANDING

    OpenAIRE

    Oleg P. Minin

    2017-01-01

    This publication opens a series of review papers devoted to the current design problems of the next generation unmanned airplanes that are expected to appear in the period from 2025 to 2035. The series of papers considers airplanes with vertical take-off and landing, air launch of small satellites into the orbit, cargo transportation tasks, issues related to new aerodynamic forms, as well as hybrid, combined and distributed power units. The first paper of the cycle is devoted to the conceptua...

  16. Validation of morphing wing methodologies on an unmanned aerial system and a wind tunnel technology demonstrator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gabor, Oliviu Sugar

    To increase the aerodynamic efficiency of aircraft, in order to reduce the fuel consumption, a novel morphing wing concept has been developed. It consists in replacing a part of the wing upper and lower surfaces with a flexible skin whose shape can be modified using an actuation system placed inside the wing structure. Numerical studies in two and three dimensions were performed in order to determine the gains the morphing system achieves for the case of an Unmanned Aerial System and for a morphing technology demonstrator based on the wing tip of a transport aircraft. To obtain the optimal wing skin shapes in function of the flight condition, different global optimization algorithms were implemented, such as the Genetic Algorithm and the Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm. To reduce calculation times, a hybrid method was created by coupling the population-based algorithm with a fast, gradient-based local search method. Validations were performed with commercial state-of-the-art optimization tools and demonstrated the efficiency of the proposed methods. For accurately determining the aerodynamic characteristics of the morphing wing, two new methods were developed, a nonlinear lifting line method and a nonlinear vortex lattice method. Both use strip analysis of the span-wise wing section to account for the airfoil shape modifications induced by the flexible skin, and can provide accurate results for the wing drag coefficient. The methods do not require the generation of a complex mesh around the wing and are suitable for coupling with optimization algorithms due to the computational time several orders of magnitude smaller than traditional three-dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics methods. Two-dimensional and three-dimensional optimizations of the Unmanned Aerial System wing equipped with the morphing skin were performed, with the objective of improving its performances for an extended range of flight conditions. The chordwise positions of the internal actuators

  17. Actuator Placement Via Genetic Algorithm for Aircraft Morphing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crossley, William A.; Cook, Andrea M.

    2001-01-01

    This research continued work that began under the support of NASA Grant NAG1-2119. The focus of this effort was to continue investigations of Genetic Algorithm (GA) approaches that could be used to solve an actuator placement problem by treating this as a discrete optimization problem. In these efforts, the actuators are assumed to be "smart" devices that change the aerodynamic shape of an aircraft wing to alter the flow past the wing, and, as a result, provide aerodynamic moments that could provide flight control. The earlier work investigated issued for the problem statement, developed the appropriate actuator modeling, recognized the importance of symmetry for this problem, modified the aerodynamic analysis routine for more efficient use with the genetic algorithm, and began a problem size study to measure the impact of increasing problem complexity. The research discussed in this final summary further investigated the problem statement to provide a "combined moment" problem statement to simultaneously address roll, pitch and yaw. Investigations of problem size using this new problem statement provided insight into performance of the GA as the number of possible actuator locations increased. Where previous investigations utilized a simple wing model to develop the GA approach for actuator placement, this research culminated with application of the GA approach to a high-altitude unmanned aerial vehicle concept to demonstrate that the approach is valid for an aircraft configuration.

  18. An Integrated Knowledge Based Engineering Mechatronics Modeling Approach to Support the Design of Unstable and Unmanned Aircraft

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Tian, F.N.

    2015-01-01

    The commercial transport aircraft industry is currently developing new “more electric aircraft” (MEA) designs in which various conventional mechanical, hydraulic and pneumatic power systems are replaced with electrically-based power systems. Their objective is to improve the overall flight

  19. Responsible Design of Drones and Drone Services : Legal Perspective Synthetic Report

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Du, Haomiao; Heldeweg, Michiel A.

    The term “drone” is the common language of all types of aircraft without a pilot on board and their ancillary components, such as a control station, if applicable. In addition to the common term “drone”, other terms and acronyms, among others, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), Unmanned Aircraft (UA),

  20. 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.

  1. Design and simulation of solar powered aircraft for year-round operation at high altitude; Auslegung und Simulation von hochfliegenden, dauerhaft stationierbaren Solardrohnen

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Keidel, B.

    2000-05-18

    An unmanned solar powered aircraft configuration called SOLITAIR has been designed. This aircraft is intended to be used as an high altitude long endurance (HALE) sensor platform for year-round operation at intermediate latitudes up to about {+-}55 . For the design studies leading to this aircraft configuration, a software package has been developed which enables an effective design and a proper simulation of the entire solar aircraft system for various flight missions. The performance analysis and the mission simulation showed, that a configuration with large additional solar panels, that can be tilted in order to follow the sun angle during daytime operation appears to be superior to aircraft configurations with wing-mounted solar cells for the desired operational area. In order to examine the basic flight characteristics of the SOLITAIR configuration a remote controlled demonstration model has been built and test flown. [German] In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurden Moeglichkeiten geschaffen, um Gesamtsystemkonfigura-tionen unbemannter hochfliegender Solarflugzeuge fuer unterschiedliche Anwendungsfaelle auszulegen und die Flugleistungen sowie die Missionsfaehigkeit dieser Konfigurationen aufzuzeigen. Mit den geschaffenen und verifizierten Entwicklungswerkzeugen wurde eine Solarflugzeugkonfiguration entworfen und mittels eines Demonstrationsmodells erprobt. Mit dieser Konfiguration kann eine dauerhafte Stationierbarkeit von ca. 55 suedlicher bis 55 noerdlicher Breite erreicht werden. Dies stellt eine bedeutende Erweiterung des bisher fuer moeglich gehaltenen Nutzungsbereiches solcher Flugzeuge dar.

  2. Learning Mobility: Adaptive Control Algorithms for the Novel Unmanned Ground Vehicle (NUGV)

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Blackburn, Mike

    2003-01-01

    Mobility is a serious limiting factor in the usefulness of unmanned ground vehicles, This paper contains a description of our approach to develop control algorithms for the Novel Unmanned Ground Vehicle (NUGV...

  3. Meeting of Experts on NASA's Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Integration in the National Airspace Systems (NAS) Project

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wolfe, Jean; Bauer, Jeff; Bixby, C.J.; Lauderdale, Todd; Shively, Jay; Griner, James; Hayhurst, Kelly

    2010-01-01

    Topics discussed include: Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate Integrated Systems Research Program (ISRP) and UAS Integration in the NAS Project; UAS Integration into the NAS Project; Separation Assurance and Collision Avoidance; Pilot Aircraft Interface Objectives/Rationale; Communication; Certification; and Integrated Tests and Evaluations.

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

  6. Aircraft Loss of Control: Problem Analysis for the Development and Validation of Technology Solutions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Belcastro, Christine M.; Newman, Richard L.; Crider, Dennis A.; Klyde, David H.; Foster, John V.; Groff, Loren

    2016-01-01

    Aircraft loss of control (LOC) is a leading cause of fatal accidents across all transport airplane and operational classes. LOC can result from a wide spectrum of precursors (or hazards), often occurring in combination. Technologies developed for LOC prevention and recovery must therefore be effective under a wide variety of conditions and uncertainties, including multiple hazards, and the validation process must provide a means of assessing system effectiveness and coverage of these hazards. This paper provides a detailed description of a methodology for analyzing LOC as a dynamics and control problem for the purpose of developing effective technology solutions. The paper includes a definition of LOC based on several recent publications, a detailed description of a refined LOC accident analysis process that is illustrated via selected example cases, and a description of planned follow-on activities for identifying future potential LOC risks and the development of LOC test scenarios. Some preliminary considerations for LOC of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) and for their safe integration into the National Airspace System (NAS) are also discussed.

  7. Operational Overview for UAS Integration in the NAS Project Flight Test Series 3

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valkov, Steffi B.; Sternberg, Daniel; Marston, Michael

    2018-01-01

    The National Aeronautics and Space Administration Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration in the National Airspace System Project has conducted a series of flight tests intended to support the reduction of barriers that prevent unmanned aircraft from flying without the required waivers from the Federal Aviation Administration. The 2015 Flight Test Series 3, supported two separate test configurations. The first configuration investigated the timing of Detect and Avoid alerting thresholds using a radar equipped unmanned vehicle and multiple live intruders flown at varying encounter geometries.

  8. A Queueing Model for Supervisory Control of Unmanned Autonomous Vehicles

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-09-01

    Autonomous Vehicles Joseph DiVita, PhD Robert L. Morris Maria Olinda Rodas SSC Pacific Approved...298 (Rev. 8/98) Prescribed by ANSI Std. Z39.18 09–2013 Final A Queueing Model for Supervisory Control of Unmanned Autonomous Vehicles Joseph...Mission Area: Command and Control, Queueing Model; Supervisory Control; Unmanned Autonomous Vehicles M. O. Rodas U U U U 38 (619)

  9. Airspace Integration Plan for Unmanned Aviation

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    2004-01-01

    The Office of the Secretary of Defense Airspace Integration Plan for Unmanned Aviation outlines the key issues that must be addressed to achieve the goal of safe, routine use of the National Airspace System (NAS...

  10. 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...

  11. Sensor data fusion for automated threat recognition in manned-unmanned infantry platoons

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wildt, J.; Varela, M.; Ulmke, M.; Brüggermann, B.

    2017-05-01

    To support a dismounted infantry platoon during deployment we team it with several unmanned aerial and ground vehicles (UAV and UGV, respectively). The unmanned systems integrate seamlessly into the infantry platoon, providing automated reconnaissance during movement while keeping formation as well as conducting close range reconnaissance during halt. The sensor data each unmanned system provides is continuously analyzed in real time by specialized algorithms, detecting humans in live videos of UAV mounted infrared cameras as well as gunshot detection and bearing by acoustic sensors. All recognized threats are fused into a consistent situational picture in real time, available to platoon and squad leaders as well as higher level command and control (C2) systems. This gives friendly forces local information superiority and increased situational awareness without the need to constantly monitor the unmanned systems and sensor data.

  12. 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

  13. Aircraft Anomaly Detection Using Performance Models Trained on Fleet Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gorinevsky, Dimitry; Matthews, Bryan L.; Martin, Rodney

    2012-01-01

    This paper describes an application of data mining technology called Distributed Fleet Monitoring (DFM) to Flight Operational Quality Assurance (FOQA) data collected from a fleet of commercial aircraft. DFM transforms the data into aircraft performance models, flight-to-flight trends, and individual flight anomalies by fitting a multi-level regression model to the data. The model represents aircraft flight performance and takes into account fixed effects: flight-to-flight and vehicle-to-vehicle variability. The regression parameters include aerodynamic coefficients and other aircraft performance parameters that are usually identified by aircraft manufacturers in flight tests. Using DFM, the multi-terabyte FOQA data set with half-million flights was processed in a few hours. The anomalies found include wrong values of competed variables, (e.g., aircraft weight), sensor failures and baises, failures, biases, and trends in flight actuators. These anomalies were missed by the existing airline monitoring of FOQA data exceedances.

  14. Small Aircraft Transportation System, Higher Volume Operations Concept: Normal Operations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abbott, Terence S.; Jones, Kenneth M.; Consiglio, Maria C.; Williams, Daniel M.; Adams, Catherine A.

    2004-01-01

    This document defines the Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS), Higher Volume Operations (HVO) concept for normal conditions. In this concept, a block of airspace would be established around designated non-towered, non-radar airports during periods of poor weather. Within this new airspace, pilots would take responsibility for separation assurance between their aircraft and other similarly equipped aircraft. Using onboard equipment and procedures, they would then approach and land at the airport. Departures would be handled in a similar fashion. The details for this operational concept are provided in this document.

  15. The Science of Drones

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kopardekar, Parimal H.; Mueller, Eric

    2017-01-01

    Drone: the public's term for any flying vehicle that doesn't have a pilot onboard. Unmanned aircraft system (UAS): preferred civil term that emphasizes the drone as a "system". Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV): older but common term, especially in academia. Remotely piloted aircraft system (RPAS): the military's most common term for a drone, and probably the most accurate.

  16. 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.

  17. Design for air-to-air refuelling operations; new passenger and tanker aircraft design for AAR scenarios

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Li, M.O.

    2014-01-01

    Air-to-air refuelling is a way to improve fuel efficiency of the overall transport system without waiting for the improvement of basic aviation technology. To take full advantage of such an operation, both passenger aircraft and tanker aircraft (which deliver required fuel to the passenger aircraft

  18. 3D Reconfigurable MPSoC for Unmanned Spacecraft Navigation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dekoulis, George

    2016-07-01

    This paper describes the design of a new lightweight spacecraft navigation system for unmanned space missions. The system addresses the demands for more efficient autonomous navigation in the near-Earth environment or deep space. The proposed instrumentation is directly suitable for unmanned systems operation and testing of new airborne prototypes for remote sensing applications. The system features a new sensor technology and significant improvements over existing solutions. Fluxgate type sensors have been traditionally used in unmanned defense systems such as target drones, guided missiles, rockets and satellites, however, the guidance sensors' configurations exhibit lower specifications than the presented solution. The current implementation is based on a recently developed material in a reengineered optimum sensor configuration for unprecedented low-power consumption. The new sensor's performance characteristics qualify it for spacecraft navigation applications. A major advantage of the system is the efficiency in redundancy reduction achieved in terms of both hardware and software requirements.

  19. Unmanned systems to support the human exploration of Mars

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gage, Douglas W.

    2010-04-01

    Robots and other unmanned systems will play many critical roles in support of a human presence on Mars, including surveying candidate landing sites, locating ice and mineral resources, establishing power and other infrastructure, performing construction tasks, and transporting equipment and supplies. Many of these systems will require much more strength and power than exploration rovers. The presence of humans on Mars will permit proactive maintenance and repair, and allow teleoperation and operator intervention, supporting multiple dynamic levels of autonomy, so the critical challenges to the use of unmanned systems will occur before humans arrive on Mars. Nevertheless, installed communications and navigation infrastructure should be able to support structured and/or repetitive operations (such as excavation, drilling, or construction) within a "familiar" area with an acceptable level of remote operator intervention. This paper discusses some of the factors involved in developing and deploying unmanned systems to make humans' time on Mars safer and more productive, efficient, and enjoyable.

  20. Thermal design of linear induction and synchronous motor for electromagnetic launch of civil aircraft

    OpenAIRE

    Bertola, Luca; Cox, Tom; Wheeler, Patrick; Garvey, Seamus D.; Morvan, Herve

    2017-01-01

    The engine size of modern passenger transport aircraft is principally determined by take-off conditions, since initial acceleration requires maximum engine power. An elec¬tromagnetic launch (EML) system could provide some or all of the energy required at takeoff so that the aircraft engine power requirement and fuel consumption may be significantly reduced. So far, EML for aircraft has been adopted only for military applications to replace steam catapults on the deck of aircraft carriers. Thi...

  1. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Alien Plant Species Detection and Monitoring

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dvořák, P.; Müllerová, J.; Bartaloš, T.; Brůna, J.

    2015-08-01

    Invasive species spread rapidly and their eradication is difficult. New methods enabling fast and efficient monitoring are urgently needed for their successful control. Remote sensing can improve early detection of invading plants and make their management more efficient and less expensive. In an ongoing project in the Czech Republic, we aim at developing innovative methods of mapping invasive plant species (semi-automatic detection algorithms) by using purposely designed unmanned aircraft (UAV). We examine possibilities for detection of two tree and two herb invasive species. Our aim is to establish fast, repeatable and efficient computer-assisted method of timely monitoring, reducing the costs of extensive field campaigns. For finding the best detection algorithm we test various classification approaches (object-, pixel-based and hybrid). Thanks to its flexibility and low cost, UAV enables assessing the effect of phenological stage and spatial resolution, and is most suitable for monitoring the efficiency of eradication efforts. However, several challenges exist in UAV application, such as geometrical and radiometric distortions, high amount of data to be processed and legal constrains for the UAV flight missions over urban areas (often highly invaded). The newly proposed UAV approach shall serve invasive species researchers, management practitioners and policy makers.

  2. Real-Time Autonomous Obstacle Avoidance for Low-Altitude Fixed-Wing Aircraft

    Science.gov (United States)

    Owlia, Shahboddin

    The GeoSurv II is an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) being developed by Carleton University and Sander Geophysics. This thesis is in support of the GeoSurv II project. The objective of the GeoSurv II project is to create a fully autonomous UAV capable of performing geophysical surveys. In order to achieve this level of autonomy, the UAV, which due to the nature of its surveys flies at low altitude, must be able to avoid potential obstacles such as trees, powerlines, telecommunication towers, etc. Developing a method to avoid these obstacles is the objective of this thesis. The literature is rich in methods for trajectory planning and mid-air collision avoidance with other aircraft. In contrast, in this thesis, a method for avoiding static obstacles that are not known a priori is developed. The potential flow theory and panel method are borrowed from fluid mechanics and are employed to generate evasive maneuvers when obstacles are encountered. By means of appropriate modelling of obstacles, the aircraft's constraints are taken into account such that the evasive maneuvers are feasible for the UAV. Moreover, the method is developed with consideration of the limitations of obstacle detection in GeoSurv II. Due to the unavailability of the GeoSurv II aircraft, and the lack of a complete model for GeoSurv II, the method developed is implemented on the non-linear model of the Aerosonde UAV. The Aerosonde model is then subjected to various obstacle scenarios and it is seen that the UAV successfully avoids the obstacles.

  3. Strategic Conflict Detection and Resolution Using Aircraft Intent Information

    Science.gov (United States)

    Porretta, Marco; Schuster, Wolfgang; Majumdar, Arnab; Ochieng, Washington

    A number of automated decision support tools will be required in the future air traffic management system to enable continued provision of safe and efficient services in increasingly congested skies. In particular, Conflict Detection and Resolution (CDR) tools should allow for early detection of possible conflicts and propose safe and efficient resolution manoeuvres to avoid loss of separation. However, current approaches in the open literature not only use different levels of aircraft intent information but also make a number of assumptions on models of aircraft motion. Furthermore, information relevant to aircraft performance is often not considered with the consequence of the resulting resolution strategies being potentially unreliable. This paper presents an enhanced, strategic, pairwise, performance-based and distributed CDR algorithm. It accounts for the weaknesses of current approaches by using the maximum level of aircraft intent information together with a novel trajectory prediction model. Numerical results for representative conflict scenarios show that the proposed CDR method is able to generate conflict-free trajectories for participating aircraft while taking into account the actual aircraft capabilities to perform the recommended resolution manoeuvres.

  4. 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.

  5. Introduction to UAV systems

    CERN Document Server

    Fahlstrom, Paul

    2012-01-01

    Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been widely adopted in the military world over the last decade and the success of these military applications is increasingly driving efforts to establish unmanned aircraft in non-military roles. Introduction to UAV Systems, 4th edition provides a comprehensive introduction to all of the elements of a complete Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS). It addresses the air vehicle, mission planning and control, several types of mission payloads, data links and how they interact with mission performance, and launch and recovery concepts. This

  6. A manpower scheduling heuristic for aircraft maintenance application

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sze, San-Nah; Sze, Jeeu-Fong; Chiew, Kang-Leng

    2012-09-01

    This research studies a manpower scheduling for aircraft maintenance, focusing on in-flight food loading operation. A group of loading teams with flexible shifts is required to deliver and upload packaged meals from the ground kitchen to aircrafts in multiple trips. All aircrafts must be served within predefined time windows. The scheduling process takes into account of various constraints such as meal break allocation, multi-trip traveling and food exposure time limit. Considering the aircrafts movement and predefined maximum working hours for each loading team, the main objective of this study is to form an efficient roster by assigning a minimum number of loading teams to the aircrafts. We proposed an insertion based heuristic to generate the solutions in a short period of time for large instances. This proposed algorithm is implemented in various stages for constructing trips due to the presence of numerous constraints. The robustness and efficiency of the algorithm is demonstrated in computational results. The results show that the insertion heuristic more efficiently outperforms the company's current practice.

  7. 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.

  8. Behind Start of Take-Off Roll Aircraft Sound Level Directivity Study - Revision 1

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lau, Michael C.; Roof, Christopher J.; Fleming, Gregg G.; Rapoza, Amanda S.; Boeker, Eric R.; McCurdy, David A.; Shepherd, Kevin P.

    2015-01-01

    The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Langley Research Center (LaRC) and the Environmental Measurement and Modeling Division of the Department of Transportation's Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (Volpe) conducted a noise measurement study to examine aircraft sound level directivity patterns behind the start-of-takeoff roll. The study was conducted at Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) from October 4 through 20, 2004.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

  10. Unmanned Ground Vehicle Tactical Behaviors Technology Assessment

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Childers, Marshal A; Bodt, Barry A; Hill, Susan G; Camden, Richard; Dean, Robert M; Dodson, William F; Sutton, Lyle G; Sapronov, Leonid

    2009-01-01

    During 4-14 February 2008, the U.S. Army Research Laboratory and General Dynamics Robotic Systems conducted an unmanned systems tactical behaviors technology assessment at three training areas of Ft. Indiantown Gap, PA...

  11. A MATHEMATICAL MODEL OF THE MILITARY TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT MOVEMENT AT CARGO ITEM DROP

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The controllability of military transport aircraft deteriorates at heavy single piece landing. To solve this problem and a specific methodology for pilotage of the pre-emption, and automation tools are being developed. Preliminary study ofpilotage technique and authomatic control algorythm demand a reliable mathematical model of aircraft dynamics at cargo item drop. Such model should take into account significant change in the position of the aircraft center of mass and aircraft inertia tensor. Simplified models were based on modeling the movement of the center of mass and rotation around the cen- ter of mass of the aircraft. Such models do not take into account the inertial forces and moments of moving a cargo item. This circumstance does not allow to obtain reliable results in the simulation. The article presents the description of the complete mathematical model of the movement of military transport aircraft in landing of a cargo item. Examines the com- plex material system of solids and a detailed description of the properties of its components. The equations of motion of the aircraft as a system carrier (aircraft without a cargo item and wear (of moving a cargo item bodies to reflect the changes in the inertia tensor. The functioning of the power plant, steering actuators, flight control system, an exhaust chute, the sen- sors of the primary information are taken into account. The equations of motion for systems of bodies projected on the air- craft reference plane are being recorded. This approach takes into account changes of the inertia tensor and the position of the main central axes of inertia in the process of landing of a cargo item. It allows us to simulate the condition of the air- craft at all speeds of the pitch, normal overload, and masses of single piece and placement, as evidenced by the high con- vergence of modeling results with data from flight tests.

  12. Unmanned Ground Systems Roadmap

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-07-01

    quality metric tracking history . 1.4.3.4 Technical Management Division The mission of the RS JPO Technical Management (Tech Mgt) Division is to...missions dictate radio capabilities. IP version 4 ( IPv4 ) is the common IP standard used on IP addressable devices of UGVs, however, Unmanned Ground...Systems Roadmap UNCLASSIFIED 26 UNCLASSIFIED July 2011 IPv4 addresses are projected to run out and UGV systems will need to migrate to IP version 6

  13. Assessing the Impact of Operational Constraints on the Near-Term Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management Supported Market

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vascik, Parker D.; Jung, Jaewoo

    2016-01-01

    An economic impact market analysis was conducted for 16 leading sectors of commercial Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) applications predicted to be enabled by 2020 through the NASA UAS Traffic Management (UTM) program. Subject matter experts from seven industries were interviewed to validate concept of operations (ConOps) and market adoption assumptions for each sector. The market analysis was used to estimate direct economic impacts for each sector including serviceable addressable market, capital investment, revenue recovery potential, and operations cost savings. The resultant economic picture distinguishes the agricultural, pipeline and railroad inspection, construction, and maritime sectors of the nascent commercial UAS industry as providing the highest potential economic value in the United States. Sensitivity studies characterized the variability of select UAS sectors economic value to key regulatory or UTM ConOps requirements such as weight, altitude, and flight over populated area constraints. Takeaways from the analysis inform the validation of UTM requirements, technologies and timetables from a commercial market need and value viewpoint. This work concluded in August 2015 and reflects the state of the UAS industry and market projections at that time.

  14. 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

  15. UNMANNED AIR VEHICLE STABILIZATION BASED ON NEURAL NETWORK REGULATOR

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  16. Space nuclear reactor shields for manned and unmanned applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McKissock, B.I.; Bloomfield, H.S.

    1990-01-01

    Missions which use nuclear reactor power systems require radiation shielding of payload and/or crew areas to predetermined dose rates. Since shielding can become a significant fraction of the total mass of the system, it is of interest to show the effect of various parameters on shield thickness and mass for manned and unmanned applications. Algorithms were developed to give the thicknesses needed if reactor thermal power, separation distances and dose rates are given as input. The thickness algorithms were combined with models for four different shield geometries to allow tradeoff studies of shield volume and mass for a variety of manned and unmanned missions. The shield design tradeoffs presented in this study include the effects of: higher allowable dose rates; radiation hardened electronics; shorter crew exposure times; shield geometry; distance of the payload and/or crew from the reactor; and changes in the size of the shielded area. Specific NASA missions that were considered in this study include unmanned outer planetary exploration, manned advanced/evolutionary space station and advanced manned lunar base. (author)

  17. Space nuclear reactor shields for manned and unmanned applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mckissock, B.I.; Bloomfield, H.S.

    1989-01-01

    Missions which use nuclear reactor power systems require radiation shielding of payload and/or crew areas to predetermined dose rates. Since shielding can become a significant fraction of the total mass of the system, it is of interest to show the effect of various parameters on shield thickness and mass for manned and unmanned applications. Algorithms were developed to give the thicknesses needed if reactor thermal power, separation distances, and dose rates are given as input. The thickness algorithms were combined with models for four different shield geometries to allow tradeoff studies of shield volume and mass for a variety of manned and unmanned missions. Shield design tradeoffs presented in this study include the effects of: higher allowable dose rates; radiation hardened electronics; shorter crew exposure times; shield geometry; distance of the payload and/or crew from the reactor; and changes in the size of the shielded area. Specific NASA missions that were considered in this study include unmanned outer planetary exploration, manned advanced/evolutionary space station, and advanced manned lunar base

  18. UAS Power amplifier for Extended range of Non-payload communication Devices (UPEND), Phase I

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The integration of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) into the National Airspace System (NAS) requires a robust, reliable communication link between the Unmanned Aerial...

  19. Aircraft Landing and Attitude Control Using Dynamic Matrix Control

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    George Cristian Calugaru

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper proposes a method for an efficient control of the aircraft landing and attitude through Dynamic Matrix Control. The idea of MPC structures used in aircraft control has been well established during the last few years, but some aspects require further investigation. With this in mind, the paper proposes structures for aircraft landing and aircraft attitude control by using single DMC controllers for landing and respectively one DMC controller for each of the attitude axis (pitch attitude hold, bank angle hold and heading hold. The model used for analysis of the aircraft landing structure is based on the last phase of landing. Also, the model used to illustrate the attitude control is that of a pitch attitude hold system of a N250-100 aircraft. Simulations are performed for a variety of control and prediction horizons, taking into account the possibility of adding a weighting factor for the control actions. Apart from separate studies on step reference variations, for some use cases, a generic reference trajectory is provided as a control purpose of the system. Results show a better performance of the proposed method in terms of control surface transition and protection of the actuators involved and a better time response in stabilizing the aircraft attitude. Overall, the aspects shown ensure an improved aircraft attitude control and landing stabilization.

  20. Theseus on Take-off for First Flight

    Science.gov (United States)

    1996-01-01

    The Theseus prototype research aircraft takes off for its first test flight from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, on May 24, 1996. The Theseus aircraft, built and operated by Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation, Manassas, Virginia, was a unique aircraft flown at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, under a cooperative agreement between NASA and Aurora. Dryden hosted the Theseus program, providing hangar space and range safety for flight testing. Aurora Flight Sciences was responsible for the actual flight testing, vehicle flight safety, and operation of the aircraft. The Theseus remotely piloted aircraft flew its maiden flight on May 24, 1996, at Dryden. During its sixth flight on November 12, 1996, Theseus experienced an in-flight structural failure that resulted in the loss of the aircraft. As of the beginning of the year 2000, Aurora had not rebuilt the aircraft. Theseus was built for NASA under an innovative, $4.9 million fixed-price contract by Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation and its partners, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia, and Fairmont State College, Fairmont, West Virginia. The twin-engine, unpiloted vehicle had a 140-foot wingspan, and was constructed largely of composite materials. Powered by two 80-horsepower, turbocharged piston engines that drove twin 9-foot-diameter propellers, Theseus was designed to fly autonomously at high altitudes, with takeoff and landing under the active control of a ground-based pilot in a ground control station 'cockpit.' With the potential ability to carry 700 pounds of science instruments to altitudes above 60,000 feet for durations of greater than 24 hours, Theseus was intended to support research in areas such as stratospheric ozone depletion and the atmospheric effects of future high-speed civil transport aircraft engines. Instruments carried aboard Theseus also would be able to validate satellite-based global environmental change measurements. Dryden

  1. 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...

  2. Energy and Economic Trade Offs for Advanced Technology Subsonic Aircraft

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maddalon, D. V.; Wagner, R. D.

    1976-01-01

    Changes in future aircraft technology which conserve energy are studied, along with the effect of these changes on economic performance. Among the new technologies considered are laminar-flow control, composite materials with and without laminar-flow control, and advanced airfoils. Aircraft design features studied include high-aspect-ratio wings, thickness ratio, and range. Engine technology is held constant at the JT9D level. It is concluded that wing aspect ratios of future aircraft are likely to significantly increase as a result of new technology and the push of higher fuel prices. Composite materials may raise aspect radio to about 11 to 12 and practical laminar flow-control systems may further increase aspect ratio to 14 or more. Advanced technology provides significant reductions in aircraft take-off gross weight, energy consumption, and direct operating cost.

  3. Global Tracking Control of Quadrotor VTOL Aircraft in Three-Dimensional Space

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Duc Khac Do

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents a method to design controllers that force a quadrotor vertical take-off and landing (VTOL aircraft to globally asymptotically track a reference trajectory in three-dimensional space. Motivated by the vehicle's steering practice, the roll and pitch angles are considered as immediate controls plus the total thrust force  provided by the aircraft's four rotors to control the position and yaw angle of the aircraft. The control design is based on the newly introduced one-step ahead backstepping, the standard backstepping and Lyapunov's direct methods. A combination of Euler angles and unit-quaternion for the attitude representation of the aircraft is used to obtain global tracking control results. The paper also includes a design of observers that exponentially estimate the aircraft's linear velocity vector and disturbances. Simulations illustrate the results.

  4. Aircraft operational reliability—A model-based approach and a case study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tiassou, Kossi; Kanoun, Karama; Kaâniche, Mohamed; Seguin, Christel; Papadopoulos, Chris

    2013-01-01

    The success of an aircraft mission is subject to the fulfillment of some operational requirements before and during each flight. As these requirements depend essentially on the aircraft system components and the mission profile, the effects of failures can be very severe if they are not anticipated. Hence, one should be able to assess the aircraft operational reliability with regard to its missions in order to be able to cope with failures. We address aircraft operational reliability modeling to support maintenance planning during the mission achievement. We develop a modeling approach, based on a meta-model that is used as a basis: (i) to structure the information needed to assess aircraft operational reliability and (ii) to build a stochastic model that can be tuned dynamically, in order to take into account the aircraft system operational state, a mission profile and the maintenance facilities available at the flight stop locations involved in the mission. The aim is to enable operational reliability assessment online. A case study, based on an aircraft subsystem, is considered for illustration using the Stochastic Activity Networks (SANs) formalism

  5. Aircraft Segmentation in SAR Images Based on Improved Active Shape Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, X.; Xiong, B.; Kuang, G.

    2018-04-01

    In SAR image interpretation, aircrafts are the important targets arousing much attention. However, it is far from easy to segment an aircraft from the background completely and precisely in SAR images. Because of the complex structure, different kinds of electromagnetic scattering take place on the aircraft surfaces. As a result, aircraft targets usually appear to be inhomogeneous and disconnected. It is a good idea to extract an aircraft target by the active shape model (ASM), since combination of the geometric information controls variations of the shape during the contour evolution. However, linear dimensionality reduction, used in classic ACM, makes the model rigid. It brings much trouble to segment different types of aircrafts. Aiming at this problem, an improved ACM based on ISOMAP is proposed in this paper. ISOMAP algorithm is used to extract the shape information of the training set and make the model flexible enough to deal with different aircrafts. The experiments based on real SAR data shows that the proposed method achieves obvious improvement in accuracy.

  6. 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.

  7. 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.

  8. Fielding An Amphibious UAV: Development, Results, and Lessons Learned

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pisanich, Greg; Morris, Stephen

    2002-01-01

    This report summarizes the work completed on the design and flight-testing of a small, unmanned, amphibious demonstrator aircraft that flies autonomously. The aircraft named ACAT (Autonomous Cargo Amphibious Transport) is intended to be a large cargo carrying unmanned aircraft that operates from water to avoid airspace and airfield conflict issues between manned and unmanned aircraft. To demonstrate the feasibility of this concept, a demonstrator ACAT was designed, built, and flown that has a six-foot wingspan and can fly autonomously from land or water airfield. The demonstrator was designed for a 1-hour duration and 1-mile telemetry range. A sizing code was used to design the smallest demonstrator UAV to achieve these goals. The final design was a six-foot wingspan, twin hull configuration that distributes the cargo weight across the span, reducing the wing structural weight. The demonstrator airframe was constructed from balsa wood, fiberglass, and plywood. A 4-stroke model airplane engine powered by methanol fuel was mounted in a pylon above the wing and powers the ACAT UAV. Initial flight tests from land and water were conducted under manual radio control and confirmed the amphibious capability of the design. Flight avionics that were developed by MLB for production UAVs were installed in the ACAT demonstrator. The flight software was also enhanced to permit autonomous takeoff and landing from water. A complete autonomous flight from ahard runway was successfully completed on July 5, 2001 and consisted of a take-off, rectangular flight pattern, and landing under complete computer control. A completely autonomous flight that featured a water takeoff and landing was completed on October 4, 2001. This report describes these activities in detail and highlights the challenges encountered and solved during the development of the ACAT demonstrator. hard runway was successfully completed on July 5, 2001 and consisted of a take-off, rectangular flight pattern, and

  9. 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.

  10. The potential of unmanned aerial systems for sea turtle research and conservation: a review and future directions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rees, Alan F.; Avens, Larisa; Ballorain, Katia; Bevan, Elizabeth; Broderick, Annette C.; Carthy, Raymond R.; Christianen, Marjolijn J. A.; Duclos, Gwénaël; Heithaus, Michael R.; Johnston, David W.; Mangel, Jeffrey C.; Paladino, Frank V.; Pendoley, Kellie; Reina, Richard D.; Robinson, Nathan J.; Ryan, Robert; Sykora-Bodie, Seth T.; Tilley, Dominic; Varela, Miguel R.; Whitman, Elizabeth R.; Whittock, Paul A.; Wibbels, Thane; Godley, Brendan J.

    2018-01-01

    The use of satellite systems and manned aircraft surveys for remote data collection has been shown to be transformative for sea turtle conservation and research by enabling the collection of data on turtles and their habitats over larger areas than can be achieved by surveys on foot or by boat. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones are increasingly being adopted to gather data, at previously unprecedented spatial and temporal resolutions in diverse geographic locations. This easily accessible, low-cost tool is improving existing research methods and enabling novel approaches in marine turtle ecology and conservation. Here we review the diverse ways in which incorporating inexpensive UAVs may reduce costs and field time while improving safety and data quality and quantity over existing methods for studies on turtle nesting, at-sea distribution and behaviour surveys, as well as expanding into new avenues such as surveillance against illegal take. Furthermore, we highlight the impact that high-quality aerial imagery captured by UAVs can have for public outreach and engagement. This technology does not come without challenges. We discuss the potential constraints of these systems within the ethical and legal frameworks which researchers must operate and the difficulties that can result with regard to storage and analysis of large amounts of imagery. We then suggest areas where technological development could further expand the utility of UAVs as data-gathering tools; for example, functioning as downloading nodes for data collected by sensors placed on turtles. Development of methods for the use of UAVs in sea turtle research will serve as case studies for use with other marine and terrestrial taxa.

  11. Theseus Take-off from Rogers Dry Lake

    Science.gov (United States)

    1996-01-01

    The Theseus prototype research aircraft shows off its high aspect-ratio wing in this rear view of the aircraft as it takes off on its first test flight from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, on May 24, 1996. The Theseus aircraft, built and operated by Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation, Manassas, Virginia, was a unique aircraft flown at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, under a cooperative agreement between NASA and Aurora. Dryden hosted the Theseus program, providing hangar space and range safety for flight testing. Aurora Flight Sciences was responsible for the actual flight testing, vehicle flight safety, and operation of the aircraft. The Theseus remotely piloted aircraft flew its maiden flight on May 24, 1996, at Dryden. During its sixth flight on November 12, 1996, Theseus experienced an in-flight structural failure that resulted in the loss of the aircraft. As of the beginning of the year 2000, Aurora had not rebuilt the aircraft Theseus was built for NASA under an innovative, $4.9 million fixed-price contract by Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation and its partners, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia, and Fairmont State College, Fairmont, West Virginia. The twin-engine, unpiloted vehicle had a 140-foot wingspan, and was constructed largely of composite materials. Powered by two 80-horsepower, turbocharged piston engines that drove twin 9-foot-diameter propellers, Theseus was designed to fly autonomously at high altitudes, with takeoff and landing under the active control of a ground-based pilot in a ground control station 'cockpit.' With the potential ability to carry 700 pounds of science instruments to altitudes above 60,000 feet for durations of greater than 24 hours, Theseus was intended to support research in areas such as stratospheric ozone depletion and the atmospheric effects of future high-speed civil transport aircraft engines. Instruments carried aboard Theseus also would be able

  12. 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...

  13. Tracking Controller Design for Diving Behavior of an Unmanned Underwater Vehicle

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yi-Hsiang Tseng

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The study has investigated the almost disturbance decoupling problem of nonlinear uncertain control systems via the fuzzy feedback linearization approach. The significant dedication of this paper is to organize a control algorithm such that the closed-loop system is active for given initial condition and bounded tracking trajectory with the input-to-state stability and almost disturbance decoupling performance. This study presents a feedback linearization controller for diving control of an unmanned underwater vehicle. Unmanned underwater vehicle proposes difficult control subject due to its nonlinear dynamics, uncertain models, and the existence of disturbances that are difficult to measure. In general, while investigating the diving dynamics of an unmanned underwater vehicle, the pitch angle is always assumed to be small. This assumption is a strong restricting constraint in many interesting practical applications and will be relaxed in this study.

  14. Intelligent Aircraft Damage Assessment, Trajectory Planning, and Decision-Making under Uncertainty

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lopez, Israel; Sarigul-Klijn, Nesrin

    Situational awareness and learning are necessary to identify and select the optimal set of mutually non-exclusive hypothesis in order to maximize mission performance and adapt system behavior accordingly. This paper presents a hierarchical and decentralized approach for integrated damage assessment and trajectory planning in aircraft with uncertain navigational decision-making. Aircraft navigation can be safely accomplished by properly addressing the following: decision-making, obstacle perception, aircraft state estimation, and aircraft control. When in-flight failures or damage occur, rapid and precise decision-making under imprecise information is required in order to regain and maintain control of the aircraft. To achieve planned aircraft trajectory and complete safe landing, the uncertainties in system dynamics of the damaged aircraft need to be learned and incorporated at the level of motion planning. The damaged aircraft is simulated via a simplified kinematic model. The different sources and perspectives of uncertainties in the damage assessment process and post-failure trajectory planning are presented and classified. The decision-making process for an emergency motion planning and landing is developed via the Dempster-Shafer evidence theory. The objective of the trajectory planning is to arrive at a target position while maximizing the safety of the aircraft given uncertain conditions. Simulations are presented for an emergency motion planning and landing that takes into account aircraft dynamics, path complexity, distance to landing site, runway characteristics, and subjective human decision.

  15. State-of-the-Art System Solutions for Unmanned Underwater Vehicles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. E. Yilmaz

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs have gained popularity for the last decades, especially for the purpose of not risking human life in dangerous operations. On the other hand, underwater environment introduces numerous challenges in navigation, control and communication of such vehicles. Certainly, this fact makes the development of these vehicles more interesting and engineering-wise more attractive. In this paper, we first revisit the existing technology and methodology for the solution of aforementioned problems, then we try to come up with a system solution of a generic unmanned underwater vehicles.

  16. 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.

  17. Layered autonomous overwatch: the necessity and feasability of multiple unmanned systems in combat support

    Science.gov (United States)

    Monckton, Simon; Digney, Bruce; Broten, Greg; Penzes, Steve

    2007-04-01

    Unmanned systems simultaneously reduce risk and magnify the impact of soldier-operators. For example, in Afghanistan UAVs routinely provide overwatch to manned units while UGVs support IED identification and disposal roles. Expanding these roles requires greater autonomy with a coherent unmanned "system of systems" approach that leverages one platform's strengths against the weakness of another. Specific collaborative unmanned systems such as shared sensing, communication relay, and distributed computing to achieve greater autonomy are often presented as possible solutions. By surveying currently deployed systems, this paper shows that the spectrum of air and ground systems provide an important mixture of range, speed, payload, and endurance with significant implications on mission structure. Rather than proposing UxV teams collaborating towards specific autonomous capabilities, this paper proposes that basic physical and environmental constraints will drive tactics towards a layered, unmanned battlespace that provides force protection and reconnaissance in depth to a manned core.

  18. Numerical analyses of an aircraft crash on containment building

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sim, Jae Min; Kim, Seung Hyun; Chang, Yoon Suk [Kyunghee University, Yongin (Korea, Republic of)

    2016-05-15

    The containment building is responsible to isolate and protect internal devices against external conditions like earthquake, hurricane and impact loading. It has also to protect leakage of radioactivity, like LOCA (Loss Of Coolant Accident), when severe accidents occurred. Meanwhile, social awareness such as terrorism has been increased globally after international aircraft crashes at World Trade Center and Pentagon. In this paper, FE (Finite Element) analyses according to variation of crash locations and speeds were carried out to examine the aircraft crash impact on a domestic containment building. In this paper, numerical analyses of aircraft crash on NPP's containment building were performed taking into account different locations and aircraft speeds. (1) Amounts of concrete failure were dependent on the crash locations and the connector was the most delicate location comparing to the dome and wall part. (2) Maximum stress values generated at the liner plate and rebars did not exceed their UTS values.

  19. Numerical analyses of an aircraft crash on containment building

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sim, Jae Min; Kim, Seung Hyun; Chang, Yoon Suk

    2016-01-01

    The containment building is responsible to isolate and protect internal devices against external conditions like earthquake, hurricane and impact loading. It has also to protect leakage of radioactivity, like LOCA (Loss Of Coolant Accident), when severe accidents occurred. Meanwhile, social awareness such as terrorism has been increased globally after international aircraft crashes at World Trade Center and Pentagon. In this paper, FE (Finite Element) analyses according to variation of crash locations and speeds were carried out to examine the aircraft crash impact on a domestic containment building. In this paper, numerical analyses of aircraft crash on NPP's containment building were performed taking into account different locations and aircraft speeds. (1) Amounts of concrete failure were dependent on the crash locations and the connector was the most delicate location comparing to the dome and wall part. (2) Maximum stress values generated at the liner plate and rebars did not exceed their UTS values

  20. Conversion Timing of Seafarer’s Decision-making for Unmanned Ship Navigation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ruolan Zhang

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this study is to construct an unmanned ship swarms monitoring model to improve autonomous decision-making efficiency and safety performance of unmanned ship navigation. A framework is proposed to determine the relationship between on-board decision-making and shore side monitoring, the process of ship data detection, tracking, analysis and loss, and the application of decision-making algorithm, to discuss the different risk responses of specific unmanned ship types under various latent hazard environments, particularly in terms of precise conversion timing in switching over to remote control and full manual monitoring, to ensure safe navigation when the capability of automatic risk response inadequate. This frame-work makes it easier to train data and the adjustment for machine learning based on Bayesian risk prediction. It can be concluded that the automation level can be increased and the workload of shore-based seafarers can be reduced easily.

  1. Aircraft noise, air pollution, and mortality from myocardial infarction.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Huss, A.; Spoerri, A.; Egger, M.; Roosli, M.

    2010-01-01

    OBJECTIVE: Myocardial infarction has been associated with both transportation noise and air pollution. We examined residential exposure to aircraft noise and mortality from myocardial infarction, taking air pollution into account. METHODS: We analyzed the Swiss National Cohort, which includes

  2. Graduate Education for Unmanned Vehicles and Undersea Warfare: NPS Teaching, Research and Partnership Strategies

    OpenAIRE

    Brutzman, Don

    2005-01-01

    Panel Discussion, NDIA conference, Unmanned Maritime Vehicle (UMV)Test & Evaluation Conference

Held in Conjunction with 
Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) Fest 2005

“Accelerating Deployment of Unmanned Maritime Vehicles Through Advancements in Test & Evaluation”

Keyport, WA 14-16 June 2005

  3. Small Aircraft Transportation System, Higher Volume Operations Concept: Off-Nominal Operations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abbott, Terence S.; Consiglio, Maria C.; Baxley, Brian T.; Williams, Daniel M.; Conway, Sheila R.

    2005-01-01

    This document expands the Small Aircraft Transportation System, (SATS) Higher Volume Operations (HVO) concept to include off-nominal conditions. The general philosophy underlying the HVO concept is the establishment of a newly defined area of flight operations called a Self-Controlled Area (SCA). During periods of poor weather, a block of airspace would be established around designated non-towered, non-radar airports. Aircraft flying enroute to a SATS airport would be on a standard instrument flight rules flight clearance with Air Traffic Control providing separation services. Within the SCA, pilots would take responsibility for separation assurance between their aircraft and other similarly equipped aircraft. Previous work developed the procedures for normal HVO operations. This document provides details for off-nominal and emergency procedures for situations that could be expected to occur in a future SCA.

  4. Evaluating the accuracy of vehicle tracking data obtained from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Giuseppe Guido

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents a methodology for tracking moving vehicles that integrates Unmanned Aerial Vehicles with video processing techniques. The authors investigated the usefulness of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to capture reliable individual vehicle data by using GPS technology as a benchmark. A video processing algorithm for vehicles trajectory acquisition is introduced. The algorithm is based on OpenCV libraries. In order to assess the accuracy of the proposed video processing algorithm an instrumented vehicle was equipped with a high precision GPS. The video capture experiments were performed in two case studies. From the field, about 24,000 positioning data were acquired for the analysis. The results of these experiments highlight the versatility of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles technology combined with video processing technique in monitoring real traffic data.

  5. Control of a Quadrotor Equipped with a Fixed-wing by Tilting Some of Four Rotors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yoshikazu Nakamura

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract—Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs are beingexpected to be used for the vegetational observation and theinformation collection of disaster sites. Especially, rotorcraftstypified by helicopters are attractive, because they are able tohover and achieve vertical take-off and landing (VTOL.However, rotorcrafts have a disadvantage that it cannot have along-distance flight, because they fly by the thrust of upwarddirection. Aircrafts with tilt rotors are developed in order toovercome such disadvantages. Such aircrafts can be hovering andtake a VTOL and also a long-distance flight by changing theangle of the rotor. In this research, it is aimed at proposing aVTOL-type UAV with a fixed-wing and four tiltable rotors andcontrolling it.

  6. A Comparison of Closed-Loop Performance of Multirotor Configurations Using Non-Linear Dynamic Inversion Control

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Murray L. Ireland

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Multirotor is the umbrella term for the family of unmanned aircraft, which include the quadrotor, hexarotor and other vertical take-off and landing (VTOL aircraft that employ multiple main rotors for lift and control. Development and testing of novel multirotor designs has been aided by the proliferation of 3D printing and inexpensive flight controllers and components. Different multirotor configurations exhibit specific strengths, while presenting unique challenges with regards to design and control. This article highlights the primary differences between three multirotor platforms: a quadrotor; a fully-actuated hexarotor; and an octorotor. Each platform is modelled and then controlled using non-linear dynamic inversion. The differences in dynamics, control and performance are then discussed.

  7. Advances in Small Remotely Piloted Aircraft Communications and Remote Sensing in Maritime Environments including the Arctic

    Science.gov (United States)

    McGillivary, P. A.; Borges de Sousa, J.; Wackowski, S.; Walker, G.

    2011-12-01

    Small remotely piloted aircraft have recently been used for maritime remote sensing, including launch and retrieval operations from land, ships and sea ice. Such aircraft can also function to collect and communicate data from other ocean observing system platforms including moorings, tagged animals, drifters, autonomous surface vessels (ASVs), and autonomous underwater vessels (AUVs). The use of small remotely piloted aircraft (or UASs, unmanned aerial systems) with a combination of these capabilities will be required to monitor the vast areas of the open ocean, as well as in harsh high-latitude ecosystems. Indeed, these aircraft are a key component of planned high latitude maritime domain awareness environmental data collection capabilities, including use of visible, IR and hyperspectral sensors, as well as lidar, meteorological sensors, and interferometric synthetic aperture radars (ISARs). We here first describe at-sea demonstrations of improved reliability and bandwidth of communications from ocean sensors on autonomous underwater vehicles to autonomous surface vessels, and then via remotely piloted aircraft to shore, ships and manned aircraft using Delay and Disruption Tolerant (DTN) communication protocols. DTN enables data exchange in communications-challenged environments, such as remote regions of the ocean including high latitudes where low satellite angles and auroral disturbances can be problematic. DTN provides a network architecture and application interface structured around optionally-reliable asynchronous message forwarding, with limited expectations of end-to-end connectivity and node resources. This communications method enables aircraft and surface vessels to function as data mules to move data between physically disparate nodes. We provide examples of the uses of this communication protocol for environmental data collection and data distribution with a variety of different remotely piloted aircraft in a coastal ocean environment. Next, we

  8. 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.

  9. Risk assessment of aircraft accidents anywhere near an airport

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barbaran, Gustavo; Jensen Mariani Santiago Nicolas

    2011-01-01

    This work analyzes the more suitable areas to build new facilities, taking into account the conditions imposed by an airport located nearby. Initially, it describes the major characteristics of the airport. Then, the restrictions imposed to ensure the normal operation of the aircraft are analyzed. Following, there is a summary of the evolution of studies of aircraft accidents at nuclear facilities. In the second part, three models of aircraft crash probabilities are presented, all of them developed in the U.S.A, each with an increasing level of complexity in modeling the likelihood of accidents. The first model is the 'STD-3014' Department of Energy (DOE), the second is the 'ACRAM'(Aircraft Crash Risk Assessment Methodology) prepared by the 'Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory'(LLNL) and finally the more advanced 'ACRP-3', produced by the 'Transportation Research Board'. The results obtained with the three models establish that the risks imposed on the airport vicinity, remain low due to the improvement and innovation in the aircraft's safety, reducing the risk margin for the location of new nuclear facilities near an airport. (author) [es

  10. QCGAT aircraft/engine design for reduced noise and emissions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lanson, L.; Terrill, K. M.

    1980-01-01

    The high bypass ratio QCGAT engine played an important role in shaping the aircraft design. The aircraft which evolved is a sleek, advanced design, six-place aircraft with 3538 kg (7,800 lb) maximum gross weight. It offers a 2778 kilometer (1500 nautical mile) range with cruise speed of 0.5 Mach number and will take-off and land on the vast majority of general aviation airfields. Advanced features include broad application of composite materials and a supercritical wing design with winglets. Full-span fowler flaps were introduced to improve landing capability. Engines are fuselage-mounted with inlets over the wing to provide shielding of fan noise by the wing surfaces. The design objectives, noise, and emission considerations, engine cycle and engine description are discussed as well as specific design features.

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  12. Practical Applications of Cosmic Ray Science: Spacecraft, Aircraft, Ground Based Computation and Control Systems and Human Health and Safety

    Science.gov (United States)

    Atwell, William; Koontz, Steve; Normand, Eugene

    2012-01-01

    In this paper we review the discovery of cosmic ray effects on the performance and reliability of microelectronic systems as well as on human health and safety, as well as the development of the engineering and health science tools used to evaluate and mitigate cosmic ray effects in earth surface, atmospheric flight, and space flight environments. Three twentieth century technological developments, 1) high altitude commercial and military aircraft; 2) manned and unmanned spacecraft; and 3) increasingly complex and sensitive solid state micro-electronics systems, have driven an ongoing evolution of basic cosmic ray science into a set of practical engineering tools (e.g. ground based test methods as well as high energy particle transport and reaction codes) needed to design, test, and verify the safety and reliability of modern complex electronic systems as well as effects on human health and safety. The effects of primary cosmic ray particles, and secondary particle showers produced by nuclear reactions with spacecraft materials, can determine the design and verification processes (as well as the total dollar cost) for manned and unmanned spacecraft avionics systems. Similar considerations apply to commercial and military aircraft operating at high latitudes and altitudes near the atmospheric Pfotzer maximum. Even ground based computational and controls systems can be negatively affected by secondary particle showers at the Earth's surface, especially if the net target area of the sensitive electronic system components is large. Accumulation of both primary cosmic ray and secondary cosmic ray induced particle shower radiation dose is an important health and safety consideration for commercial or military air crews operating at high altitude/latitude and is also one of the most important factors presently limiting manned space flight operations beyond low-Earth orbit (LEO).

  13. Rapid Assessments of Amazon Forest Structure and Biomass Using Small Unmanned Aerial Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Max Messinger

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs can provide new ways to measure forests and supplement expensive or labor-intensive inventory methods. Forest carbon, a key uncertainty in the global carbon cycle and also important for carbon conservation programs, is typically monitored using manned aircraft or extensive forest plot networks to estimate aboveground carbon density (ACD. Manned aircraft are only cost-effective when applied to large areas (>100,000 ha, while plot networks are most effective for total C stock estimation across large areas, not for quantifying spatially-explicit variation. We sought to develop an effective method for frequent and accurate ACD estimation at intermediate scales (100–100,000 ha that would be sensitive to small-scale disturbance. Using small UAVs, we collected imagery of 516 ha of lowland forest in the Peruvian Amazon. We then used a structure-from-motion (SFM approach to create a 3D model of forest canopy. Comparing SFM- and airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR-derived estimates of canopy height and ACD, we found that SFM estimates of top-of-canopy height (TCH and ACD were highly correlated with previous LiDAR estimates (r = 0.86–0.93 and r = 0.73–0.94 for TCH and ACD, respectively, at 0.1–4 ha grain sizes, with r = 0.92 for ACD determination at the 1 ha scale, despite SFM and LiDAR measurements being separated by two years in a dynamic forest. SFM and LiDAR estimates of mean TCH and mean ACD were highly similar, differing by only 0.4% and 0.04%, respectively, within mature forest. The technique allows inexpensive, near-real-time monitoring of ACD for ecological studies, payment for ecosystem services (PES ventures, such as reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+, forestry enterprises, and governance.

  14. Unmanned Systems Roadmap 2007-2032

    Science.gov (United States)

    2007-01-01

    advances in each of the three fields, as shown from the following selected summaries from the study: Transgenic biopolymers fall at the intersection...cowlings) for unmanned systems. As an example, the silk -producing gene of spiders has been spliced into the mammary gland gene of sheep, from whose...subsequent milk the silk protein can be extracted. Breeding herds of such sheep enable spider silk , known for its light weight and high strength, to be

  15. Integrated flight path planning system and flight control system for unmanned helicopters.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jan, Shau Shiun; Lin, Yu Hsiang

    2011-01-01

    This paper focuses on the design of an integrated navigation and guidance system for unmanned helicopters. The integrated navigation system comprises two systems: the Flight Path Planning System (FPPS) and the Flight Control System (FCS). The FPPS finds the shortest flight path by the A-Star (A*) algorithm in an adaptive manner for different flight conditions, and the FPPS can add a forbidden zone to stop the unmanned helicopter from crossing over into dangerous areas. In this paper, the FPPS computation time is reduced by the multi-resolution scheme, and the flight path quality is improved by the path smoothing methods. Meanwhile, the FCS includes the fuzzy inference systems (FISs) based on the fuzzy logic. By using expert knowledge and experience to train the FIS, the controller can operate the unmanned helicopter without dynamic models. The integrated system of the FPPS and the FCS is aimed at providing navigation and guidance to the mission destination and it is implemented by coupling the flight simulation software, X-Plane, and the computing software, MATLAB. Simulations are performed and shown in real time three-dimensional animations. Finally, the integrated system is demonstrated to work successfully in controlling the unmanned helicopter to operate in various terrains of a digital elevation model (DEM).

  16. Integrated Flight Path Planning System and Flight Control System for Unmanned Helicopters

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jan, Shau Shiun; Lin, Yu Hsiang

    2011-01-01

    This paper focuses on the design of an integrated navigation and guidance system for unmanned helicopters. The integrated navigation system comprises two systems: the Flight Path Planning System (FPPS) and the Flight Control System (FCS). The FPPS finds the shortest flight path by the A-Star (A*) algorithm in an adaptive manner for different flight conditions, and the FPPS can add a forbidden zone to stop the unmanned helicopter from crossing over into dangerous areas. In this paper, the FPPS computation time is reduced by the multi-resolution scheme, and the flight path quality is improved by the path smoothing methods. Meanwhile, the FCS includes the fuzzy inference systems (FISs) based on the fuzzy logic. By using expert knowledge and experience to train the FIS, the controller can operate the unmanned helicopter without dynamic models. The integrated system of the FPPS and the FCS is aimed at providing navigation and guidance to the mission destination and it is implemented by coupling the flight simulation software, X-Plane, and the computing software, MATLAB. Simulations are performed and shown in real time three-dimensional animations. Finally, the integrated system is demonstrated to work successfully in controlling the unmanned helicopter to operate in various terrains of a digital elevation model (DEM). PMID:22164029

  17. Water Plume Temperature Measurements by an Unmanned Aerial System (UAS).

    Science.gov (United States)

    DeMario, Anthony; Lopez, Pete; Plewka, Eli; Wix, Ryan; Xia, Hai; Zamora, Emily; Gessler, Dan; Yalin, Azer P

    2017-02-07

    We report on the development and testing of a proof of principle water temperature measurement system deployed on an unmanned aerial system (UAS), for field measurements of thermal discharges into water. The primary elements of the system include a quad-copter UAS to which has been integrated, for the first time, both a thermal imaging infrared (IR) camera and an immersible probe that can be dipped below the water surface to obtain vertical water temperature profiles. The IR camera is used to take images of the overall water surface to geo-locate the plume, while the immersible probe provides quantitative temperature depth profiles at specific locations. The full system has been tested including the navigation of the UAS, its ability to safely carry the sensor payload, and the performance of both the IR camera and the temperature probe. Finally, the UAS sensor system was successfully deployed in a pilot field study at a coal burning power plant, and obtained images and temperature profiles of the thermal effluent.

  18. Technical Report: Unmanned Helicopter Solution for Survey-Grade Lidar and Hyperspectral Mapping

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaňuk, Ján; Gallay, Michal; Eck, Christoph; Zgraggen, Carlo; Dvorný, Eduard

    2018-05-01

    Recent development of light-weight unmanned airborne vehicles (UAV) and miniaturization of sensors provide new possibilities for remote sensing and high-resolution mapping. Mini-UAV platforms are emerging, but powerful UAV platforms of higher payload capacity are required to carry the sensors for survey-grade mapping. In this paper, we demonstrate a technological solution and application of two different payloads for highly accurate and detailed mapping. The unmanned airborne system (UAS) comprises a Scout B1-100 autonomously operating UAV helicopter powered by a gasoline two-stroke engine with maximum take-off weight of 75 kg. The UAV allows for integrating of up to 18 kg of a customized payload. Our technological solution comprises two types of payload completely independent of the platform. The first payload contains a VUX-1 laser scanner (Riegl, Austria) and a Sony A6000 E-Mount photo camera. The second payload integrates a hyperspectral push-broom scanner AISA Kestrel 10 (Specim, Finland). The two payloads need to be alternated if mapping with both is required. Both payloads include an inertial navigation system xNAV550 (Oxford Technical Solutions Ltd., United Kingdom), a separate data link, and a power supply unit. Such a constellation allowed for achieving high accuracy of the flight line post-processing in two test missions. The standard deviation was 0.02 m (XY) and 0.025 m (Z), respectively. The intended application of the UAS was for high-resolution mapping and monitoring of landscape dynamics (landslides, erosion, flooding, or crops growth). The legal regulations for such UAV applications in Switzerland and Slovakia are also discussed.

  19. Cooperative Control of Multiple Unmanned Autonomous Vehicles

    Science.gov (United States)

    2005-06-03

    I I Final Report 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE 5. FUNDING NUMBERS Cooperative Control of Multiple Unmanned Autonomous Vehicles F49620-01-1-0337 6. AUTHOR(S... Autonomous Vehicles Final Report Kendall E. Nygard Department of Computer Science and Operations Research North Dakota State University Fargo, ND 58105-5164

  20. 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

  1. Stable Hovering Flight for a Small Unmanned Helicopter Using Fuzzy Control

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arbab Nighat Khizer

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Stable hover flight control for small unmanned helicopter under light air turbulent environment is presented. Intelligent fuzzy logic is chosen because it is a nonlinear control technique based on expert knowledge and is capable of handling sensor created noise and contradictory inputs commonly encountered in flight control. The fuzzy nonlinear control utilizes these distinct qualities for attitude, height, and position control. These multiple controls are developed using two-loop control structure by first designing an inner-loop controller for attitude angles and height and then by establishing outer-loop controller for helicopter position. The nonlinear small unmanned helicopter model used comes from X-Plane simulator. A simulation platform consisting of MATLAB/Simulink and X-Plane© flight simulator was introduced to implement the proposed controls. The main objective of this research is to design computationally intelligent control laws for hovering and to test and analyze this autopilot for small unmanned helicopter model on X-Plane under ideal and mild turbulent condition. Proposed fuzzy flight controls are validated using an X-Plane helicopter model before being embedded on actual helicopter. To show the effectiveness of the proposed fuzzy control method and its ability to cope with the external uncertainties, results are compared with a classical PD controller. Simulated results show that two-loop fuzzy controllers have a good ability to establish stable hovering for a class of unmanned rotorcraft in the presence of light turbulent environment.

  2. An adaptive dual-optimal path-planning technique for unmanned air vehicles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Whitfield Clifford A.

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available A multi-objective technique for unmanned air vehicle path-planning generation through task allocation has been developed. The dual-optimal path-planning technique generates real-time adaptive flight paths based on available flight windows and environmental influenced objectives. The environmentally-influenced flight condition determines the aircraft optimal orientation within a downstream virtual window of possible vehicle destinations that is based on the vehicle’s kinematics. The intermittent results are then pursued by a dynamic optimization technique to determine the flight path. This path-planning technique is a multi-objective optimization procedure consisting of two goals that do not require additional information to combine the conflicting objectives into a single-objective. The technique was applied to solar-regenerative high altitude long endurance flight which can benefit significantly from an adaptive real-time path-planning technique. The objectives were to determine the minimum power required flight paths while maintaining maximum solar power for continual surveillance over an area of interest (AOI. The simulated path generation technique prolonged the flight duration over a sustained turn loiter flight path by approximately 2 months for a year of flight. The potential for prolonged solar powered flight was consistent for all latitude locations, including 2 months of available flight at 60° latitude, where sustained turn flight was no longer capable.

  3. Leading the Development of Concepts of Operations for Next-Generation Remotely Piloted Aircraft

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-01-01

    danced around the next-generation RPA CONOPS through technology demonstration for several years. Individual programs have developed key enabling...party system to take command of the aircraft and sensor payload. Aircraft equipped with Link 16 have the option of slaving their sensor payloads to...collection, shift transmission to theater nodes, and continue to slave the payloads to cues given by joint partners in-theater. Embracing Leadership in

  4. A Survey of Fatigue in Selected United States Air Force Shift Worker Populations

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Thompson, William T; Tvaryanas, Anthony P

    2006-01-01

    .... Self-reported average daily sleep and steep quality did not correlate with fatigue. Fatigue was greater in the unmanned aircraft versus the manned aircraft squadron irrespective of career field...

  5. 50 CFR 22.32 - Conditions and limitations on taking under depredation control order.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... Golden Eagles § 22.32 Conditions and limitations on taking under depredation control order. (a) Whenever the taking of golden eagles without a permit is authorized for the seasonal protection of livestock, such birds may be taken by firearms, traps, or other suitable means except by poison or from aircraft...

  6. The development of ground unmanned vehicles, driver assistance systems and components according to patent publications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saykin, A. M.; Tuktakiev, G. S.; Zhuravlev, A. V.; Zaitseva, E. P.

    2018-02-01

    The paper contains the analysis of the main trends in the patenting of ground unmanned vehicles, driver assistance systems (ADAS) and unmanned vehicle components abroad during the period from 2010 to 2016. The conclusion was made that the intensity of their patenting abroad increased.

  7. USE OF BIOLOGICAL ADHESIVE FOR EFFECTIVE DUST SUPPRESSION IN MINING OPERATIONS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aleksandr Sergeevich Danilov

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available This article explores modern methods of reclamation of lands disturbed processes of mining, based on monitoring disturbed lands using unmanned aircraft and dusty surfaces coated biologically active adhesive, biological foam. In the article new highly efficint methods of remote monitoring of environment components are considered on based of unmanned aircrafts. For monitoring, it is suggested to draw complexes based of small unmanned aircraft vehicle, equipped with special equipment (a digital camera, a thermal imaging camera, dust meter. Land reclamation on the biological stage is encouraged by using new bio-adhesives, developed on the basis of polysaccharides and various microorganisms. This composition helps reduce the consumption of fertilizers, pesticides and other components, pioneer in growing crops on dusty surfaces in the disturbed lands. As a result of such an event, dust discharge from the surface technogenic structures is reduced up to 10 times.

  8. UAS CNPC Satellite Link Performance - Sharing Spectrum with Terrestrial Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kerczewski, Robert J.; Wilson, Jeffrey D.; Bishop, William D.

    2016-01-01

    In order to provide for the safe integration of unmanned aircraft systems into the National Airspace System, the control and non-payload communications (CNPC) link connecting the ground-based pilot with the unmanned aircraft must be highly reliable. A specific requirement is that it must operate using aviation safety radiofrequency spectrum. The 2012 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-12) provided a potentially suitable allocation for radio line-of-sight (LOS), terrestrial based CNPC link at 5030-5091 MHz. For a beyond radio line-of-sight (BLOS), satellite-based CNPC link, aviation safety spectrum allocations are currently inadequate. Therefore, the 2015 WRC will consider the use of Fixed Satellite Service (FSS) bands to provide BLOS CNPC under Agenda Item 1.5. This agenda item requires studies to be conducted to allow for the consideration of how unmanned aircraft can employ FSS for BLOS CNPC while maintaining existing systems. Since there are terrestrial Fixed Service systems also using the same frequency bands under consideration in Agenda Item 1.5 one of the studies required considered spectrum sharing between earth stations on-board unmanned aircraft and Fixed Service station receivers. Studies carried out by NASA have concluded that such sharing is possible under parameters previously established by the International Telecommunications Union. As the preparation for WRC-15 has progressed, additional study parameters Agenda Item 1.5 have been proposed, and some studies using these parameters have been added. This paper examines the study results for the original parameters as well as results considering some of the more recently proposed parameters to provide insight into the complicated process of resolving WRC-15 Agenda Item 1.5 and achieving a solution for BLOS CNPC for unmanned aircraft.

  9. Land Survey from Unmaned Aerial Veichle

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peterman, V.; Mesarič, M.

    2012-07-01

    In this paper we present, how we use a quadrocopter unmanned aerial vehicle with a camera attached to it, to do low altitude photogrammetric land survey. We use the quadrocopter to take highly overlapping photos of the area of interest. A "structure from motion" algorithm is implemented to get parameters of camera orientations and to generate a sparse point cloud representation of objects in photos. Than a patch based multi view stereo algorithm is applied to generate a dense point cloud. Ground control points are used to georeference the data. Further processing is applied to generate digital orthophoto maps, digital surface models, digital terrain models and assess volumes of various types of material. Practical examples of land survey from a UAV are presented in the paper. We explain how we used our system to monitor the reconstruction of commercial building, then how our UAV was used to assess the volume of coal supply for Ljubljana heating plant. Further example shows the usefulness of low altitude photogrammetry for documentation of archaeological excavations. In the final example we present how we used our UAV to prepare an underlay map for natural gas pipeline's route planning. In the final analysis we conclude that low altitude photogrammetry can help bridge the gap between laser scanning and classic tachymetric survey, since it offers advantages of both techniques.

  10. Imaged-Based Visual Servo Control for a VTOL Aircraft

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Liying Zou

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents a novel control strategy to force a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL aircraft to accomplish the pinpoint landing task. The control development is based on the image-based visual servoing method and the back-stepping technique; its design differs from the existing methods because the controller maps the image errors onto the actuator space via a visual model which does not contain the depth information of the feature point. The novelty of the proposed method is to extend the image-based visual servoing technique to the VTOL aircraft control. In addition, the Lyapunov theory is used to prove the asymptotic stability of the VTOL aircraft visual servoing system, while the image error can converge to zero. Furthermore, simulations have been also conducted to demonstrate the performances of the proposed method.

  11. Morphing hull implementation for unmanned underwater vehicles

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Miller, Timothy F; Gandhi, Farhan; Rufino, Russell J

    2013-01-01

    There has been much interest and work in the area of morphing aircraft since the 1980s. Morphing could also potentially benefit unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs). The current paper envisions a UUV with an interior pressure hull and a variable diameter outer flexible hull with fuel stored in the annulus between, and presents a mechanism to realize diameter change of the outer hull. The outer hull diameter of UUVs designed for very long endurance/range could be progressively reduced as fuel was consumed, thereby reducing drag and further increasing endurance and range capability. Diameter morphing could also be advantageous for compact storage of UUVs. A prototype is fabricated to represent an axial section of such a morphing diameter UUV. Diameter change is achieved using eight morphing trusses arranged equidistant around the circumference of the representative interior rigid hull. Each morphing truss has a lower rail (attached to the rigid hull) and an upper rail with V-linkages between, at either ends of the rail. Horizontal motion of the feet of the V-linkages (sliding in the lower rail) results in vertical motion of the upper rail which in turn produces diameter change of the outer hull. For the prototype built and tested, a 63% increase in outer diameter from 12.75″ to 20.75″ was achieved. The introduction of a stretched latex representative flexible skin around the outer rails increased actuation force requirement and led to a propensity for the wheel-in-track sliders in the morphing truss to bind. It is anticipated that this could be overcome with higher precision manufacturing. In addition to symmetric actuation of the morphing trusses resulting in diameter change, the paper also shows that with asymmetric actuation the hull cross-section shape can be changed (for example, from a circular section for underwater operation to a V-section for surface operations). (paper)

  12. Morphing hull implementation for unmanned underwater vehicles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miller, Timothy F.; Gandhi, Farhan; Rufino, Russell J.

    2013-11-01

    There has been much interest and work in the area of morphing aircraft since the 1980s. Morphing could also potentially benefit unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs). The current paper envisions a UUV with an interior pressure hull and a variable diameter outer flexible hull with fuel stored in the annulus between, and presents a mechanism to realize diameter change of the outer hull. The outer hull diameter of UUVs designed for very long endurance/range could be progressively reduced as fuel was consumed, thereby reducing drag and further increasing endurance and range capability. Diameter morphing could also be advantageous for compact storage of UUVs. A prototype is fabricated to represent an axial section of such a morphing diameter UUV. Diameter change is achieved using eight morphing trusses arranged equidistant around the circumference of the representative interior rigid hull. Each morphing truss has a lower rail (attached to the rigid hull) and an upper rail with V-linkages between, at either ends of the rail. Horizontal motion of the feet of the V-linkages (sliding in the lower rail) results in vertical motion of the upper rail which in turn produces diameter change of the outer hull. For the prototype built and tested, a 63% increase in outer diameter from 12.75″ to 20.75″ was achieved. The introduction of a stretched latex representative flexible skin around the outer rails increased actuation force requirement and led to a propensity for the wheel-in-track sliders in the morphing truss to bind. It is anticipated that this could be overcome with higher precision manufacturing. In addition to symmetric actuation of the morphing trusses resulting in diameter change, the paper also shows that with asymmetric actuation the hull cross-section shape can be changed (for example, from a circular section for underwater operation to a V-section for surface operations).

  13. Modeling Programs Increase Aircraft Design Safety

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-01

    aircraft to safe flight. Today, all aircraft must have a flutter boundary 15 percent beyond the aircraft s expected maximum speed to ensure that flutter conditions are not encountered in flight. NASA continues to support research in new aircraft designs to improve knowledge of aeroelasticity and flutter. Through platforms such as Dryden Flight Research Center s Active Aeroelastic Wing (AAW) research aircraft, the Agency researches methods for in-flight validation of predictions and for controlling and taking advantage of aeroelastic conditions to enhance aircraft performance.

  14. Low Power Greenhouse Gas Sensors for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  15. Defining Handling Qualities of Unmanned Aerial Systems, Phase II

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Unmanned Air Systems (UAS) are no longer coming, they are here, and operators from first responders to commercial operators are demanding access to the National...

  16. ON MODERN APPROACH TO AIRPLANE-TYPE UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES DESIGN WITH SHORT TAKEOFF AND LANDING

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Oleg P. Minin

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available This publication opens a series of review papers devoted to the current design problems of the next generation unmanned airplanes that are expected to appear in the period from 2025 to 2035. The series of papers considers airplanes with vertical take-off and landing, air launch of small satellites into the orbit, cargo transportation tasks, issues related to new aerodynamic forms, as well as hybrid, combined and distributed power units. The first paper of the cycle is devoted to the conceptual aerodynamic design of the airplanes with a short take-off and landing, and with technical and economic characteristics on cruise flight conditions no worse than for traditional airplane based on aerodrome with long airstrip. We consider traditional linear methods for aerodynamic scheme analysis and weight analysis, as well. The main relationships and references to the works enabling the parametric analysis of the aerodynamic configuration are given. It is concluded that one of the most promising areas in the field of airplanes with a short take-off and landing is the development of aerodynamic circuits constructed as a "flying wing" of small aspect ratio and large structural height.

  17. Fuzzy Logic Unmanned Air Vehicle Motion Planning

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chelsea Sabo

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available There are a variety of scenarios in which the mission objectives rely on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV being capable of maneuvering in an environment containing obstacles in which there is little prior knowledge of the surroundings. With an appropriate dynamic motion planning algorithm, UAVs would be able to maneuver in any unknown environment towards a target in real time. This paper presents a methodology for two-dimensional motion planning of a UAV using fuzzy logic. The fuzzy inference system takes information in real time about obstacles (if within the agent's sensing range and target location and outputs a change in heading angle and speed. The FL controller was validated, and Monte Carlo testing was completed to evaluate the performance. Not only was the path traversed by the UAV often the exact path computed using an optimal method, the low failure rate makes the fuzzy logic controller (FLC feasible for exploration. The FLC showed only a total of 3% failure rate, whereas an artificial potential field (APF solution, a commonly used intelligent control method, had an average of 18% failure rate. These results highlighted one of the advantages of the FLC method: its adaptability to complex scenarios while maintaining low control effort.

  18. 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.

  19. 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

  20. Trends in the development of unmanned marine technology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Olejnik Adam

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available The article constitutes an attempt to identify current tendencies regarding the development of unmanned marine technologies such as unmanned surface and underwater vehicles. The analyses were performed on the basis of available literature, databases on research projects and internet sources. The material has been divided with regard to the location the research was conducted, the following groups being identified: the European Union, the United States of America and Poland. On the basis of the review of objectives and final effects of projects, tendencies in the development of the discussed marine technology have been identified. An interesting result of the review consists in an observation that Polish R&D works in this area are placed within the main identified developmental trends. Unfortunately, their effects are incomparable due to the minuteness of national funds allocated to R&D as opposed to other countries.

  1. 48 CFR 3028.306-90 - Contracts for lease of aircraft (USCG).

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... clause at (HSAR) 48 CFR 3052.228-92, Fair Market Value of Aircraft, when fair market value of the... cover the Government's exposure to liability as well. In order to take advantage of this coverage, the...

  2. Coandă configured aircraft: A preliminary analytical assessment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hamid, M. F. Abdul; Gires, E.; Harithuddin, A. S. M.; Abu Talib, A. R.; Rafie, A. S. M.; Romli, F. I.; Harmin, M. Y.

    2017-12-01

    The interest in the use of flow control for enhanced aerodynamic performance has grown, particularly in the use of jets (continuous, synthetic, pulsed, etc.), compliant surface, vortex-cell, and others. It has been widely documented that these active control concepts can dramatically alter the behaviour of aerodynamic components like airfoils, wings and bodies. In this conjunction, with the present demands of low-cost and efficient flights, the use of Coandă effect as a lift enhancer has attracted a lot of interest. Tangential jets that take advantage of the Coandă effect to closely follow the contours of the body have been considered to be simple and particularly effective. For this case, a large mass of surrounding air can be entrained, hence amplifying the circulation. In an effort to optimize the aerodynamic performance of an aircraft, such effect will be critically reviewed by taking advantage of recent progress. For this purpose, in this study, the design of a Coandă-configured aircraft wing will be mathematically idealized and modelled as a two-dimensional flow problem.

  3. Defining Handling Qualities of Unmanned Aerial Systems, Phase I

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Unmanned Air Systems (UAS) are here to stay and operators are demanding access to the National Airspace System (NAS) for a wide variety of missions. This includes a...

  4. Database on aircraft accidents

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nishio, Masahide; Koriyama, Tamio

    2012-09-01

    The Reactor Safety Subcommittee in the Nuclear Safety and Preservation Committee published the report 'The criteria on assessment of probability of aircraft crash into light water reactor facilities' as the standard method for evaluating probability of aircraft crash into nuclear reactor facilities in July 2002. In response to the report, Japan Nuclear Energy Safety Organization has been collecting open information on aircraft accidents of commercial airplanes, self-defense force (SDF) airplanes and US force airplanes every year since 2003, sorting out them and developing the database of aircraft accidents for latest 20 years to evaluate probability of aircraft crash into nuclear reactor facilities. This year, the database was revised by adding aircraft accidents in 2010 to the existing database and deleting aircraft accidents in 1991 from it, resulting in development of the revised 2011 database for latest 20 years from 1991 to 2010. Furthermore, the flight information on commercial aircrafts was also collected to develop the flight database for latest 20 years from 1991 to 2010 to evaluate probability of aircraft crash into reactor facilities. The method for developing the database of aircraft accidents to evaluate probability of aircraft crash into reactor facilities is based on the report 'The criteria on assessment of probability of aircraft crash into light water reactor facilities' described above. The 2011 revised database for latest 20 years from 1991 to 2010 shows the followings. The trend of the 2011 database changes little as compared to the last year's one. (1) The data of commercial aircraft accidents is based on 'Aircraft accident investigation reports of Japan transport safety board' of Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. 4 large fixed-wing aircraft accidents, 58 small fixed-wing aircraft accidents, 5 large bladed aircraft accidents and 114 small bladed aircraft accidents occurred. The relevant accidents for evaluating

  5. 14 CFR 21.6 - Manufacture of new aircraft, aircraft engines, and propellers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Manufacture of new aircraft, aircraft... Manufacture of new aircraft, aircraft engines, and propellers. (a) Except as specified in paragraphs (b) and (c) of this section, no person may manufacture a new aircraft, aircraft engine, or propeller based on...

  6. Parallel Aircraft Trajectory Optimization with Analytic Derivatives

    Science.gov (United States)

    Falck, Robert D.; Gray, Justin S.; Naylor, Bret

    2016-01-01

    Trajectory optimization is an integral component for the design of aerospace vehicles, but emerging aircraft technologies have introduced new demands on trajectory analysis that current tools are not well suited to address. Designing aircraft with technologies such as hybrid electric propulsion and morphing wings requires consideration of the operational behavior as well as the physical design characteristics of the aircraft. The addition of operational variables can dramatically increase the number of design variables which motivates the use of gradient based optimization with analytic derivatives to solve the larger optimization problems. In this work we develop an aircraft trajectory analysis tool using a Legendre-Gauss-Lobatto based collocation scheme, providing analytic derivatives via the OpenMDAO multidisciplinary optimization framework. This collocation method uses an implicit time integration scheme that provides a high degree of sparsity and thus several potential options for parallelization. The performance of the new implementation was investigated via a series of single and multi-trajectory optimizations using a combination of parallel computing and constraint aggregation. The computational performance results show that in order to take full advantage of the sparsity in the problem it is vital to parallelize both the non-linear analysis evaluations and the derivative computations themselves. The constraint aggregation results showed a significant numerical challenge due to difficulty in achieving tight convergence tolerances. Overall, the results demonstrate the value of applying analytic derivatives to trajectory optimization problems and lay the foundation for future application of this collocation based method to the design of aircraft with where operational scheduling of technologies is key to achieving good performance.

  7. Comprehensive analysis of transport aircraft flight performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Filippone, Antonio

    2008-04-01

    This paper reviews the state-of-the art in comprehensive performance codes for fixed-wing aircraft. The importance of system analysis in flight performance is discussed. The paper highlights the role of aerodynamics, propulsion, flight mechanics, aeroacoustics, flight operation, numerical optimisation, stochastic methods and numerical analysis. The latter discipline is used to investigate the sensitivities of the sub-systems to uncertainties in critical state parameters or functional parameters. The paper discusses critically the data used for performance analysis, and the areas where progress is required. Comprehensive analysis codes can be used for mission fuel planning, envelope exploration, competition analysis, a wide variety of environmental studies, marketing analysis, aircraft certification and conceptual aircraft design. A comprehensive program that uses the multi-disciplinary approach for transport aircraft is presented. The model includes a geometry deck, a separate engine input deck with the main parameters, a database of engine performance from an independent simulation, and an operational deck. The comprehensive code has modules for deriving the geometry from bitmap files, an aerodynamics model for all flight conditions, a flight mechanics model for flight envelopes and mission analysis, an aircraft noise model and engine emissions. The model is validated at different levels. Validation of the aerodynamic model is done against the scale models DLR-F4 and F6. A general model analysis and flight envelope exploration are shown for the Boeing B-777-300 with GE-90 turbofan engines with intermediate passenger capacity (394 passengers in 2 classes). Validation of the flight model is done by sensitivity analysis on the wetted area (or profile drag), on the specific air range, the brake-release gross weight and the aircraft noise. A variety of results is shown, including specific air range charts, take-off weight-altitude charts, payload-range performance

  8. Analysis Of Damage Arising From Exploitation Of The Aircraft

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Woźny Piotr

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available During exploitation, due to a variety of reasons, aircrafts are damaged or suffer from different failures. In the process of operation, using appropriate methods of diagnosis, failure, damage, and relative deregulation of individual elements or units can be detected. For this purpose, one can apply a number of indirect diagnostic methods with the use of recorded diagnostic signals or a direct diagnosis with the use of non-destructive methods. The proper identification of the technical condition allows to determine the causes of irregularities and take actions aimed at preventing their occurrence. The article presents the types of exploitation damage of a multi-purpose aircraft. In addition, the criteria for the division of damage and research methods of the causes of damage are presented. Furthermore, an analysis of the scope of activities to be performed during the research of causes of damage to the aircraft is made.

  9. Terminal Control Area Aircraft Scheduling and Trajectory Optimization Approaches

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Samà Marcella

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Aviation authorities are seeking optimization methods to better use the available infrastructure and better manage aircraft movements. This paper deals with the realtime scheduling of take-off and landing aircraft at a busy terminal control area and with the optimization of aircraft trajectories during the landing procedures. The first problem aims to reduce the propagation of delays, while the second problem aims to either minimize the travel time or reduce the fuel consumption. Both problems are particularly complex, since the first one is NP-hard while the second one is nonlinear and a combined solution needs to be computed in a short-time during operations. This paper proposes a framework for the lexicographic optimization of the two problems. Computational experiments are performed for the Milano Malpensa airport and show the existing gaps between the performance indicators of the two problems when different lexicographic optimization approaches are considered.

  10. Database on aircraft accidents

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nishio, Masahide; Koriyama, Tamio

    2013-11-01

    The Reactor Safety Subcommittee in the Nuclear Safety and Preservation Committee published 'The criteria on assessment of probability of aircraft crash into light water reactor facilities' as the standard method for evaluating probability of aircraft crash into nuclear reactor facilities in July 2002. In response to this issue, Japan Nuclear Energy Safety Organization has been collecting open information on aircraft accidents of commercial airplanes, self-defense force (SDF) airplanes and US force airplanes every year since 2003, sorting out them and developing the database of aircraft accidents for the latest 20 years to evaluate probability of aircraft crash into nuclear reactor facilities. In this report the database was revised by adding aircraft accidents in 2011 to the existing database and deleting aircraft accidents in 1991 from it, resulting in development of the revised 2012 database for the latest 20 years from 1992 to 2011. Furthermore, the flight information on commercial aircrafts was also collected to develop the flight database for the latest 20 years from 1992 to 2011 to evaluate probability of aircraft crash into reactor facilities. The method for developing the database of aircraft accidents to evaluate probability of aircraft crash into reactor facilities is based on the report 'The criteria on assessment of probability of aircraft crash into light water reactor facilities' described above. The 2012 revised database for the latest 20 years from 1992 to 2011 shows the followings. The trend of the 2012 database changes little as compared to the last year's report. (1) The data of commercial aircraft accidents is based on 'Aircraft accident investigation reports of Japan transport safety board' of Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. The number of commercial aircraft accidents is 4 for large fixed-wing aircraft, 58 for small fixed-wing aircraft, 5 for large bladed aircraft and 99 for small bladed aircraft. The relevant accidents

  11. 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.

  12. 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.

  13. Leakage Account for Radial Face Contact Seal in Aircraft Engine Support

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vinogradov, A. S.; Sergeeva, T. V.

    2018-01-01

    The article is dedicated to the development of a methodology for the radial face contact seal design taking into consideration the supporting elements deformations in different aircraft engine operating modes. Radial face contact seals are popular in the aircraft engines bearing support. However, there are no published leakage calculation methodologies of these seals. Radial face contact seal leakage is determined by the gap clearance in the carbon seal ring split. In turn, the size gap clearance depends on the deformation of the seal assembly parts and from the engine operation. The article shows the leakage detection sequence in the intershaft radial face contact seal of the compressor support for take-off and cruising modes. Evaluated calculated leakage values (2.4 g/s at takeoff and 0.75 g/s at cruising) go with experience in designing seals.

  14. Toward New Horizons. Volume 8. Guided Missiles and Pilotless Aircraft

    Science.gov (United States)

    1946-05-01

    wings required for sustentation at high speeds than for normal aircraft in which take-off and landing requirements must be met. Thus aerodynamic data...the Langley Memorial Laboratory of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. 13 (2) Free-flight tests of missiles instrumented to give

  15. Making Aircraft Vortices Visible to Radar by Spraying Water into the Wake

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shariff, Karim

    2016-01-01

    Aircraft trailing vortices pose a danger to following aircraft during take-off and landing. This necessitates spacing rules, based on aircraft type, to be enforced during approach in IFR (Instrument Flight Regulations) conditions; this can limit airport capacity. To help choose aircraft spacing based on the actual location and strength of the wake, it is proposed that wake vortices can be detected using conventional precipitation and cloud radars. This is enabled by spraying a small quantity water into the wake from near the wing. The vortex strength is revealed by the doppler velocity of the droplets. In the present work, droplet size distributions produced by nozzles used for aerial spraying are considered. Droplet trajectory and evaporation in the flow-field is numerically calculated for a heavy aircraft, followed by an evaluation of radar reflectivity at 6 nautical miles behind the aircraft. Small droplets evaporate away while larger droplets fall out of the wake. In the humid conditions that typically prevail during IFR, a sufficient number of droplets remain in the wake and give good signal-to-noise ratios (SNR). For conditions of average humidity, higher frequency radars combined with spectral processing gives good SNR.

  16. Optimal trajectories of aircraft and spacecraft

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miele, A.

    1990-01-01

    Work done on algorithms for the numerical solutions of optimal control problems and their application to the computation of optimal flight trajectories of aircraft and spacecraft is summarized. General considerations on calculus of variations, optimal control, numerical algorithms, and applications of these algorithms to real-world problems are presented. The sequential gradient-restoration algorithm (SGRA) is examined for the numerical solution of optimal control problems of the Bolza type. Both the primal formulation and the dual formulation are discussed. Aircraft trajectories, in particular, the application of the dual sequential gradient-restoration algorithm (DSGRA) to the determination of optimal flight trajectories in the presence of windshear are described. Both take-off trajectories and abort landing trajectories are discussed. Take-off trajectories are optimized by minimizing the peak deviation of the absolute path inclination from a reference value. Abort landing trajectories are optimized by minimizing the peak drop of altitude from a reference value. Abort landing trajectories are optimized by minimizing the peak drop of altitude from a reference value. The survival capability of an aircraft in a severe windshear is discussed, and the optimal trajectories are found to be superior to both constant pitch trajectories and maximum angle of attack trajectories. Spacecraft trajectories, in particular, the application of the primal sequential gradient-restoration algorithm (PSGRA) to the determination of optimal flight trajectories for aeroassisted orbital transfer are examined. Both the coplanar case and the noncoplanar case are discussed within the frame of three problems: minimization of the total characteristic velocity; minimization of the time integral of the square of the path inclination; and minimization of the peak heating rate. The solution of the second problem is called nearly-grazing solution, and its merits are pointed out as a useful

  17. 14 CFR 91.535 - Stowage of food, beverage, and passenger service equipment during aircraft movement on the...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Stowage of food, beverage, and passenger... Airplanes and Fractional Ownership Program Aircraft § 91.535 Stowage of food, beverage, and passenger... an aircraft on the surface, take off, or land when any food, beverage, or tableware furnished by the...

  18. Titanium fasteners. [for aircraft industry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Phillips, J. L.

    1972-01-01

    Titanium fasteners are used in large quantities throughout the aircraft industry. Most of this usage is in aluminum structure; where titanium structure exists, titanium fasteners are logically used as well. Titanium fasteners offer potential weight savings to the designer at a cost of approximately $30 per pound of weight saved. Proper and least cost usage must take into consideration type of fastener per application, galvanic couples and installation characteristics of protective coatings, cosmetic appearance, paint adhesion, installation forces and methods available and fatigue performance required.

  19. An unmanned search and rescue mission

    Science.gov (United States)

    Novaro Mascarello, Laura; Quagliotti, Fulvia; Bertini, Mario

    2016-04-01

    The Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) are becoming more and more powerful and innovative and they have an increased interest in civil applications, in particular, after natural hazard phenomena. The RPAS is useful in search and rescue missions in high mountain where scenarios are unfriendly and the use of helicopters is often not profitable. First, the unmanned configuration is safer because there is no hazards for human life that is not on board. Moreover, it is cheaper due to the use of electric propulsion instead of internal combustion engine and to its small dimensions and weights. Finally, the use of the RPAS is faster while the helicopter is often not available because is involved in other missions or it cannot be used if the search mission is in impervious scenario, such as forests with thick vegetation. For instance, the RPAS can be used after an avalanche when victims have little time to be saved before the death by hypothermia. In most conditions, the body maintains a healthy temperature. However, if it is exposed to cold temperatures, especially with a high cooling factor from wind and high humidity, for extended periods, the control mechanisms of the body may not be able to maintain a normal body temperature. When you lose more heat than the body can generate, it takes over hypothermia, defined as a body temperature below 35° C. Wet clothing, fall into cold water or not adequately cover themselves during the cold season, are all factors that can increase the chances of hypothermia. Signs and symptoms (tremor, slurred speech, breathing abnormally slow, cold and pale skin, loss of coordination, fatigue, lethargy or apathy, confusion or memory loss) usually develop slowly. People with hypothermia typically experience a gradual loss of mental acuity and physical capacity, and realize that you have need of emergency medical care. For these reasons, the use of an RPAS could be crucial for the survival of disappeared people in high mountain. In

  20. Chemistry in aircraft plumes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kraabol, A.G.; Stordal, F.; Knudsen, S. [Norwegian Inst. for Air Research, Kjeller (Norway); Konopka, P. [Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fuer Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR), Wessling (Germany). Inst. fuer Physik der Atmosphaere

    1997-12-31

    An expanding plume model with chemistry has been used to study the chemical conversion of NO{sub x} to reservoir species in aircraft plumes. The heterogeneous conversion of N{sub 2}O{sub 5} to HNO{sub 3}(s) has been investigated when the emissions take place during night-time. The plume from an B747 has been simulated. During a ten-hour calculation the most important reservoir species was HNO{sub 3} for emissions at noon. The heterogeneous reactions had little impact on the chemical loss of NO{sub x} to reservoir species for emissions at night. (author) 4 refs.

  1. Chemistry in aircraft plumes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kraabol, A G; Stordal, F; Knudsen, S [Norwegian Inst. for Air Research, Kjeller (Norway); Konopka, P [Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fuer Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR), Wessling (Germany). Inst. fuer Physik der Atmosphaere

    1998-12-31

    An expanding plume model with chemistry has been used to study the chemical conversion of NO{sub x} to reservoir species in aircraft plumes. The heterogeneous conversion of N{sub 2}O{sub 5} to HNO{sub 3}(s) has been investigated when the emissions take place during night-time. The plume from an B747 has been simulated. During a ten-hour calculation the most important reservoir species was HNO{sub 3} for emissions at noon. The heterogeneous reactions had little impact on the chemical loss of NO{sub x} to reservoir species for emissions at night. (author) 4 refs.

  2. The application of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) in geophysical investigations of geothermal systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glen, J. M.; Egger, A. E.; Ippolito, C.; Phelps, G. A.; Berthold, R.; Lee, R.; Spritzer, J. M.; Tchernychev, M.

    2012-12-01

    Investigations of geothermal systems typically involve ground-based geological and geophysical studies in order to map structures that control and facilitate fluid flow. The spatial extent of ground-based investigations can be limited, however, by surficial hot springs, dense foliage, and roadless or private lands. This can result in data gaps in key areas, particularly around active hydrothermal springs. Manned aircraft can provide access to these areas and can yield broad and uniform data coverage, but high-resolution surveys are costly and relatively inflexible to changes in the survey specifications that may arise as data are collected. Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) are well suited for conducting these surveys, but until recently, various factors (scientific instrumentation requirements, platform limitations, and size of the survey area) have required the use of large UAS platforms, rendering unmanned aerial surveys unsuitable for most investigations. We have developed and tested a new cesium magnetometer system to collect magnetic data using two different small-platform UAS that overcomes many of the challenges described above. We are deploying this new system in Surprise Valley, CA, to study the area's active geothermal field. Surprise Valley is ideally suited to testing UAS due to its low population density, accessible airspace, and broad playa that provides ample opportunity to safely land the aircraft. In combination with gravity and topographic data, magnetic data are particularly useful for identifying buried, intra-basin structures, especially in areas such as Surprise Valley where highly magnetic, dense mafic volcanic rocks are interbedded with and faulted against less magnetic, less dense sedimentary rock. While high-resolution gravity data must be collected at point locations on the ground, high-resolution magnetic data can be obtained by UAS that provide continuous coverage. Once acquired, the magnetic data obtained by the UAS will be combined with

  3. 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...

  4. PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF A LIGHT-WEIGHT MULTI-ECHO LIDAR FOR UNMANNED ROTORCRAFT APPLICATIONS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    G. Conte

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available The paper presents a light-weight and low-cost airborne terrain mapping system. The developed Airborne LiDAR Scanner (ALS system consists of a high-precision GNSS receiver, an inertial measurement unit and a magnetic compass which are used to complement a LiDAR sensor in order to compute a digital surface model. Evaluation of the accuracy of the generated surface model is presented. Additionally, a comparison is provided between the surface model generated from the developed ALS system and a model generated using a commercial photogrammetric software. Finally, the multi-echo capability of the used LiDAR sensor is evaluated in areas covered with dense vegetation. The ALS system and camera systems were mounted on-board an industrial unmanned helicopter of around 100 kilograms maximum take-off weight. Presented results are based on real flight-test data.

  5. An intelligent control strategy based on ANFIS techniques in order to improve the performance of a low-cost unmanned aerial vehicle vision system

    OpenAIRE

    Marichal, G. N.; Hernández, A.; Olivares Méndez, Miguel Ángel; Acosta, L.; Campoy Cervera, Pascual

    2010-01-01

    In this paper, an intelligent control approach based on Neuro-Fuzzy systems is presented. A model of a low-cost vision platform for an unmanned aerial system is taken in the study. A simulation platform including this low-cost vision system and the influence of the helicopter vibrations over this system is shown. The intelligent control approach has been inserted in this simulation platform. Several trials taking these Neuro-Fuzzy systems as a fundamental part of the control strategy have bee...

  6. An Autonomous Robotic System for Mapping Weeds in Fields

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Karl Damkjær; Garcia Ruiz, Francisco Jose; Kazmi, Wajahat

    2013-01-01

    The ASETA project develops theory and methods for robotic agricultural systems. In ASETA, unmanned aircraft and unmanned ground vehicles are used to automate the task of identifying and removing weeds in sugar beet fields. The framework for a working automatic robotic weeding system is presented...

  7. An Innovative Unmanned System for Advanced Environmental Monitoring: Design and Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marsella, Ennio; Giordano, Laura; Evangelista, Lorenza; Iengo, Antonio; di Filippo, Alessandro; Coppola, Aniello

    2015-04-01

    The paper summarizes the design and development of a new technology and tools for real-time coordination and control of unmanned vehicles for advanced environmental monitoring. A new Unmanned System has been developed at Institute for Coastal Marine Environmental - National Research Council (Italy), in the framework of two National Operational Programs (PON): Technological Platform for Geophysical and Environmental Marine Survey-PITAM and Integrated Systems and Technologies for Geophysical and Environmental Monitoring in coastal-marine areas-STIGEAC. In particular, the system includes one Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and two Unmanned Marine Vehicles (UMV). Major innovations concern the implementation of a new architecture to control each drone and/or to allow the cooperation between heterogeneous vehicles, the integration of distributed sensing techniques and real-time image processing capabilities. Part of the research in these projects involves, therefore, an architecture, where the ground operator can communicate with the Unmanned Vehicles at various levels of abstraction using pointing devices and video viewing. In detail, a Ground Control Station (GCS) has been design and developed to allow the government in security of the drones within a distance up to twenty kilometers for air explorations and within ten nautical miles for marine activities. The Ground Control Station has the following features: 1. hardware / software system for the definition of the mission profiles; 3. autonomous and semi-autonomous control system by remote control (joystick or other) for the UAV and UMVs; 4. integrated control system with comprehensive visualization capabilities, monitoring and archiving of real-time data acquired from scientific payload; 5. open structure to future additions of systems, sensors and / or additional vehicles. In detail, the UAV architecture is a dual-rotor, with an endurance ranging from 55 to 200 minutes, depending on payload weight (maximum 26 kg) and

  8. Unmanned and Unarmed

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kristensen, Kristian Søby; Pradhan-Blach, Flemming; Schaub Jr, Gary John

    , the American, British, French, and Danish experiences highlight difficulties developing, acquiring, and operating UAVs. The Danish government should consider the tasks that UAVs are best-suited to perform, the costs associated with the entire UAV system, and the operational, doctrinal, and other challenges...... that must be addressed to integrate UAV capabilities into the Danish armed forces. These are not trivial considerations. Larger UAVs are very complex systems with which the Danish armed forces have limited experience, and introducing radically new technology always comes with substantial risks. Should...... Denmark decide to procure larger unmanned systems, such as Reapers or Global Hawks, it should cooperate with Allies to purchase, operate, and integrate these capabilities as smoothly as possible and mitigate these risks. It should also establish a joint unit dedicated to house, train, educate, and operate...

  9. Optimizing Unmanned Aircraft System Scheduling

    Science.gov (United States)

    2008-06-01

    ASC-U uses a deterministic algorithm to optimize over a given finite time horizon to obtain near-optimal UAS mission area assignments. ASC-U...the details of the algorithm . We set an upper bound on the total number of schedules that can be generated, so as not to create unsolvable ILPs. We...COL_MISSION_NAME)) If Trim( CStr (rMissions(iRow, COL_MISSION_REQUIRED))) <> "" Then If CLng(rMissions(iRow, COL_MISSION_REQUIRED)) > CLng

  10. Water Plume Temperature Measurements by an Unmanned Aerial System (UAS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anthony DeMario

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available We report on the development and testing of a proof of principle water temperature measurement system deployed on an unmanned aerial system (UAS, for field measurements of thermal discharges into water. The primary elements of the system include a quad-copter UAS to which has been integrated, for the first time, both a thermal imaging infrared (IR camera and an immersible probe that can be dipped below the water surface to obtain vertical water temperature profiles. The IR camera is used to take images of the overall water surface to geo-locate the plume, while the immersible probe provides quantitative temperature depth profiles at specific locations. The full system has been tested including the navigation of the UAS, its ability to safely carry the sensor payload, and the performance of both the IR camera and the temperature probe. Finally, the UAS sensor system was successfully deployed in a pilot field study at a coal burning power plant, and obtained images and temperature profiles of the thermal effluent.

  11. Information Exchange Architecture for Integrating Unmanned Vehicles into Maritime Missions

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Woolsey, Aaron

    2004-01-01

    .... The focus of this study is to analyze the structure of information flow for unmanned systems and suggest an exchange architecture to successfully inform and build decision maker understanding based...

  12. 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.

  13. Measurement of dose equivalent distribution on-board commercial jet aircraft

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kubancak, J.; Ambrozova, I.; Ploc, O.; Pachnerova Brabcova, K.; Stepan, V.; Uchihori, Y.

    2014-01-01

    The annual effective doses of aircrew members often exceed the limit of 1 mSv for the public due to the increased level of cosmic radiation at the flight altitudes, and thus, it is recommended to monitor them [International Commission on Radiation Protection. 1990 Recommendations of the International Commission on Radiological Protection. ICRP Publication 60. Ann. ICRP 21(1-3), (1991)]. According to the Monte Carlo simulations [Battistoni, G., Ferrari, A., Pelliccioni, M. and Villari, R. Evaluation of the doses to aircrew members taking into consideration the aircraft structures. Adv. Space Res. 36, 1645-1652 (2005) and Ferrari, A., Pelliccioni, M. and Villari, R. Evaluation of the influence of aircraft shielding on the aircrew exposure through an aircraft mathematical model. Radiat. Prot. Dosim. 108(2), 91-105 (2004)], the ambient dose equivalent rate H*(10) depends on the location in the aircraft. The aim of this article is to experimentally evaluate H*(10) on-board selected types of aircraft. The authors found that H*(10) values are higher in the front and the back of the cabin and lesser in the middle of the cabin. Moreover, total dosimetry characteristics obtained in this way are in a reasonable agreement with other data, in particular with the above-mentioned simulations. (authors)

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  15. Development of e-Juba, a preliminary proof of concept unmanned ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Development of e-Juba, a preliminary proof of concept unmanned aerial vehicle designed to facilitate the transportation of microbiological test samples from remote rural clinics to National Health Laboratory Service laboratories.

  16. Fast reconstruction of an unmanned engineering vehicle and its application to carrying rocket

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jun Qian

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available Engineering vehicle is widely used as a huge moving platform for transporting heavy goods. However, traditional human operations have a great influence on the steady movement of the vehicle. In this Letter, a fast reconstruction process of an unmanned engineering vehicle is carried out. By adding a higher-level controller and two two-dimensional laser scanners on the moving platform, the vehicle could perceive the surrounding environment and locate its pose according to extended Kalman filter. Then, a closed-loop control system is formed by communicating with the on-board lower-level controller. To verify the performance of automatic control system, the unmanned vehicle is automatically navigated when carrying a rocket towards a launcher in a launch site. The experimental results show that the vehicle could align with the launcher smoothly and safely within a small lateral deviation of 1 cm. This fast reconstruction presents an efficient way of rebuilding low-cost unmanned special vehicles and other automatic moving platforms.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

  18. ARV robotic technologies (ART): a risk reduction effort for future unmanned systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jaster, Jeffrey F.

    2006-05-01

    The Army's ARV (Armed Robotic Vehicle) Robotic Technologies (ART) program is working on the development of various technological thrusts for use in the robotic forces of the future. The ART program will develop, integrate and demonstrate the technology required to advance the maneuver technologies (i.e., perception, mobility, tactical behaviors) and increase the survivability of unmanned platforms for the future force while focusing on reducing the soldiers' burden by providing an increase in vehicle autonomy coinciding with a decrease in the total number user interventions required to control the unmanned assets. This program will advance the state of the art in perception technologies to provide the unmanned platform an increasingly accurate view of the terrain that surrounds it; while developing tactical/mission behavior technologies to provide the Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) the capability to maneuver tactically, in conjunction with the manned systems in an autonomous mode. The ART testbed will be integrated with the advanced technology software and associated hardware developed under this effort, and incorporate appropriate mission modules (e.g. RSTA sensors, MILES, etc.) to support Warfighter experiments and evaluations (virtual and field) in a military significant environment (open/rolling and complex/urban terrain). The outcome of these experiments as well as other lessons learned through out the program life cycle will be used to reduce the current risks that are identified for the future UGV systems that will be developed under the Future Combat Systems (FCS) program, including the early integration of an FCS-like autonomous navigation system onto a tracked skid steer platform.

  19. 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.

  20. 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...

  1. Design considerations to improve cognitive ergonomic issues of unmanned vehicle interfaces utilizing video game controllers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oppold, P; Rupp, M; Mouloua, M; Hancock, P A; Martin, J

    2012-01-01

    Unmanned (UAVs, UCAVs, and UGVs) systems still have major human factors and ergonomic challenges related to the effective design of their control interface systems, crucial to their efficient operation, maintenance, and safety. Unmanned system interfaces with a human centered approach promote intuitive interfaces that are easier to learn, and reduce human errors and other cognitive ergonomic issues with interface design. Automation has shifted workload from physical to cognitive, thus control interfaces for unmanned systems need to reduce mental workload on the operators and facilitate the interaction between vehicle and operator. Two-handed video game controllers provide wide usability within the overall population, prior exposure for new operators, and a variety of interface complexity levels to match the complexity level of the task and reduce cognitive load. This paper categorizes and provides taxonomy for 121 haptic interfaces from the entertainment industry that can be utilized as control interfaces for unmanned systems. Five categories of controllers were based on the complexity of the buttons, control pads, joysticks, and switches on the controller. This allows the selection of the level of complexity needed for a specific task without creating an entirely new design or utilizing an overly complex design.

  2. Autonomous flying robots

    CERN Document Server

    Nonami, Kenzo; Suzuki, Satoshi; Wang, Wei; Nakazawa, Daisuke

    2010-01-01

    Worldwide demand for robotic aircraft such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and micro aerial vehicles (MAVs) is surging. Not only military but especially civil applications are being developed at a rapid pace. Unmanned vehicles offer major advantages when used for aerial surveillance, reconnaissance, and inspection in complex and inhospitable environments. UAVs are better suited for dirty or dangerous missions than manned aircraft and are more cost-effective. UAVs can operate in contaminated environments, for example, and at altitudes both lower and higher than those typically traversed by m

  3. Recent Observational Efforts Using the DOE ARM Observatory at Oliktok Point, Alaska

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Boer, G.; Shupe, M.; McComiskey, A. C.; Creamean, J.; Williams, C. R.; Matrosov, S. Y.; Solomon, A.; Turner, D. D.; Norgren, M.; Maahn, M.; Lawrence, D.; Argrow, B. M.; Palo, S. E.; Weibel, D.; Curry, N.; Nichols, T.; D'Amore, P.; Finamore, W.; Ivey, M.; Bendure, A.; Schmid, B.; Biraud, S.

    2016-12-01

    The US Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program has deployed it's third mobile facility (AMF-3) to Oliktok Point, Alaska for an extended measurement campaign. This facility includes a variety of instruments to measure clouds, aerosols, surface meteorology, and surface energy exchange (including radiation). Additionally, this site features two areas of controlled airspace in which additional measurements can be made using manned- and unmanned aircraft and tethered balloons. Over the past two years, several field campaigns have taken place to make measurements complimentary to those collected by the AMF-3. These include several unmanned aircraft and tethered balloon campaigns (Coordinated Observations of the Lower Arctic Atmosphere, COALA; Evaluation of Routine Atmospheric Sounding Measurements using Unmanned Systems, ERASMUS; Inaugural Campaigns for ARM Research using Unmanned Systems, ICARUS), as well as a manned aircraft campaign during the summer of 2015 (ARM Carbon Measurement Experiment, ACME-5). In addition to these field campaigns, DOE has formed a site science team to conduct research using AMF-3 measurements. In this presentation, we will provide an overview of these measurement campaigns. Additionally, we will provide an overview of scientific results from these campaigns and from AMF-3 research that aid to inform numerical modeling efforts.

  4. Calculation of odour emissions from aircraft engines at Copenhagen Airport

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Winther, Morten; Kousgaard, Uffe [National Environmental Research Institute, Frederiksborgvej 399, 4000 Roskilde (Denmark); Oxboel, Arne [FORCE Technology, Park Alle 345, 2605 Broendby (Denmark)

    2006-07-31

    In a new approach the odour emissions from aircraft engines at Copenhagen Airport are calculated using actual fuel flow and emission measurements (one main engine and one APU: Auxiliary Power Unit), odour panel results, engine specific data and aircraft operational data for seven busy days. The calculation principle assumes a linear relation between odour and HC emissions. Using a digitalisation of the aircraft movements in the airport area, the results are depicted on grid maps, clearly reflecting aircraft operational statistics as single flights or total activity during a whole day. The results clearly reflect the short-term temporal fluctuations of the emissions of odour (and exhaust gases). Aircraft operating at low engine thrust (taxiing, queuing and landing) have a total odour emission share of almost 98%, whereas the shares for the take off/climb out phases (2%) and APU usage (0.5%) are only marginal. In most hours of the day, the largest odour emissions occur, when the total amount of fuel burned during idle is high. However, significantly higher HC emissions for one specific engine cause considerable amounts of odour emissions during limited time periods. The experimentally derived odour emission factor of 57 OU/mg HC is within the range of 23 and 110 OU/mg HC used in other airport odour studies. The distribution of odour emission results between aircraft operational phases also correspond very well with the results for these other studies. The present study uses measurement data for a representative engine. However, the uncertainties become large when the experimental data is used to estimate the odour emissions for all aircraft engines. More experimental data is needed to increase inventory accuracy, and in terms of completeness it is recommended to make odour emission estimates also for engine start and the fuelling of aircraft at Copenhagen Airport in the future. (author)

  5. Calculation of odour emissions from aircraft engines at Copenhagen Airport.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Winther, Morten; Kousgaard, Uffe; Oxbøl, Arne

    2006-07-31

    In a new approach the odour emissions from aircraft engines at Copenhagen Airport are calculated using actual fuel flow and emission measurements (one main engine and one APU: Auxiliary Power Unit), odour panel results, engine specific data and aircraft operational data for seven busy days. The calculation principle assumes a linear relation between odour and HC emissions. Using a digitalisation of the aircraft movements in the airport area, the results are depicted on grid maps, clearly reflecting aircraft operational statistics as single flights or total activity during a whole day. The results clearly reflect the short-term temporal fluctuations of the emissions of odour (and exhaust gases). Aircraft operating at low engine thrust (taxiing, queuing and landing) have a total odour emission share of almost 98%, whereas the shares for the take off/climb out phases (2%) and APU usage (0.5%) are only marginal. In most hours of the day, the largest odour emissions occur, when the total amount of fuel burned during idle is high. However, significantly higher HC emissions for one specific engine cause considerable amounts of odour emissions during limited time periods. The experimentally derived odour emission factor of 57 OU/mg HC is within the range of 23 and 110 OU/mg HC used in other airport odour studies. The distribution of odour emission results between aircraft operational phases also correspond very well with the results for these other studies. The present study uses measurement data for a representative engine. However, the uncertainties become large when the experimental data is used to estimate the odour emissions for all aircraft engines. More experimental data is needed to increase inventory accuracy, and in terms of completeness it is recommended to make odour emission estimates also for engine start and the fuelling of aircraft at Copenhagen Airport in the future.

  6. 2017 NOAA/OCM Unmanned Aerial System Lidar: Grand Bay NERR

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Quantum Spatial (QSI) and PrecisionHawk (PH) collected lidar for test sites within the Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) using an unmanned aerial...

  7. Transitioning Unmanned Technologies for Earth Science Applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wardell, L. J.; Douglas, J.

    2008-12-01

    Development of small unmanned aerial systems (UAS) has progressed dramatically in recent years along with miniaturization of sensor technology. This confluence of development paths has resulted in greater capability in smaller, less expensive platforms allowing research to be performed where manned airborne platforms are impractical or dangerous. Recent applications include small UAS for studies involving hurricanes, volcanic activity, sea ice changes, glacier melt, biological monitoring of land and sea species, wildfire monitoring, and others. However, the majority of UAS employed in these investigations were originally developed for non-civilian applications and many of the required interfaces are locked behind proprietary specifications, requiring expensive customization by the manufacturer to transform a military UAS into one suitable for civilian work. A small UAS for scientific research should be standards-based, low-cost, user friendly, field serviceable, and be designed to accept a range of payloads. The AV8R UAS is one example of an unmanned system that has been developed for specific application to earth observation missions. This system is designed to be operated by the user with difficult environmental conditions and field logistics in mind. Numerous features and innovations that advance this technology as a research tool as well as its planned science missions will be presented. Most importantly, all interfaces to the system required for successful design and integration of various payloads will be openly available. The environment of open, standards based development allow the small technologies companies that serve as the backbone for much of the technology development to participate in the rapid development of industry capabilities. This is particularly true with UAS technologies. Programs within the USA such as the STTR foster collaborations with small businesses and university researchers. Other innovations related to autonomous unmanned systems

  8. Energy management strategy for solar-powered high-altitude long-endurance aircraft

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gao, Xian-Zhong; Hou, Zhong-Xi; Guo, Zheng; Liu, Jian-Xia; Chen, Xiao-Qian

    2013-01-01

    Highlights: ► A new Energy Management Strategy (EMS) for high-altitude solar-powered aircraft is purposed. ► The simulations show that the aircraft can always keep the altitude above 16 km with the proposed EMS. ► The proposed EMS is capable to alleviate the power consumed for aircraft during night. ► The main technologies to improve the flight performance of aircraft are analyzed. - Abstract: Development of solar-powered High-Altitude Long-Endurance (HALE) aircraft has a great impact on both military and civil aviation industries since its features in high-altitude and energy source can be considered inexhaustible. Owing to the development constraints of rechargeable batteries, the solar-powered HALE aircraft must take amount of rechargeable batteries to fulfill the energy requirement in night, which greatly limits the operation altitude of aircraft. In order to solve this problem, a new Energy Management Strategy (EMS) is proposed based on the idea that the solar energy can be partly stored in gravitational potential in daytime. The flight path of HALE aircraft is divided into three stages. During the stage 1, the solar energy is stored in both lithium–sulfur battery and gravitational potential. The gravitational potential is released in stage 2 by gravitational gliding and the required power in stage 3 is supplied by lithium–sulfur battery. Correspondingly, the EMS is designed for each stage. The simulation results show that the aircraft can always keep the altitude above 16 km with the proposed EMS, and the power consumed during night can be also alleviated. Comparing with the current EMS, about 23.5% energy is remained in batteries with the proposed EMS during one day–night cycle. The sensitivities of the improvement of crucial technologies to the performance of aircraft are also analyzed. The results show that the enhancement of control and structural system, lithium–sulfur battery, and solar cell are ranked in descending order for the

  9. A usage-centered evaluation methodology for unmanned ground vehicles

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Diggelen, J. van; Looije, R.; Mioch, T.; Neerincx, M.A.; Smets, N.J.J.M.

    2012-01-01

    This paper presents a usage-centered evaluation method to assess the capabilities of a particular Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) for establishing the operational goals. The method includes a test battery consisting of basic tasks (e.g., slalom, funnel driving, object detection). Tests can be of

  10. 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...

  11. Vicarious Radiometric Calibration of a Multispectral Camera on Board an Unmanned Aerial System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Susana Del Pozo

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available Combinations of unmanned aerial platforms and multispectral sensors are considered low-cost tools for detailed spatial and temporal studies addressing spectral signatures, opening a broad range of applications in remote sensing. Thus, a key step in this process is knowledge of multi-spectral sensor calibration parameters in order to identify the physical variables collected by the sensor. This paper discusses the radiometric calibration process by means of a vicarious method applied to a high-spatial resolution unmanned flight using low-cost artificial and natural covers as control and check surfaces, respectively.

  12. A Safe Supervisory Flight Control Scheme in the Presence of Constraints and Anomalies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Franzè Giuseppe

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available In this paper the hybrid supervisory control architecture developed by Famularo et al. (2011 for constrained control systems is adopted with the aim to improve safety in aircraft operations when critical events like command saturations or unpredicted anomalies occur. The capabilities of a low-computational demanding predictive scheme for the supervision of non-linear dynamical systems subject to sudden switchings amongst operating conditions and time-varying constraints are exploited in the flight control systems framework. The strategy is based on command governor ideas and is tailored to jointly take into account time-varying set-points/constraints. Unpredictable anomalies in the nominal plant behaviour, whose models fall in the category of time-varying constraints, can also be tolerated by the control scheme. In order to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach, simulations both on a high altitude performance demonstrator unmanned aircraft with redundant control surfaces and the P92 general aviation aircraft are discussed.

  13. Aircrafts' taxi noise. Sound power level and directivity frequency band results

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Asensio, C.; Pavón, I.; Ruiz, M.; Pagan Munoz, Raul; Recuero, M.

    2009-01-01

    When noise mapping airports, the main noise sources are take offs and landings. But aircrafts' taxi noise can also be important, and should be considered, for instance when there are residential buildings near the airport's terminal. Main prediction tools, like Integrated Noise Model (INM), do not

  14. Routing Unmanned Vehicles in GPS-Denied Environments

    OpenAIRE

    Sundar, Kaarthik; Misra, Sohum; Rathinam, Sivakumar; Sharma, Rajnikant

    2017-01-01

    Most of the routing algorithms for unmanned vehicles, that arise in data gathering and monitoring applications in the literature, rely on the Global Positioning System (GPS) information for localization. However, disruption of GPS signals either intentionally or unintentionally could potentially render these algorithms not applicable. In this article, we present a novel method to address this difficulty by combining methods from cooperative localization and routing. In particular, the article...

  15. Multi-rate path-following control for unmanned air vehicles

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Guerreiro Tome Antunes, D.J.; Silvestre, C.J.; Cunha, R.

    2008-01-01

    A methodology is provided to tackle the path-following integrated guidance and control problem for unmanned air vehicles with measured outputs available at different rates. The path-following problem is addressed by defining a suitable non-linear path dependent error space to express the vehicle’s

  16. EM Modeling of Far-Field Radiation Patterns for Antennas on the GMA-TT UAV

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mackenzie, Anne I.

    2015-01-01

    To optimize communication with the Generic Modular Aircraft T-Tail (GMA-TT) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), electromagnetic (EM) simulations have been performed to predict the performance of two antenna types on the aircraft. Simulated far-field radiation patterns tell the amount of power radiated by the antennas and the aircraft together, taking into account blockage by the aircraft as well as radiation by conducting and dielectric portions of the aircraft. With a knowledge of the polarization and distance of the two communicating antennas, e.g. one on the UAV and one on the ground, and the transmitted signal strength, a calculation may be performed to find the strength of the signal travelling from one antenna to the other and to check that the transmitted signal meets the receiver system requirements for the designated range. In order to do this, the antenna frequency and polarization must be known for each antenna, in addition to its design and location. The permittivity, permeability, and geometry of the UAV components must also be known. The full-wave method of moments solution produces the appropriate dBi radiation pattern in which the received signal strength is calculated relative to that of an isotropic radiator.

  17. Propulsion controlled aircraft computer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cogan, Bruce R. (Inventor)

    2010-01-01

    A low-cost, easily retrofit Propulsion Controlled Aircraft (PCA) system for use on a wide range of commercial and military aircraft consists of an propulsion controlled aircraft computer that reads in aircraft data including aircraft state, pilot commands and other related data, calculates aircraft throttle position for a given maneuver commanded by the pilot, and then displays both current and calculated throttle position on a cockpit display to show the pilot where to move throttles to achieve the commanded maneuver, or is automatically sent digitally to command the engines directly.

  18. NASA/USRA high altitude research aircraft. Gryphon: Soar like an eagle with the roar of a lion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rivera, Jose; Nunes, Anne; Mcray, Mike; Wong, Walter; Ong, Audrey; Coble, Scott

    1991-01-01

    At the equator, the ozone layer ranges from 65,000 to 130,000+ feet. This is beyond the capabilities of the ER-2, which is NASA's current high altitude reconnaissance aircraft. The Universities Space Research Association, in cooperation with NASA, is sponsoring an undergraduate program which is geared to designing an aircraft that can study the ozoned layer at the equator. This aircraft must be able to satisfy four mission profiles. Mission one is a polar mission which ranges from Chile to the South Pole and back to Chile, a total range of 6000 n. mi. at 100,000 feet with a 2500 lb. payload. The second mission is also a polar mission with a decreased altitude of 70,000 feet and an increased payload of 4000 lb. For the third mission, the aircraft will take-off at NASA Ames, cruise at 100,000 feet carrying a 2500 lb. payload, and land in Puerto Montt, Chile. The final mission requires the aircraft to take-off at NASA Ames, cruise at 100,000 feet with a 1000 lb. payload, make an excursion to 120,000 feet, and land at Howard AFB, Panama. All three missions require that a subsonic Mach number be maintained due to constraints imposed by the air sampling equipment. The aircraft need not be manned for all four missions. Three aircraft configurations were determined to be the most suitable for meeting the above requirements. The performance of each configuration is analyzed to investigate the feasibility of the project requirements. In the event that a requirement can not be obtained within the given constraints, recommendations for proposal modifications are given.

  19. 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.

  20. Finite Element Modeling of an Aircraft Tire Rolling on a Steel Drum: Experimental Investigations and Numerical Simulations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Iulian Rosu

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this study is to investigate the thermal evolution of an aircraft tire rolling at high velocities up to take off values. As this kind of experiment is difficult to realize on a real runway, experimental tests were realized on aircraft tires rolling on a steel drum. The rotating drum facility allows to apply variable velocities beyond the take off limits, at fixed skidding angles and loadings. The rolling conditions, vertical loading, velocity and cornering conditions were adopted to correspond to the real conditions of an aircraft tire running or skidding on a flat runway. In the experimental part, the influence of skidding angle, velocity and loading on the thermal evolution of the tire tread were investigated. The thermo-mechanical finite element analysis of a pneumatic radial tire structure was performed taking into account the hyper-viscoelastic rubber behavior, with heating mechanisms developed by the inelastic deformation and by friction. Three-dimensional finite element simulations of an aircraft tire rolling on a steel drum were carried out using Abaqus/Standard finite element solver. The comparison of the temperature distribution on the tire tread between numerical results and the experimental data shows the same overall tendencies. The good correlation between numerical and experimental data shows that numerical simulation could predict the thermal evolution of the tire in critical situations. The authors would like to mention that for confidentiality reason, certain numerical data could not be revealed.