Options for Control and Navigation of Unmanned Aircraft

1992 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 352-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Gardner ◽  
C. R. Day
Keyword(s):  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ◽  
Unmanned Aircraft ◽  
Autonomous Flight ◽  
Aerial Vehicle

Whilst unmanned aircraft (UMA) can be said to encompass missiles, targets for weapon training, preprogrammed reconnaissance drones and civilian systems such as radio-controlled models used to carry cameras, for the purpose of this paper we will restrict ourselves to aircraft which are capable of sustaining autonomous flight and accepting navigation commands whilst airborne. The terms applied to unmanned aircraft are variously UMA, remotely piloted vehicle (RPV), Drone and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV).

Modeling and flight testing of wing shaping for roll control of an unmanned aerial vehicle

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 192-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A. Thamann ◽  
Suzanne Weaver Smith ◽  
Sean C.C. Bailey ◽  
E. Brady Doepke ◽  
Scott W. Ashcraft
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Model ◽  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ◽  
Flight Testing ◽  
Flight Tests ◽  
Autonomous Flight ◽  
Roll Control ◽  
Modeling Process ◽  
Aerodynamic Properties ◽  
Aerial Vehicle

In this paper, an approach is described to implement autonomous (waypoint tracking) flight in a testbed airframe, which uses wing twist for roll control. These flights were performed using an existing commercial autopilot. Aileron effectiveness was identified as a parameter that could be modified to maintain roll control during autonomous flight. A modeling process was then developed to calculate the aileron effectiveness for a wing shaping demonstrator aircraft utilizing numerically determined aerodynamic properties. Simulations and flight tests with the testbed aircraft were performed that demonstrated suitability of the approach for autonomous flight. In-flight aileron doublets were used to validate the aileron effectiveness predicted by the numerical model, which matched within 7%.

Design and analysis of a feedback loop to regulate the basic parameters of the unmanned aircraft

2018 ◽  
Vol 92 (3) ◽  
pp. 318-328
Author(s):  
Marcin Chodnicki ◽  
Katarzyna Bartnik ◽  
Miroslaw Nowakowski ◽  
Grzegorz Kowaleczko
Keyword(s):  
Control System ◽  
Feedback Control ◽  
Rapid Prototyping ◽  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ◽  
Pid Controller ◽  
Control Object ◽  
Unmanned Aircraft ◽  
Feedback Control System ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Aerial Vehicle

Purpose The motivation to perform research on feedback control system for unmanned aerial vehicles, a fact that each quadrocopter is unstable. Design/methodology/approach For this reason, it is necessary to design a control system which is capable of making unmanned aerial vehicle vertical take-off and landing (UAV VTOL) stable and controllable. For this purpose, it was decided to use a feedback control system with cascaded PID controller. The main reason for using it was that PID controllers are simple to implement and do not use much hardware resources. Moreover, cascaded control systems allow to control object response using more parameters than in a standard PID control. STM32 microcontrollers were used to make a real control system. The rapid prototyping using Embedded Coder Toolbox, FreeRTOS and STM32 CubeMX was conducted to design the algorithm of the feedback control system with cascaded PID controller for unmanned aerial vehicle vertical take-off and landings (UAV VTOLs). Findings During research, an algorithm of UAV VTOL control using the feedback control system with cascaded PID controller was designed. Tests were performed for the designed algorithm in the model simulation in Matlab/Simulink and in the real conditions. Originality/value It has been proved that an additional control loop must have a full PID controller. Moreover, a new library is presented for STM32 microcontrollers made using the Embedded Coder Toolbox just for the research. This library enabled to use rapid prototyping while developing the control algorithms.

scholarly journals Issues of physical interaction of unmanned aircraft manipulators with ground objects

2018 ◽  
Vol 161 ◽  
pp. 03021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vinh Nguyen ◽  
Oksana Solenaya ◽  
Petr Smirnov
Keyword(s):  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ◽  
Flight Control ◽  
Unmanned Aircraft ◽  
Control Problems ◽  
Physical Interaction ◽  
Power Resources ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Manipulation System ◽  
Aerial Vehicle ◽  
Surrounding Space

Adding an onboard manipulation system to an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) significantly complicates framework, functioning algorithms, and leads to an increase in overall dimensions. The physical interaction of the manipulator with objects influences to unstabilization of UAV, which in turn leads to difficulties in positioning the UAV and reduces the accuracy of gripper motion. In addition, the physical interaction of the manipulator with objects requires increased power resources of UAVs. The article analyzes modern research of UAVs with a manipulator, including flight control problems, avoidance of contact with the earth, surrounding space, as well as manipulations with the captured object. On the basis of the analysis, a list of new problems arising in the physical interaction of UAVs with objects through an embedded manipulator is formulated.

scholarly journals Unmanned Helicopter Type Aircraft for the Pesticides and Fertilizers Application

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-68
Author(s):  
L. A. Marchenko ◽  
M. V. Myzin ◽  
I. V. Kuznetsov ◽  
T. V. Mochkova ◽  
A. Yu. Spiridonov
Keyword(s):  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Unmanned Aircraft ◽  
Nitrogen Fertilizers ◽  
Working Fluid ◽  
Unmanned Aerial Systems ◽  
Unmanned Helicopter ◽  
Agricultural Field ◽  
Technological Parameters ◽  
Aerial Vehicle

Digital agricultural production is based on robotic agricultural technologies for the use of pesticides and fertilizers using unmanned aerial systems, which are based on unmanned aerial vehicles for monitoring agricultural land, the pesticides application, fertilizers and other agrochemicals. (Research purpose) To develop an unmanned helicopter based aircraft for applying pesticides and fertilizers, and to substantiate its technological parameters. (Materials and methods) The authors used methodological recommendations on the use of chemicals in the precision farming system, regulatory and technical documentation for unmanned aircraft systems. (Results and discussion) The authors determined the unmanned aerial vehicle main flight technical and technological parameters for the implementation of the applying pesticides and fertilizers process. They established the dependences of its productivity on the norms of introducing working fluids of pesticides and fertilizers, the agricultural field length, and the approach distance to the field. (Conclusions) The authors developed a helicopter-type unmanned aerial vehicle of a coaxial design with a take-off mass of 280 kilograms and a payload of 50-80 kilograms, a rotor diameter of 5.3 meters, a constructive boom width with sprayers of 5 meters, a working flight height of 1-5 meters, a working speed of 40-60 kilometers per hour, the rate of working fluid of pesticides application 10-20 liters per hectare and nitrogen fertilizers 30-120 liters per hectare. They established rational values for the application rates of pesticides – 10-20 liters per hectare, the agricultural field length – at least 0.8 kilometers, ensuring maximum productivity in flight hour when processing the agricultural field. They showed that the flight distance minimizing from the runway to the field significantly increased the productivity of applying pesticides and fertilizers.

scholarly journals APPROACH TO INCREASING THE SURVIVABILITY OF CLASS I UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE IN EMERGENCY OPERATIONS

2020 ◽  
pp. 54-63
Author(s):  
O. M. Pereguda ◽  
A. V. Rodionov ◽  
S. P. Samoilyk
Keyword(s):  
Information System ◽  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Control Systems ◽  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ◽  
Unmanned Aircraft ◽  
Class I ◽  
Control Action ◽  
Emergency Operations ◽  
Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Aerial Vehicle

The article proposes an approach to increasing the survivability of class I unmanned aerial vehicles in emergency operations which involves development of an onboard information system for identifying emergency occasions in flight and the synthesis of a control action on the unmanned aircraft in case of hazardous factors influence. As the result of the analysis of the main trends in the development of unmanned aerial vehicles onboard control systems, it was found that the leading countries are paying significant attention to increasing their intellectualization level. This is necessary to ensure the fulfilment of complex tasks that are assigned to modern unmanned aerial vehicles in the military and civilian spheres. The main directions of such researches are identifying the problem of swarm application of unmanned aerial vehicles and expanding the capabilities of onboard control systems maintain automatically the values of certain parameters when the flight conditions changes. As the approach to increasing the survivability of a class I unmanned aerial vehicle, a vision of an onboard information system for identifying emergency occasions in flight and synthesis of control action is proposed, the functional purpose of its components is described. It is suggested that this system will be comprised of a subsystem for identifying emergency cases in flight and determining the class I unmanned aerial vehicle threat level and a subsystem for synthesizing control action. Governing documents and regulations for the state aviation of Ukraine determines the list of aircraft emergency occasions. Article mentions the necessity of detailing emergency occasions in flight, which are typical for class I unmanned aerial vehicles and an approach to their classification is proposed. A vision of the nearest partial scientific tasks and a list of expected scientific results of research in this direction are given.

scholarly journals The Small Whiskbroom Imager for atmospheric compositioN monitorinG (SWING) and its operations from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) during the AROMAT campaign

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 551-567 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexis Merlaud ◽  
Frederik Tack ◽  
Daniel Constantin ◽  
Lucian Georgescu ◽  
Jeroen Maes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Vapour ◽  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ◽  
Trace Gases ◽  
Unmanned Aircraft ◽  
Atmospheric Composition ◽  
Optical Absorption Spectroscopy ◽  
Vertical Column ◽  
Large Power ◽  
Aerial Vehicle ◽  
Composition Monitoring

Abstract. The Small Whiskbroom Imager for atmospheric compositioN monitorinG (SWING) is a compact remote sensing instrument dedicated to mapping trace gases from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). SWING is based on a compact visible spectrometer and a scanning mirror to collect scattered sunlight. Its weight, size, and power consumption are respectively 920 g, 27 cm × 12 cm × 8 cm, and 6 W. SWING was developed in parallel with a 2.5 m flying-wing UAV. This unmanned aircraft is electrically powered, has a typical airspeed of 100 km h−1, and can operate at a maximum altitude of 3 km. We present SWING-UAV experiments performed in Romania on 11 September 2014 during the Airborne ROmanian Measurements of Aerosols and Trace gases (AROMAT) campaign, which was dedicated to test newly developed instruments in the context of air quality satellite validation. The UAV was operated up to 700 m above ground, in the vicinity of the large power plant of Turceni (44.67∘ N, 23.41∘ E; 116 ma.s.l.). These SWING-UAV flights were coincident with another airborne experiment using the Airborne imaging differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS) instrument for Measurements of Atmospheric Pollution (AirMAP), and with ground-based DOAS, lidar, and balloon-borne in situ observations. The spectra recorded during the SWING-UAV flights are analysed with the DOAS technique. This analysis reveals NO2 differential slant column densities (DSCDs) up to 13±0.6×1016 molec cm−2. These NO2 DSCDs are converted to vertical column densities (VCDs) by estimating air mass factors. The resulting NO2 VCDs are up to 4.7±0.4×1016 molec cm−2. The water vapour DSCD measurements, up to 8±0.15×1022 molec cm−2, are used to estimate a volume mixing ratio of water vapour in the boundary layer of 0.013±0.002 mol mol−1. These geophysical quantities are validated with the coincident measurements.

Flight Loads of Mini UAV

2013 ◽  
Vol 198 ◽  
pp. 194-199
Author(s):  
Andrzej Majka
Keyword(s):  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ◽  
Unmanned Vehicles ◽  
Unmanned Aircraft ◽  
Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Aerial Vehicle ◽  
Flight Loads ◽  
Urgent Necessity

Designing and building of the unmanned aircraft, especially light and ultra light vehicles, is mainly performed using the experience gained when constructing the flying models. There have not been uniform principles of building and exploiting of the mini and micro UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) in the form of regulations similar to those for manned airplanes. The unmanned vehicles of these classes in terms of their abilities and attractive price are more frequently exploited using the same air area as manned airplanes performing missions over the inhabited areas. An urgent necessity arises to work out the norms of flight suitability of the mini and micro unmanned aerial vehicles. The work contains the analysis of suitability of the current aviation regulations to determine the requirements for the mini unmanned vehicles. The work concentrates on the phenomenon of determining the symmetrical loads from the maneuvers and the turbulence atmosphere. The result of this analysis is the Limit Maneuver Envelope, Limit Gust Envelope and Limit Combined Envelope for mini UAV. The analyzed flight states allowed selecting the so called design cases which can become a basis for determining the norms of loading of mini unmanned aerial vehicles which can constitute the beginning of the regulations for building of the unmanned aerial vehicles of this class.

scholarly journals FEATURES OF USING AN UNMANNED AIRCRAFT IN EMERGENCY SITUATIONS

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-41
Author(s):  
S Mosov ◽  
V Neroba ◽  
O Sieliukov
Keyword(s):  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Time Of Day ◽  
Probability Of Detection ◽  
Unmanned Aircraft ◽  
Electromagnetic Spectrum ◽  
Turbulence Control ◽  
Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Aerial Vehicle

The article identifies the conditions and factors that will affect the operation of unmanned aerial vehicles during its use in emergencies. The purpose of the study is to systematize the conditions and factors that will affect the functioning of specific technical means of surveillance installed on the unmanned aerial vehicle. The study of conditions and factors was carried out with a preliminary determination of the general indicators of efficiency of specific technical means of observation installed on the drone, which include: the probability of detection and recognition of the object by the operator (pilot-operator) on the display screen; the scale of the image on the display screen; viewing angle of the species technical means of observation; transverse capture of the area during aerial surveillance with the help of specific technical means; spectral range of operation of the species technical means of observation and the height of observation. According to the results of research, the conditions and factors include: unmanned aerial vehicle; set task for observation (monitoring); terrain features; control by the pilot (pilot-operator); weather conditions; gusts of wind; season; time of day; drone vibrations during flight; atmospheric turbulence; control of specific technical means of observation by the operator (pilot-operator); temperature regime; the presence of a library of signatures of the object of observation. It is concluded that the results of the study of conditions and factors that will affect the use of specific technical means of observation installed on an unmanned aerial vehicle are the basis for developing relevant requirements for specific technical means of observation of visible and infrared wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum. Further research should be carried out in the following areas: development or purchase of unmanned aerial vehicles for observation during the prevention and elimination of emergencies; development of libraries of signatures of objects of observation; research of possibilities of application of spectrozonal or multispectral species equipment for observation; creation of special training grounds for training and retraining of pilots and operators of unmanned aerial vehicles, etc.

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