Automated and Connected Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (AC-UAV) for Service Patrol: System Design and Field Experiments

The inspection of electrical and mechanical (E&M) devices using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has become an increasingly popular choice in the last decade due to their flexibility and mobility. UAVs have the potential to reduce human involvement in visual inspection tasks, which could increase efficiency and reduce risks. This paper presents a UAV system for autonomously performing E&M device inspection. The proposed system relies on learning-based detection for perception, multi-sensor fusion for localization, and path planning for fully autonomous inspection. The perception method utilizes semantic and spatial information generated by a 2-D object detector. The information is then fused with depth measurements for object state estimation. No prior knowledge about the location and category of the target device is needed. The system design is validated by flight experiments using a quadrotor platform. The result shows that the proposed UAV system enables the inspection mission autonomously and ensures a stable and collision-free flight.

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SUAV WARFARE IN THE NEXT DECADE

STRATEGIES XXI - Command and Staff College ◽

10.53477/2668-2028-21-11 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 17 (1) ◽

pp. 103-110

Author(s):

Rodríguez YAGO

Keyword(s):

System Design ◽

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽

Aerial Vehicles ◽

The Future ◽

The Way

Abstract: In this document we have focused on researching the so-called "Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles" in order to find out what their main characteristics are and how they may affect the way we fight in the future. To achieve our goal, we have established several subjects relevant to any fighting system: design, manufacturing, tactical capabilities, logistics, recent experiences. After analyzing them we have come to a series of conclusions.

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Multi-UAV Specification and Control with a Single Pilot-in-the-Loop

Unmanned Systems ◽

10.1142/s230138502050020x ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 08 (04) ◽

pp. 269-277

Author(s):

Patricio Moreno ◽

Santiago Esteva ◽

Ignacio Mas ◽

Juan I. Giribet

Keyword(s):

Remote Control ◽

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽

Field Experiments ◽

Aerial Vehicles ◽

Simulated Environment ◽

Aerial Vehicle ◽

Space Formulation ◽

Trajectory Following ◽

And Control ◽

Multi Uav

This work presents a multi-unmanned aerial vehicle formation implementing a trajectory-following controller based on the cluster-space robot coordination method. The controller is augmented with a feed-forward input from a control station operator. This teleoperation input is generated by means of a remote control, as a simple way of modifying the trajectory or taking over control of the formation during flight. The cluster-space formulation presents a simple specification of the system’s motion and, in this work, the operator benefits from this capability to easily evade obstacles by means of controlling the cluster parameters in real time. The proposed augmented controller is tested in a simulated environment first, and then deployed for outdoor field experiments. Results are shown in different scenarios using a cluster of three autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles.

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NEW MODEL OF A SOLAR WIND AIRPLANE FOR GEOMATIC OPERATIONS

ISPRS - International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences ◽

10.5194/isprsarchives-xl-1-w4-137-2015 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol XL-1/W4 ◽

pp. 137-142

Author(s):

A. Achachi ◽

D. Benatia

Keyword(s):

Solar Wind ◽

Law Enforcement ◽

System Design ◽

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽

Extended Period ◽

Flight Crew ◽

Aerial Vehicles ◽

The Impact ◽

Border Surveillance ◽

New System

The ability for an aircraft to fly during a much extended period of time has become a key issue and a target of research, both in the domain of civilian aviation and unmanned aerial vehicles. This paper describes a new design and evaluating of solar wind aircraft with the objective to assess the impact of a new system design on overall flight crew performance. The required endurance is in the range of some hours in the case of law enforcement, border surveillance, forest fire fighting or power line inspection. However, other applications at high altitudes, such as geomatic operations for delivering geographic information, weather research and forecast, environmental monitoring, would require remaining airborne during days, weeks or even months. The design of GNSS non precision approach procedure for different airports is based on geomatic data.

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A hierarchical vision-based localization of rotor unmanned aerial vehicles for autonomous landing

International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks ◽

10.1177/1550147718800655 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 14 (9) ◽

pp. 155014771880065 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Haiwen Yuan ◽

Changshi Xiao ◽

Supu Xiu ◽

Wenqiang Zhan ◽

Zhenyi Ye ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ◽

Feature Detection ◽

Field Experiments ◽

Measurement Range ◽

Autonomous Landing ◽

Detection Range ◽

Aerial Vehicles ◽

Aerial Vehicle ◽

Vision Based Localization

The vision-based localization of rotor unmanned aerial vehicles for autonomous landing is challenging because of the limited detection range. In this article, to extend the vision detection and measurement range, a hierarchical vision-based localization method is proposed for unmanned aerial vehicle autonomous landing. In such a hierarchical framework, the landing is defined into three phases: “Approaching,”“Adjustment,” and “Touchdown,” in which visual artificial features at different scales can be detected from the designed object pattern for unmanned aerial vehicle pose recovery. The corresponding feature detection and pose estimation algorithms are also presented. In the end, typical simulation and field experiments have been carried out to illustrate the proposed method. The results show that our hierarchical vision-based localization has the ability to a consecutive unmanned aerial vehicle localization in a wider working range from far to near, which is significant for autonomous landing.

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