scholarly journals Wireless sensor network calibration technique for low-altitude unmanned aerial vehicle localization in paddy field

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 208-215
Author(s):  
Azhar Jaafar ◽  
Norashikin M. Thamrin ◽  
Noorolpadzilah Mohamed Zan

This paper presents the use of the received signal strength indicator (RSSI) from the RF signal to estimate the distance from a point where the signal is transmitted to the point where the signal is received. This can be a challenge as in the paddy field, the watery and dry conditions, as well as the height of the paddy plant can affect signal transmission during this estimation process. Two low-cost ground beacons, Beacon1 and Beacon2 (The coordinator), are used and placed in a known location with a fixed distance across the paddy field, which becomes the reference point during the distance estimation for the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). These signals are analyzed by using the non-right-angle trigonometry computation, to estimate the distance between the transmitter and the receiver. The estimated distance is compared with the measured value to determine the efficiency of this approach. The calibration trendlines of these beacons in the open, watery and dry paddy fields are discussed and presented. It is found that the dry paddy field gives less RSSI mean error and proved that humidity can contribute to the distance estimation error.

Author(s):  
Hossam E Glida ◽  
Latifa Abdou ◽  
Abdelghani Chelihi ◽  
Chouki Sentouh ◽  
Gabriele Perozzi

This article deals with the issue of designing a flight tracking controller for an unmanned aerial vehicle type of quadrotor based on an optimal model-free fuzzy logic control approach. The main design objective is to perform an automatic flight trajectory tracking under multiple model uncertainties related to the knowledge of the nonlinear dynamics of the system. The optimal control is also addressed taking into consideration unknown external disturbances. To achieve this goal, we propose a new optimal model-free fuzzy logic–based decentralized control strategy where the influence of the interconnection term between the subsystems is minimized. A model-free controller is firstly designed to achieve the convergence of the tracking error. For this purpose, an adaptive estimator is proposed to ensure the approximation of the nonlinear dynamic functions of the quadrotor. The fuzzy logic compensator is then introduced to deal with the estimation error. Moreover, the optimization problem to select the optimal design parameters of the proposed controller is solved using the bat algorithm. Finally, a numerical validation based on the Parrot drone platform is conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control method with various flying scenarios.


Sensors ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (21) ◽  
pp. 4705 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adil Shah ◽  
Joseph Pitt ◽  
Khristopher Kabbabe ◽  
Grant Allen

Point-source methane emission flux quantification is required to help constrain the global methane budget. Facility-scale fluxes can be derived using in situ methane mole fraction sampling, near-to-source, which may be acquired from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) platform. We test a new non-dispersive infrared methane sensor by mounting it onto a small UAV, which flew downwind of a controlled methane release. Nine UAV flight surveys were conducted on a downwind vertical sampling plane, perpendicular to mean wind direction. The sensor was first packaged in an enclosure prior to sampling which contained a pump and a recording computer, with a total mass of 1.0 kg. The packaged sensor was then characterised to derive a gain factor of 0.92 ± 0.07, independent of water mole fraction, and an Allan deviation precision (at 1 Hz) of ±1.16 ppm. This poor instrumental precision and possible short-term drifts made it non-trivial to define a background mole fraction during UAV surveys, which may be important where any measured signal is small compared to sources of instrumental uncertainty and drift. This rendered the sensor incapable of deriving a meaningful flux from UAV sampling for emissions of the order of 1 g s−1. Nevertheless, the sensor may indeed be useful when sampling mole fraction enhancements of the order of at least 10 ppm (an order of magnitude above the 1 Hz Allan deviation), either from stationary ground-based sampling (in baseline studies) or from mobile sampling downwind of sources with greater source flux than those observed in this study. While many methods utilising low-cost sensors to determine methane flux are being developed, this study highlights the importance of adequately characterising and testing all new sensors before they are used in scientific research.


10.14311/754 ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Kaňovský ◽  
L. Smrcek ◽  
C. Goodchild

The study described in this paper deals with the issue of a design tool for the autopilot of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and the selection of the airdata and inertial system sensors. This project was processed in cooperation with VTUL a PVO o.z. [1]. The feature that distinguishes the autopilot requirements of a UAV (Figs. 1, 7, 8) from the flight systems of conventional manned aircraft is the paradox of controlling a high bandwidth dynamical system using sensors that are in harmony with the low cost low weight objectives that UAV designs are often expected to achieve. The principal function of the autopilot is flight stability, which establishes the UAV as a stable airborne platform that can operate at a precisely defined height. The main sensor for providing this height information is a barometric altimeter. The solution to the UAV autopilot design was realised with simulations using the facilities of Matlab® and in particular Simulink®[2]. 


2018 ◽  
Vol 159 ◽  
pp. 02045
Author(s):  
Mochammad Ariyanto ◽  
Joga D. Setiawan ◽  
Teguh Prabowo ◽  
Ismoyo Haryanto ◽  
Munadi

This research will try to design a low cost of fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) using low-cost material that able to fly autonomously. Six parameters of UAV’s structure will be optimized based on basic airframe configuration, wing configuration, straight wing, tail configuration, fuselage material, and propeller location. The resulted and manufactured prototype of fixed-wing UAV will be tested in autonomous fight tests. Based on the flight test, the developed UAV can successfully fly autonomously following the trajectory command. The result shows that low-cost material can be used as a body part of fixed-wing UAV.


2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 403-421 ◽  
Author(s):  
Burak Yüksel ◽  
Cristian Secchi ◽  
Heinrich H. Bülthoff ◽  
Antonio Franchi

This paper proposes the use of a novel control method based on interconnection and damping assignment–passivity-based control (IDA-PBC) in order to address the aerial physical interaction (APhI) problem for a quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The apparent physical properties of the quadrotor are reshaped in order to achieve better APhI performances, while ensuring the stability of the interaction through passivity preservation. The robustness of the IDA-PBC method with respect to sensor noise is also analyzed. The direct measurement of the external wrench, needed to implement the control method, is compared with the use of a nonlinear Lyapunov-based wrench observer and advantages/disadvantages of both methods are discussed. The validity and practicability of the proposed APhI method is evaluated through experiments, where for the first time in the literature, a lightweight all-in-one low-cost force/torque (F/T) sensor is used onboard of a quadrotor. Two main scenarios are shown: a quadrotor responding to external disturbances while hovering (physical human–quadrotor interaction), and the same quadrotor sliding with a rigid tool along an uneven ceiling surface (inspection/painting-like task).


Author(s):  
A A Ab Rahman ◽  
K N Abdul Maulud ◽  
F A Mohd ◽  
O Jaafar ◽  
K N Tahar

Author(s):  
Mohammed S. Mayeed ◽  
Gabriel Darveau

In this study a gasoline powered hexa-copter unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has been designed as a solution to farmers’ need for a low cost, easy to maintain, long flight duration, and multi-purpose means of specific aerial applications for insecticides and herbicides. Application of herbicides and pesticides by airplane is an example of how farmers have used technology to improve their bottom line and overall quality of life. Fields can now be sprayed in under an hour instead of consuming an entire day. However, if a producer has noxious weeds in only a small area, fixed-wing aerial application cannot be used as it is only accurate enough to do an entire field. Currently there is no solution for small scale, accurate, aerial herbicide application to meet this need. The currently available Yamaha Rmax UAV costs a tremendous amount of money and also requires a lot of money to maintain. Though it may be useful in large scale aerial spraying on the farm land, it would not be used in targeted specific areas as it is not efficient in specific applications. The gasoline powered hexacopter UAV designed in this study is a low cost solution to farmers’ need for specific aerial applications of insecticides and herbicides. The UAV design can carry 2–3 gallons of herbicide (16.7–25.0 lbs.) for a flight time of more than 30 minutes without refueling. The design could be transported in a 60.3in × 56.7in pickup bed. Structural and fatigue analyses are performed on the complete structure using state of the art software SolidWorks Simulation. The minimum factor of safety is obtained to be 10 based on maximum von Mises stress failure criteria. Under normal conditions with an estimated commercial use of 100 cycles per day it is observed that the design would survive for about 13 years without any fatigue failure. A drop test analysis is performed to ensure the design can survive a 5 feet freefall and a frequency analysis is also performed to observe the critical natural frequency of the structure. Flow simulations are performed on the 6 propellers/blades model using state of the art software SolidWorks Flow Simulation to observe the effect of vorticity interactions on the lift force. The design has been reasonably optimized based on maximizing the lift force. With this new UAV design small scale and substantial farmers could afford a personal UAV for aerial applications with a small amount of capital whose absence hindered efficient and effective specific aerial application for many years.


Author(s):  
Junior A. Tremblay ◽  
André Desrochers ◽  
Yves Aubry ◽  
Paul Pace ◽  
David M. Bird

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