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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Adoption of an unmanned helicopter for low-altitude remote sensing to estimate yield and total biomass of a rice crop

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

A radio-controlled unmanned helicopter-based LARS (Low-Altitude Remote Sensing) platform was used to acquire quality images of high spatial and temporal resolution, in order to estimate yield and total biomass of a rice crop (Oriza Sativa, L.). Fifteen rice field plots with five N-treatments (0, 33,...

An embedded vision system for an unmanned four-rotor helicopter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lillywhite, Kirt; Lee, Dah-Jye; Tippetts, Beau; Fowers, Spencer; Dennis, Aaron; Nelson, Brent; Archibald, James

2006-10-01

In this paper an embedded vision system and control module is introduced that is capable of controlling an unmanned four-rotor helicopter and processing live video for various law enforcement, security, military, and civilian applications. The vision system is implemented on a newly designed compact FPGA board (Helios). The Helios board contains a Xilinx Virtex-4 FPGA chip and memory making it capable of implementing real time vision algorithms. A Smooth Automated Intelligent Leveling daughter board (SAIL), attached to the Helios board, collects attitude and heading information to be processed in order to control the unmanned helicopter. The SAIL board uses an electrolytic tilt sensor, compass, voltage level converters, and analog to digital converters to perform its operations. While level flight can be maintained, problems stemming from the characteristics of the tilt sensor limits maneuverability of the helicopter. The embedded vision system has proven to give very good results in its performance of a number of real-time robotic vision algorithms.

Integration of unmanned systems for tactical operations within hostile environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maddux, Gary A.; Bosco, Charles D.; Lawrence, James D.

2006-05-01

The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) is currently investigating techniques and technologies for the integration of a small unmanned aerial vehicle (SUAV) with small unmanned ground vehicles (SUGV). Each vehicle has its own set of unique capabilities, but the efficient integration of the two for a specific application requires modifying and integrating both systems. UAH has been flying and testing an autonomously-controlled small helicopter, called the Flying Bassett (Base Airborne Surveillance and Sensing for Emergency Threat Tracking) for over a year. Recently, integrated operations were performed with four SUGVs, the Matilda (Mesa Robotics, Huntsville, AL), the US Navy Vanguard, the UAH Rover, and the Penetrator (Mesa Robotics). The program has progressed from 1) building an air and ground capability for video and infrared surveillance, 2) integration with ground vehicles in realistic scenarios, to 3) deployment and recovery of ground vehicles. The work was done with the cooperation of the US Army at Ft. Benning, GA and Redstone Arsenal, AL, the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Huntsville, AL, the US Naval Reserve in Knoxville, TN, and local emergency organizations. The results so far have shown that when the air and ground systems are employed together, their utility is greatly enhanced.

Use of Open Architecture Middleware for Autonomous Platforms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Naranjo, Hector; Diez, Sergio; Ferrero, Francisco

2011-08-01

Network Enabled Capabilities (NEC) is the vision for next-generation systems in the defence domain formulated by governments, the European Defence Agency (EDA) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). It involves the federation of military information systems, rather than just a simple interconnection, to provide each user with the "right information, right place, right time - and not too much". It defines openness, standardization and flexibility principles in military systems, likewise applicable in the civilian space applications.This paper provides the conclusions drawn from "Architecture for Embarked Middleware" (EMWARE) study, funded by the European Defence Agency (EDA).The aim of the EMWARE project was to provide the information and understanding to facilitate the adoption of informed decisions regarding the specification and implementation of Open Architecture Middleware in future distributed systems, linking it with the NEC goal.EMWARE project included the definition of four business cases, each devoted to a different field of application (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Helicopters, Unmanned Ground Vehicles and the Satellite Ground Segment).

A Queueing Model for Supervisory Control of Unmanned Autonomous Vehicles

DTIC Science & Technology

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)

Development of Autonomous Optimal Cooperative Control in Relay Rover Configured Small Unmanned Aerial Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-03-01

Unmanned Aircraft Systems Flight Plan that identified small unmanned aerial systems ( SUAS ) as “a profound technological...advances in small unmanned aerial systems ( SUAS ) cooperative control. The end state objective of the research effort was to flight test an autonomous...requirements were captured in the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Flight Plan . The flight plan

Early Synthetic Prototyping: Exploring Designs and Concepts Within Games

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-12-01

UAS unmanned aircraft system UGV unmanned ground vehicle USD(AT&L) Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics... unmanned aircraft system (UAS) realm for the wingman concept? The players were familiar with the Marine Corps’ unmanned tactical autonomous control and...UTACCS Unmanned Tactical Autonomous Control and Collaboration System VBIED vehicle borne improvised explosive device VBS2/3 Virtual Battlespace

Merged Vision and GPS Control of a Semi-Autonomous, Small Helicopter

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rock, Stephen M.

1999-01-01

This final report documents the activities performed during the research period from April 1, 1996 to September 30, 1997. It contains three papers: Carrier Phase GPS and Computer Vision for Control of an Autonomous Helicopter; A Contestant in the 1997 International Aerospace Robotics Laboratory Stanford University; and Combined CDGPS and Vision-Based Control of a Small Autonomous Helicopter.

An Investigation of Multiple Unmanned Aircraft Systems Control from the Cockpit of an AH-64 Apache Helicopter

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-12-01

An Investigation of Multiple Unmanned Aircraft Systems Control from the Cockpit of an AH-64 Apache Helicopter by Jamison S Hicks and David B...estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing the burden, to Department of Defense , Washington...infantrymen, aircraft pilots, or dedicated UAS ground control station (GCS) operators. The purpose of the UAS is to allow for longer and more discrete

Testing the Intelligence of Unmanned Autonomous Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-01-01

decisions without the operator. The term autonomous is also used interchangeably with intelligent, giving rise to the name unmanned autonomous system ( UAS ...For the purposes of this article, UAS describes an unmanned system that makes decisions based on gathered information. Because testers should not...make assumptions about the decision process within a UAS , there is a need for a methodology that completely tests this decision process without biasing

Risk-Free Volcano Observations Using an Unmanned Autonomous Helicopter: seismic observations near the active vent of Sakurajima volcano, Japan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ohminato, T.; Kaneko, T.; Koyama, T.; Yasuda, A.; Watanabe, A.; Takeo, M.; Honda, Y.; Kajiwara, K.; Kanda, W.; Iguchi, M.; Yanagisawa, T.

2010-12-01

Observations in the vicinity of summit area of active volcanoes are important not only for understanding physical processes in the volcanic conduit but also for eruption prediction and volcanic hazards mitigation. It is, however, challenging to install observation sensors near active vents because of the danger of sudden eruptions. We need safe and efficient ways of installing sensors near the summit of active volcanoes. We have been developing an volcano observation system based on an unmanned autonomous vehicle (UAV) for risk-free volcano observations. Our UAV is an unmanned autonomous helicopter manufactured by Yamaha-Motor Co., Ltd. The UAV is 3.6m long and weighs 84kg with maximum payload of 10kg. The UAV can aviate autonomously along a previously programmed path within a meter accuracy using real-time kinematics differential GPS equipment. The maximum flight time and distance from the operator are 90 minutes and 5km, respectively. We have developed various types of volcano observation techniques adequate for the UAV, such as aeromagnetic survey, taking infrared and visible images from onboard high-resolution cameras, volcanic ash sampling in the vicinity of active vents. Recently, we have developed an earthquake observation module (EOM), which is exclusively designed for the UAV installation in the vicinity of active volcanic vent. In order to meet the various requirements for UAV installation, the EOM is very compact, light-weight (5-6kg), and is solar-powered. It is equipped with GPS for timing, a communication device using cellular-phone network, and triaxial accelerometers. Our first application of the EOM installation using the UAV is one of the most active volcanoes in Japan, Sakurajima volcano. Since 2006, explosive eruptions have been continuing at the reopened Showa crater at the eastern flank near the summit of Sakurajima. Entering the area within 2 km from the active craters is prohibited, and thus there were no observation station in the vicinity of active vents at the summit area. From November 2nd to 12th, 2009, we could successfully install four EOMs in the summit area within 2km from the active craters by using the UAV. Although the state of communication was not perfect since the installation points were outside of the service area of the cellular-phone network, we succeeded in retrieving the seismic waveform data accompanying moderate eruptions at Showa crater. Except for contamination by the mechanical resonance of the frame of EOM around 35 Hz, the recorded waveforms of the explosive eruptions are as good as the best permanent stations in Sakurajima. Preliminary results of the analyses show that the source location distribution of the explosion earthquakes at Showa crater is improved by the inclusion of the near source stations newly installed by using the UAV.

Cooperative Control of Multiple Unmanned Autonomous Vehicles

DTIC Science & Technology

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

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

DTIC Science & Technology

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

Temporal variation of dose rate distribution around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station using unmanned helicopter.

PubMed

Sanada, Yukihisa; Orita, Tadashi; Torii, Tatsuo

2016-12-01

Aerial radiological survey using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was applied to measurement surface contamination around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station (FDNPS). An unmanned helicopter monitoring system (UHMS) was developed to survey the environmental effect of radioactive cesium scattered as a result of the FDNPS accident. The UHMS was used to monitor the area surrounding the FDNPS six times from 2012 to 2015. Quantitative changes in the radioactivity distribution trend were revealed from the results of these monitoring runs. With this information, we found that the actual reduction of dose rate was faster than the one calculated with radiocesium physical half-life. It is indicated that the attenuation effect of radiation by radiocesium penetration in soil is dominant as for reason of reduction of dose rate. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Repeated aeromagnetic surveys in Shinmoe-dake volcano, Japan by using unmanned helicopter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koyama, T.; Kaneko, T.; Ohminato, T.; Watanabe, A.; Takeo, M.; Yanagisawa, T.; Honda, Y.

2016-12-01

We repeatedly conducted aeromagnetic surveys at Shinmoe-dake volcano, Japan by using unmanned helicopter, and elucidated magnetization structure and its temporal change. At the beginning of 2011, Shinmoe-dake volcano has done magmatic eruptions. After ceasing activities of volcanic eruptions, the first aeromagnetic survey by an unmanned helicopter was performed in the western part of Shinmoe-dake volcano in May 2011. The advantage to use unmanned vehicle for volcanic survey is ability of the safe flight in lower altitude with precise tracks. It enable us forthcoming repeated survey on the same tracks and elucidate the temporal changes of the magnetic fields. The geomagnetic total intensity measurement flight was conducted by installing cesium optical pumping magnetometer on the helicopter, in which the measurement line intervals were almost 100 m and the altitudes were also fixed at almost 100 m above the ground except above the crater. Total measurement length was about 85 km. The data analysis revealed that the averaged magnetization is about 1.5 A/m, typical value of andesite rock, and some horizontal anomalies can be shown.After that, we conducted four repeated surveys so far, and notable temporal changes are detected just around the crater of Shinmoe-dake volcano due to gaining magnetization by cooling of lava which has accumulated in the crater at the 2011 eruptions. The cooling rate just follows square root of elapsed time from the eruptive events, and thus the cooling is being simply done by thermal diffusion. Magnetizing, however, goes on too fast to be done by thermal diffusion only at the surface of lava, and so the cooling may be very effectively done also inside the lava by evaporating water.In this paper, we'll show the detailed results of measurements and discuss the temporal changes of magnetization.

Advanced Control System Increases Helicopter Safety

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2008-01-01

With support and funding from a Phase II NASA SBIR project from Ames Research Center, Hoh Aeronautics Inc. (HAI), of Lomita, California, produced HeliSAS, a low-cost, lightweight, attitude-command-attitude-hold stability augmentation system (SAS) for civil helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles. HeliSAS proved itself in over 160 hours of flight testing and demonstrations in a Robinson R44 Raven helicopter, a commercial helicopter popular with news broadcasting and police operations. Chelton Flight Systems, of Boise, Idaho, negotiated with HAI to develop, market, and manufacture HeliSAS, now available as the Chelton HeliSAS Digital Helicopter Autopilot.

Research on an autonomous vision-guided helicopter

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Amidi, Omead; Mesaki, Yuji; Kanade, Takeo

1994-01-01

Integration of computer vision with on-board sensors to autonomously fly helicopters was researched. The key components developed were custom designed vision processing hardware and an indoor testbed. The custom designed hardware provided flexible integration of on-board sensors with real-time image processing resulting in a significant improvement in vision-based state estimation. The indoor testbed provided convenient calibrated experimentation in constructing real autonomous systems.

An Autonomous Gps-Denied Unmanned Vehicle Platform Based on Binocular Vision for Planetary Exploration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qin, M.; Wan, X.; Shao, Y. Y.; Li, S. Y.

2018-04-01

Vision-based navigation has become an attractive solution for autonomous navigation for planetary exploration. This paper presents our work of designing and building an autonomous vision-based GPS-denied unmanned vehicle and developing an ARFM (Adaptive Robust Feature Matching) based VO (Visual Odometry) software for its autonomous navigation. The hardware system is mainly composed of binocular stereo camera, a pan-and tilt, a master machine, a tracked chassis. And the ARFM-based VO software system contains four modules: camera calibration, ARFM-based 3D reconstruction, position and attitude calculation, BA (Bundle Adjustment) modules. Two VO experiments were carried out using both outdoor images from open dataset and indoor images captured by our vehicle, the results demonstrate that our vision-based unmanned vehicle is able to achieve autonomous localization and has the potential for future planetary exploration.

AVALON: definition and modeling of a vertical takeoff and landing UAV

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Silva, N. B. F.; Marconato, E. A.; Branco, K. R. L. J. C.

2015-09-01

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have been used in numerous applications, like remote sensing, precision agriculture and atmospheric data monitoring. Vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) is a modality of these aircrafts, which are capable of taking off and landing vertically, like a helicopter. This paper presents the definition and modeling of a fixed- wing VTOL, named AVALON (Autonomous VerticAL takeOff and laNding), which has the advantages of traditional aircrafts with improved performance and can take off and land in small areas. The principles of small UAVs development were followed to achieve a better design and to increase the range of applications for this VTOL. Therefore, we present the design model of AVALON validated in a flight simulator and the results show its validity as a physical option for an UAV platform.

Test Operations Procedure (TOP) 02-2-546 Teleoperated Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) Latency Measurements

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-01-11

discrete system components or measurements of latency in autonomous systems. 15. SUBJECT TERMS Unmanned Ground Vehicles, Basic Video Latency, End-to... discrete system components or measurements of latency in autonomous systems. 1.1 Basic Video Latency. Teleoperation latency, or lag, describes

Analysis of Unmanned Systems in Military Logistics

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-12-01

opportunities to employ unmanned systems to support logistic operations. 14. SUBJECT TERMS unmanned systems, robotics , UAVs, UGVs, USVs, UUVs, military...Industrial Robots at Warehouses / Distribution Centers .............................................................................. 17 2. Unmanned...Autonomous Robot Gun Turret. Source: Blain (2010)................................................... 33 Figure 4. Robot Sentries for Base Patrol

Vegetation Versus Man-Made Object Detection from Imagery for Unmanned Vehicles in Off-Road Environments

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-05-01

saliency, natural scene statistics 1. INTRODUCTION Research into the area of autonomous navigation for unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) has accelerated in...recent years. This is partly due to the success of programs such as the DARPA Grand Challenge1 and the dream of driverless cars ,2 but is also due to the...NOTES 14. ABSTRACT There have been several major advances in autonomous navigation for unmanned ground vehicles in controlled urban environments in

Human-Vehicle Interface for Semi-Autonomous Operation of Uninhabited Aero Vehicles

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jones, Henry L.; Frew, Eric W.; Woodley, Bruce R.; Rock, Stephen M.

2001-01-01

The robustness of autonomous robotic systems to unanticipated circumstances is typically insufficient for use in the field. The many skills of human user often fill this gap in robotic capability. To incorporate the human into the system, a useful interaction between man and machine must exist. This interaction should enable useful communication to be exchanged in a natural way between human and robot on a variety of levels. This report describes the current human-robot interaction for the Stanford HUMMINGBIRD autonomous helicopter. In particular, the report discusses the elements of the system that enable multiple levels of communication. An intelligent system agent manages the different inputs given to the helicopter. An advanced user interface gives the user and helicopter a method for exchanging useful information. Using this human-robot interaction, the HUMMINGBIRD has carried out various autonomous search, tracking, and retrieval missions.

Neural network disturbance observer-based distributed finite-time formation tracking control for multiple unmanned helicopters.

PubMed

Wang, Dandan; Zong, Qun; Tian, Bailing; Shao, Shikai; Zhang, Xiuyun; Zhao, Xinyi

2018-02-01

The distributed finite-time formation tracking control problem for multiple unmanned helicopters is investigated in this paper. The control object is to maintain the positions of follower helicopters in formation with external interferences. The helicopter model is divided into a second order outer-loop subsystem and a second order inner-loop subsystem based on multiple-time scale features. Using radial basis function neural network (RBFNN) technique, we first propose a novel finite-time multivariable neural network disturbance observer (FMNNDO) to estimate the external disturbance and model uncertainty, where the neural network (NN) approximation errors can be dynamically compensated by adaptive law. Next, based on FMNNDO, a distributed finite-time formation tracking controller and a finite-time attitude tracking controller are designed using the nonsingular fast terminal sliding mode (NFTSM) method. In order to estimate the second derivative of the virtual desired attitude signal, a novel finite-time sliding mode integral filter is designed. Finally, Lyapunov analysis and multiple-time scale principle ensure the realization of control goal in finite-time. The effectiveness of the proposed FMNNDO and controllers are then verified by numerical simulations. Copyright © 2017 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fung, Fun Man; Watts, Simon Francis

2017-01-01

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

An Artificial Intelligence Approach for Gears Diagnostics in AUVs

PubMed Central

Marichal, Graciliano Nicolás; Del Castillo, María Lourdes; López, Jesús; Padrón, Isidro; Artés, Mariano

2016-01-01

In this paper, an intelligent scheme for detecting incipient defects in spur gears is presented. In fact, the study has been undertaken to determine these defects in a single propeller system of a small-sized unmanned helicopter. It is important to remark that although the study focused on this particular system, the obtained results could be extended to other systems known as AUVs (Autonomous Unmanned Vehicles), where the usage of polymer gears in the vehicle transmission is frequent. Few studies have been carried out on these kinds of gears. In this paper, an experimental platform has been adapted for the study and several samples have been prepared. Moreover, several vibration signals have been measured and their time-frequency characteristics have been taken as inputs to the diagnostic system. In fact, a diagnostic system based on an artificial intelligence strategy has been devised. Furthermore, techniques based on several paradigms of the Artificial Intelligence (Neural Networks, Fuzzy systems and Genetic Algorithms) have been applied altogether in order to design an efficient fault diagnostic system. A hybrid Genetic Neuro-Fuzzy system has been developed, where it is possible, at the final stage of the learning process, to express the fault diagnostic system as a set of fuzzy rules. Several trials have been carried out and satisfactory results have been achieved. PMID:27077868

An Artificial Intelligence Approach for Gears Diagnostics in AUVs.

PubMed

Marichal, Graciliano Nicolás; Del Castillo, María Lourdes; López, Jesús; Padrón, Isidro; Artés, Mariano

2016-04-12

In this paper, an intelligent scheme for detecting incipient defects in spur gears is presented. In fact, the study has been undertaken to determine these defects in a single propeller system of a small-sized unmanned helicopter. It is important to remark that although the study focused on this particular system, the obtained results could be extended to other systems known as AUVs (Autonomous Unmanned Vehicles), where the usage of polymer gears in the vehicle transmission is frequent. Few studies have been carried out on these kinds of gears. In this paper, an experimental platform has been adapted for the study and several samples have been prepared. Moreover, several vibration signals have been measured and their time-frequency characteristics have been taken as inputs to the diagnostic system. In fact, a diagnostic system based on an artificial intelligence strategy has been devised. Furthermore, techniques based on several paradigms of the Artificial Intelligence (Neural Networks, Fuzzy systems and Genetic Algorithms) have been applied altogether in order to design an efficient fault diagnostic system. A hybrid Genetic Neuro-Fuzzy system has been developed, where it is possible, at the final stage of the learning process, to express the fault diagnostic system as a set of fuzzy rules. Several trials have been carried out and satisfactory results have been achieved.

Hybrid optical navigation by crater detection for lunar pin-point landing: trajectories from helicopter flight tests

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trigo, Guilherme F.; Maass, Bolko; Krüger, Hans; Theil, Stephan

2018-01-01

Accurate autonomous navigation capabilities are essential for future lunar robotic landing missions with a pin-point landing requirement, since in the absence of direct line of sight to ground control during critical approach and landing phases, or when facing long signal delays the herein before mentioned capability is needed to establish a guidance solution to reach the landing site reliably. This paper focuses on the processing and evaluation of data collected from flight tests that consisted of scaled descent scenarios where the unmanned helicopter of approximately 85 kg approached a landing site from altitudes of 50 m down to 1 m for a downrange distance of 200 m. Printed crater targets were distributed along the ground track and their detection provided earth-fixed measurements. The Crater Navigation (CNav) algorithm used to detect and match the crater targets is an unmodified method used for real lunar imagery. We analyze the absolute position and attitude solutions of CNav obtained and recorded during these flight tests, and investigate the attainable quality of vehicle pose estimation using both CNav and measurements from a tactical-grade inertial measurement unit. The navigation filter proposed for this end corrects and calibrates the high-rate inertial propagation with the less frequent crater navigation fixes through a closed-loop, loosely coupled hybrid setup. Finally, the attainable accuracy of the fused solution is evaluated by comparison with the on-board ground-truth solution of a dual-antenna high-grade GNSS receiver. It is shown that the CNav is an enabler for building autonomous navigation systems with high quality and suitability for exploration mission scenarios.

Implementation of Autonomous Navigation and Mapping using a Laser Line Scanner on a Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-12-01

study new multi-agent algorithms to avoid collision and obstacles. Others, including Hanford et al. [2], have tried to build low-cost experimental...2007. [2] S. D. Hanford , L. N. Long, and J. F. Horn, “A Small Semi-Autonomous Rotary-Wing Unmanned Air Vehicle ( UAV ),” 2003 AIAA Atmospheric

Human Factors Engineering #3 Crewstation Assessment for the OH-58F Helicopter

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-03-01

Additionally, workload was assessed for level of interoperability 2 (LOI 2) tasks that the aircrew performed with an unmanned aircraft system (UAS...TTP tactics, techniques, and procedures UAS unmanned aircraft system 47 VFR visual flight rules VMC visual meteorological conditions VTR...For example, pilots often perform navigation tasks, communicate via multiple radios, monitor aircraft systems , and assist the pilot on the controls

Investigations into near-real-time surveying for geophysical data collection using an autonomous ground vehicle

USGS Publications Warehouse

Phelps, Geoffrey A.; Ippolito, C.; Lee, R.; Spritzer, R.; Yeh, Y.

2014-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration are cooperatively investigating the utility of unmanned vehicles for near-real-time autonomous surveys of geophysical data collection. Initially focused on unmanned ground vehicle collection of magnetic data, this cooperative effort has brought unmanned surveying, precision guidance, near-real-time communication, on-the-fly data processing, and near-real-time data interpretation into the realm of ground geophysical surveying, all of which offer advantages over current methods of manned collection of ground magnetic data. An unmanned ground vehicle mission has demonstrated that these vehicles can successfully complete missions to collect geophysical data, and add advantages in data collection, processing, and interpretation. We view the current experiment as an initial phase in further unmanned vehicle data-collection missions, including aerial surveying.

Intelligent unmanned vehicle systems suitable for individual or cooperative missions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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

2007-04-01

The Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has been researching autonomous unmanned vehicle systems for over fifteen 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 vehicles 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.

Square tracking sensor for autonomous helicopter hover stabilization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oertel, Carl-Henrik

1995-06-01

Sensors for synthetic vision are needed to extend the mission profiles of helicopters. A special task for various applications is the autonomous position hold of a helicopter above a ground fixed or moving target. As a proof of concept for a general synthetic vision solution a restricted machine vision system, which is capable of locating and tracking a special target, was developed by the Institute of Flight Mechanics of Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fur Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (i.e., German Aerospace Research Establishment). This sensor, which is specialized to detect and track a square, was integrated in the fly-by-wire helicopter ATTHeS (i.e., Advanced Technology Testing Helicopter System). An existing model following controller for the forward flight condition was adapted for the hover and low speed requirements of the flight vehicle. The special target, a black square with a length of one meter, was mounted on top of a car. Flight tests demonstrated the automatic stabilization of the helicopter above the moving car by synthetic vision.

LiDAR data and SAR imagery acquired by an unmanned helicopter for rapid landslide investigation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kasai, M.; Tanaka, Y.; Yamazaki, T.

2012-12-01

When earthquakes or heavy rainfall hits a landslide prone area, initial actions require estimation of the size of damage to people and infrastructure. This includes identifying the number and size of newly collapsed or expanded landslides, and appraising subsequent risks from remobilization of landslides and debris materials. In inapproachable areas, the UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) is likely to be of greatest use. In addition, repeat monitoring of sites after the event is a way of utilizing UAVs, particularly in terms of cost and convenience. In this study, LiDAR (SkEyesBox MP-1) data and SAR (Nano SAR) imagery, acquired over 0.5 km2 landslide prone area, are presented to assess the practicability of using unmanned helicopters (in this case a 10 year old YAMAHA RMAX G1) in these situations. LiDAR data was taken in July 2012, when tree foliage covered the ground surface. However, imagery was of sufficient quality to identify and measure landslide features. Nevertheless, LiDAR data obtained by a manned helicopter in the same area in August 2008 was more detailed, reflecting the function of the LiDAR scanner. On the other hand, 2 m resolution Nano SAR imagery produced reasonable results to elucidate hillslope condition. A quick method for data processing without loss of image quality was also investigated. In conclusion, the LiDAR scanner and UAV employed here could be used to plan immediate remedial activity of the area, before LiDAR measurement with a manned helicopter can be organized. SAR imagery from UAV is also available for this initial activity, and can be further applied to long term monitoring.

Autonomous navigation and obstacle avoidance for unmanned surface vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Larson, Jacoby; Bruch, Michael; Ebken, John

2006-05-01

The US Navy and other Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) organizations are increasingly interested in the use of unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) for a variety of missions and applications. In order for USVs to fill these roles, they must be capable of a relatively high degree of autonomous navigation. Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, San Diego is developing core technologies required for robust USV operation in a real-world environment, primarily focusing on autonomous navigation, obstacle avoidance, and path planning.

Autonomous Soaring Flight Results

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Allen, Michael J.

2006-01-01

A viewgraph presentation on autonomous soaring flight results for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV)'s is shown. The topics include: 1) Background; 2) Thermal Soaring Flight Results; 3) Autonomous Dolphin Soaring; and 4) Future Plans.

A Need for Systems Architecture Approach for Next Generation Mine Warfare Capability

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-09-01

MRUUV Mission Reconfigurable Unmanned Undersea Vehicle MSC Mine Countermeasures Ship Coastal MSO Mine Countermeasures Ship Open-ocean P3I Preplanned...Helicopter, the Remote Mine Hunting System (RMS), the Mission Reconfigurable Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (MRUUV) and finally the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS...guarding against the sophisticated Soviet blue-water, air, and undersea threats. Yet since World War II, U.S. Naval Forces have suffered significantly

Control Design and Performance Analysis for Autonomous Formation Flight Experimentss

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rice, Caleb Michael

Autonomous Formation Flight is a key approach for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and managing traffic in future high density airspace. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV's) have made it possible for the physical demonstration and validation of autonomous formation flight concepts inexpensively and eliminates the flight risk to human pilots. This thesis discusses the design, implementation, and flight testing of three different formation flight control methods, Proportional Integral and Derivative (PID); Fuzzy Logic (FL); and NonLinear Dynamic Inversion (NLDI), and their respective performance behavior. Experimental results show achievable autonomous formation flight and performance quality with a pair of low-cost unmanned research fixed wing aircraft and also with a solo vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) quadrotor.

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

DTIC Science & Technology

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

Recent Advances in Bathymetric Surveying of Continental Shelf Regions Using Autonomous Vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holland, K. T.; Calantoni, J.; Slocum, D.

2016-02-01

Obtaining bathymetric observations within the continental shelf in areas closer to the shore is often time consuming and dangerous, especially when uncharted shoals and rocks present safety concerns to survey ships and launches. However, surveys in these regions are critically important to numerical simulation of oceanographic processes, as bathymetry serves as the bottom boundary condition in operational forecasting models. We will present recent progress in bathymetric surveying using both traditional vessels retrofitted for autonomous operations and relatively inexpensive, small team deployable, Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV). Both systems include either high-resolution multibeam echo sounders or interferometric sidescan sonar sensors with integrated inertial navigation system capabilities consistent with present commercial-grade survey operations. The advantages and limitations of these two configurations employing both unmanned and autonomous strategies are compared using results from several recent survey operations. We will demonstrate how sensor data collected from unmanned platforms can augment or even replace traditional data collection technologies. Oceanographic observations (e.g., sound speed, temperature and currents) collected simultaneously with bathymetry using autonomous technologies provide additional opportunities for advanced data assimilation in numerical forecasts. Discussion focuses on our vision for unmanned and autonomous systems working in conjunction with manned or in-situ systems to optimally and simultaneously collect data in environmentally hostile or difficult to reach areas.

Towards collaboration between unmanned aerial and ground vehicles for precision agriculture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bhandari, Subodh; Raheja, Amar; Green, Robert L.; Do, Dat

2017-05-01

This paper presents the work being conducted at Cal Poly Pomona on the collaboration between unmanned aerial and ground vehicles for precision agriculture. The unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), equipped with multispectral/hyperspectral cameras and RGB cameras, take images of the crops while flying autonomously. The images are post processed or can be processed onboard. The processed images are used in the detection of unhealthy plants. Aerial data can be used by the UAVs and unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) for various purposes including care of crops, harvest estimation, etc. The images can also be useful for optimized harvesting by isolating low yielding plants. These vehicles can be operated autonomously with limited or no human intervention, thereby reducing cost and limiting human exposure to agricultural chemicals. The paper discuss the autonomous UAV and UGV platforms used for the research, sensor integration, and experimental testing. Methods for ground truthing the results obtained from the UAVs will be used. The paper will also discuss equipping the UGV with a robotic arm for removing the unhealthy plants and/or weeds.

ICAROUS: Integrated Configurable Architecture for Unmanned Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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.

Unmanned aerial vehicle applications for highway transportation : initial stage reference search.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-11-01

Identification of research (2006present) focusing on autonomous micro unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for transportation applications, including the examination of other industries that may also utilize micro UAVs.

The Unmanned Initiative: A Strategic Appraisal of Coast Guard Unmanned Aerial Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-06-01

King also designated the Coast Guard as the service responsible for helicopter training, research and development. With no established training...Guard Deepwater Acquisition Programs,” Congressional Research Service (Washington, DC, Mar 30, 2010), 25. 15 U.S. Coast Guard, Land-Based UAS, 1-4...preproduction and research , the Coast Guard terminated its UAS program, citing “development risks and a lack of funding.”17 The lack of a cutter-based UAS

Aerial radiation monitoring around the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant using an unmanned helicopter.

PubMed

Sanada, Yukihisa; Torii, Tatsuo

2015-01-01

The Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011 generated a series of large tsunami that seriously damaged the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP), which resulted in the release of radioactive materials into the environment. To provide further details regarding the distribution of air dose rate and the distribution of radioactive cesium ((134)Cs and (137)Cs) deposition on the ground within a radius of approximately 5 km from the nuclear power plant, we carried out measurements using an unmanned helicopter equipped with a radiation detection system. The distribution of the air dose rate at a height of 1 m above the ground and the radioactive cesium deposition on the ground was calculated. Accordingly, the footprint of radioactive plumes that extended from the FDNPP was illustrated. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An Adaptive Altitude Information Fusion Method for Autonomous Landing Processes of Small Unmanned Aerial Rotorcraft

PubMed Central

Lei, Xusheng; Li, Jingjing

2012-01-01

This paper presents an adaptive information fusion method to improve the accuracy and reliability of the altitude measurement information for small unmanned aerial rotorcraft during the landing process. Focusing on the low measurement performance of sensors mounted on small unmanned aerial rotorcraft, a wavelet filter is applied as a pre-filter to attenuate the high frequency noises in the sensor output. Furthermore, to improve altitude information, an adaptive extended Kalman filter based on a maximum a posteriori criterion is proposed to estimate measurement noise covariance matrix in real time. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is proved by static tests, hovering flight and autonomous landing flight tests. PMID:23201993

KSC-2013-3534

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-09-11

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Engineers fine-tune a remote-controlled helicopter before it takes off. The helicopter is equipped with a unique set of sensors and software and was assembled by a team of engineers from NASA's Johnson Space Center for a competition at the agency's Kennedy Space Center. Teams from Johnson, Kennedy and Marshall Space Flight Center competed in an unmanned aerial systems event to evaluate designs and work by engineers learning new specialties. The competition took place at the Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy. Photo credit: NASA/Dmitri Gerondidakis

CLOSE AIR SUPPORT (CAS) FOR COUNTERINSURGENCY (COIN) AND THE UPWARD TRAJECTORY OF UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS (UAS): NAVIGATING THE UNDISCOVERED DOMAIN

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-10-01

collateral damage. Further mitigating collateral damage, “…the SDB Focused Lethality Munition (FLM) variant incorporates a carbon fiber composite ...Effectiveness Modern attack helicopters execute the CAS mission with various standoff weapons. RW assets are slow moving and susceptible to MANPADS and...small arms fire, and attack helicopters used for CAS are primarily in a medium or low threat environment where enemy air defenses are weak or not

Real-time path planning and autonomous control for helicopter autorotation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yomchinda, Thanan

Autorotation is a descending maneuver that can be used to recover helicopters in the event of total loss of engine power; however it is an extremely difficult and complex maneuver. The objective of this work is to develop a real-time system which provides full autonomous control for autorotation landing of helicopters. The work includes the development of an autorotation path planning method and integration of the path planner with a primary flight control system. The trajectory is divided into three parts: entry, descent and flare. Three different optimization algorithms are used to generate trajectories for each of these segments. The primary flight control is designed using a linear dynamic inversion control scheme, and a path following control law is developed to track the autorotation trajectories. Details of the path planning algorithm, trajectory following control law, and autonomous autorotation system implementation are presented. The integrated system is demonstrated in real-time high fidelity simulations. Results indicate feasibility of the capability of the algorithms to operate in real-time and of the integrated systems ability to provide safe autorotation landings. Preliminary simulations of autonomous autorotation on a small UAV are presented which will lead to a final hardware demonstration of the algorithms.

Unmanned tactical autonomous control and collaboration (utacc) human machine integration measures of performance and measures of effectiveness

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-06-01

AUTONOMOUS CONTROL AND COLLABORATION (UTACC) HUMAN-MACHINE INTEGRATION MEASURES OF PERFORMANCE AND MEASURES OF EFFECTIVENESS by Thomas A...TACTICAL AUTONOMOUS CONTROL AND COLLABORATION (UTACC) HUMAN-MACHINE INTEGRATION MEASURES OF PERFORMANCE AND MEASURES OF EFFECTIVENESS 5. FUNDING...Tactical Autonomous Control and Collaboration (UTACC) program seeks to integrate Marines and autonomous machines to address the challenges encountered in

Vector Pursuit Path Tracking for Autonomous Ground Vehicles

DTIC Science & Technology

2000-08-01

vi INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................1...other geometric path-tracking techniques. 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION An autonomous vehicle is one that is capable of automatic navigation. It is...Joint Architecture for Unmanned Ground Vehicles ( JAUGS ) working group meeting held at the University of Florida. 5 Figure 1.5: Autonomous

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

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dufrene, Warren R., Jr.

2004-01-01

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

The study of aerosol and ozone measurements in lower boundary layer with UAV helicopter platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Po-hsiung; Chen, Wen-nai

2013-04-01

This study describes the aerosol and ozone measurement in the lower atmospheric boundary layer of highly polluted region at Kao-hsiung, Taiwan with a small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) helicopter platform. This UAV helicopter, modified from Gaui-X7 electronic-power model helicopter with autopilot AHRS (Altitude-Head-Reference System) kit, has fast climb speed up to 700 m height and keeps stable status for atmospheric measurements in five-minute fly leg. Several quick-replaced battery packages are ready on ground for field intensive observation. The payload rack under this UAV helicopter carries a micro-Aethalometer (black carbon concentration), ozone meter, temperature-humidity sensor, barometer and a time-lapse digital camera. The field measurement site closes to Linyuan Petrochemical Industrial Park, where is one of the heavy polluted regions in Taiwan. Balloon-borne Vaisala RS-92 radiosonde and CL31 Lidar Ceilometer are used to provide the background of the atmosphere at the same time. More data analysis measured by UAV helicopter and its potential application will be discussed.

Tank-automotive robotics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lane, Gerald R.

1999-07-01

To provide an overview of Tank-Automotive Robotics. The briefing will contain program overviews & inter-relationships and technology challenges of TARDEC managed unmanned and robotic ground vehicle programs. Specific emphasis will focus on technology developments/approaches to achieve semi- autonomous operation and inherent chassis mobility features. Programs to be discussed include: DemoIII Experimental Unmanned Vehicle (XUV), Tactical Mobile Robotics (TMR), Intelligent Mobility, Commanders Driver Testbed, Collision Avoidance, International Ground Robotics Competition (ICGRC). Specifically, the paper will discuss unique exterior/outdoor challenges facing the IGRC competing teams and the synergy created between the IGRC and ongoing DoD semi-autonomous Unmanned Ground Vehicle and DoT Intelligent Transportation System programs. Sensor and chassis approaches to meet the IGRC challenges and obstacles will be shown and discussed. Shortfalls in performance to meet the IGRC challenges will be identified.

Volcano Observations Using an Unmanned Autonomous Helicopter : seismic and GPS observations near the active summit area of Sakurajima and Kirishima volcano, Japan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ohminato, T.; Kaneko, T.; Koyama, T.; Watanabe, A.; Takeo, M.; Iguchi, M.; Honda, Y.

2012-04-01

Observations in the vicinity of summit area of active volcanoes are very important from various viewpoints such as understanding physical processes in the volcanic conduit. It is, however, highly difficult to install observation sensors near active vents because of the risk of sudden eruptions. We have been developing a safe volcano observation system based on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). As an UAV, we adopted an unmanned autonomous helicopter manufactured by Yamaha-Motor Co., Ltd. We have also developed earthquake observation modules and GPS receiver modules that are exclusively designed for UAV installation at summit areas of active volcanoes. These modules are light weight, compact size, and solar powered. For data transmission, a commercial cellular-phone network is used. Our first application of the sensor installation by the UAV is Sakurajima, one of the most active volcanos in Japan. In November 2009, 2010, and 2011, we installed up to four seismic sensors within 2km from the active summit crater. In the 2010 and 2011 operations, we succeeded in pulling up and collecting the sensor modules by using the UAV. In the 2011 experiment, we installed two GPS receivers near the summit area of Sakurajima volcano. We also applied the UAV installation to another active volcano, Shinmoedake in Kirishima volcano group. Since the sub-plinian eruption in February 2011, entering the area 3km from the summit of Shinmoe-dake has been prohibited. In May and November 2011, we installed seismic sensors and GPS receivers in the off-limit zone. Although the ground coupling of the seismic modules is not perfect due to the way they are installed, the signal-to-noise ratio of the seismic signals recorded by these modules is fairly good. Despite the low antenna height of 50 cm from the ground surface, the location errors in horizontal and vertical GPS components are 1cm and 3cm, respectively. For seismic signals associated with eruptions at Sakurajima from November 2010 to November 2011, we measure temporal variation of the amplitude ratio among the summit stations. In order to correct the amplitude variation due to the source amplitude variation, the amplitude of the recorded signals are normalized by using the amplitude of a permanent station, located on the western flank of Sakurajima 5km from the summit. The daily average of the normalized amplitude ratios among the summit stations shows clear temporal variation. The amplitude ratio variation can be classified to three stages. In the first stage, the amplitude ratios among the summit stations are nearly constant. The 2nd stage is characterized by a gradual increase in the amplitude ratio. The third stage is slightly difficult to define but we can say that the amplitude ratios are almost constant with fluctuations larger than that in the first stage. These changes strongly suggest a change in the source depth, probably migration of the source to the shallower portion in the volcanic conduit. Small change in the source position would have been observed as a big change in the observed amplitude ratio due to the closeness of the sensors to the source.

Mars Helicopter (Artist's Concept)

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-05-25

This artist concept shows the Mars Helicopter, a small, autonomous rotorcraft, which will travel with NASA's Mars 2020 rover mission, currently scheduled to launch in July 2020, to demonstrate the viability and potential of heavier-than-air vehicles on the Red Planet. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22460

Neural network-based optimal adaptive output feedback control of a helicopter UAV.

PubMed

Nodland, David; Zargarzadeh, Hassan; Jagannathan, Sarangapani

2013-07-01

Helicopter unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are widely used for both military and civilian operations. Because the helicopter UAVs are underactuated nonlinear mechanical systems, high-performance controller design for them presents a challenge. This paper introduces an optimal controller design via an output feedback for trajectory tracking of a helicopter UAV, using a neural network (NN). The output-feedback control system utilizes the backstepping methodology, employing kinematic and dynamic controllers and an NN observer. The online approximator-based dynamic controller learns the infinite-horizon Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation in continuous time and calculates the corresponding optimal control input by minimizing a cost function, forward-in-time, without using the value and policy iterations. Optimal tracking is accomplished by using a single NN utilized for the cost function approximation. The overall closed-loop system stability is demonstrated using Lyapunov analysis. Finally, simulation results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control design for trajectory tracking.

Mathematical model of unmanned aerial vehicle used for endurance autonomous monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chelaru, Teodor-Viorel; Chelaru, Adrian

2014-12-01

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

Unmanned Mine of the 21st Centuries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Reinforcement Learning with Autonomous Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Cluttered Environments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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

2015-01-01

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

Development of a non-contextual model for determining the autonomy level of intelligent unmanned systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Durst, Phillip J.; Gray, Wendell; Trentini, Michael

2013-05-01

A simple, quantitative measure for encapsulating the autonomous capabilities of unmanned systems (UMS) has yet to be established. Current models for measuring a UMS's autonomy level require extensive, operational level testing, and provide a means for assessing the autonomy level for a specific mission/task and operational environment. A more elegant technique for quantifying autonomy using component level testing of the robot platform alone, outside of mission and environment contexts, is desirable. Using a high level framework for UMS architectures, such a model for determining a level of autonomy has been developed. The model uses a combination of developmental and component level testing for each aspect of the UMS architecture to define a non-contextual autonomous potential (NCAP). The NCAP provides an autonomy level, ranging from fully non- autonomous to fully autonomous, in the form of a single numeric parameter describing the UMS's performance capabilities when operating at that level of autonomy.

An Autonomous Connectivity Restoration Algorithm Based on Finite State Machine for Wireless Sensor-Actor Networks.

PubMed

Zhang, Ying; Wang, Jun; Hao, Guan

2018-01-08

With the development of autonomous unmanned intelligent systems, such as the unmanned boats, unmanned planes and autonomous underwater vehicles, studies on Wireless Sensor-Actor Networks (WSANs) have attracted more attention. Network connectivity algorithms play an important role in data exchange, collaborative detection and information fusion. Due to the harsh application environment, abnormal nodes often appear, and the network connectivity will be prone to be lost. Network self-healing mechanisms have become critical for these systems. In order to decrease the movement overhead of the sensor-actor nodes, an autonomous connectivity restoration algorithm based on finite state machine is proposed. The idea is to identify whether a node is a critical node by using a finite state machine, and update the connected dominating set in a timely way. If an abnormal node is a critical node, the nearest non-critical node will be relocated to replace the abnormal node. In the case of multiple node abnormality, a regional network restoration algorithm is introduced. It is designed to reduce the overhead of node movements while restoration happens. Simulation results indicate the proposed algorithm has better performance on the total moving distance and the number of total relocated nodes compared with some other representative restoration algorithms.

An Autonomous Connectivity Restoration Algorithm Based on Finite State Machine for Wireless Sensor-Actor Networks

PubMed Central

Zhang, Ying; Wang, Jun; Hao, Guan

2018-01-01

With the development of autonomous unmanned intelligent systems, such as the unmanned boats, unmanned planes and autonomous underwater vehicles, studies on Wireless Sensor-Actor Networks (WSANs) have attracted more attention. Network connectivity algorithms play an important role in data exchange, collaborative detection and information fusion. Due to the harsh application environment, abnormal nodes often appear, and the network connectivity will be prone to be lost. Network self-healing mechanisms have become critical for these systems. In order to decrease the movement overhead of the sensor-actor nodes, an autonomous connectivity restoration algorithm based on finite state machine is proposed. The idea is to identify whether a node is a critical node by using a finite state machine, and update the connected dominating set in a timely way. If an abnormal node is a critical node, the nearest non-critical node will be relocated to replace the abnormal node. In the case of multiple node abnormality, a regional network restoration algorithm is introduced. It is designed to reduce the overhead of node movements while restoration happens. Simulation results indicate the proposed algorithm has better performance on the total moving distance and the number of total relocated nodes compared with some other representative restoration algorithms. PMID:29316702

Using Unmanned Helicopters to Assess Vegetation Cover in Sagebrush Steppe Ecosystems

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Robert P. Breckenridge; Maxine Dakins; Stephen Bunting

2012-07-01

Evaluating vegetation cover is an important factor in understanding the sustainability of many ecosystems. Methods that have sufficient accuracy and improved cost efficiency could dramatically alter how biotic resources are monitored on both public and private lands. This will be of interest to land managers because there are rarely enough resource specialists or funds available for comprehensive ground evaluations. In this project, unmanned helicopters were used to collect still-frame imagery to assess vegetation cover during May, June, and July in 2005. The images were used to estimate percent cover for six vegetative cover classes (shrub, dead shrub, grass, forbs, litter,more » and bare ground). The field plots were located on the INL site west of Idaho Falls, Idaho. Ocular assessments of digital imagery were performed using a software program called SamplePoint, and the results were compared against field measurements collected using a point-frame method to assess accuracy. The helicopter imagery evaluation showed a high degree of agreement with field cover class values for litter, bare ground, and grass, and reasonable agreement for dead shrubs. Shrub cover was often overestimated and forbs were generally underestimated. The helicopter method took 45% less time than the field method to set plots and collect and analyze data. This study demonstrates that UAV technology provides a viable method for monitoring vegetative cover on rangelands in less time and with lower costs. Tradeoffs between cost and accuracy are critical management decisions that are important when managing vegetative conditions across vast sagebrush ecosystems throughout the Intermountain West.« less

Canada in Afghanistan: 2001-2010. A Military Chronology

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-12-01

allies provided air support around Panjwai – fighters, bombers, attack helicopters, unmanned drones and even spy planes.240 • Objective Rugbythe White...accessed at http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1138920 on 22 February 2010; Armstrong, Jane; Bill Curry ; Graeme Smith, “Soldier’s

NOAA Atmospheric, Marine and Arctic Monitoring Using UASs (including Rapid Response)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coffey, J. J.; Jacobs, T.

2015-12-01

Unmanned systems have the potential to efficiently, effectively, economically, and safely bridge critical observation requirements in an environmentally friendly manner. As the United States' Atmospheric, Marine and Arctic areas of interest expand and include hard-to-reach regions of the Earth (such as the Arctic and remote oceanic areas) optimizing unmanned capabilities will be needed to advance the United States' science, technology and security efforts. Through increased multi-mission and multi-agency operations using improved inter-operable and autonomous unmanned systems, the research and operations communities will better collect environmental intelligence and better protect our Country against hazardous weather, environmental, marine and polar hazards. This presentation will examine NOAA's Atmospheric, Marine and Arctic Monitoring Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) strategies which includes developing a coordinated effort to maximize the efficiency and capabilities of unmanned systems across the federal government and research partners. Numerous intra- and inter-agency operational demonstrations and assessments have been made to verify and validated these strategies. This includes the introduction of the Targeted Autonomous Insitu Sensing and Rapid Response (TAISRR) with UAS concept of operations. The presentation will also discuss the requisite UAS capabilities and our experience in using them.

Unmanned ground vehicles for integrated force protection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carroll, Daniel M.; Mikell, Kenneth; Denewiler, Thomas

2004-09-01

The combination of Command and Control (C2) systems with Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) provides Integrated Force Protection from the Robotic Operation Command Center. Autonomous UGVs are directed as Force Projection units. UGV payloads and fixed sensors provide situational awareness while unattended munitions provide a less-than-lethal response capability. Remote resources serve as automated interfaces to legacy physical devices such as manned response vehicles, barrier gates, fence openings, garage doors, and remote power on/off capability for unmanned systems. The Robotic Operations Command Center executes the Multiple Resource Host Architecture (MRHA) to simultaneously control heterogeneous unmanned systems. The MRHA graphically displays video, map, and status for each resource using wireless digital communications for integrated data, video, and audio. Events are prioritized and the user is prompted with audio alerts and text instructions for alarms and warnings. A control hierarchy of missions and duty rosters support autonomous operations. This paper provides an overview of the key technology enablers for Integrated Force Protection with details on a force-on-force scenario to test and demonstrate concept of operations using Unmanned Ground Vehicles. Special attention is given to development and applications for the Remote Detection Challenge and Response (REDCAR) initiative for Integrated Base Defense.

Volcano surveillance by ACR silver fox

USGS Publications Warehouse

Patterson, M.C.L.; Mulligair, A.; Douglas, J.; Robinson, J.; Pallister, J.S.

2005-01-01

Recent growth in the business of unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) both in the US and abroad has improved their overall capability, resulting in a reduction in cost, greater reliability and adoption into areas where they had previously not been considered. Uses in coastal and border patrol, forestry and agriculture have recently been evaluated in an effort to expand the observed area and reduce surveillance and reconnaissance costs for information gathering. The scientific community has both contributed and benefited greatly in this development. A larger suite of light-weight miniaturized sensors now exists for a range of applications which in turn has led to an increase in the gathering of information from these autonomous vehicles. In October 2004 the first eruption of Mount St Helens since 1986 caused tremendous interest amoUg people worldwide. Volcanologists at the U.S. Geological Survey rapidly ramped up the level of monitoring using a variety of ground-based sensors deployed in the crater and on the flanks of the volcano using manned helicopters. In order to develop additional unmanned sensing methods that can be used in potentially hazardous and low visibility conditions, a UAV experiment was conducted during the ongoing eruption early in November. The Silver Fox UAV was flown over and inside the crater to perform routine observation and data gathering, thereby demonstrating a technology that could reduce physical risk to scientists and other field operatives. It was demonstrated that UAVs can be flown autonomously at an active volcano and can deliver real time data to a remote location. Although still relatively limited in extent, these initial flights provided information on volcanic activity and thermal conditions within the crater and at the new (2004) lava dome. The flights demonstrated that readily available visual and infrared video sensors mounted in a small and relatively low-cost aerial platform can provide useful data on volcanic phenomena. This was made possible by utilizing GPS and computer-controlled flight direction and stabilization to acquire and track target areas within the Mount St. Helens crater. It was also determined that additional light-weight sensor development will be needed to enable autonomous measurements of volcanic gasses and imaging in poor-weather conditions. Copyright ?? 2005 by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc. All rights reserved.

Effects of Dynamically Weighting Autonomous Rules in an Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Flocking Model

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-09-18

methods of flight plan optimization, and yielded such techniques as: parallel A* (Gudaitis, 1994), Multi-Objective Traveling Salesman algorithms...1 Problem Statement...currently their utilization comes with a price: Problem Statement “Today’s unmanned systems require significant human interaction to operate. As

Path Planning Algorithms for Autonomous Border Patrol Vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lau, George Tin Lam

This thesis presents an online path planning algorithm developed for unmanned vehicles in charge of autonomous border patrol. In this Pursuit-Evasion game, the unmanned vehicle is required to capture multiple trespassers on its own before any of them reach a target safe house where they are safe from capture. The problem formulation is based on Isaacs' Target Guarding problem, but extended to the case of multiple evaders. The proposed path planning method is based on Rapidly-exploring random trees (RRT) and is capable of producing trajectories within several seconds to capture 2 or 3 evaders. Simulations are carried out to demonstrate that the resulting trajectories approach the optimal solution produced by a nonlinear programming-based numerical optimal control solver. Experiments are also conducted on unmanned ground vehicles to show the feasibility of implementing the proposed online path planning algorithm on physical applications.

Autonomous Planning and Replanning for Mine-Sweeping Unmanned Underwater Vehicles

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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.

A Survey of Theoretical and Experimental Coaxial Rotor Aerodynamic Research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Coleman, Colin P.

1997-01-01

The recent appearance of the Kamov Ka-50 helicopter and the application of coaxial rotors to unmanned aerial vehicles have renewed international interest in the coaxial rotor configuration. This report addresses the aerodynamic issues peculiar to coaxial rotors by surveying American, Russian, Japanese, British, and German research. (Herein, 'coaxial rotors' refers to helicopter, not propeller, rotors. The intermeshing rotor system was not investigated.) Issues addressed are separation distance, load sharing between rotors, wake structure, solidity effects, swirl recovery, and the effects of having no tail rotor. A general summary of the coaxial rotor configuration explores the configuration's advantages and applications.

Helicopter Field Testing of NASA's Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology (ALHAT) System fully Integrated with the Morpheus Vertical Test Bed Avionics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Epp, Chirold D.; Robertson, Edward A.; Ruthishauser, David K.

2013-01-01

The Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology (ALHAT) Project was chartered to develop and mature to a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of six an autonomous system combining guidance, navigation and control with real-time terrain sensing and recognition functions for crewed, cargo, and robotic planetary landing vehicles. The ALHAT System must be capable of identifying and avoiding surface hazards to enable a safe and accurate landing to within tens of meters of designated and certified landing sites anywhere on a planetary surface under any lighting conditions. This is accomplished with the core sensing functions of the ALHAT system: Terrain Relative Navigation (TRN), Hazard Detection and Avoidance (HDA), and Hazard Relative Navigation (HRN). The NASA plan for the ALHAT technology is to perform the TRL6 closed loop demonstration on the Morpheus Vertical Test Bed (VTB). The first Morpheus vehicle was lost in August of 2012 during free-flight testing at Kennedy Space Center (KSC), so the decision was made to perform a helicopter test of the integrated ALHAT System with the Morpheus avionics over the ALHAT planetary hazard field at KSC. The KSC helicopter tests included flight profiles approximating planetary approaches, with the entire ALHAT system interfaced with all appropriate Morpheus subsystems and operated in real-time. During these helicopter flights, the ALHAT system imaged the simulated lunar terrain constructed in FY2012 to support ALHAT/Morpheus testing at KSC. To the best of our knowledge, this represents the highest fidelity testing of a system of this kind to date. During this helicopter testing, two new Morpheus landers were under construction at the Johnson Space Center to support the objective of an integrated ALHAT/Morpheus free-flight demonstration. This paper provides an overview of this helicopter flight test activity, including results and lessons learned, and also provides an overview of recent integrated testing of ALHAT on the second Morpheus vehicle.

Helicopter Field Testing of NASA's Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology (ALHAT) System fully integrated with the Morpheus Vertical Test Bed Avionics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rutishauser, David; Epp, Chirold; Robertson, Edward

2013-01-01

The Autonomous Landing Hazard Avoidance Technology (ALHAT) Project was chartered to develop and mature to a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of six an autonomous system combining guidance, navigation and control with real-time terrain sensing and recognition functions for crewed, cargo, and robotic planetary landing vehicles. The ALHAT System must be capable of identifying and avoiding surface hazards to enable a safe and accurate landing to within tens of meters of designated and certified landing sites anywhere on a planetary surface under any lighting conditions. This is accomplished with the core sensing functions of the ALHAT system: Terrain Relative Navigation (TRN), Hazard Detection and Avoidance (HDA), and Hazard Relative Navigation (HRN). The NASA plan for the ALHAT technology is to perform the TRL6 closed loop demonstration on the Morpheus Vertical Test Bed (VTB). The first Morpheus vehicle was lost in August of 2012 during free-flight testing at Kennedy Space Center (KSC), so the decision was made to perform a helicopter test of the integrated ALHAT System with the Morpheus avionics over the ALHAT planetary hazard field at KSC. The KSC helicopter tests included flight profiles approximating planetary approaches, with the entire ALHAT system interfaced with all appropriate Morpheus subsystems and operated in real-time. During these helicopter flights, the ALHAT system imaged the simulated lunar terrain constructed in FY2012 to support ALHAT/Morpheus testing at KSC. To the best of our knowledge, this represents the highest fidelity testing of a system of this kind to date. During this helicopter testing, two new Morpheus landers were under construction at the Johnson Space Center to support the objective of an integrated ALHAT/Morpheus free-flight demonstration. This paper provides an overview of this helicopter flight test activity, including results and lessons learned, and also provides an overview of recent integrated testing of ALHAT on the second Morpheus vehicle.

A parallel implementation of a multisensor feature-based range-estimation method

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Suorsa, Raymond E.; Sridhar, Banavar

1993-01-01

There are many proposed vision based methods to perform obstacle detection and avoidance for autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles. All methods, however, will require very high processing rates to achieve real time performance. A system capable of supporting autonomous helicopter navigation will need to extract obstacle information from imagery at rates varying from ten frames per second to thirty or more frames per second depending on the vehicle speed. Such a system will need to sustain billions of operations per second. To reach such high processing rates using current technology, a parallel implementation of the obstacle detection/ranging method is required. This paper describes an efficient and flexible parallel implementation of a multisensor feature-based range-estimation algorithm, targeted for helicopter flight, realized on both a distributed-memory and shared-memory parallel computer.

Bio-inspired UAV routing, source localization, and acoustic signature classification for persistent surveillance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burman, Jerry; Hespanha, Joao; Madhow, Upamanyu; Pham, Tien

2011-06-01

A team consisting of Teledyne Scientific Company, the University of California at Santa Barbara and the Army Research Laboratory* is developing technologies in support of automated data exfiltration from heterogeneous battlefield sensor networks to enhance situational awareness for dismounts and command echelons. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) provide an effective means to autonomously collect data from a sparse network of unattended ground sensors (UGSs) that cannot communicate with each other. UAVs are used to reduce the system reaction time by generating autonomous collection routes that are data-driven. Bio-inspired techniques for search provide a novel strategy to detect, capture and fuse data. A fast and accurate method has been developed to localize an event by fusing data from a sparse number of UGSs. This technique uses a bio-inspired algorithm based on chemotaxis or the motion of bacteria seeking nutrients in their environment. A unique acoustic event classification algorithm was also developed based on using swarm optimization. Additional studies addressed the problem of routing multiple UAVs, optimally placing sensors in the field and locating the source of gunfire at helicopters. A field test was conducted in November of 2009 at Camp Roberts, CA. The field test results showed that a system controlled by bio-inspired software algorithms can autonomously detect and locate the source of an acoustic event with very high accuracy and visually verify the event. In nine independent test runs of a UAV, the system autonomously located the position of an explosion nine times with an average accuracy of 3 meters. The time required to perform source localization using the UAV was on the order of a few minutes based on UAV flight times. In June 2011, additional field tests of the system will be performed and will include multiple acoustic events, optimal sensor placement based on acoustic phenomenology and the use of the International Technology Alliance (ITA) Sensor Network Fabric (IBM).

ICAROUS - Integrated Configurable Algorithms for Reliable Operations Of Unmanned Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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.

Applications suitable for unmanned and autonomous missions utilizing the Tactical Amphibious Ground Support (TAGS) platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lewis, Paul J.; Torrie, Mitchel R.; Omilon, Paul M.

2004-09-01

The value of unmanned vehicles is directly related to the applications to which it can be successfully applied. Many applications exist and have been identified as suitable for unmanned vehicles, especially those involving dull, dirty, difficult, and dangerous tasks. This paper will highlight applications, missions, and capabilities that have been demonstrated on the TAGS platform to date as well as future application and mission considerations. When evaluating real world applications for this type of vehicle, one must take into account and balance the complexity inherent to the control and safeguarding requirements of a large autonomous ground vehicle with the simplicity required for commercial or military field use. In addition, suitability for a particular application may be limited by the size, weight, fuel consumption, reliability, terrain crossing capability, and other abilities of a vehicle and the intelligent software system and sensors commanding it.

Autonomous unmanned air vehicles (UAV) techniques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hsu, Ming-Kai; Lee, Ting N.

2007-04-01

The UAVs (Unmanned Air Vehicles) have great potentials in different civilian applications, such as oil pipeline surveillance, precision farming, forest fire fighting (yearly), search and rescue, boarder patrol, etc. The related industries of UAVs can create billions of dollars for each year. However, the road block of adopting UAVs is that it is against FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) and ATC (Air Traffic Control) regulations. In this paper, we have reviewed the latest technologies and researches on UAV navigation and obstacle avoidance. We have purposed a system design of Jittering Mosaic Image Processing (JMIP) with stereo vision and optical flow to fulfill the functionalities of autonomous UAVs.

Autonomous rendezvous and docking operations of unmanned expendable cargo transfer vehicles (e.g. Centaur) with Space Station Freedom

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Emmet, Brian R.

1991-01-01

This paper describes the results of the feasibility study using Centaur or other CTV's to deliver payloads to the Space Station Freedom (SSF). During this study was examined the requirements upon unmanned cargo transfer stages (including Centaur) for phasing, rendezvous, proximity operations and docking/berthing (capture).

Autonomous search and surveillance with small fixed wing aircraft

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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 surface controllers already discussed, are also studied. Finally, a novel method is presented to detect obstacles by segmenting an image into sky and non-sky regions. The feasibility of this method is demonstrated experimentally on an aircraft test bed.

Upward migration of the explosion sources at Sakurajima volcano, Japan, revield by a seismic network in the close vocinity of the summit crater

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ohminato, T.; Kaneko, T.; Koyama, T.; Watanabe, A.; Takeo, M.; Iguchi, M.

2011-12-01

Observations in the vicinity of summit area of active volcanoes are important not only for understanding physical processes in the volcanic conduit but also for eruption prediction and volcanic hazards mitigation. It is, however, challenging to install observation sensors near active vents because of the danger of sudden eruptions. We have been developing a volcano observation system based on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for safe observations near active volcanic vents. We deployed an unmanned autonomous helicopter which can aviate autonomously along a previously programmed path within a meter accuracy using real-time kinematics differential GPS equipment. The maximum flight time, flight distance, and payload are 90 minutes, 5km, and 10kg, respectively. By using the UAV, we installed seismic stations at the summit area of Sakurajima volcano, Japan. Since 2006, explosive eruptions have been continuing at the reopened Showa crater at the eastern flank near the summit of Sakurajima. Entering the area within 2 km from the active craters is prohibited, and thus there were no observation station in the summit area. From November 2nd to 12th, 2009, and from November 2nd to 12th, 2010, we conducted seismic station installation in Sakurajima summit area using UAV and successfully installed four seismic stations within 2km from the active craters. Since the installation of the seismic stations, we have succeeded in acquiring waveform data accompanying more than 500 moderate eruptions at Showa-crater. Except for the mechanical resonance contamination at 35Hz, the recorded waveforms are as good as that recorded at permanent stations in Sakurajima. Since the beginning of the observation in the vicinity of the summit crater, the normalized amplitudes of the signals accompanying eruptions at Showa crater had been almost steady. However, after early April 2011, gradual increase of the normalized amplitude started, and this increasing trend is continuing at the time of the abstract submission. This increasing trend of the normalized amplitude strongly suggests upward migration of the source of the explosive eruptions at Showa-crater. The upward migration may suggest further intensification of the activity of Sakurajima in the near future.

US Navy Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Capabilities, Risks, Possible Missions, and Modules to Support Future USMC Operating Concepts

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-07-29

squad Armament: M60 7 .62mm machine gun , MK19 40mm, M2 .50 caL machine gun 61 "Spartan Scout Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV)," Defense Industry...1) RQ-8B Fire Scout helicopter (VTUAV) a) EO/IR/LD sensor and datalink relay 2) MH-60R/S helicopters a) GAU 16/19 machine gun b) AGM-114 Hellfire...60Rhelicopter car1ies the a .50 caliber OAU 16/A machine gun , a crew-served, recoil operated, belt-fed, air cooled, percussion fired weapon, with a rate of fire

Swarming Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVS): Extending Marine Aviation Ground Task Force Communications Using UAVS

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-03-02

balloons , large UAVs, and satellite communications are all employed to mitigate LOS and OTH communication on the battlefield. The Marine Corps’ fleets...Phang, N. S. (2006). Tethered operation of autonomous aerial vehicles to provide extended fields of view for autonomous ground vehicles (Master’s

The Unmanned Mission Avionics Test Heliciopter - a Flexible and Versatile Vtol-Uas Experimental System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schulz, H.-W., , Dr.

2011-09-01

civil customers. These applications cover a wide spectrum from R&D programs for the military customer to special services for the civil customer. This paper focuses on the technical conversion of a commercially available VTOL-UAS to ESG's Unmanned Mission Avionics Test Helicopter (UMAT), its concept and operational capabilities. At the end of the paper, the current integration of a radar sensor is described as an example of the UMATs flexibility. The radar sensor is developed by the Fraunhofer Institute for High Frequency Physics and Radar Techniques (FHR). It is integrated by ESG together with the industrial partner SWISS UAV.

The study of stereo vision technique for the autonomous vehicle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Pei; Wang, Xi; Wang, Jiang-feng

2015-08-01

The stereo vision technology by two or more cameras could recovery 3D information of the field of view. This technology can effectively help the autonomous navigation system of unmanned vehicle to judge the pavement conditions within the field of view, and to measure the obstacles on the road. In this paper, the stereo vision technology in measuring the avoidance of the autonomous vehicle is studied and the key techniques are analyzed and discussed. The system hardware of the system is built and the software is debugged, and finally the measurement effect is explained by the measured data. Experiments show that the 3D reconstruction, within the field of view, can be rebuilt by the stereo vision technology effectively, and provide the basis for pavement condition judgment. Compared with unmanned vehicle navigation radar used in measuring system, the stereo vision system has the advantages of low cost, distance and so on, it has a good application prospect.

Autonomous urban reconnaissance ingress system (AURIS): providing a tactically relevant autonomous door-opening kit for unmanned ground vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shane, David J.; Rufo, Michael A.; Berkemeier, Matthew D.; Alberts, Joel A.

2012-06-01

The Autonomous Urban Reconnaissance Ingress System (AURIS™) addresses a significant limitation of current military and first responder robotics technology: the inability of reconnaissance robots to open doors. Leveraging user testing as a baseline, the program has derived specifications necessary for military personnel to open doors with fielded UGVs (Unmanned Ground Vehicles), and evaluates the technology's impact on operational mission areas: duration, timing, and user patience in developing a tactically relevant, safe, and effective system. Funding is provided through the US ARMY Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) and the project represents a leap forward in perception, autonomy, robotic implements, and coordinated payload operation in UGVs. This paper describes high level details of specification generation, status of the last phase of development, an advanced view of the system autonomy capability, and a short look ahead towards the ongoing work on this compelling and important technology.

Observations at Kuchinoerabu-jima volcano, southern Kyushu, Japan, by using unmanned helicopter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ohminato, T.; Kaneko, T.; Koyama, T.; Watanabe, A.; Kanda, W.; Tameguri, T.; Kazahaya, R.

2015-12-01

Kuchinoerabu-jima, volcano is a volcanic island located southern Kyushu, Japan. In 3 August, 2014, a small eruption at active summit crater, Shin-dake, destroyed all the observation stations near the summit. Since then, this volcano was only poorly monitored. After the eruption, entering within 2km from Shin-dake crater was strictly prohibited and thus it was impossible to fix summit stations on site. In April, 2015, we conducted seismic sensor installation by using unmanned helicopter (RMAX-G1 manufactured by Yamaha) so as to reestablish the seismic monitoring network near the summit area. We installed four seismic stations in the summit area. We also conducted various types of near-summit observations including an aero-magnetic measurement over the summit area, taking visual and infra-red images from low altitude, and volcanic gas sampling. We present preliminary results of the near summit observations using unmanned helicopter. The light-weight (5kg) and solar-powered seismic stations were designed exclusively for helicopter installation. They transmit seismic data every 10 minutes by using mobile data communication network. We could install them within 500m from the summit crater on 17, April. On 29 May, Shin-dake crater erupted again and the newly installed seismic stations were all destroyed by this eruption. The seismic stations could transmit data until just before the eruption. These data made us possible to evaluate the change in seismic activity leading up to the eruption. An aero-magnetic survey was conducted on 17 and 18 April. The flight altitude was between 100m and 150m above the ground (i.e a draped magnetic survey) . Path interval is 100m and the total flight path length is 80km. The magnetic intensity data were converted to magnetization of the edifice of Shin-dake. Comparison between the result this time with that obtained in 2001 shows demagnetization near the summit area. Temperature measurement over the summit area detected 368ºC　at the fissure on the western flank. Chemical composition of the volcanic gas was measured. Maximum concentration of SO2 was 28ppm and the apparent equilibrium temperature estimated from the gas composition was 550 ºC. CO2/SO2 ratio did not change significantly but a large variation in SO2/H2S ratio was observed.

Feasibility Study of a Vision-Based Landing System for Unmanned Fixed-Wing Aircraft

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-06-01

International Journal of Computer Science and Network Security 7 no. 3: 112–117. Accessed April 7, 2017. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ article /pii...the feasibility of applying computer vision techniques and visual feedback in the control loop for an autonomous system. This thesis examines the...integration into an autonomous aircraft control system. 14. SUBJECT TERMS autonomous systems, auto-land, computer vision, image processing

Unmanned Air Vehicle -Version 1.0

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fred Oppel, SNL 06134

2013-04-17

This package contains modules that model the mobility of systems such as helicopters and fixed wing flying in the air. This package currently models first order physics - basically a velocity integrator. UAV mobility uses an internal clock to maintain stable, high-fidelity simulations over large time steps This package depends on interface that reside in the Mobility package.

Autonomous Systems: Issues for Defence Policymakers

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-09-30

Unmanned Surveillance Target Acquisition System, and being co-leader of the multi- research centre Manned-Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Interactions study . He...Assessment Scale’ was derived from research into external autonomy applications (Sheridan, Parasuraman, etc.) and other studies . The scale’s...system. This roadmap covers annexes on the regulatory approach, a strategic research plan, and a study of the societal impact of the challenges of RPAS

Remote operation of the Black Knight unmanned ground combat vehicle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Valois, Jean-Sebastien; Herman, Herman; Bares, John; Rice, David P.

2008-04-01

The Black Knight is a 12-ton, C-130 deployable Unmanned Ground Combat Vehicle (UGCV). It was developed to demonstrate how unmanned vehicles can be integrated into a mechanized military force to increase combat capability while protecting Soldiers in a full spectrum of battlefield scenarios. The Black Knight is used in military operational tests that allow Soldiers to develop the necessary techniques, tactics, and procedures to operate a large unmanned vehicle within a mechanized military force. It can be safely controlled by Soldiers from inside a manned fighting vehicle, such as the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. Black Knight control modes include path tracking, guarded teleoperation, and fully autonomous movement. Its state-of-the-art Autonomous Navigation Module (ANM) includes terrain-mapping sensors for route planning, terrain classification, and obstacle avoidance. In guarded teleoperation mode, the ANM data, together with automotive dials and gages, are used to generate video overlays that assist the operator for both day and night driving performance. Remote operation of various sensors also allows Soldiers to perform effective target location and tracking. This document covers Black Knight's system architecture and includes implementation overviews of the various operation modes. We conclude with lessons learned and development goals for the Black Knight UGCV.

Cohort: critical science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Digney, Bruce L.

2007-04-01

Unmanned vehicle systems is an attractive technology for the military, but whose promises have remained largely undelivered. There currently exist fielded remote controlled UGVs and high altitude UAV whose benefits are based on standoff in low complexity environments with sufficiently low control reaction time requirements to allow for teleoperation. While effective within there limited operational niche such systems do not meet with the vision of future military UxV scenarios. Such scenarios envision unmanned vehicles operating effectively in complex environments and situations with high levels of independence and effective coordination with other machines and humans pursing high level, changing and sometimes conflicting goals. While these aims are clearly ambitious they do provide necessary targets and inspiration with hopes of fielding near term useful semi-autonomous unmanned systems. Autonomy involves many fields of research including machine vision, artificial intelligence, control theory, machine learning and distributed systems all of which are intertwined and have goals of creating more versatile broadly applicable algorithms. Cohort is a major Applied Research Program (ARP) led by Defence R&D Canada (DRDC) Suffield and its aim is to develop coordinated teams of unmanned vehicles (UxVs) for urban environments. This paper will discuss the critical science being addressed by DRDC developing semi-autonomous systems.

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

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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.

Innovation Talk at TARDEC by Dr. Tulga Ersal

Science.gov Websites

problems of teleoperation and fully autonomous operation of large Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) at high wide spectrum in their mode of operation ranging from teleoperated, in which the remote human operator implementable solution. High speeds also present a challenge to fully autonomous operation with respect to

A rotorcraft flight database for validation of vision-based ranging algorithms

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Phillip N.

1992-01-01

A helicopter flight test experiment was conducted at the NASA Ames Research Center to obtain a database consisting of video imagery and accurate measurements of camera motion, camera calibration parameters, and true range information. The database was developed to allow verification of monocular passive range estimation algorithms for use in the autonomous navigation of rotorcraft during low altitude flight. The helicopter flight experiment is briefly described. Four data sets representative of the different helicopter maneuvers and the visual scenery encountered during the flight test are presented. These data sets will be made available to researchers in the computer vision community.

Intelligent autonomy for unmanned naval systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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 vehicles and a buoy as surrogate platforms. In addition, a multiple heterogeneous vehicle demonstration was performed using five different types of small unmanned air and ground vehicles. This provided some initial experimentation with specifying tasking for high-level mission objectives and then mapping those objectives onto heterogeneous unmanned vehicles that each have different lower-level autonomy software. Finally, this paper will discuss lessons learned.

Autonomous control of roving vehicles for unmanned exploration of the planets

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yerazunis, S. W.

1978-01-01

The guidance of an autonomous rover for unmanned planetary exploration using a short range (0.5 - 3.0 meter) hazard detection system was studied. Experimental data derived from a one laser/one detector system were used in the development of improved algorithms for the guidance of the rover. The new algorithms which account for the dynamic characteristics of the Rensselaer rover can be applied to other rover concepts provided that the rover dynamic parameters are modified appropriately. The new algorithms will also be applicable to the advanced scanning system. The design of an elevation scanning laser/multisensor hazard detection system was completed. All mechanical and electronic hardware components with the exception of the sensor optics and electronic components were constructed and tested.

Supporting Remote Sensing Research with Small Unmanned Aerial Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anderson, R. C.; Shanks, P. C.; Kritis, L. A.; Trani, M. G.

2014-11-01

We describe several remote sensing research projects supported with small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS) operated by the NGA Basic and Applied Research Office. These sUAS collections provide data supporting Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR), NGA University Research Initiative (NURI), and Cooperative Research And Development Agreements (CRADA) efforts in addition to inhouse research. Some preliminary results related to 3D electro-optical point clouds are presented, and some research goals discussed. Additional details related to the autonomous operational mode of both our multi-rotor and fixed wing small Unmanned Aerial System (sUAS) platforms are presented.

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

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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 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.

Navy Requirements for Controlling Multiple Off-Board Robots Using the Autonomous Unmanned Vehicle Workbench

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-06-01

2 D . THESIS ORGANIZATION...c. Validation ................................................................................13 d . XSLT...X3D Earth...........................................................................................16 D . USING AUVW FOR SIMULATION

An Algorithm for Autonomous Formation Obstacle Avoidance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cruz, Yunior I.

The level of human interaction with Unmanned Aerial Systems varies greatly from remotely piloted aircraft to fully autonomous systems. In the latter end of the spectrum, the challenge lies in designing effective algorithms to dictate the behavior of the autonomous agents. A swarm of autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles requires collision avoidance and formation flight algorithms to negotiate environmental challenges it may encounter during the execution of its mission, which may include obstacles and chokepoints. In this work, a simple algorithm is developed to allow a formation of autonomous vehicles to perform point to point navigation while avoiding obstacles and navigating through chokepoints. Emphasis is placed on maintaining formation structures. Rather than breaking formation and individually navigating around the obstacle or through the chokepoint, vehicles are required to assemble into appropriately sized/shaped sub-formations, bifurcate around the obstacle or negotiate the chokepoint, and reassemble into the original formation at the far side of the obstruction. The algorithm receives vehicle and environmental properties as inputs and outputs trajectories for each vehicle from start to the desired ending location. Simulation results show that the algorithm safely routes all vehicles past the obstruction while adhering to the aforementioned requirements. The formation adapts and successfully negotiates the obstacles and chokepoints in its path while maintaining proper vehicle separation.

UPenn Multi-Robot Unmanned Vehicle System (MAGIC)

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-05-05

unclassified Standard Form 298 (Rev. 8-98) Prescribed by ANSI Std Z39-18 UPenn Multi-Robot Unmanned Vehicle System (MAGIC) AFOSR Final Report PI... user interface, the Strategy/Plan operator allows the system to autonomously task the nearest available UGVs to plan and coordinate their movements and...threats in a dynamic urban environment with minimal human guidance. The custom hardware systems consist of robust and complementary sensors, integrated

A Dynamic Navigation Model for Unmanned Aircraft Systems and an Application to Autonomous Front-On Environmental Sensing and Photography Using Low-Cost Sensor Systems.

PubMed

Cooper, Andrew James; Redman, Chelsea Anne; Stoneham, David Mark; Gonzalez, Luis Felipe; Etse, Victor Kwesi

2015-08-28

This paper presents an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) that uses a probabilistic model for autonomous front-on environmental sensing or photography of a target. The system is based on low-cost and readily-available sensor systems in dynamic environments and with the general intent of improving the capabilities of dynamic waypoint-based navigation systems for a low-cost UAS. The behavioural dynamics of target movement for the design of a Kalman filter and Markov model-based prediction algorithm are included. Geometrical concepts and the Haversine formula are applied to the maximum likelihood case in order to make a prediction regarding a future state of a target, thus delivering a new waypoint for autonomous navigation. The results of the application to aerial filming with low-cost UAS are presented, achieving the desired goal of maintained front-on perspective without significant constraint to the route or pace of target movement.

A Dynamic Navigation Model for Unmanned Aircraft Systems and an Application to Autonomous Front-On Environmental Sensing and Photography Using Low-Cost Sensor Systems

PubMed Central

Cooper, Andrew James; Redman, Chelsea Anne; Stoneham, David Mark; Gonzalez, Luis Felipe; Etse, Victor Kwesi

2015-01-01

This paper presents an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) that uses a probabilistic model for autonomous front-on environmental sensing or photography of a target. The system is based on low-cost and readily-available sensor systems in dynamic environments and with the general intent of improving the capabilities of dynamic waypoint-based navigation systems for a low-cost UAS. The behavioural dynamics of target movement for the design of a Kalman filter and Markov model-based prediction algorithm are included. Geometrical concepts and the Haversine formula are applied to the maximum likelihood case in order to make a prediction regarding a future state of a target, thus delivering a new waypoint for autonomous navigation. The results of the application to aerial filming with low-cost UAS are presented, achieving the desired goal of maintained front-on perspective without significant constraint to the route or pace of target movement. PMID:26343680

Capturing Requirements for Autonomous Spacecraft with Autonomy Requirements Engineering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vassev, Emil; Hinchey, Mike

2014-08-01

The Autonomy Requirements Engineering (ARE) approach has been developed by Lero - the Irish Software Engineering Research Center within the mandate of a joint project with ESA, the European Space Agency. The approach is intended to help engineers develop missions for unmanned exploration, often with limited or no human control. Such robotics space missions rely on the most recent advances in automation and robotic technologies where autonomy and autonomic computing principles drive the design and implementation of unmanned spacecraft [1]. To tackle the integration and promotion of autonomy in software-intensive systems, ARE combines generic autonomy requirements (GAR) with goal-oriented requirements engineering (GORE). Using this approach, software engineers can determine what autonomic features to develop for a particular system (e.g., a space mission) as well as what artifacts that process might generate (e.g., goals models, requirements specification, etc.). The inputs required by this approach are the mission goals and the domain-specific GAR reflecting specifics of the mission class (e.g., interplanetary missions).

Expert system isssues in automated, autonomous space vehicle rendezvous

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Goodwin, Mary Ann; Bochsler, Daniel C.

1987-01-01

The problems involved in automated autonomous rendezvous are briefly reviewed, and the Rendezvous Expert (RENEX) expert system is discussed with reference to its goals, approach used, and knowledge structure and contents. RENEX has been developed to support streamlining operations for the Space Shuttle and Space Station program and to aid definition of mission requirements for the autonomous portions of rendezvous for the Mars Surface Sample Return and Comet Nucleus Sample return unmanned missions. The experience with REMEX to date and recommendations for further development are presented.

Computational Study of Flow Interactions in Coaxial Rotors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yoon, Seokkwan; Lee, Henry C.; Pulliam, Thomas H.

2016-01-01

Although the first idea of coaxial rotors appeared more than 150 years ago, most helicopters have used single main-rotor/tail-rotor combination. Since reactive moments of coaxial rotors are canceled by contra-rotation, no tail rotor is required to counter the torque generated by the main rotor. Unlike the single main rotor design that distributes power to both main and tail rotors, all of the power for coaxial rotors is used for vertical thrust. Thus, no power is wasted for anti-torque or directional control. The saved power helps coaxial rotors reach a higher hover ceiling than single rotor helicopters. Another advantage of coaxial rotors is that the overall rotor diameter can be reduced for a given vehicle gross weight because each rotor provides a maximum contribution to vertical thrust to overcome vehicle weight. However, increased mechanical complexity of the hub has been one of the challenges for manufacturing coaxial rotorcraft. Only the Kamov Design Bureau of Russia had been notably successful in production of coaxial helicopters until Sikorsky built X2, an experimental compound helicopter. Recent developments in unmanned aircraft systems and high-speed rotorcraft have renewed interest in the coaxial configuration. Multi-rotors are frequently used for small electric unmanned rotorcraft partly due to mechanical simplicity. The use of multiple motors provides redundancy as well as cost-efficiency. The multi-rotor concept has rarely been used until recently because of its inherent stability and control problems. However, advances in inexpensive electronic flight control systems have opened the floodgates for small drones using multirotors. Coaxial rotors have started to appear in some multi-rotor configurations. Small coaxial rotors have often been designed using a hundred year old approach that is "sketch, build, fly, and iterate." In that approach, there is no systematic way to explore trade-offs or determine logical next steps. It is neither possible to account for multiple real-world constraints up front in design nor possible to know what performance is possible with a given design. Since unmanned vehicles are sized and optimized for the particular mission, a modern low-fidelity conceptual design and sizing tool that has been used for the design of large helicopters can be used for design of small coaxial rotorcraft. However, unlike most helicopters with single main rotor, the interactions between the upper and lower rotors emerge as an important factor to consider in design because an increase in performance of a multi-rotor system is not proportional to the number of rotors. Interference losses and differences in thrusts between the upper and lower rotors were investigated by theoretical methods as well as a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method using the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations. In this work, hybrid turbulence models are used to investigate the physics of interactions between coaxial rotors and a fuselage that are not well understood. Present study covers not only small-scale drones but also large-scale coaxial rotors for heavy-lifting missions. Considering the recently proposed FAA drone rules that require the flight only in visual line-of-sight, a large multirotor might be used as an airborne carrier for launch and recovery of unmanned aircraft systems with a human operator onboard. For applications to civil operations, their aerodynamic performance and noise levels need to be assessed. Noise is one of the largest limiting factors to rotorcraft operations in urban area. Since the high-frequency noise of multi-rotors may increase the annoyance, noise may turn out to be a key issue that must be addressed for market acceptability. One of the objectives of the present work is to study the effects of inter-rotor spacing and collectives on the performance, efficiency, and acoustics of coaxial rotor systems.

Aeromagnetic gradient compensation method for helicopter based on ɛ-support vector regression algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Peilin; Zhang, Qunying; Fei, Chunjiao; Fang, Guangyou

2017-04-01

Aeromagnetic gradients are typically measured by optically pumped magnetometers mounted on an aircraft. Any aircraft, particularly helicopters, produces significant levels of magnetic interference. Therefore, aeromagnetic compensation is essential, and least square (LS) is the conventional method used for reducing interference levels. However, the LSs approach to solving the aeromagnetic interference model has a few difficulties, one of which is in handling multicollinearity. Therefore, we propose an aeromagnetic gradient compensation method, specifically targeted for helicopter use but applicable on any airborne platform, which is based on the ɛ-support vector regression algorithm. The structural risk minimization criterion intrinsic to the method avoids multicollinearity altogether. Local aeromagnetic anomalies can be retained, and platform-generated fields are suppressed simultaneously by constructing an appropriate loss function and kernel function. The method was tested using an unmanned helicopter and obtained improvement ratios of 12.7 and 3.5 in the vertical and horizontal gradient data, respectively. Both of these values are probably better than those that would have been obtained from the conventional method applied to the same data, had it been possible to do so in a suitable comparative context. The validity of the proposed method is demonstrated by the experimental result.

An interactive physics-based unmanned ground vehicle simulator leveraging open source gaming technology: progress in the development and application of the virtual autonomous navigation environment (VANE) desktop

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rohde, Mitchell M.; Crawford, Justin; Toschlog, Matthew; Iagnemma, Karl D.; Kewlani, Guarav; Cummins, Christopher L.; Jones, Randolph A.; Horner, David A.

2009-05-01

It is widely recognized that simulation is pivotal to vehicle development, whether manned or unmanned. There are few dedicated choices, however, for those wishing to perform realistic, end-to-end simulations of unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs). The Virtual Autonomous Navigation Environment (VANE), under development by US Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), provides such capabilities but utilizes a High Performance Computing (HPC) Computational Testbed (CTB) and is not intended for on-line, real-time performance. A product of the VANE HPC research is a real-time desktop simulation application under development by the authors that provides a portal into the HPC environment as well as interaction with wider-scope semi-automated force simulations (e.g. OneSAF). This VANE desktop application, dubbed the Autonomous Navigation Virtual Environment Laboratory (ANVEL), enables analysis and testing of autonomous vehicle dynamics and terrain/obstacle interaction in real-time with the capability to interact within the HPC constructive geo-environmental CTB for high fidelity sensor evaluations. ANVEL leverages rigorous physics-based vehicle and vehicle-terrain interaction models in conjunction with high-quality, multimedia visualization techniques to form an intuitive, accurate engineering tool. The system provides an adaptable and customizable simulation platform that allows developers a controlled, repeatable testbed for advanced simulations. ANVEL leverages several key technologies not common to traditional engineering simulators, including techniques from the commercial video-game industry. These enable ANVEL to run on inexpensive commercial, off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware. In this paper, the authors describe key aspects of ANVEL and its development, as well as several initial applications of the system.

M and S supporting unmanned autonomous systems (UAxS) concept development and experimentation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Biagini, Marco; Scaccianoce, Alfio; Corona, Fabio; Forconi, Sonia; Byrum, Frank; Fowler, Olivia; Sidoran, James L.

2017-05-01

The development of the next generation of multi-domain unmanned semi and fully autonomous C4ISR systems involves a multitude of security concerns and interoperability challenges. Conceptual solutions to capability shortfalls and gaps can be identified through Concept Development and Experimentation (CD and E) cycles. Modelling and Simulation (M and S) is a key tool in supporting unmanned autonomous systems (UAxS) CD and E activities and addressing associated security challenges. This paper serves to illustrate the application of M and S to UAxS development and highlight initiatives made by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) M and S Centre of Excellence (CoE) to facilitate interoperability. The NATO M and S CoE collaborates with other NATO and Nations bodies in order to develop UAxS projects such as the Allied Command for Transformation Counter Unmanned Autonomous Systems (CUAxS) project or the work of Science and Technology Organization (STO) panels. Some initiatives, such as Simulated Interactive Robotics Initiative (SIRI) made the baseline for further developments and to study emerging technologies in M and S and robotics fields. Artificial Intelligence algorithm modelling, Robot Operating Systems (ROS), network operations, cyber security, interoperable languages and related data models are some of the main aspects considered in this paper. In particular, the implementation of interoperable languages like C-BML and NIEM MilOps are discussed in relation to a Command and Control - Simulation Interoperability (C2SIM) paradigm. All these technologies are used to build a conceptual architecture to support UAxS CD and E.In addition, other projects that the NATO M and S CoE is involved in, such as the NATO Urbanization Project could provide credible future operational environments and benefit UAxS project development, as dual application of UAxS technology in large urbanized areas.In conclusion, this paper contains a detailed overview regarding how applying Modelling and Simulation to support CD and E activities is a valid approach to develop and validate future capabilities requirements in general and next generation UAxS.

ARV robotic technologies (ART): a risk reduction effort for future unmanned systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Unmanned Tactical Autonomous Control and Collaboration Coactive Design

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-06-01

AUTONOMOUS CONTROL AND COLLABORATION COACTIVE DESIGN by Matthew S. Zach June 2016 Thesis Advisor: Dan Boger Second Reader: Scot Miller...POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL June 2016 Approved by: Dan Boger, Ph.D. Thesis Advisor Scot Miller Second Reader Dan Boger, Ph.D...assistance, and mentoring, I remain most grateful. I begin by thanking Dr. Dan Boger and Scot Miller for taking me on as a thesis student. You

Consortium for Robotics & Unmanned Systems Education & Research (CRUSER)

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-09-30

as facilities at Camp Roberts, Calif. and frequent experimentation events, the Many vs. Many ( MvM ) Autonomous Systems Testbed provides the...and expediently translate theory to practice. The MvM Testbed is designed to integrate technological advances in hardware (inexpensive, expendable...designed to leverage the MvM Autonomous Systems Testbed to explore practical and operationally relevant avenues to counter these “swarm” opponents, and

KSC-2013-3535

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-09-11

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Engineers from NASA's Johnson Space Center fly a remote-controlled helicopter equipped with a unique set of sensors and software during a competition at the agency's Kennedy Space Center. Teams from Johnson, Kennedy and Marshall Space Flight Center competed in an unmanned aerial systems event to evaluate designs and work by engineers learning new specialties. The competition took place at the Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy. Photo credit: NASA/Dmitri Gerondidakis

Trajectory Optimization for Helicopter Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-06-01

the Nth-order derivative of the Legendre Polynomial ( )NL t . Using this method, the range of integration is transformed universally to [-1,+1...which is the interval for Legendre Polynomials . Although the LGL interpolation points are not evenly spaced, they are symmetric about the midpoint 0...the vehicle’s kinematic constraints are parameterized in terms of polynomials of sufficient order, (2) A collision-free criterion is developed and

An Interpolation Approach to Optimal Trajectory Planning for Helicopter Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-06-01

Armament Data Line DOF Degree of Freedom PS Pseudospectral LGL Legendre -Gauss-Lobatto quadrature nodes ODE Ordinary Differential Equation xiv...low order polynomials patched together in such away so that the resulting trajectory has several continuous derivatives at all points. In [7], Murray...claims that splines are ideal for optimal control problems because each segment of the spline’s piecewise polynomials approximate the trajectory

Evaluation of Electromagnetic Induction (EMI) Resistivity Technologies for Assessing Permafrost Geomorphologies

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-08-01

Structures Laboratory MCMC Markov Chain Monte Carlo NAPL Non -Aqueous Phase Liquids ppm Parts per Million R&D Research and Development SERDP... Research Engineering Labora- tory (CRREL) and Fridon Shubitidze at Dartmouth College lead a research group that has constructed several research -grade...by Bar- rowes’ research group to obtain EC over lines or areas. Another possibility is to use unmanned helicopters to acquire data over larger areas

Estimation of the Vertical Distribution of Radiocesium in Soil on the Basis of the Characteristics of Gamma-Ray Spectra Obtained via Aerial Radiation Monitoring Using an Unmanned Helicopter.

PubMed

Ochi, Kotaro; Sasaki, Miyuki; Ishida, Mutsushi; Hamamoto, Shoichiro; Nishimura, Taku; Sanada, Yukihisa

2017-08-17

After the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident, the vertical distribution of radiocesium in soil has been investigated to better understand the behavior of radiocesium in the environment. The typical method used for measuring the vertical distribution of radiocesium is troublesome because it requires collection and measurement of the activity of soil samples. In this study, we established a method of estimating the vertical distribution of radiocesium by focusing on the characteristics of gamma-ray spectra obtained via aerial radiation monitoring using an unmanned helicopter. The estimates are based on actual measurement data collected at an extended farm. In this method, the change in the ratio of direct gamma rays to scattered gamma rays at various depths in the soil was utilized to quantify the vertical distribution of radiocesium. The results show a positive correlation between the abovementioned and the actual vertical distributions of radiocesium measured in the soil samples. A vertical distribution map was created on the basis of this ratio using a simple equation derived from the abovementioned correlation. This technique can provide a novel approach for effective selection of high-priority areas that require decontamination.

Estimation of the Vertical Distribution of Radiocesium in Soil on the Basis of the Characteristics of Gamma-Ray Spectra Obtained via Aerial Radiation Monitoring Using an Unmanned Helicopter

PubMed Central

Ochi, Kotaro; Sasaki, Miyuki; Ishida, Mutsushi; Sanada, Yukihisa

2017-01-01

After the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident, the vertical distribution of radiocesium in soil has been investigated to better understand the behavior of radiocesium in the environment. The typical method used for measuring the vertical distribution of radiocesium is troublesome because it requires collection and measurement of the activity of soil samples. In this study, we established a method of estimating the vertical distribution of radiocesium by focusing on the characteristics of gamma-ray spectra obtained via aerial radiation monitoring using an unmanned helicopter. The estimates are based on actual measurement data collected at an extended farm. In this method, the change in the ratio of direct gamma rays to scattered gamma rays at various depths in the soil was utilized to quantify the vertical distribution of radiocesium. The results show a positive correlation between the abovementioned and the actual vertical distributions of radiocesium measured in the soil samples. A vertical distribution map was created on the basis of this ratio using a simple equation derived from the abovementioned correlation. This technique can provide a novel approach for effective selection of high-priority areas that require decontamination. PMID:28817098

Novel Measurements and Techniques for Outlet Glacier Fjord Ice/Ocean Interactions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Behar, A.; Howat, I. M.; Holland, D. M.; Ahlstrom, A. P.; Larsen, S. H.

2014-12-01

Glacier fjord bathymetry and conditions indicate that they play fundamental roles for outlet glacier dynamics and thus knowledge of these parameters is extremely beneficial to upcoming models that predict changes. In particular, the bathymetry of a fjord gives important information about the exchange between fjord waters close to marine-terminating glaciers and the shelf and ocean. Currently, only sparse bathymetric data near the ice fronts are available for the majority of fjords in Greenland. The challenge in obtaining these measurements is that the fjord melange environment is a terrible one for mechanical gear, or ship or any other kind of access. There is hope however, and this work focuses on novel ways of obtaining this data using a multitude of upcoming technologies and techniques that are now being tested and planned. The span of the techniques described include but are not limited to: 1) manned helicopter-based live-reading instruments and deployable/retriavable sensor packages http://www.motionterra.com/fjord/ 2) remote or autonomous unmanned miniature boats (Depth/CTD), and 3) UAV's that either read live data or deploy small sensors that can telemeter their data (ice-flow trackers, image acquisition, etc.). A review of current results obtained at Jakobshavn and Upernavik Glaciers will be given as well as a description of the techniques and hardware used.

Covering the Homeland: National Guard Unmanned Aircraft Systems Support for Wildland Firefighting and Natural Disaster Events

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-12-01

OMB No. 0704-0188 Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for...VA 22202-4302, and to the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project (0704-0188) Washington DC 20503. 1 . AGENCY USE ONLY (Leave...National Guard, Unmanned Aircraft System, Wildland Forest Fire, Natural Disaster, MQ- 1 Predator, MQ-9 Reaper, Autonomous Modular Sensor, National

Evaluation of Bare Ground on Rangelands using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Robert P. Breckenridge; Maxine Dakins

2011-01-01

Attention is currently being given to methods that assess the ecological condition of rangelands throughout the United States. There are a number of different indicators that assess ecological condition of rangelands. Bare Ground is being considered by a number of agencies and resource specialists as a lead indicator that can be evaluated over a broad area. Traditional methods of measuring bare ground rely on field technicians collecting data along a line transect or from a plot. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) provide an alternative to collecting field data, can monitor a large area in a relative short period of time, andmore » in many cases can enhance safety and time required to collect data. In this study, both fixed wing and helicopter UAVs were used to measure bare ground in a sagebrush steppe ecosystem. The data were collected with digital imagery and read using the image analysis software SamplePoint. The approach was tested over seven different plots and compared against traditional field methods to evaluate accuracy for assessing bare ground. The field plots were located on the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) site west of Idaho Falls, Idaho in locations where there is very little disturbance by humans and the area is grazed only by wildlife. The comparison of fixed-wing and helicopter UAV technology against field estimates shows good agreement for the measurement of bare ground. This study shows that if a high degree of detail and data accuracy is desired, then a helicopter UAV may be a good platform. If the data collection objective is to assess broad-scale landscape level changes, then the collection of imagery with a fixed-wing system is probably more appropriate.« less

Algorithm for covert convoy of a moving target using a group of autonomous robots

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Polyakov, Igor; Shvets, Evgeny

2018-04-01

An important application of autonomous robot systems is to substitute human personnel in dangerous environments to reduce their involvement and subsequent risk on human lives. In this paper we solve the problem of covertly convoying a civilian in a dangerous area with a group of unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) using social potential fields. The novelty of our work lies in the usage of UGVs as compared to the unmanned aerial vehicles typically employed for this task in the approaches described in literature. Additionally, in our paper we assume that the group of UGVs should simultaneously solve the problem of patrolling to detect intruders on the area. We develop a simulation system to test our algorithms, provide numerical results and give recommendations on how to tune the potentials governing robots' behaviour to prioritize between patrolling and convoying tasks.

Achieving integrated convoys: cargo unmanned ground vehicle development and experimentation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zych, Noah; Silver, David; Stager, David; Green, Colin; Pilarski, Thomas; Fischer, Jacob

2013-05-01

The Cargo UGV project was initiated in 2010 with the aim of developing and experimenting with advanced autonomous vehicles capable of being integrated unobtrusively into manned logistics convoys. The intent was to validate two hypotheses in complex, operationally representative environments: first, that unmanned tactical wheeled vehicles provide a force protection advantage by creating standoff distance to warfighters during ambushes or improvised explosive device attacks; and second, that these UGVs serve as force multipliers by enabling a single operator to control multiple unmanned assets. To assess whether current state-of-the-art autonomous vehicle technology was sufficiently capable to permit resupply missions to be executed with decreased risk and reduced manpower, and to assess the effect of UGVs on customary convoy tactics, the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory and the Joint Ground Robotics Enterprise sponsored Oshkosh Defense and the National Robotics Engineering Center to equip two standard Marine Corps cargo trucks for autonomous operation. This paper details the system architecture, hardware implementation, and software modules developed to meet the vehicle control, perception, and planner requirements compelled by this application. Additionally, the design of a custom human machine interface and an accompanying training program are described, as is the creation of a realistic convoy simulation environment for rapid system development. Finally, results are conveyed from a warfighter experiment in which the effectiveness of the training program for novice operators was assessed, and the impact of the UGVs on convoy operations was observed in a variety of scenarios via direct comparison to a fully manned convoy.

Fuzzy logic control system to provide autonomous collision avoidance for Mars rover vehicle

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Murphy, Michael G.

1990-01-01

NASA is currently involved with planning unmanned missions to Mars to investigate the terrain and process soil samples in advance of a manned mission. A key issue involved in unmanned surface exploration on Mars is that of supporting autonomous maneuvering since radio communication involves lengthy delays. It is anticipated that specific target locations will be designated for sample gathering. In maneuvering autonomously from a starting position to a target position, the rover will need to avoid a variety of obstacles such as boulders or troughs that may block the shortest path to the target. The physical integrity of the rover needs to be maintained while minimizing the time and distance required to attain the target position. Fuzzy logic lends itself well to building reliable control systems that function in the presence of uncertainty or ambiguity. The following major issues are discussed: (1) the nature of fuzzy logic control systems and software tools to implement them; (2) collision avoidance in the presence of fuzzy parameters; and (3) techniques for adaptation in fuzzy logic control systems.

A Primer on Autonomous Aerial Vehicle Design

PubMed Central

Coppejans, Hugo H. G.; Myburgh, Herman C.

2015-01-01

There is a large amount of research currently being done on autonomous micro-aerial vehicles (MAV), such as quadrotor helicopters or quadcopters. The ability to create a working autonomous MAV depends mainly on integrating a simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) solution with the rest of the system. This paper provides an introduction for creating an autonomous MAV for enclosed environments, aimed at students and professionals alike. The standard autonomous system and MAV automation are discussed, while we focus on the core concepts of SLAM systems and trajectory planning algorithms. The advantages and disadvantages of using remote processing are evaluated, and recommendations are made regarding the viability of on-board processing. Recommendations are made regarding best practices to serve as a guideline for aspirant MAV designers. PMID:26633410

A Primer on Autonomous Aerial Vehicle Design.

PubMed

Coppejans, Hugo H G; Myburgh, Herman C

2015-12-02

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

Feasibility Study for an Autonomous UAV -Magnetometer System -- Final Report on SERDP SEED 1509:2206

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Roelof Versteeg; Mark McKay; Matt Anderson

2007-09-01

Large areas across the United States are potentially contaminated with UXO, with some ranges encompassing tens to hundreds of thousands of acres. Technologies are needed which will allow for cost effective wide area scanning with 1) near 100 % coverage and 2) near 100 % detection of subsurface ordnance or features indicative of subsurface ordnance. The current approach to wide area scanning is a multi-level one, in which medium altitude fixed wing optical imaging is used for an initial site assessment. This assessment is followed with low altitude manned helicopter based magnetometry followed by surface investigations using either towed geophysicalmore » sensor arrays or man portable sensors. In order to be effective for small UXO detection, the sensing altitude for magnetic site investigations needs to be on the order of 1 – 3 meters. These altitude requirements means that manned helicopter surveys will generally only be feasible in large, open and relatively flat terrains. While such surveys are effective in mapping large areas relatively fast there are substantial mobilization/demobilization, staffing and equipment costs associated with these surveys (resulting in costs of approximately $100-$150/acre). Surface towed arrays provide high resolution maps but have other limitations, e.g. in their ability to navigate rough terrain effectively. Thus, other systems are needed allowing for effective data collection. An UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) magnetometer platform is an obvious alternative. The motivation behind such a system is that it would be safer for the operators, cheaper in initial and O&M costs, and more effective in terms of site characterization. However, while UAV data acquisition from fixed wing platforms for large (> 200 feet) stand off distances is relatively straight forward, a host of challenges exist for low stand-off distance (~ 6 feet) UAV geophysical data acquisition. The objective of SERDP SEED 1509:2006 was to identify the primary challenges associated with a low stand off distance autonomous UAV magnetometer platform and to investigate whether these challenges can be resolved successfully such that a successful UAV magnetometer platform can be constructed. The primary challenges which were identified and investigated include: 1. The feasibility of assembling a payload package which integrates magnetometers, accurate positioning systems (DGPS, height above ground measurement), obstacle avoidance systems, power infrastructure, communications and data storage as well as auxiliary flight controls 2. The availability of commercial UAV platforms with autonomous flight capability which can accommodate this payload package 3. The feasibility of integrating obstacle avoidance controls in UAV platform control 4. The feasibility of collecting high quality magnetic data in the vicinity of an UAV.« less

Investigating the Usefulness of Soldier Aids for Autonomous Unmanned Ground Vehicles, Part 2

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-03-01

distribution is unlimited. 13. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES DCS Corporation, Alexandria, VA 14. ABSTRACT In the past, robot operation has been a high-cognitive...increase performance and reduce perceived workload. The aids were overlays displaying what an autonomous robot perceived in the environment and the...subsequent course of action planned by the robot . Eight active-duty, US Army Soldiers completed 16 scenario missions using an operator interface

Software Architecture for Anti-Submarine Warfare Unmanned Surface Vehicles

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-09-01

discussion about software systems that could be used to control these systems to make the jobs of the human operators easier. B. RESEARCH QUESTIONS... research study. To better understand the role of artificial intelligence in designing autonomous systems, S. Russell and P. Norvig jointly authored a...artificial intelligence, and autonomous systems. This serves as the framework for the real design challenge. 1. Protecting the Battle Group The United

Defining the Levels of Adjustable Autonomy: A Means of Improving Resilience in an Unmanned Aerial System

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-09-01

efficient yet safe operations. • Further understanding of human psychology in the operation of autonomous systems. • Interfaces, be they visual...that system, especially when included in aspects or during times where automation backup is required, when the human-operators anticipatory skills...political and psychological domains, where it connotes self-determination (Christman 2009). The autonomous systems domain that has evolved since

Unmanned Ground Vehicle Perception Using Thermal Infrared Cameras

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rankin, Arturo; Huertas, Andres; Matthies, Larry; Bajracharya, Max; Assad, Christopher; Brennan, Shane; Bellut, Paolo; Sherwin, Gary

2011-01-01

TIR cameras can be used for day/night Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) autonomous navigation when stealth is required. The quality of uncooled TIR cameras has significantly improved over the last decade, making them a viable option at low speed Limiting factors for stereo ranging with uncooled LWIR cameras are image blur and low texture scenes TIR perception capabilities JPL has explored includes: (1) single and dual band TIR terrain classification (2) obstacle detection (pedestrian, vehicle, tree trunks, ditches, and water) (3) perception thru obscurants

Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM): Enabling Low-Altitude Airspace and UAS Operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kopardekar, Parimal H.

2014-01-01

Many civilian applications of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) have been imagined ranging from remote to congested urban areas, including goods delivery, infrastructure surveillance, agricultural support, and medical services delivery. Further, these UAS will have different equipage and capabilities based on considerations such as affordability, and mission needs applications. Such heterogeneous UAS mix, along with operations such as general aviation, helicopters, gliders must be safely accommodated at lower altitudes. However, key infrastructure to enable and safely manage widespread use of low-altitude airspace and UAS operations therein does not exist. Therefore, NASA is exploring functional design, concept and technology development, and a prototype UAS Traffic Management (UTM) system. UTM will support safe and efficient UAS operations for the delivery of goods and services

Laser development for optimal helicopter obstacle warning system LADAR performance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yaniv, A.; Krupkin, V.; Abitbol, A.; Stern, J.; Lurie, E.; German, A.; Solomonovich, S.; Lubashitz, B.; Harel, Y.; Engart, S.; Shimoni, Y.; Hezy, S.; Biltz, S.; Kaminetsky, E.; Goldberg, A.; Chocron, J.; Zuntz, N.; Zajdman, A.

2005-04-01

Low lying obstacles present immediate danger to both military and civilian helicopters performing low-altitude flight missions. A LADAR obstacle detection system is the natural solution for enhancing helicopter safety and improving the pilot situation awareness. Elop is currently developing an advanced Surveillance and Warning Obstacle Ranging and Display (SWORD) system for the Israeli Air Force. Several key factors and new concepts have contributed to system optimization. These include an adaptive FOV, data memorization, autonomous obstacle detection and warning algorithms and the use of an agile laser transmitter. In the present work we describe the laser design and performance and discuss some of the experimental results. Our eye-safe laser is characterized by its pulse energy, repetition rate and pulse length agility. By dynamically controlling these parameters, we are able to locally optimize the system"s obstacle detection range and scan density in accordance with the helicopter instantaneous maneuver.

KSC-2013-3537

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-09-11

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – A remote-controlled helicopter with a unique set of sensors and software assembled by a team of engineers from NASA's Johnson Space Center flies in a competition at the agency's Kennedy Space Center. Teams from Johnson, Kennedy and Marshall Space Flight Center competed in an unmanned aerial systems event to evaluate designs and work by engineers learning new specialties. The competition took place at the Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy. Photo credit: NASA/Dmitri Gerondidakis

KSC-2013-3536

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-09-11

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – A remote-controlled helicopter with a unique set of sensors and software assembled by a team of engineers from NASA's Johnson Space Center flies in a competition at the agency's Kennedy Space Center. Teams from Johnson, Kennedy and Marshall Space Flight Center competed in an unmanned aerial systems event to evaluate designs and work by engineers learning new specialties. The competition took place at the Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy. Photo credit: NASA/Dmitri Gerondidakis

3D Reconfigurable MPSoC for Unmanned Spacecraft Navigation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Design of an Active Bumper with a Series Elastic Actuator for Pedestrian Protection of Small Unmanned Vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Terumasa, Narukawa; Tomoki, Tsuge; Hiroshi, Yamamoto; Takahiro, Suzuki

2016-09-01

When autonomous unmanned vehicles are operated on sidewalks, the vehicles must have high safety standards such as avoiding injury when they come in contact with pedestrians. In this study, we established a design for preventing serious injury when such collisions occur. We designed an active bumper with a series elastic actuator, with the goal of avoiding serious injury to a pedestrian in a collision with a small unmanned vehicle. The series elastic actuator comprised an elastic element in series with a table driven by a ball screw and servo motor. The active bumper was used to control the contact force between a vehicle and a pedestrian. The optimal force for minimizing the deflection of the object of the collision was derived, and the actuator controlled to apply this optimal force. Numerical simulations showed that the active bumper was successful in improving the collision safety of small unmanned vehicles.

Detail design of empennage of an unmanned aerial vehicle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Quantitative sensing of bridges, railways, and tunnels with autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-05-04

Managing a growing population of deteriorated transportation infrastructure : systems (i.e. bridges, railways, tunnels) is one of biggest challenges faced by the nation. : Traditional inspection and monitoring techniques (e.g., visual inspection, mec...

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Development of an autonomous unmanned aerial system for atmospheric data collection and research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Andrew; Hanlon, David; Sakai, Ricardo; Morris, Vernon; Demoz, Belay; Gadsden, S. Andrew

2016-05-01

This paper addresses the use of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) to carry out atmospheric data collection and studies. An important area of research is the study of the chemistry and physics of Earth's planetary boundary layer (PBL). The PBL, also known as the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL), is the lowest part of the atmosphere and its behavior is directly influenced by its contact with the planetary surface. Sampling of the PBL is performed in a timely and periodic manner. Currently, sensors and uncontrollable balloons are used to obtain relevant data and information. This method is cumbersome and can be ineffective in obtaining consistent environmental data. This paper proposes the use of autonomous UAS' to study the atmosphere in an effort to improve the efficiency and accuracy of the sampling process. The UAS setup and design is provided, and preliminary data collection information is shared.

Simulation to Flight Test for a UAV Controls Testbed

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Motter, Mark A.; Logan, Michael J.; French, Michael L.; Guerreiro, Nelson M.

2006-01-01

The NASA Flying Controls Testbed (FLiC) is a relatively small and inexpensive unmanned aerial vehicle developed specifically to test highly experimental flight control approaches. The most recent version of the FLiC is configured with 16 independent aileron segments, supports the implementation of C-coded experimental controllers, and is capable of fully autonomous flight from takeoff roll to landing, including flight test maneuvers. The test vehicle is basically a modified Army target drone, AN/FQM-117B, developed as part of a collaboration between the Aviation Applied Technology Directorate (AATD) at Fort Eustis, Virginia and NASA Langley Research Center. Several vehicles have been constructed and collectively have flown over 600 successful test flights, including a fully autonomous demonstration at the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) UAV Demo 2005. Simulations based on wind tunnel data are being used to further develop advanced controllers for implementation and flight test.

Levels of Autonomy and Autonomous System Performance Assessment for Intelligent Unmanned Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-04-01

LIDAR and camera sensors that is driven entirely by teleoperation would be AL 0. If that same robot used its LIDAR and camera data to generate a...obstacle detection, mapping, path planning 3 CMMAD semi- autonomous counter- mine system (Few 2010) Talon UGV, camera, LIDAR , metal detector...NCAP framework are performed on individual UMS components and do not require mission level evaluations. For example, bench testing of camera, LIDAR

Generic Helicopter-Based Testbed for Surface Terrain Imaging Sensors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Alexander, James; Goldberg, Hannah; Montgomery, James; Spiers, Gary; Liebe, Carl; Johnson, Andrew; Gromov, Konstantin; Konefat, Edward; Lam, Raymond; Meras, Patrick

2008-01-01

To be certain that a candidate sensor system will perform as expected during missions, we have developed a field test system and have executed test flights with a helicopter-mounted sensor platform over desert terrains, which simulate Lunar features. A key advantage to this approach is that different sensors can be tested and characterized in an environment relevant to the flight needs prior to flight. Testing the various sensors required the development of a field test system, including an instrument to validate the truth of the sensor system under test. The field test system was designed to be flexible enough to cover the test needs of many sensors (lidar, radar, cameras) that require an aerial test platform, including helicopters, airplanes, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), or balloons. To validate the performance of the sensor under test, the dynamics of the test platform must be known with sufficient accuracy to provide accurate models for input into algorithm development. The test system provides support equipment to measure the dynamics of the field test sensor platform, and allow computation of the truth position, velocity, attitude, and time.

Direct Inverse Control using an Artificial Neural Network for the Autonomous Hover of a Helicopter

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-10-05

that if r(t) is the command to hover; the output y(t) will simply track the input command and hold a hover for the helicopter. III. THE X- 4P ...being used to test the DIC techniques to simulate realistic flight conditions. The X- 4P was instrumented with a number of sensors and a data recording...research [1] for system identification. The X- 4P SISO transfer functions were developed by CIFER in order to compare results against the DIC control

Autonomous Control Modes and Optimized Path Guidance for Shipboard Landing in High Sea States

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-01-09

due to the inherent nose up attitude of the helicopter. Once the tail gear makes contact (almost always with low relative velocity), the control...n V Z ( ft /s ) Front Gear 2 -10 -8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 8 10 0 2 4 6 8 10 Touchdown V Y (ft/s) Tail Gear This problem is a consequence of attitude ...mismatch at touchdown; where the aircraft attitude does not comply with the deck orientation. Attitude mismatch is a common for helicopter; even a land

Optimal helicopter trajectory planning for terrain following flight

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Menon, P. K. A.

1990-01-01

Helicopters operating in high threat areas have to fly close to the earth surface to minimize the risk of being detected by the adversaries. Techniques are presented for low altitude helicopter trajectory planning. These methods are based on optimal control theory and appear to be implementable onboard in realtime. Second order necessary conditions are obtained to provide a criterion for finding the optimal trajectory when more than one extremal passes through a given point. A second trajectory planning method incorporating a quadratic performance index is also discussed. Trajectory planning problem is formulated as a differential game. The objective is to synthesize optimal trajectories in the presence of an actively maneuvering adversary. Numerical methods for obtaining solutions to these problems are outlined. As an alternative to numerical method, feedback linearizing transformations are combined with the linear quadratic game results to synthesize explicit nonlinear feedback strategies for helicopter pursuit-evasion. Some of the trajectories generated from this research are evaluated on a six-degree-of-freedom helicopter simulation incorporating an advanced autopilot. The optimal trajectory planning methods presented are also useful for autonomous land vehicle guidance.

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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

2016-04-01

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

KSC-2013-3533

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-09-11

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – A remote-controlled helicopter with a unique set of sensors and software assembled by a team of engineers from NASA's Johnson Space Center prepares to fly in a competition at the agency's Kennedy Space Center. Teams from Johnson, Kennedy and Marshall Space Flight Center competed in an unmanned aerial systems event to evaluate designs and work by engineers learning new specialties. The competition took place at the Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy. Photo credit: NASA/Dmitri Gerondidakis

A Cost Benefit Analysis of Fire Scout Vertical Takeoff and Landing Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (VTUAV) Operator Alternatives

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-03-01

mile mission radius.24 Like the MH-60R manned helicopter, the Fire Scout mission systems suite includes Infrared Imaging, Electro Optical Imaging...homecoming just as sweet." dcmilitary.com. February 21, 2008. http:// ww2 .dcmilitary.com/stories/022108/southpotomac_28121.shtml (accessed February 29... ww2 .dcmilitary.com/stories/022108/southpotomac_28121.shtml (accessed February 29, 2012). Tilghman, Andrew. "Fire Scout Program could open door for

Development of Autonomous Magnetometer Rotorcraft For Wide Area Assessment

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mark D. McKay; Matthew O. Anderson

2011-08-01

Large areas across the United States and internationally are potentially contaminated with unexploded ordinance (UXO), with some ranges encompassing tens to hundreds of thousands of acres. Technologies are needed which will allow for cost effective wide area scanning with (1) near 100% coverage and (2) near 100% detection of subsurface ordnance or features indicative of subsurface ordnance. The current approach to wide area assessment is a multi-level one, in which medium - altitude fixed wing optical imaging is used for an initial site assessment. This assessment is followed with low altitude manned helicopter based magnetometry. Subsequent to this wide areamore » assessment targeted surface investigations are performed using either towed geophysical sensor arrays or man portable sensors. In order to be an effective tool for small UXO detection, the sensing altitude for magnetic site investigations needs to be on the order of 1 to 3 meters. These altitude requirements mean that manned helicopter surveys will generally only be feasible in large, open and relatively flat terrains. While such surveys are effective in mapping large areas relatively fast there are substantial mobilization/demobilization, staffing and equipment costs associated with these surveys, resulting in costs of approximately $100-$150/acre. In addition, due to the low altitude there are substantial risks to pilots and equipment. Surface towed arrays provide highresolution maps but have other limitations, e.g. in their ability to navigate rough terrain effectively. Thus there is a need for other systems, which can be used for effective data collection. An Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) magnetometer platform is an obvious alternative. The motivation behind such a system is that it reduces risk to operators, is lower in initial and Operational and Maintenance (O&M) costs (and can thus potentially be applied to smaller sites) and has the potential of being more effective in terms of detection and possibly characterization (through the use of dynamic acquisition, i.e. survey mission in-flight reprioritization).« less

NASA Public Affairs and NUANCE Lab News Conference at Reno-Stead Airport.

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-10-19

News Conference following the test of Unmanned Aircraft Systems Traffic Management (UTM) technical capability Level 2 (TCL2) at Reno-Stead Airport, Nevada. Mark Baker, Director of Business Development, Nevada Institute of Autonomous Systems.

Event-based measurement of boundary-layer winds and topographic effects with a small unmanned aircraft system (sUas)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Riddell, K.; Hugenholtz, C.

2012-12-01

Numerical models are invaluable tools for developing and testing hypotheses about interactions and feedbacks between wind and topography. However, field-based measurements are equally important for building and enhancing confidence in model output. Several field methods are available, including conventional approaches using tall masts equipped with an array of anemometers, as well as weather balloons, but few methods are able to match the level of detail available in model simulations of topographically-modified windflow. Here we propose an alternative method that may enhance numerical models. The method involves a small unmanned aircraft system (sUas) equipped with a meteorological sensor payload. The sUas is a two blade helicopter that weighs 5.5 kg, and has a length of 1.32 m. We designed a simple measurement and control system using an Arduino micro-controller, which acquired measurements at pre-defined coordinates autonomously. The entire survey was pre-configured and uploaded to the aircraft, effectively avoiding the need for manual aircraft operation and data collection. We collected raw measurements at each waypoint, yielding a point cloud of windspeed data. During test flights the sUas was able to maintain a stable position (± 0.6 m vertical and horizontal) in wind speeds up to 50 km/h. We used the raw data to map the wind speed-up ratio relative to a reference anemometer. Although it would be preferable to acquire continuous measurements at each waypoint, the sUas method only provides a snapshot of wind at each location. However, despite this limitation, the sUas does fill a void in terms of spatial measurements within the boundary layer. It may be possible to enhance this method in the future through deployment of sUas swarms that measure wind concurrently at many locations. Furthermore, other sensors can be deployed on sUas for measuring aeolian processes such as dust.

Development of autonomous multirotor platform for exploration missions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Czyba, Roman; Janik, Marcin; Kurgan, Oliver; Niezabitowski, Michał; Nocoń, Marek

2016-06-01

This paper outlines development process of unmanned multirotor aerial vehicle HF-4X, which consists of design and manufacturing semi-autonomous UAV dedicated for indoor flight, which would be capable of stable and controllable mission flight. A micro air vehicle was designed to participate in the International Micro Air Vehicle Conference and Flight Competition. In this paper much attention was paid to the structure of flight control system, stabilization algorithms, analysis of IMU sensors, fusion algorithms.

Development of autonomous multirotor platform for exploration missions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Czyba, Roman; Janik, Marcin; Kurgan, Oliver

This paper outlines development process of unmanned multirotor aerial vehicle HF-4X, which consists of design and manufacturing semi-autonomous UAV dedicated for indoor flight, which would be capable of stable and controllable mission flight. A micro air vehicle was designed to participate in the International Micro Air Vehicle Conference and Flight Competition. In this paper much attention was paid to the structure of flight control system, stabilization algorithms, analysis of IMU sensors, fusion algorithms.

Fuzzy logic path planning system for collision avoidance by an autonomous rover vehicle

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Murphy, Michael G.

1993-01-01

The Space Exploration Initiative of the United States will make great demands upon NASA and its limited resources. One aspect of great importance will be providing for autonomous (unmanned) operation of vehicles and/or subsystems in space flight and surface exploration. An additional, complicating factor is that much of the need for autonomy of operation will take place under conditions of great uncertainty or ambiguity. Issues in developing an autonomous collision avoidance subsystem within a path planning system for application in a remote, hostile environment that does not lend itself well to remote manipulation by Earth-based telecommunications is addressed. A good focus is unmanned surface exploration of Mars. The uncertainties involved indicate that robust approaches such as fuzzy logic control are particularly appropriate. Four major issues addressed are (1) avoidance of a fuzzy moving obstacle; (2) backoff from a deadend in a static obstacle environment; (3) fusion of sensor data to detect obstacles; and (4) options for adaptive learning in a path planning system. Examples of the need for collision avoidance by an autonomous rover vehicle on the surface of Mars with a moving obstacle would be wind-blown debris, surface flow or anomalies due to subsurface disturbances, another vehicle, etc. The other issues of backoff, sensor fusion, and adaptive learning are important in the overall path planning system.

Neuro-fuzzy controller to navigate an unmanned vehicle.

PubMed

Selma, Boumediene; Chouraqui, Samira

2013-12-01

A Neuro-fuzzy control method for an Unmanned Vehicle (UV) simulation is described. The objective is guiding an autonomous vehicle to a desired destination along a desired path in an environment characterized by a terrain and a set of distinct objects, such as obstacles like donkey traffic lights and cars circulating in the trajectory. The autonomous navigate ability and road following precision are mainly influenced by its control strategy and real-time control performance. Fuzzy Logic Controller can very well describe the desired system behavior with simple "if-then" relations owing the designer to derive "if-then" rules manually by trial and error. On the other hand, Neural Networks perform function approximation of a system but cannot interpret the solution obtained neither check if its solution is plausible. The two approaches are complementary. Combining them, Neural Networks will allow learning capability while Fuzzy-Logic will bring knowledge representation (Neuro-Fuzzy). In this paper, an artificial neural network fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) controller is described and implemented to navigate the autonomous vehicle. Results show several improvements in the control system adjusted by neuro-fuzzy techniques in comparison to the previous methods like Artificial Neural Network (ANN).

Using Model Helicopters for Meteorological Observations in Support of Tornado Forecasting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harrison, William; Roscoe, Bryan; Schafer, David; Bluestein, Howard; Lary, David

2012-10-01

In order to gain a better understanding of the physical factors involved in tornadogenesis, a complete 3-D profile of winds, temperature, and humidity in the forward-flank and rear-flank gust front regions in supercells is required. Conventional methods of making comparative measurements in and around storms are very limited. Measurements that comprehensively profile the boundary layer winds and thermodynamics are valuable but rare. A better understanding of the physical properties in these boundary layers will improve forecasts and increase warning times in affected areas. Remote-controlled model helicopters are a uniquely qualified platform for this application, allowing us to fully profile these boundary layers. Our system will consist of a swarm of autonomous acrobatic helicopters, each outfitted with temperature, pressure, humidity, and wind speed sensors.

Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS): Evolving Trends

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kopardekar, Parimal

2015-01-01

Near-term Goal: Enable initial low-altitude airspace and UAS operations with demonstrated safety as early as possible, within 5 years; Long-term Goal: Accommodate increased UAS operations with highest safety, efficiency, and capacity as much autonomously as possible (10-15 years).

Autonomous terrain characterization and modelling for dynamic control of unmanned vehicles

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Talukder, A.; Manduchi, R.; Castano, R.; Owens, K.; Matthies, L.; Castano, A.; Hogg, R.

2002-01-01

This end-to-end obstacle negotiation system is envisioned to be useful in optimized path planning and vehicle navigation in terrain conditions cluttered with vegetation, bushes, rocks, etc. Results on natural terrain with various natural materials are presented.

36 Years of Remote Oceanographic Laser Fluorosensing: Findings, Challenges and Pathways to Explore

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chekalyuk, A. M.

2009-12-01

Since its initial bright start in early 70s, the oceanographic applications of laser remote fluorosensing have been mostly driven by the enthusiastic laser geeks, who tried to transfer the recent technological advances from their laboratory breadboards to the real world. This communication provides an overview of the key milestones and advances in the oceanographic applications of remote laser fluorosensing that is used for qualitative and quantitative characterization of the key aquatic constituents, including chromophoric dissolved organic matter, phytoplankton pigments, their biomass, community structure, and photo-physiological status. The basic principles and analytical techniques, including fluorescence excitation and emission measurements, as well as active control over the media to retrieve additional information (“super-active remote sensing”), are briefly discussed and illustrated with examples of practical applications. The laser excitation sources (including solid state, tunable lasers and optical parametric oscillators) and signal detectors and analyzers (including multi-spectral and hyperspectral systems) are discussed. The advantages and limitations of various platforms (stationary settings, ships, airplanes, helicopters, unmanned autonomous vehicles (UAV), and satellites) are analyzed. The recent findings, methodological and technological developments in oceanographic applications of laser fluorescence indicate that there is a significant, still underexplored potential of remote fluorosensing that may provide new observational capabilities and serve as a useful tool for oceanographic research, bio-environmental monitoring, and validation of passive satellite retrievals.

The Cargo Unmanned Aircraft System: A Future Battlefield Enabler for Enhanced Company Operations and SeaBasing

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-04-14

surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) as well as fire precision hellftre rockets , against the enemy. In my opinion,.UAS’s are the future of Marine...amount of enemy fire aimed at the cargo helicopters delivering their supplies on top of the hills. During the battle ofKhe Sanh, Hill 881 S became a...and finally drastic teclmological improvements within the traditional infantry rifle company. The essence ofECO is to enhancecommand and control, fire

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

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-06-01

the aviation community vs . 35 Intelligence Community have proponency for the mission? Who should pilot UAS, the officer ranks or the enlisted ranks...quickly and effectively respond to emergencies and natural or man-made disasters within the homeland. The ARNG provides the total Army with 30 of 80...should” fly planes and the Army “should” fly helicopters, but there are other examples, such as that “UAS are intelligence assets vs . aviation assets

System and Method for Automated Rendezvous, Docking and Capture of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Clark, Evan (Inventor); Richmond, Kristof (Inventor); Paulus, Jeremy (Inventor); Kimball, Peter (Inventor); Scully, Mark (Inventor); Kapit, Jason (Inventor); Stone, William C. (Inventor)

2018-01-01

A system for automated rendezvous, docking, and capture of autonomous underwater vehicles at the conclusion of a mission comprising of comprised of a docking rod having lighted, pulsating (in both frequency and light intensity) series of LED light strips thereon, with the LEDs at a known spacing, and the autonomous underwater vehicle specially designed to detect and capture the docking rod and then be lifted structurally by a spherical end strop about which the vehicle can be pivoted and hoisted up (e.g., onto a ship). The method of recovery allows for very routine and reliable automated recovery of an unmanned underwater asset.

Autonomous Flight Rules Concept: User Implementation Costs and Strategies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cotton, William B.; Hilb, Robert

2014-01-01

The costs to implement Autonomous Flight Rules (AFR) were examined for estimates in acquisition, installation, training and operations. The user categories were airlines, fractional operators, general aviation and unmanned aircraft systems. Transition strategies to minimize costs while maximizing operational benefits were also analyzed. The primary cost category was found to be the avionics acquisition. Cost ranges for AFR equipment were given to reflect the uncertainty of the certification level for the equipment and the extent of existing compatible avionics in the aircraft to be modified.

Study of Command and Control (C&C) Structures on Integrating Unmanned Autonomous Systems (UAS) into Manned Environments

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-09-01

and traveled all the way around Lake Tahoe. The self - driving cars have logged over 140,000 miles since October 9, 2010 (Google 2010) pictured here...UNDERWATER VEHICLES (AUV) STARFISH is the name given to a small team of autonomous robotic fish - a project carried out by the Acoustic Research...www.scribd.com/doc/42245301/Manual-Mine- Clearance-Book1. Accessed July 23, 2012. Google. The Self - Driving Car Logs more Miles on New Wheels. August 7

Optimized Landing of Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Swarms

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-06-01

understanding about the world. Examples of these emergent behaviors include construction of complex structures (e.g., hives, termite mounds), trends in economic...Sep. 2007. [16] M. Resnick, Turtles, Termites , and Traffic Jams: Explorations in Massively Parallel Microworlds. MIT Press, 1997. [Online]. Available

76 FR 21772 - Navigation Safety Advisory Council

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-04-18

..., routing measures, marine information, diving safety, and aids to navigation systems. Agenda The NAVSAC... discussion of autonomous unmanned vessels and discuss their implications for the Inland Navigation Rules. A... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Coast Guard [Docket No. USCG-2011-0204] Navigation Safety Advisory...

A Long Distance Laser Altimeter for Terrain Relative Navigation and Spacecraft Landing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pierrottet, Diego F.; Amzajerdian, Farzin; Barnes, Bruce W.

2014-01-01

A high precision laser altimeter was developed under the Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance (ALHAT) project at NASA Langley Research Center. The laser altimeter provides slant-path range measurements from operational ranges exceeding 30 km that will be used to support surface-relative state estimation and navigation during planetary descent and precision landing. The altimeter uses an advanced time-of-arrival receiver, which produces multiple signal-return range measurements from tens of kilometers with 5 cm precision. The transmitter is eye-safe, simplifying operations and testing on earth. The prototype is fully autonomous, and able to withstand the thermal and mechanical stresses experienced during test flights conducted aboard helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft, and Morpheus, a terrestrial rocket-powered vehicle developed by NASA Johnson Space Center. This paper provides an overview of the sensor and presents results obtained during recent field experiments including a helicopter flight test conducted in December 2012 and Morpheus flight tests conducted during March of 2014.

Micro Unmanned Surface Vehicle for Shallow Littoral Data Sampling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murphy, R. R.; Wilde, G.

2016-02-01

This paper describes the creation of an autonomous air boat that can be carried by one person, called a micro unmanned surface vehicle (USV), for sensor sampling in shallow littoral areas such as inlets and creeks. A USV offers advantages over other types of unmanned marine vehicles. Unlike an autonomous underwater vehicle, the Challenge 1.0 air boat can operate in shallow water of less than 15 cm depth and maintain network connectivity for control and data sampling. A USV does not require a tether, like a remotely operated marine vehicle (ROV), which would limit the distance and mobility. However, a USV operating in shallow littoral areas poses several challenges. Navigation is a challenge since rivers and bays may have semi-submerged obstacles and there may be no depth maps; the approach taken in the Challenge 1.0 project is to let the operator specify a safe area of the water by visual inspection and then the USV autonomously creates a path to optimally sample the collision free area. Navigation is also a challenge because of platform dynamics-the USV we describe is a non-holonomic vehicle; this paper explores spiral paths rather than boustrophedon paths. Another challenge is the quality of sensing. Water-based sensing is noisy and thus a reading at a single point may not reflect the overall value. In practice, areas are sampled rather than a single point, but the noise in the point values within the sampled area produce a survey with widely varying numbers and are difficult for humans to interpret. This paper implements an inverse distance weighting interpolation algorithm to produce a visual "heatmap" that reliably portrays the smoothed data.

NOAA Marine and Arctic Monitoring Using UASs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jacobs, T.; Coffey, J. J.; Hood, R. E.; Hall, P.; Adler, J.

2014-12-01

Unmanned systems have the potential to efficiently, effectively, economically and safely bridging critical observation requirements in an environmentally friendly manner. As the United States' Marine and Arctic areas of interest expand and include hard-to-reach regions of the Earth (such as the Arctic and remote oceanic areas) optimizing unmanned capabilities will be needed to advance the United States' science, technology and security efforts. Through increased multi-mission and multi-agency operations using improved inter-operable and autonomous unmanned systems, the research and operations communities will better collect environmental intelligence and better protect our Country against hazardous weather, environmental, marine and polar hazards. This presentation will examine NOAA's Marine and Arctic Monitoring UAS strategies which includes developing a coordinated effort to maximize the efficiency and capabilities of unmanned systems across the federal government and research partners. Numerous intra- and inter-agency operational demonstrations and assessments have been made to verify and validated these strategies. The presentation will also discuss the requisite sUAS capabilities and our experience in using them.

Comparison of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Platforms for Assessing Vegetation Cover in Sagebrush Steppe Ecosystems

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Robert P. Breckenridge; Maxine Dakins; Stephen Bunting

2011-09-01

In this study, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as a quick and safe method for monitoring biotic resources was evaluated. Vegetation cover and the amount of bare ground are important factors in understanding the sustainability of many ecosystems and assessment of rangeland health. Methods that improve speed and cost efficiency could greatly improve how biotic resources are monitored on western lands. Sagebrush steppe ecosystems provide important habitat for a variety of species (including sage grouse and pygmy rabbit). Improved methods are needed to support monitoring these habitats because there are not enough resource specialists or funds available formore » comprehensive ground evaluations. In this project, two UAV platforms, fixed wing and helicopter, were used to collect still-frame imagery to assess vegetation cover in sagebrush steppe ecosystems. This paper discusses the process for collecting and analyzing imagery from the UAVs to (1) estimate percent cover for six different vegetation types (shrub, dead shrub, grass, forb, litter, and bare ground) and (2) locate sage grouse using representative decoys. The field plots were located on the Idaho National Engineering (INL) site west of Idaho Falls, Idaho, in areas with varying amounts and types of vegetation cover. A software program called SamplePoint was used along with visual inspection to evaluate percent cover for the six cover types. Results were compared against standard field measurements to assess accuracy. The comparison of fixed-wing and helicopter UAV technology against field estimates shows good agreement for the measurement of bare ground. This study shows that if a high degree of detail and data accuracy is desired, then a helicopter UAV may be a good platform to use. If the data collection objective is to assess broad-scale landscape level changes, then the collection of imagery with a fixed-wing system is probably more appropriate.« less

Apex Reference Manual 3.0 Beta

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Freed, Michael A.

2005-01-01

Apex is a toolkit for constructing software that behaves intelligently and responsively in demanding task environments. Reflecting its origin at NASA where Apex continues to be developed, current applications include: a) Providing autonomous mission management and tactical control capabilities for unmanned aerial vehicles including an autonomous surveillance helicopter and a simulation prototype of an unmanned fixed-wing aircraft to be used for wildfire mapping; b) Simulating human air traffic controllers, pilots and astronauts to help predict how people might respond to changes in equipment or procedures; and c) Predicting the precise duration and sequence of routine human behaviors based on a human-computer interaction engineering technique called CPM-GOMS. Among Apex s components are a set of implemented reasoning services, such as those for reactive planning and temporal pattern recognition; a software architecture that embeds and integrates these services and allows additional reasoning elements to be added as extensions; a formal language for specifying agent knowledge; a simulation environment to facilitate prototyping and analysis; and Sherpa, a set of tools for visualizing autonomy logic and runtime behavior. In combination, these are meant to provide a flexible and usable framework for creating, testing, and deploying intelligent agent software. Overall, our goal in developing Apex is to lower economic barriers to developing intelligent software agents. New ideas about how to extend or modify the system are evaluated in terms of their impact in reducing the time, expertise, and inventiveness required to build and maintain applications. For example, potential enhancements to the AI reasoning capabilities in the system are reviewed not only for usefulness and distinctiveness, but also for their impact on the readability and general usability of Apex s behavior representation language (PDL) and on the transparency of resulting behavior. A second central part of our approach is to iteratively refine Apex based on lessons learned from as diverse a set of applications as possible. Many applications have been developed by users outside the core development team including engineers, researchers, and students. Usability is thus a central concern for every aspect of Apex visible to a user, including PDL, Sherpa, the Apex installation process, APIs, and user documentation. Apex users vary in their areas of expertise and in their familiarity with autonomy technology. Focusing on usability, a development philosophy summarized by the project motto "Usable Autonomy," has been important part of enabling diverse users to employ Apex successfully and to provide feedback needed to guide iterative, user-centered refinement.

Initial Study of an Effective Fast-Time Simulation Platform for Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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.

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

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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.

Measurement of atmospheric surface layer turbulence using unmanned aerial vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bailey, Sean; Canter, Caleb

2017-11-01

We describe measurements of the turbulence within the atmospheric surface layer using highly instrumented and autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Results from the CLOUDMAP measurement campaign in Stillwater Oklahoma are presented including turbulence statistics measured during the transition from stably stratified to convective conditions. The measurements were made using pre-fabricated fixed-wing remote-control aircraft adapted to fly autonomously and carry multi-hole pressure probes, pressure, temperature and humidity sensors. Two aircraft were flown simultaneously, with one flying a flight path intended to profile the boundary layer up to 100 m and the other flying at a constant fixed altitude of 50 m. The evolution of various turbulent statistics was determined from these flights, including Reynolds stresses, correlations, spectra and structure functions. These results were compared to those measured by a sonic anemometer located on a 7.5 m tower. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation through Grant #CBET-1351411 and by National Science Foundation award #1539070, Collaboration Leading Operational UAS Development for Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics (CLOUDMAP).

Measurement of atmospheric surface layer turbulence using unmanned aerial vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Witte, Brandon; Smith, Lorli; Schlagenhauf, Cornelia; Bailey, Sean

2016-11-01

We describe measurements of the turbulence within the atmospheric surface layer using highly instrumented and autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Results from the CLOUDMAP measurement campaign in Stillwater Oklahoma are presented including turbulence statistics measured during the transition from stably stratified to convective conditions. The measurements were made using pre-fabricated fixed-wing remote-control aircraft adapted to fly autonomously and carry multi-hole pressure probes, pressure, temperature and humidity sensors. Two aircraft were flown simultaneously, with one flying a flight path intended to profile the boundary layer up to 100 m and the other flying at a constant fixed altitude of 50 m. The evolution of various turbulent statistics was determined from these flights, including Reynolds stresses, correlations, spectra and structure functions. These results were compared to those measured by a sonic anemometer located on a 7.5 m tower. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation through Grant #CBET-1351411 and by National Science Foundation award #1539070, Collaboration Leading Operational UAS Development for Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics (CLOUDMAP).

Biologically Inspired Strategies, Algorithms and Hardware for Visual Guidance of Autonomous Helicopters

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-05-02

Dacke, J. Reinhard and M.V. Srinivasan (2010) The moment before touchdown: Landing manoeuvres of the honeybee Apis mellifera . Journal of Experimental...moment before touchdown: Landing manoeuvres of the honeybee Apis mellifera . Journal of Experimental Biology 213, 262-270. M.V. Srinivasan (2010

Tracked robot controllers for climbing obstacles autonomously

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vincent, Isabelle

2009-05-01

Research in mobile robot navigation has demonstrated some success in navigating flat indoor environments while avoiding obstacles. However, the challenge of analyzing complex environments to climb obstacles autonomously has had very little success due to the complexity of the task. Unmanned ground vehicles currently exhibit simple autonomous behaviours compared to the human ability to move in the world. This paper presents the control algorithms designed for a tracked mobile robot to autonomously climb obstacles by varying its tracks configuration. Two control algorithms are proposed to solve the autonomous locomotion problem for climbing obstacles. First, a reactive controller evaluates the appropriate geometric configuration based on terrain and vehicle geometric considerations. Then, a reinforcement learning algorithm finds alternative solutions when the reactive controller gets stuck while climbing an obstacle. The methodology combines reactivity to learning. The controllers have been demonstrated in box and stair climbing simulations. The experiments illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach for crossing obstacles.

VisNAV 100: a robust, compact imaging sensor for enabling autonomous air-to-air refueling of aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Katake, Anup; Choi, Heeyoul

2010-01-01

To enable autonomous air-to-refueling of manned and unmanned vehicles a robust high speed relative navigation sensor capable of proving high accuracy 3DOF information in diverse operating conditions is required. To help address this problem, StarVision Technologies Inc. has been developing a compact, high update rate (100Hz), wide field-of-view (90deg) direction and range estimation imaging sensor called VisNAV 100. The sensor is fully autonomous requiring no communication from the tanker aircraft and contains high reliability embedded avionics to provide range, azimuth, elevation (3 degrees of freedom solution 3DOF) and closing speed relative to the tanker aircraft. The sensor is capable of providing 3DOF with an error of 1% in range and 0.1deg in azimuth/elevation up to a range of 30m and 1 deg error in direction for ranges up to 200m at 100Hz update rates. In this paper we will discuss the algorithms that were developed in-house to enable robust beacon pattern detection, outlier rejection and 3DOF estimation in adverse conditions and present the results of several outdoor tests. Results from the long range single beacon detection tests will also be discussed.

Fault Tolerance Analysis of L1 Adaptive Control System for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krishnamoorthy, Kiruthika

Trajectory tracking is a critical element for the better functionality of autonomous vehicles. The main objective of this research study was to implement and analyze L1 adaptive control laws for autonomous flight under normal and upset flight conditions. The West Virginia University (WVU) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle flight simulation environment was used for this purpose. A comparison study between the L1 adaptive controller and a baseline conventional controller, which relies on position, proportional, and integral compensation, has been performed for a reduced size jet aircraft, the WVU YF-22. Special attention was given to the performance of the proposed control laws in the presence of abnormal conditions. The abnormal conditions considered are locked actuators (stabilator, aileron, and rudder) and excessive turbulence. Several levels of abnormal condition severity have been considered. The performance of the control laws was assessed over different-shape commanded trajectories. A set of comprehensive evaluation metrics was defined and used to analyze the performance of autonomous flight control laws in terms of control activity and trajectory tracking errors. The developed L1 adaptive control laws are supported by theoretical stability guarantees. The simulation results show that L1 adaptive output feedback controller achieves better trajectory tracking with lower level of control actuation as compared to the baseline linear controller under nominal and abnormal conditions.

Guidance and control for unmanned ground vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bateman, Peter J.

1994-06-01

Techniques for the guidance, control, and navigation of unmanned ground vehicles are described in terms of the communication bandwidth requirements for driving and control of a vehicle remote from the human operator. Modes of operation are conveniently classified as conventional teleoperation, supervisory control, and fully autonomous control. The fundamental problem of maintaining a robust non-line-of-sight communications link between the human controller and the remote vehicle is discussed, as this provides the impetus for greater autonomy in the control system and the greatest scope for innovation. While supervisory control still requires the man to be providing the primary navigational intelligence, fully autonomous operation requires that mission navigation is provided solely by on-board machine intelligence. Methods directed at achieving this performance are described using various active and passive sensing of the terrain for route navigation and obstacle detection. Emphasis is given to TV imagery and signal processing techniques for image understanding. Reference is made to the limitations of current microprocessor technology and suitable computer architectures. Some of the more recent control techniques involve the use of neural networks, fuzzy logic, and data fusion and these are discussed in the context of road following and cross country navigation. Examples of autonomous vehicle testbeds operated at various laboratories around the world are given.

Safely Enabling Low-Altitude Airspace Operations: Unmanned Aerial System Traffic Management (UTM)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kopardekar, Parimal

2015-01-01

Near-term Goal Enable initial low-altitude airspace and UAS operations with demonstrated safety as early as possible, within 5 years Long-term Goal Accommodate increased UAS operations with highest safety, efficiency, and capacity as much autonomously as possible (10-15 years).

Autonomous Visual Tracking of Stationary Targets Using Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-06-01

59 Figure 43. Commanded and Actual Yaw Rates during Simulation ..................................60 Figure 44. Setup for Hardware In Loop Simulation...System with AVDS Figure 44. Setup for Hardware In Loop Simulation with AVDS and PerceptiVU 2. Test Conditions Simulations were conducted for the

Safe Autonomous Flight Environment (SAFE50) for the Notional Last 50 ft of Operation of 55 lb Class of UAS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Krishnakumar, Kalmanje; Kopardekar, Parimal; Ippolito, Corey; Melton, John E.; Stepanyan, Vahram; Sankararaman, Shankar; Nikaido, Ben

2017-01-01

The most difficult phase of small Unmanned Aerial System (sUAS) deployment is autonomous operations below the notional 50 ft in urban landscapes. Understanding the feasibility of safely flying sUAS autonomously below 50 ft is a game changer for many civilian applications. This paper outlines three areas of research currently underway which address key challenges for flight in the urban landscape. These are: (1) Off-line and On-board wind estimation and accommodation; (2) Real-time trajectory planning via characterization of obstacles using a LIDAR; (3) On-board information fusion for real-time decision-making and safe trajectory generation.

An Improved Vision-based Algorithm for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Autonomous Landing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Yunji; Pei, Hailong

In vision-based autonomous landing system of UAV, the efficiency of target detecting and tracking will directly affect the control system. The improved algorithm of SURF(Speed Up Robust Features) will resolve the problem which is the inefficiency of the SURF algorithm in the autonomous landing system. The improved algorithm is composed of three steps: first, detect the region of the target using the Camshift; second, detect the feature points in the region of the above acquired using the SURF algorithm; third, do the matching between the template target and the region of target in frame. The results of experiment and theoretical analysis testify the efficiency of the algorithm.

Accurate estimation of object location in an image sequence using helicopter flight data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tang, Yuan-Liang; Kasturi, Rangachar

1994-01-01

In autonomous navigation, it is essential to obtain a three-dimensional (3D) description of the static environment in which the vehicle is traveling. For a rotorcraft conducting low-latitude flight, this description is particularly useful for obstacle detection and avoidance. In this paper, we address the problem of 3D position estimation for static objects from a monocular sequence of images captured from a low-latitude flying helicopter. Since the environment is static, it is well known that the optical flow in the image will produce a radiating pattern from the focus of expansion. We propose a motion analysis system which utilizes the epipolar constraint to accurately estimate 3D positions of scene objects in a real world image sequence taken from a low-altitude flying helicopter. Results show that this approach gives good estimates of object positions near the rotorcraft's intended flight-path.

The X-40 sub-scale technology demonstrator is suspended under a U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook cargo helicopter during a captive-carry test flight at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California.

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-12-08

The X-40 sub-scale technology demonstrator is suspended under a U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook cargo helicopter during a captive-carry test flight at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. The captive carry flights are designed to verify the X-40's navigation and control systems, rigging angles for its sling, and stability and control of the helicopter while carrying the X-40 on a tether. Following a series of captive-carry flights, the X-40 made free flights from a launch altitude of about 15,000 feet above ground, gliding to a fully autonomous landing. The X-40 is an unpowered 82 percent scale version of the X-37, a Boeing-developed spaceplane designed to demonstrate various advanced technologies for development of future lower-cost access to space vehicles.

Lidar-based door and stair detection from a mobile robot

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bansal, Mayank; Southall, Ben; Matei, Bogdan; Eledath, Jayan; Sawhney, Harpreet

2010-04-01

We present an on-the-move LIDAR-based object detection system for autonomous and semi-autonomous unmanned vehicle systems. In this paper we make several contributions: (i) we describe an algorithm for real-time detection of objects such as doors and stairs in indoor environments; (ii) we describe efficient data structures and algorithms for processing 3D point clouds acquired by laser scanners in a streaming manner, which minimize the memory copying and access. We show qualitative results demonstrating the effectiveness of our approach on runs in an indoor office environment.

Autonomous Rendezvous and Docking Conference, volume 2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1990-01-01

Autonomous Rendezvous and Docking (ARD) will be a requirement for future space programs. Clear examples include satellite servicing, repair, recovery, and reboost in the near term, and the longer range lunar and planetary exploration programs. ARD will permit more aggressive unmanned space activities, while providing a valuable operational capability for manned missions. The purpose of the conference is to identify the technologies required for an on-orbit demonstration of ARD, assess the maturity of those technologies, and provide the necessary insight for a quality assessment of programmatic management, technical, schedule, and cost risks.

Unmanned Tactical Autonomous Control and Collaboration (UTACC) Immediate Actions

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-06-01

12 3. Observability , Predictability, and Directability ........................13 4. Coactive Design Method ...suitable method . Depending on the overall patrol mission and the disposition of observed enemy force, the team leader will make an appropriate...design method is the understanding of the relationship between interdependence and observability , predictability, and directability. Johnson (2014

Autonomous Refueling of Unmanned Vehicles at Sea

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-03-28

As seen in Figure 3, a floating sponson, similar to the outside flotation collar on a RIB, is towed off the stern of the parent ship with a tow...V. Minnick, Thomas G. Beukema, Wojciech Kauczynski, Andrew L. Silver , and Christopher Cleary, “Stern Boat Deployment Systems and Operability

Research on Design of MUH Attitude Stability Augmentation Control System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fan, Shigang

2017-09-01

Attitude stability augmentation control system with a lower cost need to be designed so that MUH (Mini Unmanned Helicopter) can adapt to different types of geographic environment and fly steadily although the weather may be bad. Attitude feedback was calculated mainly by filtering estimation within attitude acquisition module in this system. Stability augmentation can be improved mainly by PI. This paper will depict running principle and designing process of MUH attitude stability augmentation control system and algorithm that is considered as an important part in this system.

Vision Based Autonomous Robotic Control for Advanced Inspection and Repair

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wehner, Walter S.

2014-01-01

The advanced inspection system is an autonomous control and analysis system that improves the inspection and remediation operations for ground and surface systems. It uses optical imaging technology with intelligent computer vision algorithms to analyze physical features of the real-world environment to make decisions and learn from experience. The advanced inspection system plans to control a robotic manipulator arm, an unmanned ground vehicle and cameras remotely, automatically and autonomously. There are many computer vision, image processing and machine learning techniques available as open source for using vision as a sensory feedback in decision-making and autonomous robotic movement. My responsibilities for the advanced inspection system are to create a software architecture that integrates and provides a framework for all the different subsystem components; identify open-source algorithms and techniques; and integrate robot hardware.

The role of human-automation consensus in multiple unmanned vehicle scheduling.

PubMed

Cummings, M L; Clare, Andrew; Hart, Christin

2010-02-01

This study examined the impact of increasing automation replanning rates on operator performance and workload when supervising a decentralized network of heterogeneous unmanned vehicles. Futuristic unmanned vehicles systems will invert the operator-to-vehicle ratio so that one operator can control multiple dissimilar vehicles connected through a decentralized network. Significant human-automation collaboration will be needed because of automation brittleness, but such collaboration could cause high workload. Three increasing levels of replanning were tested on an existing multiple unmanned vehicle simulation environment that leverages decentralized algorithms for vehicle routing and task allocation in conjunction with human supervision. Rapid replanning can cause high operator workload, ultimately resulting in poorer overall system performance. Poor performance was associated with a lack of operator consensus for when to accept the automation's suggested prompts for new plan consideration as well as negative attitudes toward unmanned aerial vehicles in general. Participants with video game experience tended to collaborate more with the automation, which resulted in better performance. In decentralized unmanned vehicle networks, operators who ignore the automation's requests for new plan consideration and impose rapid replans both increase their own workload and reduce the ability of the vehicle network to operate at its maximum capacity. These findings have implications for personnel selection and training for futuristic systems involving human collaboration with decentralized algorithms embedded in networks of autonomous systems.

Human-Interaction Challenges in UAV-Based Autonomous Surveillance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Freed, Michael; Harris, Robert; Shafto, Michael G.

2004-01-01

Autonomous UAVs provide a platform for intelligent surveillance in application domains ranging from security and military operations to scientific information gathering and land management. Surveillance tasks are often long duration, requiring that any approach be adaptive to changes in the environment or user needs. We describe a decision- theoretic model of surveillance, appropriate for use on our autonomous helicopter, that provides a basis for optimizing the value of information returned by the UAV. From this approach arise a range of challenges in making this framework practical for use by human operators lacking specialized knowledge of autonomy and mathematics. This paper describes our platform and approach, then describes human-interaction challenges arising from this approach that we have identified and begun to address.

Development for SSV on a parallel processing system (PARAGON)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gothard, Benny M.; Allmen, Mark; Carroll, Michael J.; Rich, Dan

1995-12-01

A goal of the surrogate semi-autonomous vehicle (SSV) program is to have multiple vehicles navigate autonomously and cooperatively with other vehicles. This paper describes the process and tools used in porting UGV/SSV (unmanned ground vehicle) autonomous mobility and target recognition algorithms from a SISD (single instruction single data) processor architecture (i.e., a Sun SPARC workstation running C/UNIX) to a MIMD (multiple instruction multiple data) parallel processor architecture (i.e., PARAGON-a parallel set of i860 processors running C/UNIX). It discusses the gains in performance and the pitfalls of such a venture. It also examines the merits of this processor architecture (based on this conceptual prototyping effort) and programming paradigm to meet the final SSV demonstration requirements.

Draper Laboratory small autonomous aerial vehicle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

DeBitetto, Paul A.; Johnson, Eric N.; Bosse, Michael C.; Trott, Christian A.

1997-06-01

The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc. and students from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Boston University have cooperated to develop an autonomous aerial vehicle that won the 1996 International Aerial Robotics Competition. This paper describes the approach, system architecture and subsystem designs for the entry. This entry represents a combination of many technology areas: navigation, guidance, control, vision processing, human factors, packaging, power, real-time software, and others. The aerial vehicle, an autonomous helicopter, performs navigation and control functions using multiple sensors: differential GPS, inertial measurement unit, sonar altimeter, and a flux compass. The aerial transmits video imagery to the ground. A ground based vision processor converts the image data into target position and classification estimates. The system was designed, built, and flown in less than one year and has provided many lessons about autonomous vehicle systems, several of which are discussed. In an appendix, our current research in augmenting the navigation system with vision- based estimates is presented.

Time-Critical Cooperative Path Following of Multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles over Time-Varying Networks

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-03-01

Ciência e a Tecnologia . References [1] Kaminer, I., Pascoal, A.M., Hallberg, E., and Silvestreo, C., “Trajectory Tracking for Autonomous Vehicles: An...for publication). [53] Cichella, V., Xargay, E., Dobrokhodov, V., Kaminer, I., Pascoal, A. M., and Hovakimyan, N., “Geometric 3D Path-Following

Development of Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Platform: Modeling, Simulating, and Flight Testing

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-03-01

Eppler 193 Airfoil .............................................................. 58 Figure 18. Rascal Airfoil vs. Eppler 205 Airfoil ...53 Table 14. E193 Airfoil Data at Re = 204,200 ................................................................... 61 ...two hours. According to the manufacturer, the Rascal uses an airfoil married from two Eppler airfoils . The top airfoil is an Eppler 193, while the

Development of Sensor Component for Terrain Evaluation and Obstacle Detection for an Unmanned Autonomous Vehicle

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-05-01

WALTER M. WALTZ SANDRA R. MEEKER, DR-IV Work Unit Manager Acting Chief, Force Protection Branch ___//signature...thank David Armstrong, for his support as a project manager . I thank Dr Mike Griffis, for putting all the efforts in building the NaviGator. I...21 Uncertainty Management

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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

2017-12-01

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

Using Multimodal Input for Autonomous Decision Making for Unmanned Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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

2016-01-01

Autonomous decision making in the presence of uncertainly is a deeply studied problem space particularly in the area of autonomous systems operations for land, air, sea, and space vehicles. Various techniques ranging from single algorithm solutions to complex ensemble classifier systems have been utilized in a research context in solving mission critical flight decisions. Realized systems on actual autonomous hardware, however, is a difficult systems integration problem, constituting a majority of applied robotics development timelines. The ability to reliably and repeatedly classify objects during a vehicles mission execution is vital for the vehicle to mitigate both static and dynamic environmental concerns such that the mission may be completed successfully and have the vehicle operate and return safely. In this paper, the Autonomy Incubator proposes and discusses an ensemble learning and recognition system planned for our autonomous framework, AEON, in selected domains, which fuse decision criteria, using prior experience on both the individual classifier layer and the ensemble layer to mitigate environmental uncertainty during operation.

Manned/Unmanned Common Architecture Program (MCAP) net centric flight tests

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johnson, Dale

2009-04-01

Properly architected avionics systems can reduce the costs of periodic functional improvements, maintenance, and obsolescence. With this in mind, the U.S. Army Aviation Applied Technology Directorate (AATD) initiated the Manned/Unmanned Common Architecture Program (MCAP) in 2003 to develop an affordable, high-performance embedded mission processing architecture for potential application to multiple aviation platforms. MCAP analyzed Army helicopter and unmanned air vehicle (UAV) missions, identified supporting subsystems, surveyed advanced hardware and software technologies, and defined computational infrastructure technical requirements. The project selected a set of modular open systems standards and market-driven commercial-off-theshelf (COTS) electronics and software, and, developed experimental mission processors, network architectures, and software infrastructures supporting the integration of new capabilities, interoperability, and life cycle cost reductions. MCAP integrated the new mission processing architecture into an AH-64D Apache Longbow and participated in Future Combat Systems (FCS) network-centric operations field experiments in 2006 and 2007 at White Sands Missile Range (WSMR), New Mexico and at the Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR) in 2008. The MCAP Apache also participated in PM C4ISR On-the-Move (OTM) Capstone Experiments 2007 (E07) and 2008 (E08) at Ft. Dix, NJ and conducted Mesa, Arizona local area flight tests in December 2005, February 2006, and June 2008.

Scalable autonomous operations of unmanned assets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jung, Sunghun

Although there have been great theoretical advances in the region of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) autonomy, applications of those theories into real world are still hesitated due to unexpected disturbances. Most of UAVs which are currently used are mainly, strictly speaking, Remotely Piloted Vehicles (RPA) since most works related with the flight control, sensor data analysis, and decision makings are done by human operators. To increase the degree of autonomy, many researches are focused on developing Unmanned Autonomous Aerial Vehicle (UAAV) which can takeoff, fly to the interested area by avoiding unexpected obstacles, perform various missions with decision makings, come back to the base station, and land on by itself without any human operators. To improve the performance of UAVs, the accuracies of position and orientation sensors are enhanced by integrating a Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) or a solar compass to a UAV; Position sensor accuracy of a GPS sensor on a UAV is improved by referencing the position of a UGV which is calculated by using three GPS sensors and Weighted Centroid Localization (WCL) method; Orientation sensor accuracy is improved as well by using Three Pixel Theorem (TPT) and integrating a solar compass which composed of nine light sensors to a magnetic compass. Also, improved health management of a UAV is fulfilled by developing a wireless autonomous charging station which uses four pairs of transmitter and receiver magnetic loops with four robotic arms. For the software aspect, I also analyze the error propagation of the proposed mission planning hierarchy to achieve the safest size of the buffer zone. In addition, among seven future research areas regarding UAV, this paper mainly focuses on developing algorithms of path planning, trajectory generation, and cooperative tactics for the operations of multiple UAVs using GA based multiple Traveling Salesman Problem (mTSP) which is solved by dividing into m number of Traveling Salesman Problems (TSP) using two region division methods such as Uniform Region Division (URD) and K-means Voronoi Region Division (KVRD). The topic of the maximum fuel efficiency is also dealt to ensure the minimum amount fuel consumption to perform surveillance on a given region using multiple UAVs. Last but not least, I present an application example of cattle roundup with two UAVs and two animals using the feedback linearization controller.

Data acquisition and path selection decision making for an autonomous roving vehicle

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Frederick, D. K.; Shen, C. N.; Yerazunis, S. W.

1976-01-01

Problems related to the guidance of an autonomous rover for unmanned planetary exploration were investigated. Topics included in these studies were: simulation on an interactive graphics computer system of the Rapid Estimation Technique for detection of discrete obstacles; incorporation of a simultaneous Bayesian estimate of states and inputs in the Rapid Estimation Scheme; development of methods for estimating actual laser rangefinder errors and their application to date provided by Jet Propulsion Laboratory; and modification of a path selection system simulation computer code for evaluation of a hazard detection system based on laser rangefinder data.

Unmanned Tactical Autonomous Control and Collaboration Situation Awareness

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-06-01

methodology framework using interdependence analysis (IA) tables for informing design requirements based on SA requirements. Future research should seek...requirements of UTACC. The authors then apply SA principles to Coactive Design in order to inform robotic design. The result is a methodology framework using...28  2.  Non -intrusive Methods ................................................................29  3.  Post-Mission Reviews

Multicopter Design Challenge: Design, Fly, and Learn

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sutton, Kevin G.; Busby, Joe R.; Kelly, Daniel P.

2016-01-01

A great deal of the nation's attention has turned to the sky as new technologies open the door for new opportunities with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). UAVs are powered aerial vehicles that do not carry an operator, use aerodynamic forces to provide vehicle lift, and can fly autonomously or be piloted remotely. As people become accustomed to…

An Autonomous Autopilot Control System Design for Small-Scale UAVs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ippolito, Corey; Pai, Ganeshmadhav J.; Denney, Ewen W.

2012-01-01

This paper describes the design and implementation of a fully autonomous and programmable autopilot system for small scale autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) aircraft. This system was implemented in Reflection and has flown on the Exploration Aerial Vehicle (EAV) platform at NASA Ames Research Center, currently only as a safety backup for an experimental autopilot. The EAV and ground station are built on a component-based architecture called the Reflection Architecture. The Reflection Architecture is a prototype for a real-time embedded plug-and-play avionics system architecture which provides a transport layer for real-time communications between hardware and software components, allowing each component to focus solely on its implementation. The autopilot module described here, although developed in Reflection, contains no design elements dependent on this architecture.

With a small stabilization parachute trailing behind, the X-40 sub-scale technology demonstrator is suspended under a U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook cargo helicopter during a captive-carry test flight

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-12-08

With a small stabilization parachute trailing behind, the X-40 sub-scale technology demonstrator is suspended under a U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook cargo helicopter during a captive-carry test flight at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. The captive carry flights are designed to verify the X-40's navigation and control systems, rigging angles for its sling, and stability and control of the helicopter while carrying the X-40 on a tether. Following a series of captive-carry flights, the X-40 made free flights from a launch altitude of about 15,000 feet above ground, gliding to a fully autonomous landing. The X-40 is an unpowered 82 percent scale version of the X-37, a Boeing-developed spaceplane designed to demonstrate various advanced technologies for development of future lower-cost access to space vehicles.

Semi-autonomous unmanned ground vehicle control system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anderson, Jonathan; Lee, Dah-Jye; Schoenberger, Robert; Wei, Zhaoyi; Archibald, James

2006-05-01

Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) have advantages over people in a number of different applications, ranging from sentry duty, scouting hazardous areas, convoying goods and supplies over long distances, and exploring caves and tunnels. Despite recent advances in electronics, vision, artificial intelligence, and control technologies, fully autonomous UGVs are still far from being a reality. Currently, most UGVs are fielded using tele-operation with a human in the control loop. Using tele-operations, a user controls the UGV from the relative safety and comfort of a control station and sends commands to the UGV remotely. It is difficult for the user to issue higher level commands such as patrol this corridor or move to this position while avoiding obstacles. As computer vision algorithms are implemented in hardware, the UGV can easily become partially autonomous. As Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) become larger and more powerful, vision algorithms can run at frame rate. With the rapid development of CMOS imagers for consumer electronics, frame rate can reach as high as 200 frames per second with a small size of the region of interest. This increase in the speed of vision algorithm processing allows the UGVs to become more autonomous, as they are able to recognize and avoid obstacles in their path, track targets, or move to a recognized area. The user is able to focus on giving broad supervisory commands and goals to the UGVs, allowing the user to control multiple UGVs at once while still maintaining the convenience of working from a central base station. In this paper, we will describe a novel control system for the control of semi-autonomous UGVs. This control system combines a user interface similar to a simple tele-operation station along with a control package, including the FPGA and multiple cameras. The control package interfaces with the UGV and provides the necessary control to guide the UGV.

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

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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.

Autonomous formation flight of helicopters: Model predictive control approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chung, Hoam

Formation flight is the primary movement technique for teams of helicopters. However, the potential for accidents is greatly increased when helicopter teams are required to fly in tight formations and under harsh conditions. This dissertation proposes that the automation of helicopter formations is a realistic solution capable of alleviating risks. Helicopter formation flight operations in battlefield situations are highly dynamic and dangerous, and, therefore, we maintain that both a high-level formation management system and a distributed coordinated control algorithm should be implemented to help ensure safe formations. The starting point for safe autonomous formation flights is to design a distributed control law attenuating external disturbances coming into a formation, so that each vehicle can safely maintain sufficient clearance between it and all other vehicles. While conventional methods are limited to homogeneous formations, our decentralized model predictive control (MPC) approach allows for heterogeneity in a formation. In order to avoid the conservative nature inherent in distributed MPC algorithms, we begin by designing a stable MPC for individual vehicles, and then introducing carefully designed inter-agent coupling terms in a performance index. Thus the proposed algorithm works in a decentralized manner, and can be applied to the problem of helicopter formations comprised of heterogenous vehicles. Individual vehicles in a team may be confronted by various emerging situations that will require the capability for in-flight reconfiguration. We propose the concept of a formation manager to manage separation, join, and synchronization of flight course changes. The formation manager accepts an operator's commands, information from neighboring vehicles, and its own vehicle states. Inside the formation manager, there are multiple modes and complex mode switchings represented as a finite state machine (FSM). Based on the current mode and collected information, the FSM generates discrete reference points in state space. Then, the reference trajectory generator makes smooth trajectories from discrete reference points using interpolation and/or an online optimization scheme. By modifying the reference trajectory and triggering mode changes, the formation manager can override behaviors of the MPC controller. When a vehicle outside of the formation approaches a vehicle at the edge of the formation, the motion of the vehicle at the formation edge acts like a disturbance with respect to the vehicle attempting to join the formation. The vehicle at the edge of the formation cannot cooperate with any vehicle outside of the formation due to constraints on maintaining the existing formation. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Diagnostic Reasoning using Prognostic Information for Unmanned Aerial Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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.

Autonomous Flying Controls Testbed

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Motter, Mark A.

2005-01-01

The Flying Controls Testbed (FLiC) is a relatively small and inexpensive unmanned aerial vehicle developed specifically to test highly experimental flight control approaches. The most recent version of the FLiC is configured with 16 independent aileron segments, supports the implementation of C-coded experimental controllers, and is capable of fully autonomous flight from takeoff roll to landing, including flight test maneuvers. The test vehicle is basically a modified Army target drone, AN/FQM-117B, developed as part of a collaboration between the Aviation Applied Technology Directorate (AATD) at Fort Eustis,Virginia and NASA Langley Research Center. Several vehicles have been constructed and collectively have flown over 600 successful test flights.

Daytime Water Detection by Fusing Multiple Cues for Autonomous Off-Road Navigation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rankin, A. L.; Matthies, L. H.; Huertas, A.

2004-01-01

Detecting water hazards is a significant challenge to unmanned ground vehicle autonomous off-road navigation. This paper focuses on detecting the presence of water during the daytime using color cameras. A multi-cue approach is taken. Evidence of the presence of water is generated from color, texture, and the detection of reflections in stereo range data. A rule base for fusing water cues was developed by evaluating detection results from an extensive archive of data collection imagery containing water. This software has been implemented into a run-time passive perception subsystem and tested thus far under Linux on a Pentium based processor.

TARDEC Annual Report 2010

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-06-15

capable of engaging threats while interacting with system operators. Through autonomous perception and navigation, intelligent tactical behavior... systems integration approach. TARDEC’s role is to assess the best way to apply the VICTORY architecture to future tactical wheeled vehicles and...Track tops Thrown Object Protection System traDoc U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command twVs Tactical Wheeled Vehicle Survivability ugV Unmanned

Security Engineering Project - System Aware Cyber Security for an Autonomous Surveillance System On Board an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-01-31

59 Figure 26. Raspberry Pi SBC... Raspberry Pi single compute board (SBC) (see section 3.3.1.2). These snoopers can intercept the serial data, decode the information, and retransmit the...data. The Raspberry Pi contains two serial ports that allow receiving, altering, and retransmitting of serial data. These monitor points will provide

Machine Learning Control For Highly Reconfigurable High-Order Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-01-02

develop and flight test a Reinforcement Learning based approach for autonomous tracking of ground targets using a fixed wing Unmanned...Reinforcement Learning - based algorithms are developed for learning agents’ time dependent dynamics while also learning to control them. Three algorithms...to a wide range of engineering- based problems . Implementation of these solutions, however, is often complicated by the hysteretic, non-linear,

Analysis and design of a capsule landing system and surface vehicle control system for Mars exploration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1974-01-01

A number of problems related to the design, construction and evaluation of an autonomous roving planetary vehicle and its control and operating systems intended for an unmanned exploration of Mars are studied. Vehicle configuration, dynamics, control, systems and propulsion; systems analysis; terrain sensing and modeling and path selection; and chemical analysis of samples are included.

Changes in the Arctic: Background and Issues for Congress

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-04-28

knowledge of the physical environment. Data must be obtained by a suite of remote sensors (satellites, radars), autonomous sensors (data buoys...unmanned vehicles), and manned sensors (shipboard, coastal observing stations). Computer-based ocean and atmospheric models must be adjusted to the... soot ). 6. Implementation: In carrying out this policy as it relates to environmental protection and conservation of natural resources, the

Extending Quad-Rotor UAV Autonomy with Onboard Image Processing

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-03-01

of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to Washington headquarters Services , Directorate for Information...vehicles perform a variety of tasks, from strike to surveillance to communications . Some vehicles, like the MQ-1 Predator, are operated remotely by...a human operator; others, like the BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missile, can maneuver autonomously by following pre-programmed control law . Unmanned

In-flight wind identification and soft landing control for autonomous unmanned powered parafoils

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luo, Shuzhen; Tan, Panlong; Sun, Qinglin; Wu, Wannan; Luo, Haowen; Chen, Zengqiang

2018-04-01

For autonomous unmanned powered parafoil, the ability to perform a final flare manoeuvre against the wind direction can allow a considerable reduction of horizontal and vertical velocities at impact, enabling a soft landing for a safe delivery of sensible loads; the lack of knowledge about the surface-layer winds will result in messing up terminal flare manoeuvre. Moreover, unknown or erroneous winds can also prevent the parafoil system from reaching the target area. To realize accurate trajectory tracking and terminal soft landing in the unknown wind environment, an efficient in-flight wind identification method merely using Global Positioning System (GPS) data and recursive least square method is proposed to online identify the variable wind information. Furthermore, a novel linear extended state observation filter is proposed to filter the groundspeed of the powered parafoil system calculated by the GPS information to provide a best estimation of the present wind during flight. Simulation experiments and real airdrop tests demonstrate the great ability of this method to in-flight identify the variable wind field, and it can benefit the powered parafoil system to fulfil accurate tracking control and a soft landing in the unknown wind field with high landing accuracy and strong wind-resistance ability.

A Robust Mechanical Sensing System for Unmanned Sea Surface Vehicles

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kulczycki, Eric A.; Magnone, Lee J.; Huntsberger, Terrance; Aghazarian, Hrand; Padgett, Curtis W.; Trotz, David C.; Garrett, Michael S.

2009-01-01

The need for autonomous navigation and intelligent control of unmanned sea surface vehicles requires a mechanically robust sensing architecture that is watertight, durable, and insensitive to vibration and shock loading. The sensing system developed here comprises four black and white cameras and a single color camera. The cameras are rigidly mounted to a camera bar that can be reconfigured to mount multiple vehicles, and act as both navigational cameras and application cameras. The cameras are housed in watertight casings to protect them and their electronics from moisture and wave splashes. Two of the black and white cameras are positioned to provide lateral vision. They are angled away from the front of the vehicle at horizontal angles to provide ideal fields of view for mapping and autonomous navigation. The other two black and white cameras are positioned at an angle into the color camera's field of view to support vehicle applications. These two cameras provide an overlap, as well as a backup to the front camera. The color camera is positioned directly in the middle of the bar, aimed straight ahead. This system is applicable to any sea-going vehicle, both on Earth and in space.

Navigation of military and space unmanned ground vehicles in unstructured terrains

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lescoe, Paul; Lavery, David; Bedard, Roger

1991-01-01

Development of unmanned vehicles for local navigation in terrains unstructured by humans is reviewed. Modes of navigation include teleoperation or remote control, computer assisted remote driving (CARD), and semiautonomous navigation (SAN). A first implementation of a CARD system was successfully tested using the Robotic Technology Test Vehicle developed by Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Stereo pictures were transmitted to a remotely located human operator, who performed the sensing, perception, and planning functions of navigation. A computer provided range and angle measurements and the path plan was transmitted to the vehicle which autonomously executed the path. This implementation is to be enhanced by providing passive stereo vision and a reflex control system for autonomously stopping the vehicle if blocked by an obstacle. SAN achievements include implementation of a navigation testbed on a six wheel, three-body articulated rover vehicle, development of SAN algorithms and code, integration of SAN software onto the vehicle, and a successful feasibility demonstration that represents a step forward towards the technology required for long-range exploration of the lunar or Martian surface. The vehicle includes a passive stereo vision system with real-time area-based stereo image correlation, a terrain matcher, a path planner, and a path execution planner.

LightDenseYOLO: A Fast and Accurate Marker Tracker for Autonomous UAV Landing by Visible Light Camera Sensor on Drone.

PubMed

Nguyen, Phong Ha; Arsalan, Muhammad; Koo, Ja Hyung; Naqvi, Rizwan Ali; Truong, Noi Quang; Park, Kang Ryoung

2018-05-24

Autonomous landing of an unmanned aerial vehicle or a drone is a challenging problem for the robotics research community. Previous researchers have attempted to solve this problem by combining multiple sensors such as global positioning system (GPS) receivers, inertial measurement unit, and multiple camera systems. Although these approaches successfully estimate an unmanned aerial vehicle location during landing, many calibration processes are required to achieve good detection accuracy. In addition, cases where drones operate in heterogeneous areas with no GPS signal should be considered. To overcome these problems, we determined how to safely land a drone in a GPS-denied environment using our remote-marker-based tracking algorithm based on a single visible-light-camera sensor. Instead of using hand-crafted features, our algorithm includes a convolutional neural network named lightDenseYOLO to extract trained features from an input image to predict a marker's location by visible light camera sensor on drone. Experimental results show that our method significantly outperforms state-of-the-art object trackers both using and not using convolutional neural network in terms of both accuracy and processing time.

Development of helicopter attitude axes controlled hover flight without pilot assistance and vehicle crashes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Simon, Miguel

In this work, we show how to computerize a helicopter to fly attitude axes controlled hover flight without the assistance of a pilot and without ever crashing. We start by developing a helicopter research test bed system including all hardware, software, and means for testing and training the helicopter to fly by computer. We select a Remote Controlled helicopter with a 5 ft. diameter rotor and 2.2 hp engine. We equip the helicopter with a payload of sensors, computers, navigation and telemetry equipment, and batteries. We develop a differential GPS system with cm accuracy and a ground computerized navigation system for six degrees of freedom (6-DoF) free flight while tracking navigation commands. We design feedback control loops with yet-to-be-determined gains for the five control "knobs" available to a flying radio-controlled (RC) miniature helicopter: engine throttle, main rotor collective pitch, longitudinal cyclic pitch, lateral cyclic pitch, and tail rotor collective pitch. We develop helicopter flight equations using fundamental dynamics, helicopter momentum theory and blade element theory. The helicopter flight equations include helicopter rotor equations of motions, helicopter rotor forces and moments, helicopter trim equations, helicopter stability derivatives, and a coupled fuselage-rotor helicopter 6-DoF model. The helicopter simulation also includes helicopter engine control equations, a helicopter aerodynamic model, and finally helicopter stability and control equations. The derivation of a set of non-linear equations of motion for the main rotor is a contribution of this thesis work. We design and build two special test stands for training and testing the helicopter to fly attitude axes controlled hover flight, starting with one axis at a time and progressing to multiple axes. The first test stand is built for teaching and testing controlled flight of elevation and yaw (i.e., directional control). The second test stand is built for teaching and testing any one or combination of the following attitude axes controlled flight: (1) pitch, (2) roll and (3) yaw. The subsequent development of a novel method to decouple, stabilize and teach the helicopter hover flight is a primary contribution of this thesis. The novel method included the development of a non-linear modeling technique for linearizing the RPM state equation dynamics so that a simple but accurate transfer function is derivable between the "available torque of the engine" and RPM. Specifically, the main rotor and tail rotor torques are modeled accurately with a bias term plus a nonlinear term involving the product of RPM squared times the main rotor blade pitch angle raised to the three-halves power. Application of this non-linear modeling technique resulted in a simple, representative and accurate transfer function model of the open-loop plant for the entire helicopter system so that all the feedback control laws for autonomous flight purposes could be derived easily using classical control theory. This is one of the contributions of this dissertation work. After discussing the integration of hardware and software elements of our helicopter research test bed system, we perform a number of experiments and tests using the two specially built test stands. Feedback gains are derived for controlling the following: (1) engine throttle to maintain prescribed main rotor angular speed, (2) main rotor collective pitch to maintain constant elevation, (3) longitudinal cyclic pitch to maintain prescribed pitch angle, (4) lateral cyclic pitch to maintain prescribed roll angle, and (5) yaw axis to maintain prescribed compass direction. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Integrating small satellite communication in an autonomous vehicle network: A case for oceanography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guerra, André G. C.; Ferreira, António Sérgio; Costa, Maria; Nodar-López, Diego; Aguado Agelet, Fernando

2018-04-01

Small satellites and autonomous vehicles have greatly evolved in the last few decades. Hundreds of small satellites have been launched with increasing functionalities, in the last few years. Likewise, numerous autonomous vehicles have been built, with decreasing costs and form-factor payloads. Here we focus on combining these two multifaceted assets in an incremental way, with an ultimate goal of alleviating the logistical expenses in remote oceanographic operations. The first goal is to create a highly reliable and constantly available communication link for a network of autonomous vehicles, taking advantage of the small satellite lower cost, with respect to conventional spacecraft, and its higher flexibility. We have developed a test platform as a proving ground for this network, by integrating a satellite software defined radio on an unmanned air vehicle, creating a system of systems, and several tests have been run successfully, over land. As soon as the satellite is fully operational, we will start to move towards a cooperative network of autonomous vehicles and small satellites, with application in maritime operations, both in-situ and remote sensing.

Towards Autonomous Modular UAV Missions: The Detection, Geo-Location and Landing Paradigm

PubMed Central

Kyristsis, Sarantis; Antonopoulos, Angelos; Chanialakis, Theofilos; Stefanakis, Emmanouel; Linardos, Christos; Tripolitsiotis, Achilles; Partsinevelos, Panagiotis

2016-01-01

Nowadays, various unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) applications become increasingly demanding since they require real-time, autonomous and intelligent functions. Towards this end, in the present study, a fully autonomous UAV scenario is implemented, including the tasks of area scanning, target recognition, geo-location, monitoring, following and finally landing on a high speed moving platform. The underlying methodology includes AprilTag target identification through Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) parallelized processing, image processing and several optimized locations and approach algorithms employing gimbal movement, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) readings and UAV navigation. For the experimentation, a commercial and a custom made quad-copter prototype were used, portraying a high and a low-computational embedded platform alternative. Among the successful targeting and follow procedures, it is shown that the landing approach can be successfully performed even under high platform speeds. PMID:27827883

Towards Autonomous Modular UAV Missions: The Detection, Geo-Location and Landing Paradigm.

PubMed

Kyristsis, Sarantis; Antonopoulos, Angelos; Chanialakis, Theofilos; Stefanakis, Emmanouel; Linardos, Christos; Tripolitsiotis, Achilles; Partsinevelos, Panagiotis

2016-11-03

Nowadays, various unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) applications become increasingly demanding since they require real-time, autonomous and intelligent functions. Towards this end, in the present study, a fully autonomous UAV scenario is implemented, including the tasks of area scanning, target recognition, geo-location, monitoring, following and finally landing on a high speed moving platform. The underlying methodology includes AprilTag target identification through Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) parallelized processing, image processing and several optimized locations and approach algorithms employing gimbal movement, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) readings and UAV navigation. For the experimentation, a commercial and a custom made quad-copter prototype were used, portraying a high and a low-computational embedded platform alternative. Among the successful targeting and follow procedures, it is shown that the landing approach can be successfully performed even under high platform speeds.

Autonomous mission management for UAVs using soar intelligent agents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gunetti, Paolo; Thompson, Haydn; Dodd, Tony

2013-05-01

State-of-the-art unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are typically able to autonomously execute a pre-planned mission. However, UAVs usually fly in a very dynamic environment which requires dynamic changes to the flight plan; this mission management activity is usually tasked to human supervision. Within this article, a software system that autonomously accomplishes the mission management task for a UAV will be proposed. The system is based on a set of theoretical concepts which allow the description of a flight plan and implemented using a combination of Soar intelligent agents and traditional control techniques. The system is capable of automatically generating and then executing an entire flight plan after being assigned a set of objectives. This article thoroughly describes all system components and then presents the results of tests that were executed using a realistic simulation environment.

Feasibility Study for an Autonomous UAV - Magnetometer System

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-11-01

collect data from multiple magnetometers at high sampling rates (~100 Hz), and associated with these acquisition systems are highly accurate...component for an UAV helicopter- magnetometer system is the ability to have precise positioning (both for flightpath execution and for data acquisition...discussed under section 6.3. Figure 6.11 shows the fluxgate data used to compensate a total field magnetometer as previously described. The red

Autonomic physiological data associated with simulator discomfort

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Miller, James C.; Sharkey, Thomas J.; Graham, Glenna A.; Mccauley, Michael E.

1993-01-01

The development of a physiological monitoring capability for the Army's advanced helicopter simulator facility is reported. Additionally, preliminary physiological data is presented. Our objective was to demonstrate the sensitivity of physiological measures in this simulator to self-reported simulator sickness. The data suggested that heart period, hypergastria, and skin conductance level were more sensitive to simulator sickness than were vagal tone and normal electrogastric activity.

Feasibility Analysis and Prototyping of a Fast Autonomous Recon system

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-06-01

Test and Evaluation Interim Contractor Support System Assessment OPERATIONAL USE AND SYSTEM SUPPORT System Operation in the User Environment...Sustaining Maintenance and Logistics Support Operational Testing System Modifications for Improvement Contractor Support System Assessment...helicopter but has the added benefit of high -speed flight similar to a fixed-wing aircraft. Figure 1 shows the two different flight modes of the V-22

International Symposium on Airborne Geophysics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mogi, Toru; Ito, Hisatoshi; Kaieda, Hideshi; Kusunoki, Kenichiro; Saltus, Richard W.; Fitterman, David V.; Okuma, Shigeo; Nakatsuka, Tadashi

2006-05-01

Airborne geophysics can be defined as the measurement of Earth properties from sensors in the sky. The airborne measurement platform is usually a traditional fixed-wing airplane or helicopter, but could also include lighter-than-air craft, unmanned drones, or other specialty craft. The earliest history of airborne geophysics includes kite and hot-air balloon experiments. However, modern airborne geophysics dates from the mid-1940s when military submarine-hunting magnetometers were first used to map variations in the Earth's magnetic field. The current gamut of airborne geophysical techniques spans a broad range, including potential fields (both gravity and magnetics), electromagnetics (EM), radiometrics, spectral imaging, and thermal imaging.

High-Fidelity Computational Aerodynamics of the Elytron 4S UAV

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ventura Diaz, Patricia; Yoon, Seokkwan; Theodore, Colin R.

2018-01-01

High-fidelity Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) have been carried out for the Elytron 4S Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), also known as the converticopter "proto12". It is the scaled wind tunnel model of the Elytron 4S, an Urban Air Mobility (UAM) concept, a tilt-wing, box-wing rotorcraft capable of Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL). The three-dimensional unsteady Navier-Stokes equations are solved on overset grids employing high-order accurate schemes, dual-time stepping, and a hybrid turbulence model using NASA's CFD code OVERFLOW. The Elytron 4S UAV has been simulated in airplane mode and in helicopter mode.

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

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ventura Diaz, Patricia; Yoon, Seokkwan

2018-01-01

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

A Briefing on Metrics and Risks for Autonomous Decision-Making in Aerospace Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Frost, Susan; Goebel, Kai Frank; Galvan, Jose Ramon

2012-01-01

Significant technology advances will enable future aerospace systems to safely and reliably make decisions autonomously, or without human interaction. The decision-making may result in actions that enable an aircraft or spacecraft in an off-nominal state or with slightly degraded components to achieve mission performance and safety goals while reducing or avoiding damage to the aircraft or spacecraft. Some key technology enablers for autonomous decision-making include: a continuous state awareness through the maturation of the prognostics health management field, novel sensor development, and the considerable gains made in computation power and data processing bandwidth versus system size. Sophisticated algorithms and physics based models coupled with these technological advances allow reliable assessment of a system, subsystem, or components. Decisions that balance mission objectives and constraints with remaining useful life predictions can be made autonomously to maintain safety requirements, optimal performance, and ensure mission objectives. This autonomous approach to decision-making will come with new risks and benefits, some of which will be examined in this paper. To start, an account of previous work to categorize or quantify autonomy in aerospace systems will be presented. In addition, a survey of perceived risks in autonomous decision-making in the context of piloted aircraft and remotely piloted or completely autonomous unmanned autonomous systems (UAS) will be presented based on interviews that were conducted with individuals from industry, academia, and government.

Land, sea, and air unmanned systems research and development at SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nguyen, Hoa G.; Laird, Robin; Kogut, Greg; Andrews, John; Fletcher, Barbara; Webber, Todd; Arrieta, Rich; Everett, H. R.

2009-05-01

The Space and Naval Warfare (SPAWAR) Systems Center Pacific (SSC Pacific) has a long and extensive history in unmanned systems research and development, starting with undersea applications in the 1960s and expanding into ground and air systems in the 1980s. In the ground domain, we are addressing force-protection scenarios using large unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) and fixed sensors, and simultaneously pursuing tactical and explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) operations with small man-portable robots. Technology thrusts include improving robotic intelligence and functionality, autonomous navigation and world modeling in urban environments, extended operational range of small teleoperated UGVs, enhanced human-robot interaction, and incorporation of remotely operated weapon systems. On the sea surface, we are pushing the envelope on dynamic obstacle avoidance while conforming to established nautical rules-of-the-road. In the air, we are addressing cooperative behaviors between UGVs and small vertical-takeoff- and-landing unmanned air vehicles (UAVs). Underwater applications involve very shallow water mine countermeasures, ship hull inspection, oceanographic data collection, and deep ocean access. Specific technology thrusts include fiber-optic communications, adaptive mission controllers, advanced navigation techniques, and concepts of operations (CONOPs) development. This paper provides a review of recent accomplishments and current status of a number of projects in these areas.

Distributed pheromone-based swarming control of unmanned air and ground vehicles for RSTA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sauter, John A.; Mathews, Robert S.; Yinger, Andrew; Robinson, Joshua S.; Moody, John; Riddle, Stephanie

2008-04-01

The use of unmanned vehicles in Reconnaissance, Surveillance, and Target Acquisition (RSTA) applications has received considerable attention recently. Cooperating land and air vehicles can support multiple sensor modalities providing pervasive and ubiquitous broad area sensor coverage. However coordination of multiple air and land vehicles serving different mission objectives in a dynamic and complex environment is a challenging problem. Swarm intelligence algorithms, inspired by the mechanisms used in natural systems to coordinate the activities of many entities provide a promising alternative to traditional command and control approaches. This paper describes recent advances in a fully distributed digital pheromone algorithm that has demonstrated its effectiveness in managing the complexity of swarming unmanned systems. The results of a recent demonstration at NASA's Wallops Island of multiple Aerosonde Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs) and Pioneer Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) cooperating in a coordinated RSTA application are discussed. The vehicles were autonomously controlled by the onboard digital pheromone responding to the needs of the automatic target recognition algorithms. UAVs and UGVs controlled by the same pheromone algorithm self-organized to perform total area surveillance, automatic target detection, sensor cueing, and automatic target recognition with no central processing or control and minimal operator input. Complete autonomy adds several safety and fault tolerance requirements which were integrated into the basic pheromone framework. The adaptive algorithms demonstrated the ability to handle some unplanned hardware failures during the demonstration without any human intervention. The paper describes lessons learned and the next steps for this promising technology.

Artificial Intelligence and Autonomy: Opportunities and Challenges

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-10-01

Cleared for Public Release Artificial Intelligence & Autonomy Opportunities and Challenges Andrew Ilachinski October 2017 Copyright © 2017 CNA... Artificial Intelligence & Autonomy Opportunities and 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER N00014-16-D-5003 Challenges 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 0605154N...conducted by unmanned and increasingly autonomous weapon systems. This exploratory study considers the state-of-the-art of artificial intelligence (AI

Costing for the Future: Exploring Cost Estimation With Unmanned Autonomous Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-04-30

account for how cost estimating for autonomy is different than current methodologies and to suggest ways it can be addressed through the integration and...The Development stage involves refining the system requirements, creating a solution description , and building a system. 3. The Operational Test...parameter describes the extent to which efficient fabrication methodologies and processes are used, and the automation of labor-intensive operations

Performance Evaluation of Intelligent Systems at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-03-01

past few years, including performance evaluation of emergency response robots , sensor systems on unmanned ground vehicles, speech-to-speech translation...emergency response robots ; intelligent systems; mixed palletizing, testing, simulation; robotic vehicle perception systems; search and rescue robots ...ranging from autonomous vehicles to urban search and rescue robots to speech translation and manufacturing systems. The evaluations have occurred in

The development of an autonomous gust insensitive unmanned aerial vehicle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pisano, William James

The study of a small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) that is designed towards eventual operation in harsh storm-like conditions is presented. Investigation of the aircraft equations of motion shows that the selection of certain aerodynamic derivatives has a significant effect on the gust response of a small unmanned aircraft. Analytical comparison of this newly formulated Autonomous Gust Insensitive Aircraft (AGIA) to a conventionally designed aircraft shows a significant reduction in undesirable roll motion caused by gusts. A simulation is presented showing that the AGIA is capable of operating in more extreme environments than a conventional aircraft, and puts less strain on the control system components in both extreme and calm environments. The role that aircraft size plays in gust response is also studied. Pilot instinct dictates that smaller aircraft are more difficult to fly in windy environments than larger ones. This phenomenon is investigated using an analytic approach, providing insight into why smaller aircraft are indeed more difficult to fly in more challenging environments. As an aircraft gets smaller, its natural aerodynamic modes and response get faster. In an ideal system, this does not limit small aircraft to poor performance (in fact it will be shown that idealized small aircraft theoretically perform better than their larger counterparts). A more realistic system is presented that includes not only aerodynamics, but also realistic sensor and actuator dynamics. It is shown that these additional dynamics become a limiting factor in control system performance, and thus limit the closed-loop flight performance of small aircraft in turbulent environments. It is shown that the AGIA design approach plays a more significant role the as an aircraft gets smaller. To provide experimental validation of the gust insensitive theory presented herein, a representative small conventional aircraft was built alongside a similar aircraft that incorporated the AGIA design characteristics. These two aircraft were flown simultaneously and autonomously using the autopilot developed by the Author. Data from this experiment strongly supports the hypothesis that the AGIA is less sensitive to gusts than its conventional counterpart, and that flight of the AGIA puts less strain on the control system components in flight.

Pathfinder autonomous rendezvous and docking project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lamkin, Stephen (Editor); Mccandless, Wayne (Editor)

1990-01-01

Capabilities are being developed and demonstrated to support manned and unmanned vehicle operations in lunar and planetary orbits. In this initial phase, primary emphasis is placed on definition of the system requirements for candidate Pathfinder mission applications and correlation of these system-level requirements with specific requirements. The FY-89 activities detailed are best characterized as foundation building. The majority of the efforts were dedicated to assessing the current state of the art, identifying desired elaborations and expansions to this level of development and charting a course that will realize the desired objectives in the future. Efforts are detailed across all work packages in developing those requirements and tools needed to test, refine, and validate basic autonomous rendezvous and docking elements.

The Pixhawk Open-Source Computer Vision Framework for Mavs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meier, L.; Tanskanen, P.; Fraundorfer, F.; Pollefeys, M.

2011-09-01

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and micro air vehicles (MAV) are already intensively used in geodetic applications. State of the art autonomous systems are however geared towards the application area in safe and obstacle-free altitudes greater than 30 meters. Applications at lower altitudes still require a human pilot. A new application field will be the reconstruction of structures and buildings, including the facades and roofs, with semi-autonomous MAVs. Ongoing research in the MAV robotics field is focusing on enabling this system class to operate at lower altitudes in proximity to nearby obstacles and humans. PIXHAWK is an open source and open hardware toolkit for this purpose. The quadrotor design is optimized for onboard computer vision and can connect up to four cameras to its onboard computer. The validity of the system design is shown with a fully autonomous capture flight along a building.

Drogue detection for vision-based autonomous aerial refueling via low rank and sparse decomposition with multiple features

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Shibo; Cheng, Yongmei; Song, Chunhua

2013-09-01

The technology of vision-based probe-and-drogue autonomous aerial refueling is an amazing task in modern aviation for both manned and unmanned aircraft. A key issue is to determine the relative orientation and position of the drogue and the probe accurately for relative navigation system during the approach phase, which requires locating the drogue precisely. Drogue detection is a challenging task due to disorderly motion of drogue caused by both the tanker wake vortex and atmospheric turbulence. In this paper, the problem of drogue detection is considered as a problem of moving object detection. A drogue detection algorithm based on low rank and sparse decomposition with local multiple features is proposed. The global and local information of drogue is introduced into the detection model in a unified way. The experimental results on real autonomous aerial refueling videos show that the proposed drogue detection algorithm is effective.

Towards an Autonomous Vision-Based Unmanned Aerial System against Wildlife Poachers

PubMed Central

Olivares-Mendez, Miguel A.; Fu, Changhong; Ludivig, Philippe; Bissyandé, Tegawendé F.; Kannan, Somasundar; Zurad, Maciej; Annaiyan, Arun; Voos, Holger; Campoy, Pascual

2015-01-01

Poaching is an illegal activity that remains out of control in many countries. Based on the 2014 report of the United Nations and Interpol, the illegal trade of global wildlife and natural resources amounts to nearly $213 billion every year, which is even helping to fund armed conflicts. Poaching activities around the world are further pushing many animal species on the brink of extinction. Unfortunately, the traditional methods to fight against poachers are not enough, hence the new demands for more efficient approaches. In this context, the use of new technologies on sensors and algorithms, as well as aerial platforms is crucial to face the high increase of poaching activities in the last few years. Our work is focused on the use of vision sensors on UAVs for the detection and tracking of animals and poachers, as well as the use of such sensors to control quadrotors during autonomous vehicle following and autonomous landing. PMID:26703597

Towards an Autonomous Vision-Based Unmanned Aerial System against Wildlife Poachers.

PubMed

Olivares-Mendez, Miguel A; Fu, Changhong; Ludivig, Philippe; Bissyandé, Tegawendé F; Kannan, Somasundar; Zurad, Maciej; Annaiyan, Arun; Voos, Holger; Campoy, Pascual

2015-12-12

Poaching is an illegal activity that remains out of control in many countries. Based on the 2014 report of the United Nations and Interpol, the illegal trade of global wildlife and natural resources amounts to nearly $ 213 billion every year, which is even helping to fund armed conflicts. Poaching activities around the world are further pushing many animal species on the brink of extinction. Unfortunately, the traditional methods to fight against poachers are not enough, hence the new demands for more efficient approaches. In this context, the use of new technologies on sensors and algorithms, as well as aerial platforms is crucial to face the high increase of poaching activities in the last few years. Our work is focused on the use of vision sensors on UAVs for the detection and tracking of animals and poachers, as well as the use of such sensors to control quadrotors during autonomous vehicle following and autonomous landing.

FlyCap: Markerless Motion Capture Using Multiple Autonomous Flying Cameras.

PubMed

Xu, Lan; Liu, Yebin; Cheng, Wei; Guo, Kaiwen; Zhou, Guyue; Dai, Qionghai; Fang, Lu

2017-07-18

Aiming at automatic, convenient and non-instrusive motion capture, this paper presents a new generation markerless motion capture technique, the FlyCap system, to capture surface motions of moving characters using multiple autonomous flying cameras (autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs) each integrated with an RGBD video camera). During data capture, three cooperative flying cameras automatically track and follow the moving target who performs large-scale motions in a wide space. We propose a novel non-rigid surface registration method to track and fuse the depth of the three flying cameras for surface motion tracking of the moving target, and simultaneously calculate the pose of each flying camera. We leverage the using of visual-odometry information provided by the UAV platform, and formulate the surface tracking problem in a non-linear objective function that can be linearized and effectively minimized through a Gaussian-Newton method. Quantitative and qualitative experimental results demonstrate the plausible surface and motion reconstruction results.

Development of a low-cost, unmanned surface vehicle for military applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cadena, A.

2012-06-01

This paper describes the development of an USV (Unmanned Surface Vehicle) prototype that serves as an educational platform and can be use for coastal patrol and operations in the jungle. The USV length is less than 2 m and range of 5000 m. It's composed by the following modules: propulsion, power, motor driver, CPU, sensor suite, camera system, communication and weapon system. The weapon system is formed by an experimental assault rifle and a rocket launcher with a fire control system. The assault rifle haven't got mechanical moving parts, the bullets (7.62x51mm round) are electronically ignited. The CPU is an FPGA development kit. The USV can be operate in remote mode or fully autonomous. Results of some systems from laboratory and sea trials are show.

Cooperative Autonomous Observation of Coherent Atmospheric Structures using Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ravela, S.

2014-12-01

Mapping the structure of localized atmospheric phenomena, from sea breeze and shallow cumuli to thunderstorms and hurricanes, is of scientific interest. Low-cost small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) open the possibility for autonomous "instruments" to map important small-scale phenomena (kilometers, hours) and serve as a testbed for for much larger scales. Localized phenomena viewed as coherent structures interacting with their large-scale environment are difficult to map. As simple simulations show, naive Eulerian or Lagrangian strategies can fail in mapping localized phenomena. Model-based techniques are needed. Meteorological targeting, where supplementary UAS measurements additionally constrain numerical models is promising, but may require many primary measurements to be successful. We propose a new, data-driven, field-operable, cooperative autonomous observing system (CAOS) framework. A remote observer (on a UAS) tracks tracers to identify an apparent motion model over short timescales. Motion-based predictions seed MCMC flight plans for other UAS to gather in-situ data, which is fused with the remote measurements to produce maps. The tracking and mapping cycles repeat, and maps can be assimilated into numerical models for longer term forecasting. CAOS has been applied to study small scale emissions. At Popocatepetl, in collaboration with CENAPRED and IPN, it is being applied map the plume using remote IR/UV UAS and in-situ SO2 sensing, with additional plans for water vapor, the electric field and ash. The combination of sUAS with autonomy appears to be highly promising methodology for environmental mapping. For more information, please visit http://caos.mit.edu

Natural Language Direction Following for Robots in Unstructured Unknown Environments

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-01-15

Looking back, I can safely say my most fruitful research was the result of these collaborations. Seeing peers learn and struggle alongside me has been...performance gains on such diverse problems as autonomous driving, playing Super Mario, handwriting recogni- tion, helicopter control, and image...similarity metric between what the direction says and what the robot sees. These are useful to describe the landmark field of the Spatial Description

MMW radar enhanced vision systems: the Helicopter Autonomous Landing System (HALS) and Radar-Enhanced Vision System (REVS) are rotary and fixed wing enhanced flight vision systems that enable safe flight operations in degraded visual environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cross, Jack; Schneider, John; Cariani, Pete

2013-05-01

Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) has developed rotary and fixed wing millimeter wave radar enhanced vision systems. The Helicopter Autonomous Landing System (HALS) is a rotary-wing enhanced vision system that enables multi-ship landing, takeoff, and enroute flight in Degraded Visual Environments (DVE). HALS has been successfully flight tested in a variety of scenarios, from brown-out DVE landings, to enroute flight over mountainous terrain, to wire/cable detection during low-level flight. The Radar Enhanced Vision Systems (REVS) is a fixed-wing Enhanced Flight Vision System (EFVS) undergoing prototype development testing. Both systems are based on a fast-scanning, threedimensional 94 GHz radar that produces real-time terrain and obstacle imagery. The radar imagery is fused with synthetic imagery of the surrounding terrain to form a long-range, wide field-of-view display. A symbology overlay is added to provide aircraft state information and, for HALS, approach and landing command guidance cuing. The combination of see-through imagery and symbology provides the key information a pilot needs to perform safe flight operations in DVE conditions. This paper discusses the HALS and REVS systems and technology, presents imagery, and summarizes the recent flight test results.

Autonomous Acquisition of Science Quality Spectra from Unmanned Aerial Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mandl, Daniel; Campbell, Petya; Sohlberg, Robert; Cappelaere, Pat; Ong, Lawrence

2017-01-01

This is a presentation on a technique for using Unmanned Aerial Systems with intelligent sensing to create science quality data. In this particular case, the team used two spectrometers with high spectral resolution and developed a technique to have the spectrometers self calibrate so that it is possible to take the measurements within the allocated 10 minute flight times. Because there is both upwelling and downwelling foreoptics on each of the two spectrometers, it becomes slow to set the calibration up for all four possibilities which relates to the integration time and then take the measurements. If light conditions change too rapidly then the measurements won't be scaled so that the spectra max is at least 85% of the instrument max but not saturated. This process was more difficult then it appeared due to the complexity of determining the integration time before light conditions changed and before the battery runs our of charge to fly the Unmanned Aerial System. This presentation goes over the results for the first few flight days and the planned future flight experiments.

LABRADOR: a learning autonomous behavior-based robot for adaptive detection and object retrieval

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yamauchi, Brian; Moseley, Mark; Brookshire, Jonathan

2013-01-01

As part of the TARDEC-funded CANINE (Cooperative Autonomous Navigation in a Networked Environment) Program, iRobot developed LABRADOR (Learning Autonomous Behavior-based Robot for Adaptive Detection and Object Retrieval). LABRADOR was based on the rugged, man-portable, iRobot PackBot unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) equipped with an explosives ordnance disposal (EOD) manipulator arm and a custom gripper. For LABRADOR, we developed a vision-based object learning and recognition system that combined a TLD (track-learn-detect) filter based on object shape features with a color-histogram-based object detector. Our vision system was able to learn in real-time to recognize objects presented to the robot. We also implemented a waypoint navigation system based on fused GPS, IMU (inertial measurement unit), and odometry data. We used this navigation capability to implement autonomous behaviors capable of searching a specified area using a variety of robust coverage strategies - including outward spiral, random bounce, random waypoint, and perimeter following behaviors. While the full system was not integrated in time to compete in the CANINE competition event, we developed useful perception, navigation, and behavior capabilities that may be applied to future autonomous robot systems.

Intelligent Autonomy for Unmanned Surface and Underwater Vehicles

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Huntsberger, Terry; Woodward, Gail

2011-01-01

As the Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) and Autonomous Surface Vehicle (ASV) platforms mature in endurance and reliability, a natural evolution will occur towards longer, more remote autonomous missions. This evolution will require the development of key capabilities that allow these robotic systems to perform a high level of on-board decisionmaking, which would otherwise be performed by humanoperators. With more decision making capabilities, less a priori knowledge of the area of operations would be required, as these systems would be able to sense and adapt to changing environmental conditions, such as unknown topography, currents, obstructions, bays, harbors, islands, and river channels. Existing vehicle sensors would be dual-use; that is they would be utilized for the primary mission, which may be mapping or hydrographic reconnaissance; as well as for autonomous hazard avoidance, route planning, and bathymetric-based navigation. This paper describes a tightly integrated instantiation of an autonomous agent called CARACaS (Control Architecture for Robotic Agent Command and Sensing) developed at JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) that was designed to address many of the issues for survivable ASV/AUV control and to provide adaptive mission capabilities. The results of some on-water tests with US Navy technology test platforms are also presented.

Unmanned Tactical Autonomous Control and Collaboration Threat and Vulnerability Assessment

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-06-01

they are evaluated separately 15 from each other [19]. One major difference between this classification method and the FIPS 199 is that no...both technical and nontechnical methods ” [31]. These different methods will enable the UTACC system to effectively mitigate vulnerabilities that...team. Marines on the battlefield communicate with each other in many different and unique methods . UTACC must be adaptable to these different methods

Multifunctional Structural-Energy Storage Nanocomposites for Ultra Lightweight Micro Autonomous Systems (First-year Report)

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-02-01

SUBJECT TERMS Carbon nanotubes , CNTs, supercapacitor, multifunctional, energy, structural-Energy 16. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF: 17. LIMITATION...Pulickel M. Ajayan of Rice University for providing us with the vertically aligned carbon nanotube (CNT) forests used in this project and for helpful...10–18) and man-portable unmanned vehicles (19). In related research, ARL has also investigated using carbon nanotube (CNT)-based electrodes for

The Ethics of Robotic, Autonomous, and Unmanned Systems Technologies in Life Saving Roles

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-06-12

every day. The healthcare community is governed by esteemed practices such as moral self -governance, and other philosophical principles that define...1 movement of a casualty. These assets are under the purview of ground commanders, not the medical evacuation community .4 Thus, having... communications with ground personnel and will operate under supervisory control of any operator, requiring no specialized training.18 Also, ONR is investigating

Unmanned Tactical Autonomous Control and Collaboration (UTACC) Campaign of Experimentation

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-09-01

Boger Second Reader: Scot Miller THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK i REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE Form Approved OMB No. 0704-0188 Public...from the NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL September 2016 Approved by: Dan Boger, Ph.D. Thesis Advisor Scot Miller Second Reader...Erik Keim forms the bedrock of this thesis. Next, I would like to thank Dr. Dan Boger and Scot Miller for taking me on as a thesis candidate and

Unmanned Tactical Autonomous Control and Collaboration Measures of Performance and Measures of Effectiveness

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-09-01

September 2016 Thesis Advisor: Dan Boger Co-Advisor: Scot Miller THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK i REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE Form Approved... Scot Miller Co-Advisor Dan Boger Chair, Information Sciences Department iv THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK v ABSTRACT As the technological...The authors would like to thank their advisors, Scot Miller and Dr. Dan Boger, for their incredibly helpful guidance and feedback on the development

Monitoring Maritime Conditions with Unmanned Systems During Trident Warrior 2013

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-01-01

Host- ing Autonomous Remote Craft or SHARC model ) that emit sounds and listen for reflected changes in response to ocean currents. Experiments tested...San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography were also deployed; these provided Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) 3D measurements of the...ocean currents as well as measurements of the surface meteorology . Figure 5(b) shows a schematic representa- tion of one wave glider and two ocean

Safe Operations of Unmanned Systems for Reconnaissance in Complex Environments Army Technology Objective (SOURCE ATO)

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-04-25

must adapt its planning to vehicle size, shape, wheelbase, wheel and axle configuration, the specific obstacle-crossing capabilities of the vehicle...scalability of the ANS is a consequence of making each sensing modality capable of performing reasonable perception tasks while allowing a wider...autonomous system design achieves flexibility by exploiting redundant sensing modalities where possible, and by a decision-making process that

Complexity, Robustness, and Multistability in Network Systems with Switching Topologies: A Hierarchical Hybrid Control Approach

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-05-22

sensor networks for managing power levels of wireless networks ; air and ground transportation systems for air traffic control and payload transport and... network systems, large-scale systems, adaptive control, discontinuous systems 16. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF: 17. LIMITATION OF ABSTRACT 18. NUMBER OF...cover a broad spectrum of ap- plications including cooperative control of unmanned air vehicles, autonomous underwater vehicles, distributed sensor

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

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-03-27

Air Force Institute of Technology Air University Air Education and Training Command In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of...Master of Science in Engineering and Environmental Management Patrick J. Grandsaert, BS Captain, USAF March 2015 DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A...reliable data is necessary to make informed decisions on how to best manage aging road assets. This research explores a new method to automate the

Optimal Partitioning of a Surveillance Space for Persistent Coverage Using Multiple Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: An Integer Programming Approach

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-03-27

asymptotically equal. Carlsson shows that the problem is solved by treating each subregion Ri as a traveling salesman problem (TSP) with a set of points that...terminal state to the goal. If no- travel zones are repre- sented as the union of regions Akx > Bk, the coverage problem can be expressed as an IP [14...3 1.2 Problem Statement

Sense and avoid technology for unmanned aircraft systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McCalmont, John; Utt, James; Deschenes, Michael; Taylor, Michael; Sanderson, Richard; Montgomery, Joel; Johnson, Randal S.; McDermott, David

2007-04-01

The Sensors Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), in conjunction with the Global Hawk Systems Group, the J-UCAS System Program Office and contractor Defense Research Associates, Inc. (DRA) is conducting an Advanced Technology Demonstration (ATD) of a sense-and-avoid capability with the potential to satisfy the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) requirement for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) to provide "an equivalent level of safety, comparable to see-and-avoid requirements for manned aircraft". This FAA requirement must be satisfied for UAS operations within the national airspace. The Sense-and-Avoid, Phase I (Man-in-the-Loop) and Phase II (Autonomous Maneuver) ATD demonstrated an on-board, wide field of regard, multi-sensor visible imaging system operating in real time and capable of passively detecting approaching aircraft, declaring potential collision threats in a timely manner and alerting the human pilot located in the remote ground control station or autonomously maneuvered the aircraft. Intruder declaration data was collected during the SAA I & II Advanced Technology Demonstration flights conducted during December 2006. A total of 27 collision scenario flights were conducted and analyzed. The average detection range was 6.3 NM and the mean declaration range was 4.3 NM. The number of false alarms per engagement has been reduced to approximately 3 per engagement.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles unique cost estimating requirements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Radar-based collision avoidance for unmanned surface vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhuang, Jia-yuan; Zhang, Lei; Zhao, Shi-qi; Cao, Jian; Wang, Bo; Sun, Han-bing

2016-12-01

Unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) have become a focus of research because of their extensive applications. To ensure safety and reliability and to perform complex tasks autonomously, USVs are required to possess accurate perception of the environment and effective collision avoidance capabilities. To achieve these, investigation into realtime marine radar target detection and autonomous collision avoidance technologies is required, aiming at solving the problems of noise jamming, uneven brightness, target loss, and blind areas in marine radar images. These technologies should also satisfy the requirements of real-time and reliability related to high navigation speeds of USVs. Therefore, this study developed an embedded collision avoidance system based on the marine radar, investigated a highly real-time target detection method which contains adaptive smoothing algorithm and robust segmentation algorithm, developed a stable and reliable dynamic local environment model to ensure the safety of USV navigation, and constructed a collision avoidance algorithm based on velocity obstacle (V-obstacle) which adjusts the USV's heading and speed in real-time. Sea trials results in multi-obstacle avoidance firstly demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed avoidance system, and then verify its great adaptability and relative stability when a USV sailing in a real and complex marine environment. The obtained results will improve the intelligent level of USV and guarantee the safety of USV independent sailing.

An intelligent algorithm for autonomous scientific sampling with the VALKYRIE cryobot

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clark, Evan B.; Bramall, Nathan E.; Christner, Brent; Flesher, Chris; Harman, John; Hogan, Bart; Lavender, Heather; Lelievre, Scott; Moor, Joshua; Siegel, Vickie

2018-07-01

The development of algorithms for agile science and autonomous exploration has been pursued in contexts ranging from spacecraft to planetary rovers to unmanned aerial vehicles to autonomous underwater vehicles. In situations where time, mission resources and communications are limited and the future state of the operating environment is unknown, the capability of a vehicle to dynamically respond to changing circumstances without human guidance can substantially improve science return. Such capabilities are difficult to achieve in practice, however, because they require intelligent reasoning to utilize limited resources in an inherently uncertain environment. Here we discuss the development, characterization and field performance of two algorithms for autonomously collecting water samples on VALKYRIE (Very deep Autonomous Laser-powered Kilowatt-class Yo-yoing Robotic Ice Explorer), a glacier-penetrating cryobot deployed to the Matanuska Glacier, Alaska (Mission Control location: 61°42'09.3''N 147°37'23.2''W). We show performance on par with human performance across a wide range of mission morphologies using simulated mission data, and demonstrate the effectiveness of the algorithms at autonomously collecting samples with high relative cell concentration during field operation. The development of such algorithms will help enable autonomous science operations in environments where constant real-time human supervision is impractical, such as penetration of ice sheets on Earth and high-priority planetary science targets like Europa.

An Innovative Unmanned System for Advanced Environmental Monitoring: Design and Development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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 wind conditions, and a capability to survey an area of up to 5x5 square kilometers. The UAV payload consists of three different types of sensors: a laser scanner, a thermal-camera and an integrated camera reflex with gimbal. The laser scanner has 10 mm survey-grade accuracy and a field of view up to 330°. The thermal-camera has a resolution 640x480 pixels and a thermal sensitivity <20 mK (at 30 °C), while the reflex is a 22.3 Megapixel full-frame sensor. In addition to the common applications, such as generating mapping, charting, and geodesy products, the system allows performing real-time survey and monitoring of different natural risk under dangerous condition. The system is, also, address to environmental risk monitoring and prevention, industrial activity and emergency interventions related to environmental crises (i.e. oil spills).

Uav Borne Low Altitude Photogrammetry System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Z.; Su, G.; Xie, F.

2012-07-01

In this paper，the aforementioned three major aspects related to the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) system for low altitude aerial photogrammetry, i.e., flying platform, imaging sensor system and data processing software, are discussed. First of all, according to the technical requirements about the least cruising speed, the shortest taxiing distance, the level of the flight control and the performance of turbulence flying, the performance and suitability of the available UAV platforms (e.g., fixed wing UAVs, the unmanned helicopters and the unmanned airships) are compared and analyzed. Secondly, considering the restrictions on the load weight of a platform and the resolution pertaining to a sensor, together with the exposure equation and the theory of optical information, the principles of designing self-calibration and self-stabilizing combined wide-angle digital cameras (e.g., double-combined camera and four-combined camera) are placed more emphasis on. Finally, a software named MAP-AT, considering the specialty of UAV platforms and sensors, is developed and introduced. Apart from the common functions of aerial image processing, MAP-AT puts more effort on automatic extraction, automatic checking and artificial aided adding of the tie points for images with big tilt angles. Based on the recommended process for low altitude photogrammetry with UAVs in this paper, more than ten aerial photogrammetry missions have been accomplished, the accuracies of Aerial Triangulation, Digital orthophotos(DOM)and Digital Line Graphs(DLG) of which meet the standard requirement of 1:2000, 1:1000 and 1:500 mapping.

Navigation Doppler lidar sensor for precision altitude and vector velocity measurements: flight test results

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pierrottet, Diego; Amzajerdian, Farzin; Petway, Larry; Barnes, Bruce; Lockard, George; Hines, Glenn

2011-06-01

An all fiber Navigation Doppler Lidar (NDL) system is under development at NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) for precision descent and landing applications on planetary bodies. The sensor produces high-resolution line of sight range, altitude above ground, ground relative attitude, and high precision velocity vector measurements. Previous helicopter flight test results demonstrated the NDL measurement concepts, including measurement precision, accuracies, and operational range. This paper discusses the results obtained from a recent campaign to test the improved sensor hardware, and various signal processing algorithms applicable to real-time processing. The NDL was mounted in an instrumentation pod aboard an Erickson Air-Crane helicopter and flown over various terrains. The sensor was one of several sensors tested in this field test by NASA's Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology (ALHAT) project.

Navigation Doppler Lidar Sensor for Precision Altitude and Vector Velocity Measurements Flight Test Results

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pierrottet, Diego F.; Lockhard, George; Amzajerdian, Farzin; Petway, Larry B.; Barnes, Bruce; Hines, Glenn D.

2011-01-01

An all fiber Navigation Doppler Lidar (NDL) system is under development at NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) for precision descent and landing applications on planetary bodies. The sensor produces high resolution line of sight range, altitude above ground, ground relative attitude, and high precision velocity vector measurements. Previous helicopter flight test results demonstrated the NDL measurement concepts, including measurement precision, accuracies, and operational range. This paper discusses the results obtained from a recent campaign to test the improved sensor hardware, and various signal processing algorithms applicable to real-time processing. The NDL was mounted in an instrumentation pod aboard an Erickson Air-Crane helicopter and flown over vegetation free terrain. The sensor was one of several sensors tested in this field test by NASA?s Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology (ALHAT) project.

Development of Lidar Sensor Systems for Autonomous Safe Landing on Planetary Bodies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Amzajerdian, Farzin; Pierottet, Diego F.; Petway, Larry B.; Vanek, Michael D.

2010-01-01

Lidar has been identified by NASA as a key technology for enabling autonomous safe landing of future robotic and crewed lunar landing vehicles. NASA LaRC has been developing three laser/lidar sensor systems under the ALHAT project. The capabilities of these Lidar sensor systems were evaluated through a series of static tests using a calibrated target and through dynamic tests aboard helicopters and a fixed wing aircraft. The airborne tests were performed over Moon-like terrain in the California and Nevada deserts. These tests provided the necessary data for the development of signal processing software, and algorithms for hazard detection and navigation. The tests helped identify technology areas needing improvement and will also help guide future technology advancement activities.

AGATE: Adversarial Game Analysis for Tactical Evaluation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Huntsberger, Terrance L.

2013-01-01

AGATE generates a set of ranked strategies that enables an autonomous vehicle to track/trail another vehicle that is trying to break the contact using evasive tactics. The software is efficient (can be run on a laptop), scales well with environmental complexity, and is suitable for use onboard an autonomous vehicle. The software will run in near-real-time (2 Hz) on most commercial laptops. Existing software is usually run offline in a planning mode, and is not used to control an unmanned vehicle actively. JPL has developed a system for AGATE that uses adversarial game theory (AGT) methods (in particular, leader-follower and pursuit-evasion) to enable an autonomous vehicle (AV) to maintain tracking/ trailing operations on a target that is employing evasive tactics. The AV trailing, tracking, and reacquisition operations are characterized by imperfect information, and are an example of a non-zero sum game (a positive payoff for the AV is not necessarily an equal loss for the target being tracked and, potentially, additional adversarial boats). Previously, JPL successfully applied the Nash equilibrium method for onboard control of an autonomous ground vehicle (AGV) travelling over hazardous terrain.

Advanced Doppler radar physiological sensing technique for drone detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yoon, Ji Hwan; Xu, Hao; Garcia Carrillo, Luis R.

2017-05-01

A 24 GHz medium-range human detecting sensor, using the Doppler Radar Physiological Sensing (DRPS) technique, which can also detect unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or drones), is currently under development for potential rescue and anti-drone applications. DRPS systems are specifically designed to remotely monitor small movements of non-metallic human tissues such as cardiopulmonary activity and respiration. Once optimized, the unique capabilities of DRPS could be used to detect UAVs. Initial measurements have shown that DRPS technology is able to detect moving and stationary humans, as well as largely non-metallic multi-rotor drone helicopters. Further data processing will incorporate pattern recognition to detect multiple signatures (motor vibration and hovering patterns) of UAVs.

Autonomous Aerial Sensors for Wind Power Meteorology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giebel, Gregor; Schmidt Paulsen, Uwe; Reuder, Joachim; La Cour-Harbo, Anders; Thomsen, Carsten; Bange, Jens; Buschmann, Marco

2010-05-01

This poster describes a new approach for measurements in wind power meteorology using small unmanned flying platforms. During a week of flying a lighter-than-air vehicle, two small electrically powered aeroplanes and a larger helicopter at the Risø test station at Høvsøre, we will compare wind speed measurements with fixed mast and LIDAR measurements, investigate optimal flight patterns for each measurement task, and measure other interesting meteorological features like the air-sea boundary in the vicinity of the wind farm. In order to prepare the measurement campaign, a workshop is held, soliciting input from various communities. Large-scale wind farms, especially offshore, need an optimisation between installed wind power density and the losses in the wind farm due to wake effects between the turbines. While the wake structure behind single wind turbines onshore is fairly well understood, there are different problems offshore, thought to be due mainly to the low turbulence. Good measurements of the wake and wake structure are not easy to come by, as the use of a met mast is static and expensive, while the use of remote sensing instruments either needs significant access to the turbine to mount an instrument, or is complicated to use on a ship due to the ship's own movement. In any case, a good LIDAR or SODAR will cost many tens of thousands of euros. Another current problem in wind energy is the coming generation of wind turbines in the 10-12 MW class, with tip heights of over 200 m. Very few measurement masts exist to verify our knowledge of atmospheric physics - all that is known is that the boundary layer description we used so far is not valid any more. Here, automated Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) could be used as either an extension of current high masts or to build a network of very high ‘masts' in a region of complex terrain or coastal flow conditions. In comparison to a multitude of high masts, UAVs could be quite cost-effective. In order to test this assumption and to test the limits of UAVs for wind power meteorology, this project assembles four different UAVs from four participating groups. Risø will build a lighter-than-air kite with a long tether, Bergen University flies a derivative of the Funjet, a pusher airplane below 1 kg total weight, Mavionics or TU Braunschweig flies the Carolo, a 2m wide two prop model with a pitot tube on the nose, and Aalborg University will use a helicopter for their part. All those platforms will be flown during one week at the Danish national test station for large wind turbines at Høvsøre. The site is strongly instrumented, with 6 masts reaching up to 167m. The comparison of wind speed measurements from planes and fixed masts should give an indication of the accuracy of the measured wind field. A workshop is planned as preparation, where everyone with an interest in the program can give input.

Development of an unmanned maritime system reference architecture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duarte, Christiane N.; Cramer, Megan A.; Stack, Jason R.

2014-06-01

The concept of operations (CONOPS) for unmanned maritime systems (UMS) continues to envision systems that are multi-mission, re-configurable and capable of acceptable performance over a wide range of environmental and contextual variability. Key enablers for these concepts of operation are an autonomy module which can execute different mission directives and a mission payload consisting of re-configurable sensor or effector suites. This level of modularity in mission payloads enables affordability, flexibility (i.e., more capability with future platforms) and scalability (i.e., force multiplication). The modularity in autonomy facilitates rapid technology integration, prototyping, testing and leveraging of state-of-the-art advances in autonomy research. Capability drivers imply a requirement to maintain an open architecture design for both research and acquisition programs. As the maritime platforms become more stable in their design (e.g. unmanned surface vehicles, unmanned underwater vehicles) future developments are able to focus on more capable sensors and more robust autonomy algorithms. To respond to Fleet needs, given an evolving threat, programs will want to interchange the latest sensor or a new and improved algorithm in a cost effective and efficient manner. In order to make this possible, the programs need a reference architecture that will define for technology providers where their piece fits and how to successfully integrate. With these concerns in mind, the US Navy established the Unmanned Maritime Systems Reference Architecture (UMS-RA) Working Group in August 2011. This group consists of Department of Defense and industry participants working the problem of defining reference architecture for autonomous operations of maritime systems. This paper summarizes its efforts to date.

NASA UAS Traffic Management National Campaign Operations across Six UAS Test Sites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rios, Joseph; Mulfinger, Daniel; Homola, Jeff; Venkatesan, Priya

2016-01-01

NASA's Unmanned Aircraft Systems Traffic Management research aims to develop policies, procedures, requirements, and other artifacts to inform the implementation of a future system that enables small drones to access the low altitude airspace. In this endeavor, NASA conducted a geographically diverse flight test in conjunction with the FAA's six unmanned aircraft systems Test Sites. A control center at NASA Ames Research Center autonomously managed the airspace for all participants in eight states as they flew operations (both real and simulated). The system allowed for common situational awareness across all stakeholders, kept traffic procedurally separated, offered messages to inform the participants of activity relevant to their operations. Over the 3- hour test, 102 flight operations connected to the central research platform with 17 different vehicle types and 8 distinct software client implementations while seamlessly interacting with simulated traffic.

Radar research at the University of Kansas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blunt, Shannon D.; Allen, Christopher; Arnold, Emily; Hale, Richard; Hui, Rongqing; Keshmiri, Shahriar; Leuschen, Carlton; Li, Jilu; Paden, John; Rodriguez-Morales, Fernando; Salandrino, Alessandro; Stiles, James

2017-05-01

Radar research has been synonymous with the University of Kansas (KU) for over half a century. As part of this special session organized to highlight significant radar programs in academia, this paper surveys recent and ongoing work at KU. This work encompasses a wide breadth of sensing applications including the remote sensing of ice sheets, autonomous navigation methods for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), novel laser radar capabilities, detection of highenergy cosmic rays using bistatic radar, different forms of waveform diversity such as MIMO radar and pulse agility, and various radar-embedded communication methods. The results of these efforts impact our understanding of the changing nature of the environment, address the proliferation of unmanned systems in the US airspace, realize new sensing modalities enabled by the joint consideration of electromagnetics and signal processing, and greater facilitate radar operation in an increasingly congested and contested spectrum.

Autonomous intelligent military robots: Army ants, killer bees, and cybernetic soldiers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Finkelstein, Robert

The rationale for developing autonomous intelligent robots in the military is to render conventional warfare systems ineffective and indefensible. The Desert Storm operation demonstrated the effectiveness of such systems as unmanned air and ground vehicles and indicated the future possibilities of robotic technology. Robotic military vehicles would have the advantages of expendability, low cost, lower complexity compared to manned systems, survivability, maneuverability, and a capability to share in instantaneous communication and distributed processing of combat information. Basic characteristics of intelligent systems and hierarchical control systems with sensor inputs are described. Genetic algorithms are seen as a means of achieving appropriate levels of intelligence in a robotic system. Potential impacts of robotic technology in the military are outlined.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chelaru, Teodor-Viorel, E-mail: teodor.chelaru@upb.ro; Chelaru, Adrian, E-mail: achelaru@incas.ro

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

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

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ippolito, Corey; Plice, Laura; Pisanich, Greg

2003-01-01

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

Guidance and Control of a Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle and Autonomous Flight Experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fujinaga, Jin; Tokutake, Hiroshi; Sunada, Shigeru

This paper describes the development of a fixed-wing small-size UAV and the design of its flight controllers. The developed UAV’s wing span is 0.6m, and gross weight is 0.27kg. In order to ensure robust performances of the longitudinal and lateral-directional motions of the UAV, flight controllers are designed for these motions with μ-synthesis. Numerical simulations show that the designed controllers attain good robust stabilities and performances, and have good tracking performance for command. After an order-reduction and discretization, the designed flight controllers were implemented in the UAV. A flight test was performed, and the ability of the UAV to fly autonomously, passing over waypoints, was demonstrated.

Stabilization and control of quad-rotor helicopter using a smartphone device

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Desai, Alok; Lee, Dah-Jye; Moore, Jason; Chang, Yung-Ping

2013-01-01

In recent years, autonomous, micro-unmanned aerial vehicles (micro-UAVs), or more specifically hovering micro- UAVs, have proven suitable for many promising applications such as unknown environment exploration and search and rescue operations. The early versions of UAVs had no on-board control capabilities, and were difficult for manual control from a ground station. Many UAVs now are equipped with on-board control systems that reduce the amount of control required from the ground-station operator. However, the limitations on payload, power consumption and control without human interference remain the biggest challenges. This paper proposes to use a smartphone as the sole computational device to stabilize and control a quad-rotor. The goal is to use the readily available sensors in a smartphone such as the GPS, the accelerometer, the rate-gyros, and the camera to support vision-related tasks such as flight stabilization, estimation of the height above ground, target tracking, obstacle detection, and surveillance. We use a quad-rotor platform that has been built in the Robotic Vision Lab at Brigham Young University for our development and experiments. An Android smartphone is connected through the USB port to an external hardware that has a microprocessor and circuitries to generate pulse-width modulation signals to control the brushless servomotors on the quad-rotor. The high-resolution camera on the smartphone is used to detect and track features to maintain a desired altitude level. The vision algorithms implemented include template matching, Harris feature detector, RANSAC similarity-constrained homography, and color segmentation. Other sensors are used to control yaw, pitch, and roll of the quad-rotor. This smartphone-based system is able to stabilize and control micro-UAVs and is ideal for micro-UAVs that have size, weight, and power limitations.

Egnos-Based Multi-Sensor Accurate and Reliable Navigation in Search-And Missions with Uavs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Molina, P.; Colomina, I.; Vitoria, T.; Silva, P. F.; Stebler, Y.; Skaloud, J.; Kornus, W.; Prades, R.

2011-09-01

This paper will introduce and describe the goals, concept and overall approach of the European 7th Framework Programme's project named CLOSE-SEARCH, which stands for 'Accurate and safe EGNOS-SoL Navigation for UAV-based low-cost SAR operations'. The goal of CLOSE-SEARCH is to integrate in a helicopter-type unmanned aerial vehicle, a thermal imaging sensor and a multi-sensor navigation system (based on the use of a Barometric Altimeter (BA), a Magnetometer (MAGN), a Redundant Inertial Navigation System (RINS) and an EGNOS-enabled GNSS receiver) with an Autonomous Integrity Monitoring (AIM) capability, to support the search component of Search-And-Rescue operations in remote, difficult-to-access areas and/or in time critical situations. The proposed integration will result in a hardware and software prototype that will demonstrate an end-to-end functionality, that is to fly in patterns over a region of interest (possibly inaccessible) during day or night and also under adverse weather conditions and locate there disaster survivors or lost people through the detection of the body heat. This paper will identify the technical challenges of the proposed approach, from navigating with a BA/MAGN/RINS/GNSS-EGNOSbased integrated system to the interpretation of thermal images for person identification. Moreover, the AIM approach will be described together with the proposed integrity requirements. Finally, this paper will show some results obtained in the project during the first test campaign performed on November 2010. On that day, a prototype was flown in three different missions to assess its high-level performance and to observe some fundamental mission parameters as the optimal flying height and flying speed to enable body recognition. The second test campaign is scheduled for the end of 2011.

Searching Lost People with Uavs: the System and Results of the Close-Search Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Molina, P.; Colomina, I.; Vitoria, T.; Silva, P. F.; Skaloud, J.; Kornus, W.; Prades, R.; Aguilera, C.

2012-07-01

This paper will introduce the goals, concept and results of the project named CLOSE-SEARCH, which stands for 'Accurate and safe EGNOS-SoL Navigation for UAV-based low-cost Search-And-Rescue (SAR) operations'. The main goal is to integrate a medium-size, helicopter-type Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), a thermal imaging sensor and an EGNOS-based multi-sensor navigation system, including an Autonomous Integrity Monitoring (AIM) capability, to support search operations in difficult-to-access areas and/or night operations. The focus of the paper is three-fold. Firstly, the operational and technical challenges of the proposed approach are discussed, such as ultra-safe multi-sensor navigation system, the use of combined thermal and optical vision (infrared plus visible) for person recognition and Beyond-Line-Of-Sight communications among others. Secondly, the implementation of the integrity concept for UAV platforms is discussed herein through the AIM approach. Based on the potential of the geodetic quality analysis and on the use of the European EGNOS system as a navigation performance starting point, AIM approaches integrity from the precision standpoint; that is, the derivation of Horizontal and Vertical Protection Levels (HPLs, VPLs) from a realistic precision estimation of the position parameters is performed and compared to predefined Alert Limits (ALs). Finally, some results from the project test campaigns are described to report on particular project achievements. Together with actual Search-and-Rescue teams, the system was operated in realistic, user-chosen test scenarios. In this context, and specially focusing on the EGNOS-based UAV navigation, the AIM capability and also the RGB/thermal imaging subsystem, a summary of the results is presented.

Design and Control of Omnidirectional Unmanned Ground Vehicles for Rough Terrain

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-08-29

company, Quantum Signal. This rigid body dynamics simulation, housed within the Autonomous Navigation and Virtual Environment Laboratory (ANVEL) software...72 Figure 22: PIC main code. Page 24 of 72 Figure 23: PIC interrupt code. 3.3 Central Body Embedded Electronics As described above...located on the main body of the vehicle. This section describes how the on-board electronics works. The outline of the code is presented as is how

A Future Vision for Remotely Piloted Aircraft: Leveraging Interoperability and Networked Operations

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-06-21

over the next 25 years  Balances the effects envisioned in the USAF UAS Flight Plan with the reality of constrained resources and ambitious...theater-level unmanned systems must detect, avoid, or counter threats – operating from permissive to highly contested access in all weather...Rapid Reaction Group II/III SUAS Unit  Light Footprint, Low Cost ISR Option  Networked Autonomous C2 System  Air-Launched SUAS  Common

Aircraft Pilot Situational Awareness Interface for Airborne Operation of Network Controlled Unmanned Systems (US)

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-03-01

operator, can be operated autonomously or remotely, can be expendable or recoverable, and can carry a lethal or nonlethal payload. Ballistic or semi ...states that vehicles should be recoverable, and that ballistic or semi - ballistic vehicles, cruise missiles, and artillery projectiles are not considered...2007-2032. 32 Nicola Tesla and his telautomatons (robots); Tesla further demonstrated remote control of objects by wireless in an exhibition in 1898

Development and Demonstration of Autonomous Behaviors for Urban Environment Exploration

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-04-01

exploration, mapping, localization, autonomy, lidar , SLAM 1. INTRODUCTION As global conflicts move into more urban settings, unmanned ground vehicles...mounted Hokuyo lidar is paired with a vertically mounted Hokuyo lidar as an inexpensive way for 3D perception of the environment. In addition, a pair...and mapping ( SLAM ) problem do exist,2–4 most have yet to tackle the problem of online SLAM throughout a multi-story building and/or incorporating

UAV State Estimation Modeling Techniques in AHRS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Razali, Shikin; Zhahir, Amzari

2017-11-01

Autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system is depending on state estimation feedback to control flight operation. Estimation on the correct state improves navigation accuracy and achieves flight mission safely. One of the sensors configuration used in UAV state is Attitude Heading and Reference System (AHRS) with application of Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) or feedback controller. The results of these two different techniques in estimating UAV states in AHRS configuration are displayed through position and attitude graphs.

Collaborative Autonomous Unmanned Aerial - Ground Vehicle Systems for Field Operations

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-08-31

very limited payload capabilities of small UVs, sacrificing minimal computational power and run time, adhering at the same time to the low cost...configuration has been chosen because of its high computational capabilities, low power consumption, multiple I/O ports, size, low heat emission and cost. This...due to their high power to weight ratio, small packaging, and wide operating temperatures. Power distribution is controlled by the 120 Watt ATX power

Design and Experimental Validation of a Simple Controller for a Multi-Segment Magnetic Crawler Robot

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-04-01

Ave, Cambridge, MA USA 02139; bSpace and Naval Warfare (SPAWAR) Systems Center Pacific, San Diego, CA USA 92152 ABSTRACT A novel, multi-segmented...high-level, autonomous control computer. A low-level, embedded microcomputer handles the commands to the driving motors. This paper presents the...to be demonstrated.14 The Unmanned Systems Group at SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific has developed a multi-segment magnetic crawler robot (MSMR

Safe Operations of Unmanned Systems for Reconnaissance in Complex Environments-Army Technology Objective (SOURCE ATO) Field Experimentation Observations and Soldier Feedback

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-07-01

intent during mission activities. Autonomous assets will have interactions with humans in several different relationships that could benefit from...RDRL HRM CN R SPENCER DCSFDI HF HQ USASOC BLDG E2929 FORT BRAGG NC 28310-5000 1 ARMY RSCH LABORATORY – HRED HUMAN RSRCH AND ENGRNG...A. William Evans, III Human Research and Engineering Directorate, ARL Approved for public release

The Test and Evaluation of Unmanned and Autonomous Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-12-01

robotic/ intelli - gent machines for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). Although the technology is still nascent and advancing, we are faced with the...evolutionary nature of UAS acquisition must be met with evolutionary test capabilities yet to be discovered and developed. Test capabilities must be deployed...at a faster pace than UAS deployment to satisfy the demand for warfighter improvements. The DoD is stimulating this new area of innovation with

Manning and Maintainability of a Submarine Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (UUV) Program: A Systems Engineering Case Study

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-09-01

OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS Ao Operational Availability ACOMMS Acoustic Communications ADO Advanced Development Office ALV Autonomous Land...commercial entities that have opened their doors to share their ideas, answer my questions, and give valuable feedback during the writing process...missions and systems used by both industry and military entities . After the discussion of generic use of UUVs, the next 2 focus is on submarine

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

PubMed

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.

LWIR passive perception system for stealthy unmanned ground vehicle night operations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Daren; Rankin, Arturo; Huertas, Andres; Nash, Jeremy; Ahuja, Gaurav; Matthies, Larry

2016-05-01

Resupplying forward-deployed units in rugged terrain in the presence of hostile forces creates a high threat to manned air and ground vehicles. An autonomous unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) capable of navigating stealthily at night in off-road and on-road terrain could significantly increase the safety and success rate of such resupply missions for warfighters. Passive night-time perception of terrain and obstacle features is a vital requirement for such missions. As part of the ONR 30 Autonomy Team, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory developed a passive, low-cost night-time perception system under the ONR Expeditionary Maneuver Warfare and Combating Terrorism Applied Research program. Using a stereo pair of forward looking LWIR uncooled microbolometer cameras, the perception system generates disparity maps using a local window-based stereo correlator to achieve real-time performance while maintaining low power consumption. To overcome the lower signal-to-noise ratio and spatial resolution of LWIR thermal imaging technologies, a series of pre-filters were applied to the input images to increase the image contrast and stereo correlator enhancements were applied to increase the disparity density. To overcome false positives generated by mixed pixels, noisy disparities from repeated textures, and uncertainty in far range measurements, a series of consistency, multi-resolution, and temporal based post-filters were employed to improve the fidelity of the output range measurements. The stereo processing leverages multi-core processors and runs under the Robot Operating System (ROS). The night-time passive perception system was tested and evaluated on fully autonomous testbed ground vehicles at SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific (SSC Pacific) and Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California. This paper describes the challenges, techniques, and experimental results of developing a passive, low-cost perception system for night-time autonomous navigation.

The X-40 sub-scale technology demonstrator and its U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook helicopter mothership fly over a dry lakebed runway during a captive-carry test flight at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-12-08

The X-40 sub-scale technology demonstrator and its U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook helicopter mothership fly over a dry lakebed runway during a captive-carry test flight from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. The X-40 is attached to a sling which is suspended from the CH-47 by a 110-foot-long cable during the tests, while a small parachute trails behind to provide stability. The captive carry flights are designed to verify the X-40's navigation and control systems, rigging angles for its sling, and stability and control of the helicopter while carrying the X-40 on a tether. Following a series of captive-carry flights, the X-40 made free flights from a launch altitude of about 15,000 feet above ground, gliding to a fully autonomous landing. The X-40 is an unpowered 82 percent scale version of the X-37, a Boeing-developed spaceplane designed to demonstrate various advanced technologies for development of future lower-cost access to space vehicles.

Real Time Corner Detection for Miniaturized Electro-Optical Sensors Onboard Small Unmanned Aerial Systems

PubMed Central

Forlenza, Lidia; Carton, Patrick; Accardo, Domenico; Fasano, Giancarmine; Moccia, Antonio

2012-01-01

This paper describes the target detection algorithm for the image processor of a vision-based system that is installed onboard an unmanned helicopter. It has been developed in the framework of a project of the French national aerospace research center Office National d’Etudes et de Recherches Aérospatiales (ONERA) which aims at developing an air-to-ground target tracking mission in an unknown urban environment. In particular, the image processor must detect targets and estimate ground motion in proximity of the detected target position. Concerning the target detection function, the analysis has dealt with realizing a corner detection algorithm and selecting the best choices in terms of edge detection methods, filtering size and type and the more suitable criterion of detection of the points of interest in order to obtain a very fast algorithm which fulfills the computation load requirements. The compared criteria are the Harris-Stephen and the Shi-Tomasi, ones, which are the most widely used in literature among those based on intensity. Experimental results which illustrate the performance of the developed algorithm and demonstrate that the detection time is fully compliant with the requirements of the real-time system are discussed. PMID:22368499

Stochastic Real-Time Optimal Control: A Pseudospectral Approach for Bearing-Only Trajectory Optimization

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-09-01

artificially creating enough baseline to enable triangulation. This motion comes at the expense of the primary mission, unless the entire purpose...control of a sUAS for surveillance and other mis-sions. Completely autonomous UAS control for surveillance missions is still an on-the-horizon...work, xapp, was correspondingly set to 2-m. Since the test platform for the algorithm was a helicopter vice a fixed-wing UAS , an aggressive flare segment

Unmanned air vehicle: autonomous takeoff and landing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lim, K. L.; Gitano-Briggs, Horizon Walker

2010-03-01

UAVs are increasing in popularity and sophistication due to the demonstrated performance which cannot be attained by manned aircraft1. These developments have been made possible by development of sensors, instrumentation, telemetry and controls during the last few decades. UAVs are now common in areas such as aerial observation and as communication relays3. Most UAVs, however, are still flown by a human pilot via remote control from a ground station. Even the existing autonomous UAVs often require a human pilot to handle the most difficult tasks of take off and landing2 (TOL). This is mainly because the navigation of the airplane requires observation, constant situational assessment and hours of experience from the pilot himself4. Therefore, an autonomous takeoff and landing system (TLS) for UAVs using a few practical design rules with various sensors, instrumentation, etc has been developed. This paper details the design and modeling of the UAV TLS. The model indicates that the UAV's TLS shows promising stability.

Unmanned air vehicle: autonomous takeoff and landing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lim, K. L.; Gitano-Briggs, Horizon Walker

2009-12-01

UAVs are increasing in popularity and sophistication due to the demonstrated performance which cannot be attained by manned aircraft1. These developments have been made possible by development of sensors, instrumentation, telemetry and controls during the last few decades. UAVs are now common in areas such as aerial observation and as communication relays3. Most UAVs, however, are still flown by a human pilot via remote control from a ground station. Even the existing autonomous UAVs often require a human pilot to handle the most difficult tasks of take off and landing2 (TOL). This is mainly because the navigation of the airplane requires observation, constant situational assessment and hours of experience from the pilot himself4. Therefore, an autonomous takeoff and landing system (TLS) for UAVs using a few practical design rules with various sensors, instrumentation, etc has been developed. This paper details the design and modeling of the UAV TLS. The model indicates that the UAV's TLS shows promising stability.

Selectable Hyperspectral Airborne Remote-sensing Kit (SHARK) on the Vision II turbine rotorcraft UAV over the Florida Keys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holasek, R. E.; Nakanishi, K.; Swartz, B.; Zacaroli, R.; Hill, B.; Naungayan, J.; Herwitz, S.; Kavros, P.; English, D. C.

2013-12-01

As part of the NASA ROSES program, the NovaSol Selectable Hyperspectral Airborne Remote-sensing Kit (SHARK) was flown as the payload on the unmanned Vision II helicopter. The goal of the May 2013 data collection was to obtain high resolution visible and near-infrared (visNIR) hyperspectral data of seagrasses and coral reefs in the Florida Keys. The specifications of the SHARK hyperspectral system and the Vision II turbine rotorcraft will be described along with the process of integrating the payload to the vehicle platform. The minimal size, weight, and power (SWaP) specifications of the SHARK system is an ideal match to the Vision II helicopter and its flight parameters. One advantage of the helicopter over fixed wing platforms is its inherent ability to take off and land in a limited area and without a runway, enabling the UAV to be located in close proximity to the experiment areas and the science team. Decisions regarding integration times, waypoint selection, mission duration, and mission frequency are able to be based upon the local environmental conditions and can be modified just prior to take off. The operational procedures and coordination between the UAV pilot, payload operator, and scientist will be described. The SHARK system includes an inertial navigation system and digital elevation model (DEM) which allows image coordinates to be calculated onboard the aircraft in real-time. Examples of the geo-registered images from the data collection will be shown. SHARK mounted below VTUAV. SHARK deployed on VTUAV over water.

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

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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 were conducted at Edwards Air Force Base. Researchers in the ground control station looking at displays were able to verify the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast target detection and collision avoidance resolutions.

Context Aware TCP for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Missions on Autonomous Platforms

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-10-08

under the Unmanned Vehicle Experimental Communications Testbed (UVECT) flight test plan and were done over the Stockbridge Research Facility in the...sure the payload did not interfere with the command and control systems of the aircraft several flight paths were selected to exert the link and the...throughput from data source to destination. Figure 1 shows the flight path of a small RPA in a PoL flight path scenario. The change of SNR

Micro Autonomous Systems and Technology: A Methodology for Quantitative Technology Assessment and Prototyping of Unmanned Vehicles

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-01-30

Sensors: LIDAR , Camera, SONAR) is qualitatively or quantitatively ranked against the other options in such categories as weight and power consumption...Mapping ( SLAM ) and A*. The second software change in progress is upgrading from Unreal 2004 to is a bridge between an external program that defines a...current simulation setup, a simulated quad-copter with an Inertial Navigation System (INS) and ranging LIDAR sensor spawns within an environment and

The Use of EPI-Splines to Model Empirical Semivariograms for Optimal Spatial Estimation

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-09-01

proliferation of unmanned systems in military and civilian sectors has occurred at lightning speed. In the case of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles or...SLAM is a method of position estimation that relies on map data [3]. In this process, the creation of the map occurs as the vehicle is navigating the...that ensures minimal errors. This technique is accomplished in two steps. The first step is creation of the semivariogram. The semivariogram is a

A Secure Group Communication Architecture for a Swarm of Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-03-01

members to use the same decryption key. This shared decryption key is called the Session Encryption Key ( SEK ) or Traffic Encryption Key (TEK...Since everyone shares the SEK , members need to hold additional Key Encryption Keys (KEK) that are used to securely distribute the SEK to each valid...managing this process. To preserve the secrecy of the multicast data, the SEK needs to be updated upon certain events such as a member joining and

Design, Construction and Testing of a Prototype Holonomic Autonomous Vehicle

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-12-01

Circuit A simple 100 kHz crystal oscillator tank circuit using an LM741 opamp was fed to a LM393N comparator . The circuit’s schematic is provided...research in areas that support development of unmanned ground and air battlefield vehicles. Little attention has been paid to applying robotics to...motion control using a single board computer, a pulse width modulation (PWM) and optical isolation circuit, and a low-cost inertial measurement unit

Micro Autonomous Systems Research: A Methodology for Quantitative Technology Assessment and Prototyping of Unmanned Vehicles

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-06-06

Structure Flex Joints 6828 68% Power Primary: Lithium-Ion 7530 75% Secondary: Fuel Cells (miniature) 8843 88% Sensors IMU /LIDAR 7713 77...mission requirements taken into account; the payload included a LIDAR, sonar, and an IMU . Moreover, the focus moved to the integration of the entire...negligible for any pitch or roll angle less than 15 degrees. The small deflection assumption utilized instead seeks to minimize momentum generation. To

Formation Flying for Satellites and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Merrill, Garrick

2015-01-01

The shrinking size of satellites and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is enabling lower cost missions. As sensors and electronics continue to downsize, the next step is multiple vehicles providing different perspectives or variations for more precise measurements. While flying a single satellite or UAV autonomously is a challenge, flying multiple vehicles in a precise formation is even more challenging. The goal of this project is to develop a scalable mesh network between vehicles (satellites or UAVs) to share real-time position data and maintain formations autonomously. Newly available low-cost, commercial off-the-shelf credit card size computers will be used as the basis for this network. Mesh networking techniques will be used to provide redundant links and a flexible network. The Small Projects Rapid Integration and Test Environment Lab will be used to simulate formation flying of satellites. UAVs built by the Aero-M team will be used to demonstrate the formation flying in the West Test Area. The ability to test in flight on NASA-owned UAVs allows this technology to achieve a high Technology Readiness Level (TRL) (TRL-4 for satellites and TRL-7 for UAVs). The low cost of small UAVs and the availability of a large test range (West Test Area) dramatically reduces the expense of testing. The end goal is for this technology to be ready to use on any multiple satellite or UAV mission.

The Intelligent Control System and Experiments for an Unmanned Wave Glider.

PubMed

Liao, Yulei; Wang, Leifeng; Li, Yiming; Li, Ye; Jiang, Quanquan

2016-01-01

The control system designing of Unmanned Wave Glider (UWG) is challenging since the control system is weak maneuvering, large time-lag and large disturbance, which is difficult to establish accurate mathematical model. Meanwhile, to complete marine environment monitoring in long time scale and large spatial scale autonomously, UWG asks high requirements of intelligence and reliability. This paper focuses on the "Ocean Rambler" UWG. First, the intelligent control system architecture is designed based on the cerebrum basic function combination zone theory and hierarchic control method. The hardware and software designing of the embedded motion control system are mainly discussed. A motion control system based on rational behavior model of four layers is proposed. Then, combining with the line-of sight method(LOS), a self-adapting PID guidance law is proposed to compensate the steady state error in path following of UWG caused by marine environment disturbance especially current. Based on S-surface control method, an improved S-surface heading controller is proposed to solve the heading control problem of the weak maneuvering carrier under large disturbance. Finally, the simulation experiments were carried out and the UWG completed autonomous path following and marine environment monitoring in sea trials. The simulation experiments and sea trial results prove that the proposed intelligent control system, guidance law, controller have favorable control performance, and the feasibility and reliability of the designed intelligent control system of UWG are verified.

Developing operator capacity estimates for supervisory control of autonomous vehicles.

PubMed

Cummings, M L; Guerlain, Stephanie

2007-02-01

This study examined operators' capacity to successfully reallocate highly autonomous in-flight missiles to time-sensitive targets while performing secondary tasks of varying complexity. Regardless of the level of autonomy for unmanned systems, humans will be necessarily involved in the mission planning, higher level operation, and contingency interventions, otherwise known as human supervisory control. As a result, more research is needed that addresses the impact of dynamic decision support systems that support rapid planning and replanning in time-pressured scenarios, particularly on operator workload. A dual screen simulation that allows a single operator the ability to monitor and control 8, 12, or 16 missiles through high level replanning was tested on 42 U.S. Navy personnel. The most significant finding was that when attempting to control 16 missiles, participants' performance on three separate objective performance metrics and their situation awareness were significantly degraded. These results mirror studies of air traffic control that demonstrate a similar decline in performance for controllers managing 17 aircraft as compared with those managing only 10 to 11 aircraft. Moreover, the results suggest that a 70% utilization (percentage busy time) score is a valid threshold for predicting significant performance decay and could be a generalizable metric that can aid in manning predictions. This research is relevant to human supervisory control of networked military and commercial unmanned vehicles in the air, on the ground, and on and under the water.

The Intelligent Control System and Experiments for an Unmanned Wave Glider

PubMed Central

Liao, Yulei; Wang, Leifeng; Li, Yiming; Li, Ye; Jiang, Quanquan

2016-01-01

The control system designing of Unmanned Wave Glider (UWG) is challenging since the control system is weak maneuvering, large time-lag and large disturbance, which is difficult to establish accurate mathematical model. Meanwhile, to complete marine environment monitoring in long time scale and large spatial scale autonomously, UWG asks high requirements of intelligence and reliability. This paper focuses on the “Ocean Rambler” UWG. First, the intelligent control system architecture is designed based on the cerebrum basic function combination zone theory and hierarchic control method. The hardware and software designing of the embedded motion control system are mainly discussed. A motion control system based on rational behavior model of four layers is proposed. Then, combining with the line-of sight method(LOS), a self-adapting PID guidance law is proposed to compensate the steady state error in path following of UWG caused by marine environment disturbance especially current. Based on S-surface control method, an improved S-surface heading controller is proposed to solve the heading control problem of the weak maneuvering carrier under large disturbance. Finally, the simulation experiments were carried out and the UWG completed autonomous path following and marine environment monitoring in sea trials. The simulation experiments and sea trial results prove that the proposed intelligent control system, guidance law, controller have favorable control performance, and the feasibility and reliability of the designed intelligent control system of UWG are verified. PMID:28005956

A fault-tolerant control architecture for unmanned aerial vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Drozeski, Graham R.

Research has presented several approaches to achieve varying degrees of fault-tolerance in unmanned aircraft. Approaches in reconfigurable flight control are generally divided into two categories: those which incorporate multiple non-adaptive controllers and switch between them based on the output of a fault detection and identification element, and those that employ a single adaptive controller capable of compensating for a variety of fault modes. Regardless of the approach for reconfigurable flight control, certain fault modes dictate system restructuring in order to prevent a catastrophic failure. System restructuring enables active control of actuation not employed by the nominal system to recover controllability of the aircraft. After system restructuring, continued operation requires the generation of flight paths that adhere to an altered flight envelope. The control architecture developed in this research employs a multi-tiered hierarchy to allow unmanned aircraft to generate and track safe flight paths despite the occurrence of potentially catastrophic faults. The hierarchical architecture increases the level of autonomy of the system by integrating five functionalities with the baseline system: fault detection and identification, active system restructuring, reconfigurable flight control; reconfigurable path planning, and mission adaptation. Fault detection and identification algorithms continually monitor aircraft performance and issue fault declarations. When the severity of a fault exceeds the capability of the baseline flight controller, active system restructuring expands the controllability of the aircraft using unconventional control strategies not exploited by the baseline controller. Each of the reconfigurable flight controllers and the baseline controller employ a proven adaptive neural network control strategy. A reconfigurable path planner employs an adaptive model of the vehicle to re-shape the desired flight path. Generation of the revised flight path is posed as a linear program constrained by the response of the degraded system. Finally, a mission adaptation component estimates limitations on the closed-loop performance of the aircraft and adjusts the aircraft mission accordingly. A combination of simulation and flight test results using two unmanned helicopters validates the utility of the hierarchical architecture.

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

PubMed

Hocraffer, Amy; Nam, Chang S

2017-01-01

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

AUV technology heads for new depths[Autonomous Underwater Vehicle

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hayes, D.

2000-04-01

High-tech unmanned submarine technologies initially developed by the US Navy are being adapted for a new role to assist the oil and gas industry's shift into deeper waters. To address the problem of costly data acquisition and inaccurate survey data, C and C Technologies of Lafayette, La., has hired Kongsberg Simrad to construct the Hugin 3000 deepwater autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). As the technology is applied to energy exploration and production advances to meet the deepwater challenges beyond the continental shelf, AUVs will be increasingly employed, it is believed. The paper describes the Hugin project, unexpected situations, the vehicle positionmore » tracking system, vehicle operation and real-time data quality control, real-time data monitoring and control, Hugin field experience, and pipe route surveying.« less

Ground vehicle control at NIST: From teleoperation to autonomy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Murphy, Karl N.; Juberts, Maris; Legowik, Steven A.; Nashman, Marilyn; Schneiderman, Henry; Scott, Harry A.; Szabo, Sandor

1994-01-01

NIST is applying their Real-time Control System (RCS) methodology for control of ground vehicles for both the U.S. Army Researh Lab, as part of the DOD's Unmanned Ground Vehicles program, and for the Department of Transportation's Intelligent Vehicle/Highway Systems (IVHS) program. The actuated vehicle, a military HMMWV, has motors for steering, brake, throttle, etc. and sensors for the dashboard gauges. For military operations, the vehicle has two modes of operation: a teleoperation mode--where an operator remotely controls the vehicle over an RF communications network; and a semi-autonomous mode called retro-traverse--where the control system uses an inertial navigation system to steer the vehicle along a prerecorded path. For the IVHS work, intelligent vision processing elements replace the human teleoperator to achieve autonomous, visually guided road following.

Novel disturbance-observer-based control for systems with high-order mismatched disturbances

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fang, Xing; Liu, Fei; Wang, Zhiguo; Dong, Na

2018-01-01

A novel disturbance-observer-based control method is investigated to attenuate the high-order mismatched disturbances. First, a finite-time disturbance observer (FTDO) is proposed to estimate the disturbances as well as the derivatives. By incorporating the outputs of FTDO, the original system is then reconstructed, where the mismatched disturbances are transformed to the matched ones that are compensated by feed-forward algorithm. Moreover, a feedback control law is developed to achieve the stability and tracking performance requirements for the systems. Finally, the proposed composite control method is applied to an unmanned helicopter system. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed control method exhibits excellent control performance in the presence of high-order matched and mismatched disturbances.

Low-cost lightweight airborne laser-based sensors for pipeline leak detection and reporting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Frish, Michael B.; Wainner, Richard T.; Laderer, Matthew C.; Allen, Mark G.; Rutherford, James; Wehnert, Paul; Dey, Sean; Gilchrist, John; Corbi, Ron; Picciaia, Daniele; Andreussi, Paolo; Furry, David

2013-05-01

Laser sensing enables aerial detection of natural gas pipeline leaks without need to fly through a hazardous gas plume. This paper describes adaptations of commercial laser-based methane sensing technology that provide relatively low-cost lightweight and battery-powered aerial leak sensors. The underlying technology is near-infrared Standoff Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy (sTDLAS). In one configuration, currently in commercial operation for pipeline surveillance, sTDLAS is combined with automated data reduction, alerting, navigation, and video imagery, integrated into a single-engine single-pilot light fixed-wing aircraft or helicopter platform. In a novel configuration for mapping landfill methane emissions, a miniaturized ultra-lightweight sTDLAS sensor flies aboard a small quad-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).

Leader-follower function for autonomous military convoys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vasseur, Laurent; Lecointe, Olivier; Dento, Jerome; Cherfaoui, Nourrdine; Marion, Vincent; Morillon, Joel G.

2004-09-01

The French Military Robotic Study Program (introduced in Aerosense 2003), sponsored by the French Defense Procurement Agency and managed by Thales Airborne Systems as the prime contractor, focuses on about 15 robotic themes which can provide an immediate "operational added value." The paper details the "robotic convoy" theme (named TEL1), which main purpose is to develop a robotic leader-follower function so that several unmanned vehicles can autonomously follow teleoperated, autonomous or on-board driven leader. Two modes have been implemented: Perceptive follower: each autonomous follower anticipates the trajectory of the vehicle in front of it, thanks to a dedicated perception equipment. This mode is mainly based on the use of perceptive data, without any communication link between leader and follower (to lower the cost of future mass development and extend the operational capabilities). Delayed follower: the leader records its path and transmits it to the follower; the follower is able to follow the recorded trajectory again at any delayed time. This mode uses localization data got from inertial measurements. The paper presents both modes with detailed algorithms and the results got from the military acceptance tests performed on wheeled 4x4 vehicles (DARDS French ATD).

Autonomous Aeromagnetic Surveys Using a Fluxgate Magnetometer

PubMed Central

Macharet, Douglas G.; Perez-Imaz, Héctor I. A.; Rezeck, Paulo A. F.; Potje, Guilherme A.; Benyosef, Luiz C. C.; Wiermann, André; Freitas, Gustavo M.; Garcia, Luis G. U.; Campos, Mario F. M.

2016-01-01

Recent advances in the research of autonomous vehicles have showed a vast range of applications, such as exploration, surveillance and environmental monitoring. Considering the mining industry, it is possible to use such vehicles in the prospection of minerals of commercial interest beneath the ground. However, tasks such as geophysical surveys are highly dependent on specific sensors, which mostly are not designed to be used in these new range of autonomous vehicles. In this work, we propose a novel magnetic survey pipeline that aims to increase versatility, speed and robustness by using autonomous rotary-wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). We also discuss the development of a state-of-the-art three-axis fluxgate, where our goal in this work was to refine and adjust the sensor topology and coupled electronics specifically for this type of vehicle and application. The sensor was built with two ring-cores using a specially developed stress-annealed CoFeSiB amorphous ribbon, in order to get sufficient resolution to detect concentrations of small ferrous minerals. Finally, we report on the results of experiments performed with a real UAV in an outdoor environment, showing the efficacy of the methodology in detecting an artificial ferrous anomaly. PMID:27999307

Autonomous Aeromagnetic Surveys Using a Fluxgate Magnetometer.

PubMed

Macharet, Douglas G; Perez-Imaz, Héctor I A; Rezeck, Paulo A F; Potje, Guilherme A; Benyosef, Luiz C C; Wiermann, André; Freitas, Gustavo M; Garcia, Luis G U; Campos, Mario F M

2016-12-17

Recent advances in the research of autonomous vehicles have showed a vast range of applications, such as exploration, surveillance and environmental monitoring. Considering the mining industry, it is possible to use such vehicles in the prospection of minerals of commercial interest beneath the ground. However, tasks such as geophysical surveys are highly dependent on specific sensors, which mostly are not designed to be used in these new range of autonomous vehicles. In this work, we propose a novel magnetic survey pipeline that aims to increase versatility, speed and robustness by using autonomous rotary-wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). We also discuss the development of a state-of-the-art three-axis fluxgate, where our goal in this work was to refine and adjust the sensor topology and coupled electronics specifically for this type of vehicle and application. The sensor was built with two ring-cores using a specially developed stress-annealed CoFeSiB amorphous ribbon, in order to get sufficient resolution to detect concentrations of small ferrous minerals. Finally, we report on the results of experiments performed with a real UAV in an outdoor environment, showing the efficacy of the methodology in detecting an artificial ferrous anomaly.

Analysis and design of a capsule landing system and surface vehicle control system for Mars exploration. [performance tests of remote control equipment for roving vehicles

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gisser, D. G.; Frederick, D. K.; Sandor, G. N.; Shen, C. N.; Yerazunis, S. W.

1976-01-01

Problems related to the design and control of an autonomous rover for the purpose of unmanned exploration of the planets were considered. Building on the basis of prior studies, a four wheeled rover of unusual mobility and maneuverability was further refined and tested under both laboratory and field conditions. A second major effort was made to develop autonomous guidance. Path selection systems capable of dealing with relatively formidable hazard and terrains involving various short range (1.0-3.0 meters), hazard detection systems using a triangulation detection concept were simulated and evaluated. The mechanical/electronic systems required to implement such a scheme were constructed and tested. These systems include: laser transmitter, photodetectors, the necessary data handling/controlling systems and a scanning mast. In addition, a telemetry system to interface the vehicle, the off-board computer and a remote control module for operator intervention were developed. Software for the autonomous control concept was written. All of the systems required for complete autonomous control were shown to be satisfactory except for that portion of the software relating to the handling of interrupt commands.

Frameworks and Tools for High-Confidence Design of Adaptive, Distributed Embedded Control Systems. Multi-University Research Initiative on High-Confidence Design for Distributed Embedded Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-01-01

controllers (currently using the Robostix+Gumstix pair ). The interface between the plant simulator and the controller is ‘hard real-time’, and the xPC box... simulation ) on aerobatic maneuver design for the STARMAC quadrotor helicopter testbed. In related work, we have developed a new optimization scheme...for scheduling hybrid systems, and have demonstrated the results on an autonomous car simulation testbed. We are focusing efforts this summer for

A cognitive robotic system based on the Soar cognitive architecture for mobile robot navigation, search, and mapping missions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hanford, Scott D.

Most unmanned vehicles used for civilian and military applications are remotely operated or are designed for specific applications. As these vehicles are used to perform more difficult missions or a larger number of missions in remote environments, there will be a great need for these vehicles to behave intelligently and autonomously. Cognitive architectures, computer programs that define mechanisms that are important for modeling and generating domain-independent intelligent behavior, have the potential for generating intelligent and autonomous behavior in unmanned vehicles. The research described in this presentation explored the use of the Soar cognitive architecture for cognitive robotics. The Cognitive Robotic System (CRS) has been developed to integrate software systems for motor control and sensor processing with Soar for unmanned vehicle control. The CRS has been tested using two mobile robot missions: outdoor navigation and search in an indoor environment. The use of the CRS for the outdoor navigation mission demonstrated that a Soar agent could autonomously navigate to a specified location while avoiding obstacles, including cul-de-sacs, with only a minimal amount of knowledge about the environment. While most systems use information from maps or long-range perceptual capabilities to avoid cul-de-sacs, a Soar agent in the CRS was able to recognize when a simple approach to avoiding obstacles was unsuccessful and switch to a different strategy for avoiding complex obstacles. During the indoor search mission, the CRS autonomously and intelligently searches a building for an object of interest and common intersection types. While searching the building, the Soar agent builds a topological map of the environment using information about the intersections the CRS detects. The agent uses this topological model (along with Soar's reasoning, planning, and learning mechanisms) to make intelligent decisions about how to effectively search the building. Once the object of interest has been detected, the Soar agent uses the topological map to make decisions about how to efficiently return to the location where the mission began. Additionally, the CRS can send an email containing step-by-step directions using the intersections in the environment as landmarks that describe a direct path from the mission's start location to the object of interest. The CRS has displayed several characteristics of intelligent behavior, including reasoning, planning, learning, and communication of learned knowledge, while autonomously performing two missions. The CRS has also demonstrated how Soar can be integrated with common robotic motor and perceptual systems that complement the strengths of Soar for unmanned vehicles and is one of the few systems that use perceptual systems such as occupancy grid, computer vision, and fuzzy logic algorithms with cognitive architectures for robotics. The use of these perceptual systems to generate symbolic information about the environment during the indoor search mission allowed the CRS to use Soar's planning and learning mechanisms, which have rarely been used by agents to control mobile robots in real environments. Additionally, the system developed for the indoor search mission represents the first known use of a topological map with a cognitive architecture on a mobile robot. The ability to learn both a topological map and production rules allowed the Soar agent used during the indoor search mission to make intelligent decisions and behave more efficiently as it learned about its environment. While the CRS has been applied to two different missions, it has been developed with the intention that it be extended in the future so it can be used as a general system for mobile robot control. The CRS can be expanded through the addition of new sensors and sensor processing algorithms, development of Soar agents with more production rules, and the use of new architectural mechanisms in Soar.

State estimation for autonomous flight in cluttered environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Langelaan, Jacob Willem

Safe, autonomous operation in complex, cluttered environments is a critical challenge facing autonomous mobile systems. The research described in this dissertation was motivated by a particularly difficult example of autonomous mobility: flight of a small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) through a forest. In cluttered environments (such as forests or natural and urban canyons) signals from navigation beacons such as GPS may frequently be occluded. Direct measurements of vehicle position are therefore unavailable, and information required for flight control, obstacle avoidance, and navigation must be obtained using only on-board sensors. However, payload limitations of small UAVs restrict both the mass and physical dimensions of sensors that can be carried. This dissertation describes the development and proof-of-concept demonstration of a navigation system that uses only a low-cost inertial measurement unit and a monocular camera. Micro electromechanical inertial measurements units are well suited to small UAV applications and provide measurements of acceleration and angular rate. However, they do not provide information about nearby obstacles (needed for collision avoidance) and their noise and bias characteristics lead to unbounded growth in computed position. A monocular camera can provide bearings to nearby obstacles and landmarks. These bearings can be used both to enable obstacle avoidance and to aid navigation. Presented here is a solution to the problem of estimating vehicle state (position, orientation and velocity) as well as positions of obstacles in the environment using only inertial measurements and bearings to obstacles. This is a highly nonlinear estimation problem, and standard estimation techniques such as the Extended Kalman Filter are prone to divergence in this application. In this dissertation a Sigma Point Kalman Filter is implemented, resulting in an estimator which is able to cope with the significant nonlinearities in the system equations and uncertainty in state estimates while remaining tractable for real-time operation. In addition, the issues of data association and landmark initialization are addressed. Estimator performance is examined through Monte Carlo simulations in both two and three dimensions for scenarios involving UAV flight in cluttered environments. Hardware tests and simulations demonstrate navigation through an obstacle-strewn environment by a small Unmanned Ground Vehicle.

An Interactive, Physics-Based Unmanned Ground Vehicle Simulator Leveraging Open Source Gaming Technology: Progress in the Development and Application of the Virtual Autonomous Navigation Environment (VANE) Desktop

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-01-01

interface, mechatronics, video games 1. INTRODUCTION Engineering methods have substantially and continuously evolved over the past 40 years. In the past...1970s, video games have pioneered interactive simulation and laid the groundwork for inexpensive computing that individuals, corporations, and...purposes. This has not gone unnoticed, and software technology and techniques evolved for video games are beginning to have extraordinary impact in

Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Rendezvous for Automated Aerial Refueling

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-03-01

represents a straight line segment. It can be seen that there are ten possible combinations of arcs and line segments (RSR, RSL, LSR, LSL, LRL, RLR , SLR...SRL, RLS, and LRS). However, L. E. Dubins proved that only these six sequences are possibly optimal: RSR, RSL, LSR, LSL, LRL, and RLR [Dubins 1957...From Figure 2-5 and Figure 2-6, it can be seen that the last two cases, RLR and LRL can only be optimal when the initial point and the terminal

Defending an Area with Autonomy: Autonomous Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Capabilities Leveraging Unmanned Aerial Systems for Defending Forward Operating Locations

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-05-08

electromagnetic ( EM ) spectrum, cyberspace, and air domain access and dependencies. Access to space-based assets is necessary to provide and share C2ISR...the EM spectrum for communications is necessary for many of the same reasons we need space capabilities, but this spectrum is under threat from...emerging electronic warfare technologies. Both LOS and BLOS radio frequency (RF) communications require access to the EM spectrum for sharing critical

Advanced Mobility Testbed for Dynamic Semi-Autonomous Unmanned Ground Vehicles

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-04-24

constraint, effectively hiding them from the dynamics solver. Thus the resulting system topology is once again a tree with only inter-body hinges and...the geometry of wheel sinkage (left) and stress distribution under the wheel (right) from reference [24]. With τmax(θ) = c+σ(θ) tan (φ). the shear...sliding). The transversal deflection α or lateral slip angle and the lateral slip coefficient Sα are Sα = tan (α) = −vy vx (12) The comprehensive slip ratio

Distributed Control of a Swarm of Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

DTIC Science & Technology

2003-03-01

wisdom, and love have provided a firm anchor in rough times, and a light in the darkness . “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will...time. The light-gray trails represent the area that has been covered in the past 50 timesteps. The dark -gray areas are overlapping areas calculated...during the current timestep. The dark line encloses the total contigu- ous sensor area for this example. Note that while agent 1’s footprint does not

A Non-Linear Simulation for an Autonomous Unmanned Air Vehicle

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-09-01

4D cos T cos 4D cos T r These equations can now be integrated to find the time history of the Euler angles . 2. Quaternions Another choice for the...is associated with the Euler angles . Quaternions haxe been in 15 use for quite some time. having been discovered by Euler in a search for complex... quaternions has the following advantages over Euler angles in repre- senting spatial orientation of a rigid body: "* Four states required to express the

Decentralized Estimation and Vision-based Guidance of Fast Autonomous Systems with Guaranteed Performance in Uncertain Environments

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-04-22

Following for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Using L1 Adaptive Augmentation of Commercial Autopilots, Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, (3 2010): 0...Naira Hovakimyan. L1 Adaptive Controller for MIMO system with Unmatched Uncertainties using Modi?ed Piecewise Constant Adaptation Law, IEEE 51st...adaptive input nominal input with  Nominal input L1 ‐based control generator  This L1 adaptive control architecture uses data from the reference model

Investigating the Usefulness of Operator Aids for Autonomous Unmanned Ground Vehicles Performing Reconnaissance Tasks

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-09-01

generated using data from the ANS about the path that the automation attempted to follow. The STP operator aid was displayed as a translucent green...intended route of the UGV projected for the next several seconds. Similarly, the LTP operator aid was displayed as a translucent blue line overlaid on...route of the UGV projected for the next several minutes or more. The combination of STP and LTP operator aids simply displayed both translucent green

Autonomous Weapon Systems: A Brief Survey of Developmental, Operational, Legal, and Ethical Issues

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-12-01

aspects of the early days of these ground- based AWS.14 Gage’s account characterizes the efforts as largely focused on research and development in...human judg- ment, but this responsibility also extends to those who design and develop the systems.27 The next section ad- dresses some of the key... develop - ment (R&D) efforts.”31 Further, the report argues that recent development of unmanned systems was large- ly evolutionary, moving forward based on

A Cost Model for Testing Unmanned and Autonomous Systems of Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-02-01

those risks. In addition, the fundamental methods presented by Aranha and Borba to include the complexity and sizing of tests for UASoS, can be expanded...used as an input for test execution effort estimation models (Aranha & Borba , 2007). Such methodology is very relevant to this work because as a UASoS...calculate the test effort based on the complexity of the SoS. However, Aranha and Borba define test size as the number of steps required to complete

Communications Network Design, Simulation, and Analysis for an Autonomous Unmanned Vehicle System

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-06-01

of which type to use depends on the type of demands placed on the network. 1. Central Control Network Architecture Cell phones, the IEEE 802.11, and...distances that do not exceed the wireless transmission distances of the BS and SSs. This BS coverage region is sometimes referred to as a cell . To...In this manner, multiple cells can be connected together by connecting the cell BSs. In so doing, a large geographical area can be covered by a

Evolution of Control Programs for a Swarm of Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-03-01

Game of Checkers,” IBM Journal of Research and Development , 3 (3):210–229 (July 1959). 91. Serway , R. A. Physics for Scientists and Engineers (Fourth...incomplete physics model is used for this research. Ignoring mass and the effects of gravity and friction greatly simplifies the model. At the same...of work on GAs [9, 60, 53]. The seminal work in GAs is the 1975 book Adaptation in Natural and Artificial Systems by John H. Holland [41]. In a GA

Real-Time and High-Fidelity Simulation Environment for Autonomous Ground Vehicle Dynamics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cameron, Jonathan; Myint, Steven; Kuo, Calvin; Jain, Abhi; Grip, Havard; Jayakumar, Paramsothy; Overholt, Jim

2013-01-01

This paper reports on a collaborative project between U.S. Army TARDEC and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to develop a unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) simulation model using the ROAMS vehicle modeling framework. Besides modeling the physical suspension of the vehicle, the sensing and navigation of the HMMWV vehicle are simulated. Using models of urban and off-road environments, the HMMWV simulation was tested in several ways, including navigation in an urban environment with obstacle avoidance and the performance of a lane change maneuver.

Daytime Mud Detection for Unmanned Ground Vehicle Autonomous Navigation

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-12-01

disambiguate shadows from wet soil than shadows from dry soil. (a) Red band (b) NIR band (c) NDVI image (d) Brightness image wet soil Red...spectral bands to segment wet soil. Red and NIR bands (Figures 5a and 5b) can be used to generate a Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ( NDVI ...along the soil line image (Figure 5f) can be generated. The NDVI and normal distance to the soil line images can be used to segment soil from

Ground crewmen help guide the alignment of the X-40A as the experimental craft is gently lowered to the ground by a U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook helicopter following a captive-carry test flight

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-12-08

Ground crewmen help guide the alignment of the X-40 technology demonstrator as the experimental craft is gently lowered to the ground by a U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook cargo helicopter following a captive-carry test flight at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. The X-40 is an unpowered 82 percent scale version of the X-37, a Boeing-developed spaceplane designed to demonstrate various advanced technologies for development of future lower-cost access to space vehicles. The X-37 will be carried into space aboard a space shuttle and then released to perform various maneuvers and a controlled re-entry through the Earth's atmosphere to an airplane-style landing on a runway, controlled entirely by pre-programmed computer software. Following a series of captive-carry flights, the X-40 made several free flights from a launch altitude of about 15,000 feet above ground, gliding to a fully autonomous landing. The captive carry flights helped verify the X-40's navigation and control systems, rigging angles for its sling, and stability and control of the helicopter while carrying the X-40 on a tether.

ECG during helicopter underwater escape training.

PubMed

Tipton, Michael J; Gibbs, Peter; Brooks, Chris; Roiz de Sa, Dan; Reilly, Tara J

2010-04-01

Coincidental stimulation of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system can cause "autonomic conflict" and consequent cardiac arrhythmias. The present study tested the hypotheses that: 1) cardiac arrhythmias would be seen in those undertaking helicopter underwater escape training (HUET); 2) the occurrence of arrhythmias in individuals could be predicted; and 3) the heart rate response to HUET would habituate with repeated runs. There were 26 male volunteers who each undertook 5 HUET submersions into water at 29.5 degrees C, with each run separated by 10 min. Each submersion included a 3-min, 40-s pre-submersion period, a 10-s submersion, and 40-s post-submersion period. Participants wore a three-lead telemetric ECG system beneath an immersion suit and underclothing. Skin temperature was measured in one participant. Each participant undertook tests to establish their autonomic function, including heart rate variability, face immersion, cold pressor test, and aerobic capacity assessment. The heart rate response to HUET was reduced by the fourth run when compared to the first run. Across all runs, 32 cardiac arrhythmias were identified (25%) in 22 different participants; all but 6 of the arrhythmias occurred just after submersion. Only aerobic fitness appeared inversely associated with the occurrence of arrhythmias. The heart rate response to HUET habituates. HUET produces cardiac arrhythmias; these are asymptomatic and probably of little clinical significance in young, fit individuals. It remains to be seen if this is the case with either an older, less fit cohort of people or in those undertaking longer breath holds in colder water.

Developing a novel UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) helicopter platform for very high resolution environmental monitoring of catchment processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Freer, J. E.; Richardson, T.; Yang, Z.

2012-12-01

Recent advances in remote sensing and geographic information has led the way for the development of hyperspectral sensors and cloud scanning LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging). Both these technologies can be used to sense environmental processes and capture detailed spatial information, they are often deployed in ground, aircraft and satellite based systems. Hyperspectral remote sensing, also known as imaging spectroscopy, is a relatively new technology that is currently being investigated by researchers and scientists with regard to the detection and identification of landscapes, terrestrial vegetation, and manmade materials and backgrounds. There are many applications that could take advantages of hyperspectral remote sensing coupled to detailed surface feature mapping using LIDAR. This embryonic project involves developing the engineering solutions and post processing techniques needed to realise an ultra high resolution helicopter based environmental sensing platform which can fly at lower altitudes than aircraft systems and can be deployed more frequently. We aim to present this new technology platform in this special session (the only one of it's kind in the UK). Initial applications are planned on a range of environmental sensing problems that would benefit from such complex and detailed data.We look forward to being able to display and discuss this initiative with colleagues and any potential interest in future collaborative projects.

Developing a novel UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) helicopter platform for very high resolution environmental monitoring of catchment processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Freer, J.; Richardson, T. S.

2012-04-01

Recent advances in remote sensing and geographic information has led the way for the development of hyperspectral sensors and cloud scanning LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging). Both these technologies can be used to sense environmental processes and capture detailed spatial information, they are often deployed in ground, aircraft and satellite based systems. Hyperspectral remote sensing, also known as imaging spectroscopy, is a relatively new technology that is currently being investigated by researchers and scientists with regard to the detection and identification of landscapes, terrestrial vegetation, and manmade materials and backgrounds. There are many applications that could take advantages of hyperspectral remote sensing coupled to detailed surface feature mapping using LIDAR. This embryonic project involves developing the engineering solutions and post processing techniques needed to realise an ultra high resolution helicopter based environmental sensing platform which can fly at lower altitudes than aircraft systems and can be deployed more frequently. We aim to display this new technology platform in this special session (the only one of it's kind in the UK). Initial applications are planned on a range of environmental sensing problems that would benefit from such complex and detailed data. We look forward to being able to display and discuss this initiative with colleagues and any potential interest in future collaborative projects.

Operator Informational Needs for Multiple Autonomous Small Vehicles

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Trujillo, Anna C.; Fan, Henry; Cross, Charles D.; Hempley, Lucas E.; Cichella, Venanzio; Puig-Navarro, Javier; Mehdi, Syed Bilal

2015-01-01

With the anticipated explosion of small unmanned aerial vehicles, it is highly likely that operators will be controlling fleets of autonomous vehicles. To fulfill the promise of autonomy, vehicle operators will not be concerned with manual control of the vehicle; instead, they will deal with the overall mission. Furthermore, the one operator to many vehicles is becoming a constant meme with various industries including package delivery, search and rescue, and utility companies. In order for an operator to concurrently control several vehicles, his station must look and behave very differently than the current ground control station instantiations. Furthermore, the vehicle will have to be much more autonomous, especially during non-normal operations, in order to accommodate the knowledge deficit or the information overload of the operator in charge of several vehicles. The expected usage increase of small drones requires presenting the operational information generated by a fleet of heterogeneous autonomous agents to an operator. NASA Langley Research Center's Autonomy Incubator has brought together researchers in various disciplines including controls, trajectory planning, systems engineering, and human factors to develop an integrated system to study autonomy issues. The initial human factors effort is focusing on mission displays that would give an operator the overall status of all autonomous agents involved in the current mission. This paper will discuss the specifics of the mission displays for operators controlling several vehicles.

Fuzzy Logic Path Planning System for Collision Avoidance by an Autonomous Rover Vehicle

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Murphy, Michael G.

1991-01-01

Systems already developed at JSC have shown the benefits of applying fuzzy logic control theory to space related operations. Four major issues are addressed that are associated with developing an autonomous collision avoidance subsystem within a path planning system designed for application in a remote, hostile environment that does not lend itself well to remote manipulation of the vehicle involved through Earth-based telecommunication. A good focus for this is unmanned exploration of the surface of Mars. The uncertainties involved indicate that robust approaches such as fuzzy logic control are particularly appropriate. The four major issues addressed are: (1) avoidance of a single fuzzy moving obstacle; (2) back off from a dead end in a static obstacle environment; (3) fusion of sensor data to detect obstacles; and (4) options for adaptive learning in a path planning system.

Autonomous exploration and mapping of unknown environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Owens, Jason; Osteen, Phil; Fields, MaryAnne

2012-06-01

Autonomous exploration and mapping is a vital capability for future robotic systems expected to function in arbitrary complex environments. In this paper, we describe an end-to-end robotic solution for remotely mapping buildings. For a typical mapping system, an unmanned system is directed to enter an unknown building at a distance, sense the internal structure, and, barring additional tasks, while in situ, create a 2-D map of the building. This map provides a useful and intuitive representation of the environment for the remote operator. We have integrated a robust mapping and exploration system utilizing laser range scanners and RGB-D cameras, and we demonstrate an exploration and metacognition algorithm on a robotic platform. The algorithm allows the robot to safely navigate the building, explore the interior, report significant features to the operator, and generate a consistent map - all while maintaining localization.

Efficient Forest Fire Detection Index for Application in Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs).

PubMed

Cruz, Henry; Eckert, Martina; Meneses, Juan; Martínez, José-Fernán

2016-06-16

This article proposes a novel method for detecting forest fires, through the use of a new color index, called the Forest Fire Detection Index (FFDI), developed by the authors. The index is based on methods for vegetation classification and has been adapted to detect the tonalities of flames and smoke; the latter could be included adaptively into the Regions of Interest (RoIs) with the help of a variable factor. Multiple tests have been performed upon database imagery and present promising results: a detection precision of 96.82% has been achieved for image sizes of 960 × 540 pixels at a processing time of 0.0447 seconds. This achievement would lead to a performance of 22 f/s, for smaller images, while up to 54 f/s could be reached by maintaining a similar detection precision. Additional tests have been performed on fires in their early stages, achieving a precision rate of p = 96.62%. The method could be used in real-time in Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs), with the aim of monitoring a wider area than through fixed surveillance systems. Thus, it would result in more cost-effective outcomes than conventional systems implemented in helicopters or satellites. UASs could also reach inaccessible locations without jeopardizing people's safety. On-going work includes implementation into a commercially available drone.

About infrared scanning of photovoltaic solar plant

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kauppinen, T.; Panouillot, P.-E.; Siikanen, S.; Athanasakou, E.; Baltas, P.; Nikopoulous, B.

2015-05-01

The paper is discussing about infrared scanning of PV solar plants. It is important that the performance of each solar panel and cell is verified. One new possibility compared to traditional ground-based scanning (handheld camera) is the utilization of UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle). In this paper results from a PV solar Plant in Western Greece are introduced. The nominal power of the solar plants were 0, 9 MW and 2 MW and they were scanned both by a ground-controlled drone and by handheld equipment. It is essential to know all the factors effecting to results and also the time of scanning is important. The results done from the drone and from ground-based scanning are compared; also results from various altitudes and time of day are discussed. The UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle/RPAS (Remote Piloted Aircraft Systems) will give an excellent opportunity to monitor various targets which are impossible or difficult to access from the ground. Compared to fixed-wing and helicopter-based platforms it will give advantages but also this technology has limitations. One limitation is the weight of the equipment and the short operational range and short flight time. Also valid procedures must be created for different solutions in the future. The most important thing, as in all infrared thermography applications, is the proper interpretation of results.

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

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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.

Use of a Small Unmanned Aircraft System for Autonomous Fire Spotting at the Great Dismal Swamp

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Logan, Michael J.; Glaab, Louis J.; Craig, Timothy

2016-01-01

This paper describes the results of a set of experiments and analyses conducted to evaluate the capability of small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) to spot nascent fires in the Great Dismal Swamp (GDS) National Wildlife Refuge. This work is the result of a partnership between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the US Fish and Wildlife service specifically to investigate sUAS usage for fire-spotting. The objectives of the current effort were to: 1) Determine suitability and utility of low-cost Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) to detect nascent fires at GDS; 2) Identify and assess the necessary National Airspace System (NAS) integration issues; and 3) Provide information to GDS and the community on system requirements and concepts-of-operation (CONOPS) for conducting fire detection/support mission in the National Airspace and (4) Identify potential applications of intelligent autonomy that would enable or benefit this high-value mission. In addition, data on the ability of various low-cost sensors to detect smoke plumes and fire hot spots was generated during the experiments as well as identifying a path towards a future practical mission utility by using sUAS in beyond visual-line-of-sight operation in the National Airspace System (NAS).

Latency Determination and Compensation in Real-Time Gnss/ins Integrated Navigation Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Solomon, P. D.; Wang, J.; Rizos, C.

2011-09-01

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technology is now commonplace in many defence and civilian environments. However, the high cost of owning and operating a sophisticated UAV has slowed their adoption in many commercial markets. Universities and research groups are actively experimenting with UAVs to further develop the technology, particularly for automated flying operations. The two main UAV platforms used are fixed-wing and helicopter. Helicopter-based UAVs offer many attractive features over fixed-wing UAVs, including vertical take-off, the ability to loiter, and highly dynamic flight. However the control and navigation of helicopters are significantly more demanding than those of fixed-wing UAVs and as such require a high bandwidth real-time Position, Velocity, Attitude (PVA) navigation system. In practical Real-Time Navigation Systems (RTNS) there are delays in the processing of the GNSS data prior to the fusion of the GNSS data with the INS measurements. This latency must be compensated for otherwise it degrades the solution of the navigation filter. This paper investigates the effect of latency in the arrival time of the GNSS data in a RTNS. Several test drives and flights were conducted with a low-cost RTNS, and compared with a high quality GNSS/INS solution. A technique for the real-time, automated and accurate estimation of the GNSS latency in low-cost systems was developed and tested. The latency estimates were then verified through cross-correlation with the time-stamped measurements from the reference system. A delayed measurement Extended Kalman Filter was then used to allow for the real-time fusing of the delayed measurements, and then a final system developed for on-the-fly measurement and compensation of GNSS latency in a RTNS.

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Linear matrix inequality-based nonlinear adaptive robust control with application to unmanned aircraft systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kun, David William

Unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) are gaining popularity in civil and commercial applications as their lightweight on-board computers become more powerful and affordable, their power storage devices improve, and the Federal Aviation Administration addresses the legal and safety concerns of integrating UASs in the national airspace. Consequently, many researchers are pursuing novel methods to control UASs in order to improve their capabilities, dependability, and safety assurance. The nonlinear control approach is a common choice as it offers several benefits for these highly nonlinear aerospace systems (e.g., the quadrotor). First, the controller design is physically intuitive and is derived from well known dynamic equations. Second, the final control law is valid in a larger region of operation, including far from the equilibrium states. And third, the procedure is largely methodical, requiring less expertise with gain tuning, which can be arduous for a novice engineer. Considering these facts, this thesis proposes a nonlinear controller design method that combines the advantages of adaptive robust control (ARC) with the powerful design tools of linear matrix inequalities (LMI). The ARC-LMI controller is designed with a discontinuous projection-based adaptation law, and guarantees a prescribed transient and steady state tracking performance for uncertain systems in the presence of matched disturbances. The norm of the tracking error is bounded by a known function that depends on the controller design parameters in a known form. Furthermore, the LMI-based part of the controller ensures the stability of the system while overcoming polytopic uncertainties, and minimizes the control effort. This can reduce the number of parameters that require adaptation, and helps to avoid control input saturation. These desirable characteristics make the ARC-LMI control algorithm well suited for the quadrotor UAS, which may have unknown parameters and may encounter external disturbances such as wind gusts and turbulence. This thesis develops the ARC-LMI attitude and position controllers for an X-configuration quadrotor helicopter. The inner-loop of the autopilot controls the attitude and altitude of the quadrotor, and the outer-loop controls its position in the earth-fixed coordinate frame. Furthermore, by intelligently generating a smooth trajectory from the given reference coordinates (waypoints), the transient performance is improved. The simulation results indicate that the ARC-LMI controller design is useful for a variety of quadrotor applications, including precise trajectory tracking, autonomous waypoint navigation in the presence of disturbances, and package delivery without loss of performance.

PRIMUS: autonomous navigation in open terrain with a tracked vehicle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schaub, Guenter W.; Pfaendner, Alfred H.; Schaefer, Christoph

2004-09-01

The German experimental robotics program PRIMUS (PRogram for Intelligent Mobile Unmanned Systems) is focused on solutions for autonomous driving in unknown open terrain, over several project phases under specific realization aspects for more than 12 years. The main task of the program is to develop algorithms for a high degree of autonomous navigation skills with off-the-shelf available hardware/sensor technology and to integrate this into military vehicles. For obstacle detection a Dornier-3D-LADAR is integrated on a tracked vehicle "Digitized WIESEL 2". For road-following a digital video camera and a visual perception module from the Universitaet der Bundeswehr Munchen (UBM) has been integrated. This paper gives an overview of the PRIMUS program with a focus on the last program phase D (2001 - 2003). This includes the system architecture, the description of the modes of operation and the technology development with the focus on obstacle avoidance and obstacle classification using a 3-D LADAR. A collection of experimental results and a short look at the next steps in the German robotics program will conclude the paper.

The Spacecraft Emergency Response System (SERS) for Autonomous Mission Operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Breed, Julia; Chu, Kai-Dee; Baker, Paul; Starr, Cynthia; Fox, Jeffrey; Baitinger, Mick

1998-01-01

Today, most mission operations are geared toward lowering cost through unmanned operations. 7-day/24-hour operations are reduced to either 5-day/8-hour operations or become totally autonomous, especially for deep-space missions. Proper and effective notification during a spacecraft emergency could mean success or failure for an entire mission. The Spacecraft Emergency Response System (SERS) is a tool designed for autonomous mission operations. The SERS automatically contacts on-call personnel as needed when crises occur, either on-board the spacecraft or within the automated ground systems. Plus, the SERS provides a group-ware solution to facilitate the work of the person(s) contacted. The SERS is independent of the spacecraft's automated ground system. It receives and catalogues reports for various ground system components in near real-time. Then, based on easily configurable parameters, the SERS determines whom, if anyone, should be alerted. Alerts may be issued via Sky-Tel 2-way pager, Telehony, or e-mail. The alerted personnel can then review and respond to the spacecraft anomalies through the Netscape Internet Web Browser, or directly review and respond from the Sky-Tel 2-way pager.

Managing the integration and harmonization of national airspace for unmanned and manned systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mumm, Hans

This dissertation examines the leadership challenge created by the requirement to integrate unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) into the national airspace system (NAS). The lack of UAV-related federal rules and regulations is a primary factor prolonging this integration. This effort focuses primarily on the leadership portion of the solution and not the technological requirements. The research explores an adaptation of the complexity theory that offers a potential leadership framework for the government, industry, and academia to use for achieving the full integration of UAVs into the NAS. Due to the large number of stakeholders and the multitude of interrelated issues, a complexity-theory-leadership methodology was created and examined as a potential way to help the FAA accelerate their rule-making efforts. This dissertation focuses on United States UAV issues. The United States is one of the leaders in the unmanned systems arena, to include the first significant use of recoverable autonomous weaponized systems in combat. Issues such as airspace, airworthiness, social issues, privacy issues, regulations, and the lack of policies, procedures, or governance are universal for all countries that are active in this technology area. This qualitative dissertation makes use of the grounded theory methodology as it combines a literature review and research along with interviews with subject matter experts, and information gained from attending UAV related gatherings/discussions. The investigation uncovered significant FAA process impediments as well as some possible break through concepts that could work well with the complexity-theory-leadership methodology. Keywords: Complexity theory, leadership, change management, UAV, unmanned aerial vehicle, National Airspace, NAS, FAA, Federal Aviation Administration.

A U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook helicopter slowly lowers the X-40 sub-scale technology demonstrator to the ground under the watchful eyes of ground crew at the conclusion of a captive-carry test flight

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-12-08

A U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook helicopter slowly lowers the X-40 sub-scale technology demonstrator to the ground under the watchful eyes of ground crew at the conclusion of a captive-carry test flight at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. Several captive-carry flights were conducted to check out all operating systems and procedures before the X-40 made its first free flight at Edwards, gliding to a fully-autonomous approach and landing on the Edwards runway. The X-40 is an unpowered 82 percent scale version of the X-37, a Boeing-developed spaceplane designed to demonstrate various advanced technologies for development of future lower-cost access to space vehicles. Flight tests of the X-40 are designed to reduce the risks associated with research flights of the larger, more complex X-37.

Autonomous target tracking of UAVs based on low-power neural network hardware

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Wei; Jin, Zhanpeng; Thiem, Clare; Wysocki, Bryant; Shen, Dan; Chen, Genshe

2014-05-01

Detecting and identifying targets in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) images and videos have been challenging problems due to various types of image distortion. Moreover, the significantly high processing overhead of existing image/video processing techniques and the limited computing resources available on UAVs force most of the processing tasks to be performed by the ground control station (GCS) in an off-line manner. In order to achieve fast and autonomous target identification on UAVs, it is thus imperative to investigate novel processing paradigms that can fulfill the real-time processing requirements, while fitting the size, weight, and power (SWaP) constrained environment. In this paper, we present a new autonomous target identification approach on UAVs, leveraging the emerging neuromorphic hardware which is capable of massively parallel pattern recognition processing and demands only a limited level of power consumption. A proof-of-concept prototype was developed based on a micro-UAV platform (Parrot AR Drone) and the CogniMemTMneural network chip, for processing the video data acquired from a UAV camera on the y. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the feasibility and potential of incorporating emerging neuromorphic hardware into next-generation UAVs and their superior performance and power advantages towards the real-time, autonomous target tracking.

Autonomous Aerial Refueling Ground Test Demonstration—A Sensor-in-the-Loop, Non-Tracking Method

PubMed Central

Chen, Chao-I; Koseluk, Robert; Buchanan, Chase; Duerner, Andrew; Jeppesen, Brian; Laux, Hunter

2015-01-01

An essential capability for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to extend its airborne duration without increasing the size of the aircraft is called the autonomous aerial refueling (AAR). This paper proposes a sensor-in-the-loop, non-tracking method for probe-and-drogue style autonomous aerial refueling tasks by combining sensitivity adjustments of a 3D Flash LIDAR camera with computer vision based image-processing techniques. The method overcomes the inherit ambiguity issues when reconstructing 3D information from traditional 2D images by taking advantage of ready to use 3D point cloud data from the camera, followed by well-established computer vision techniques. These techniques include curve fitting algorithms and outlier removal with the random sample consensus (RANSAC) algorithm to reliably estimate the drogue center in 3D space, as well as to establish the relative position between the probe and the drogue. To demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed method on a real system, a ground navigation robot was designed and fabricated. Results presented in the paper show that using images acquired from a 3D Flash LIDAR camera as real time visual feedback, the ground robot is able to track a moving simulated drogue and continuously narrow the gap between the robot and the target autonomously. PMID:25970254

Autorotation flight control system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bachelder, Edward N. (Inventor); Aponso, Bimal L. (Inventor); Lee, Dong-Chan (Inventor)

2011-01-01

The present invention provides computer implemented methodology that permits the safe landing and recovery of rotorcraft following engine failure. With this invention successful autorotations may be performed from well within the unsafe operating area of the height-velocity profile of a helicopter by employing the fast and robust real-time trajectory optimization algorithm that commands control motion through an intuitive pilot display, or directly in the case of autonomous rotorcraft. The algorithm generates optimal trajectories and control commands via the direct-collocation optimization method, solved using a nonlinear programming problem solver. The control inputs computed are collective pitch and aircraft pitch, which are easily tracked and manipulated by the pilot or converted to control actuator commands for automated operation during autorotation in the case of an autonomous rotorcraft. The formulation of the optimal control problem has been carefully tailored so the solutions resemble those of an expert pilot, accounting for the performance limitations of the rotorcraft and safety concerns.

Spectrally queued feature selection for robotic visual odometery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pirozzo, David M.; Frederick, Philip A.; Hunt, Shawn; Theisen, Bernard; Del Rose, Mike

2011-01-01

Over the last two decades, research in Unmanned Vehicles (UV) has rapidly progressed and become more influenced by the field of biological sciences. Researchers have been investigating mechanical aspects of varying species to improve UV air and ground intrinsic mobility, they have been exploring the computational aspects of the brain for the development of pattern recognition and decision algorithms and they have been exploring perception capabilities of numerous animals and insects. This paper describes a 3 month exploratory applied research effort performed at the US ARMY Research, Development and Engineering Command's (RDECOM) Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) in the area of biologically inspired spectrally augmented feature selection for robotic visual odometry. The motivation for this applied research was to develop a feasibility analysis on multi-spectrally queued feature selection, with improved temporal stability, for the purposes of visual odometry. The intended application is future semi-autonomous Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) control as the richness of data sets required to enable human like behavior in these systems has yet to be defined.

Path planning on satellite images for unmanned surface vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Joe-Ming; Tseng, Chien-Ming; Tseng, P. S.

2015-01-01

In recent years, the development of autonomous surface vehicles has been a field of increasing research interest. There are two major areas in this field: control theory and path planning. This study focuses on path planning, and two objectives are discussed: path planning for Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs) and implementation of path planning in a real map. In this paper, satellite thermal images are converted into binary images which are used as the maps for the Finite Angle A* algorithm (FAA*), an advanced A* algorithm that is used to determine safer and suboptimal paths for USVs. To plan a collision-free path, the algorithm proposed in this article considers the dimensions of surface vehicles. Furthermore, the turning ability of a surface vehicle is also considered, and a constraint condition is introduced to improve the quality of the path planning algorithm, which makes the traveled path smoother. This study also shows a path planning experiment performed on a real satellite thermal image, and the path planning results can be used by an USV.

Real time target allocation in cooperative unmanned aerial vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kudleppanavar, Ganesh

The prolific development of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV's) in recent years has the potential to provide tremendous advantages in military, commercial and law enforcement applications. While safety and performance take precedence in the development lifecycle, autonomous operations and, in particular, cooperative missions have the ability to significantly enhance the usability of these vehicles. The success of cooperative missions relies on the optimal allocation of targets while taking into consideration the resource limitation of each vehicle. The task allocation process can be centralized or decentralized. This effort presents the development of a real time target allocation algorithm that considers available stored energy in each vehicle while minimizing the communication between each UAV. The algorithm utilizes a nearest neighbor search algorithm to locate new targets with respect to existing targets. Simulations show that this novel algorithm compares favorably to the mixed integer linear programming method, which is computationally more expensive. The implementation of this algorithm on Arduino and Xbee wireless modules shows the capability of the algorithm to execute efficiently on hardware with minimum computation complexity.

InPRO: Automated Indoor Construction Progress Monitoring Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamledari, Hesam

In this research, an envisioned automated intelligent robotic solution for automated indoor data collection and inspection that employs a series of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), entitled "InPRO", is presented. InPRO consists of four stages, namely: 1) automated path planning; 2) autonomous UAV-based indoor inspection; 3) automated computer vision-based assessment of progress; and, 4) automated updating of 4D building information models (BIM). The works presented in this thesis address the third stage of InPRO. A series of computer vision-based methods that automate the assessment of construction progress using images captured at indoor sites are introduced. The proposed methods employ computer vision and machine learning techniques to detect the components of under-construction indoor partitions. In particular, framing (studs), insulation, electrical outlets, and different states of drywall sheets (installing, plastering, and painting) are automatically detected using digital images. High accuracy rates, real-time performance, and operation without a priori information are indicators of the methods' promising performance.

Spline Trajectory Algorithm Development: Bezier Curve Control Point Generation for UAVs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Howell, Lauren R.; Allen, B. Danette

2016-01-01

A greater need for sophisticated autonomous piloting systems has risen in direct correlation with the ubiquity of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technology. Whether surveying unknown or unexplored areas of the world, collecting scientific data from regions in which humans are typically incapable of entering, locating lost or wanted persons, or delivering emergency supplies, an unmanned vehicle moving in close proximity to people and other vehicles, should fly smoothly and predictably. The mathematical application of spline interpolation can play an important role in autopilots' on-board trajectory planning. Spline interpolation allows for the connection of Three-Dimensional Euclidean Space coordinates through a continuous set of smooth curves. This paper explores the motivation, application, and methodology used to compute the spline control points, which shape the curves in such a way that the autopilot trajectory is able to meet vehicle-dynamics limitations. The spline algorithms developed used to generate these curves supply autopilots with the information necessary to compute vehicle paths through a set of coordinate waypoints.

Software-In-the-Loop based Modeling and Simulation of Unmanned Semi-submersible Vehicle for Performance Verification of Autonomous Navigation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Kwangkook; Jeong, Mijin; Kim, Dong Hun

2017-12-01

Since an unmanned semi-submersible is mainly used for the purpose of carrying out dangerous missions in the sea, it is possible to work in a region where it is difficult to access due to safety reasons. In this study, an USV hull design was determined using Myring hull profile, and reinforcement work was performed by designing and implementing inner stiffener member for 3D printing. In order to simulate a sea state 5.0 or more at sea, which is difficult to implement in practice, a regular and irregular wave equation was implemented in Matlab / Simulink. We performed modeling and simulation of semi - submersible simulation based on DMWorks considering the rolling motion in wave. To verify and improve unpredicted errors, we implemented a numeric and physical simulation model of the USV based on software-in-the-loop (SIL) method. This simulation allows shipbuilders to participate in new value-added markets such as engineering, procurement, construction, installation, commissioning, operation, and maintenance for the USV.

Configuration and Specifications of AN Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for Precision Agriculture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Erena, M.; Montesinos, S.; Portillo, D.; Alvarez, J.; Marin, C.; Fernandez, L.; Henarejos, J. M.; Ruiz, L. A.

2016-06-01

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) with multispectral sensors are increasingly attractive in geosciences for data capture and map updating at high spatial and temporal resolutions. These autonomously-flying systems can be equipped with different sensors, such as a six-band multispectral camera (Tetracam mini-MCA-6), GPS Ublox M8N, and MEMS gyroscopes, and miniaturized sensor systems for navigation, positioning, and mapping purposes. These systems can be used for data collection in precision viticulture. In this study, the efficiency of a light UAV system for data collection, processing, and map updating in small areas is evaluated, generating correlations between classification maps derived from remote sensing and production maps. Based on the comparison of the indices derived from UAVs incorporating infrared sensors with those obtained by satellites (Sentinel 2A and Landsat 8), UAVs show promise for the characterization of vineyard plots with high spatial variability, despite the low vegetative coverage of these crops. Consequently, a procedure for zoning map production based on UAV/UV images could provide important information for farmers.

SIG: Multiple Views on Safety-Critical Automation: Aircraft, Autonomous Vehicles, Air Traffic Management and Satellite Ground Segments Perspectives

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Feary, Michael; Palanque, Philippe; Martinie, Célia; Tscheligi, Manfred

2016-01-01

This SIG focuses on the engineering of automation in interactive critical systems. Automation has already been studied in a number of (sub-) disciplines and application fields: design, human factors, psychology, (software) engineering, aviation, health care, games. One distinguishing feature of the area we are focusing on is that in the field of interactive critical systems properties such as reliability, dependability, fault tolerance are as important as usability, user experience or overall acceptance issues. The SIG targets at two problem areas: first the engineering of the user interaction with (partly-) autonomous systems: how to design, build and assess autonomous behavior, especially in cases where there is a need to represent on the user interface both autonomous and interactive objects. An example of such integration is the representation of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) (where no direct interaction is possible), together with aircrafts (that have to be instructed by an air traffic controller to avoid the UAV). Second the design and engineering of user interaction in general for autonomous objects/systems (for example a cruise control in a car or an autopilot in an aircraft). The goal of the SIG is to raise interest in the CHI community on the general aspects of automation and to identify a community of researchers and practitioners interested in those increasingly prominent issues of interfaces towards (semi)-autonomous systems. The expected audience should be interested in addressing the issues of integration of mainly unconnected research domains to formulate a new joint research agenda.

Multiple Views on Safety-Critical Automation: Aircraft, Autonomous Vehicles, Air Traffic Management and Satellite Ground Segments Perspectives

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Feary, Michael S.; Palanque, Philippe Andre Rolan; Martinie, De Almeida; Tscheligi, Manfred

2016-01-01

This SIG focuses on the engineering of automation in interactive critical systems. Automation has already been studied in a number of (sub-) disciplines and application fields: design, human factors, psychology, (software) engineering, aviation, health care, games. One distinguishing feature of the area we are focusing on is that in the field of interactive critical systems properties such as reliability, dependability, fault-tolerance are as important as usability, user experience or overall acceptance issues. The SIG targets at two problem areas: first the engineering of the user interaction with (partly-) autonomous systems: how to design, build and assess autonomous behavior, especially in cases where there is a need to represent on the user interface both autonomous and interactive objects. An example of such integration is the representation of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) (where no direct interaction is possible), together with aircrafts (that have to be instructed by an air traffic controller to avoid the UAV). Second the design and engineering of user interaction in general for autonomous objects systems (for example a cruise control in a car or an autopilot in an aircraft). The goal of the SIG is to raise interest in the CHI community on the general aspects of automation and to identify a community of researchers and practitioners interested in those increasingly prominent issues of interfaces towards (semi)-autonomous systems. The expected audience should be interested in addressing the issues of integration of mainly unconnected research domains to formulate a new joint research agenda.

Agent Transparency for an Autonomous Squad Member

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-05-01

C. Attentional  Control  Survey  41  Appendix D. System Usability Scale  45  Appendix E. Modified Jian Pre‐Post Trust Survey  47  Appendix F.  Posttest ...failing to comply with a collection of information if it does not display a currently valid OMB control number. PLEASE DO NOT RETURN YOUR FORM TO THE...information in a simulation-based unmanned ground vehicle monitoring task. Three groups were tested with visual displays representing 1 of 3 types of

Autonomous Adaptation and Collaboration of Unmanned Vehicles for Tracking Submerged Contacts

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-06-01

filter: CRS RANGE REPORT =”name=archie,range=23.4,target= jackal ,time=2342551.213” • Line 8: ping wait is the time delay between range pulses. • Line 13: rn...uFldContactRangeSensor Settings 1: ProcessConfig = uFldContactRangeSensor 2: { 3: AppTick = 4 4: CommsTick = 4 5: 6: reply distance = jackal = 50 7: reach distance...REPORT = CRS RANGE REPORT 8: MY SHIP = archie 9: MY FRIEND = betty 10: MY CONTACT = jackal 11: MY BEST GUESS = besttarget 12: MY AVG GUESS = avgtarget 13

Hardware-in-the-loop simulation for undersea vehicle applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kelf, Michael A.

2001-08-01

Torpedoes and other Unmanned Undersea Vehicles (UUV) are employed by submarines and surface combatants, as well as aircraft, for undersea warfare. These vehicles are autonomous devices whose guidance systems rival the complexity of the most sophisticated air combat missiles. The tactical environment for undersea warfare is a difficult one in terms of target detection,k classification, and pursuit because of the physics of underwater sounds. Both hardware-in-the-loop and all-digital simulations have become vital tools in developing and evaluating undersea weapon and vehicle guidance performance in the undersea environment.

Simple autonomous Mars walker

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Larimer, Stanley J.; Lisec, Thomas R.; Spiessbach, Andrew J.

1989-01-01

Under a contract with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Martin Marietta has developed several alternative rover concepts for unmanned exploration of the planet Mars. One of those concepts, the 'Walking Beam', is the subject of this paper. This concept was developed with the goal of achieving many of the capabilities of more sophisticated articulated-leg walkers with a much simpler, more robust, less computationally demanding and more power efficient design. It consists of two large-base tripods nested one within the other which alternately translate with respect to each other along a 5-meter beam to propel the vehicle. The semiautonomous navigation system relies on terrain geometry sensors and tacticle feedback from each foot to autonomously select a path which avoids hazards along a route designated from earth. Both mobility and navigation features of this concept are discussed including a top-level description of the vehicle's physical characteristics, deployment strategy, mobility elements, sensor suite, theory of operation, navigation and control processes, and estimated performance.

Data Retrieved by ARCADE-R2 Experiment On Board the BEXUS-17 Balloon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barbetta, M.; Branz, F.; Carron, A.; Olivieri, L.; Prendin, J.; Sansone, F.; Savioli, L.; Spinello, F.; Francesconi, A.

2015-09-01

The Autonomous Rendezvous, Control And Docking Experiment — Reflight 2 (ARCADE-R2) is a technology demonstrator aiming to prove automatic attitude determination and control, rendezvous and docking capabilities for small scale spacecraft and aircraft. The development of such capabilities could be fundamental to create, in the near future, fleets of cooperative, autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles for mapping, surveillance, inspection and remote observation of hazardous environments; small-class satellites could also benefit from the employment of docking systems to extend and reconfigure their mission profiles. ARCADE-R2 is designed to test these technologies on a stratospheric flight on board the BEXUS-17 balloon, allowing to demonstrate them in a harsh environment subjected to gusty winds and high pressure and temperature variations. In this paper, ARCADE-R2 architecture is introduced and the main results obtained from a stratospheric balloon flight are presented.

Interesting viewpoints to those who will put Ada into practice

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Carlsson, Arne

1986-01-01

Ada will most probably be used as the programming language for computers in the NASA Space Station. It is reasonable to suppose that Ada will be used for at least embedded computers, because the high software costs for these embedded computers were the reason why Ada activities were initiated about ten years ago. The on-board computers are designed for use in space applications, where maintenance by man is impossible. All manipulation of such computers has to be performed in an autonomous way or remote with commands from the ground. In a manned Space Station some maintenance work can be performed by service people on board, but there are still a lot of applications, which require autonomous computers, for example, vital Space Station functions and unmanned orbital transfer vehicles. Those aspect which have come out of the analysis of Ada characteristics together with the experience of requirements for embedded on-board computers in space applications are examined.

Helicopter flight test of 3D imaging flash LIDAR technology for safe, autonomous, and precise planetary landing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roback, Vincent; Bulyshev, Alexander; Amzajerdian, Farzin; Reisse, Robert

2013-05-01

Two flash lidars, integrated from a number of cutting-edge components from industry and NASA, are lab characterized and flight tested for determination of maximum operational range under the Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology (ALHAT) project (in its fourth development and field test cycle) which is seeking to develop a guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) and sensing system based on lidar technology capable of enabling safe, precise crewed or robotic landings in challenging terrain on planetary bodies under any ambient lighting conditions. The flash lidars incorporate pioneering 3-D imaging cameras based on Indium-Gallium-Arsenide Avalanche Photo Diode (InGaAs APD) and novel micro-electronic technology for a 128 x 128 pixel array operating at 30 Hz, high pulse-energy 1.06 μm Nd:YAG lasers, and high performance transmitter and receiver fixed and zoom optics. The two flash lidars are characterized on the NASA-Langley Research Center (LaRC) Sensor Test Range, integrated with other portions of the ALHAT GNC system from partner organizations into an instrument pod at NASA-JPL, integrated onto an Erickson Aircrane Helicopter at NASA-Dryden, and flight tested at the Edwards AFB Rogers dry lakebed over a field of humanmade geometric hazards during the summer of 2010. Results show that the maximum operational range goal of 1 km is met and exceeded up to a value of 1.2 km. In addition, calibrated 3-D images of several hazards are acquired in realtime for later reconstruction into Digital Elevation Maps (DEM's).

A Super-Resolution Algorithm for Enhancement of FLASH LIDAR Data: Flight Test Results

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bulyshev, Alexander; Amzajerdian, Farzin; Roback, Eric; Reisse Robert

2014-01-01

This paper describes the results of a 3D super-resolution algorithm applied to the range data obtained from a recent Flash Lidar helicopter flight test. The flight test was conducted by the NASA's Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology (ALHAT) project over a simulated lunar terrain facility at NASA Kennedy Space Center. ALHAT is developing the technology for safe autonomous landing on the surface of celestial bodies: Moon, Mars, asteroids. One of the test objectives was to verify the ability of 3D super-resolution technique to generate high resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) and to determine time resolved relative positions and orientations of the vehicle. 3D super-resolution algorithm was developed earlier and tested in computational modeling, and laboratory experiments, and in a few dynamic experiments using a moving truck. Prior to the helicopter flight test campaign, a 100mX100m hazard field was constructed having most of the relevant extraterrestrial hazard: slopes, rocks, and craters with different sizes. Data were collected during the flight and then processed by the super-resolution code. The detailed DEM of the hazard field was constructed using independent measurement to be used for comparison. ALHAT navigation system data were used to verify abilities of super-resolution method to provide accurate relative navigation information. Namely, the 6 degree of freedom state vector of the instrument as a function of time was restored from super-resolution data. The results of comparisons show that the super-resolution method can construct high quality DEMs and allows for identifying hazards like rocks and craters within the accordance of ALHAT requirements.

A super-resolution algorithm for enhancement of flash lidar data: flight test results

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bulyshev, Alexander; Amzajerdian, Farzin; Roback, Eric; Reisse, Robert

2013-03-01

This paper describes the results of a 3D super-resolution algorithm applied to the range data obtained from a recent Flash Lidar helicopter flight test. The flight test was conducted by the NASA's Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology (ALHAT) project over a simulated lunar terrain facility at NASA Kennedy Space Center. ALHAT is developing the technology for safe autonomous landing on the surface of celestial bodies: Moon, Mars, asteroids. One of the test objectives was to verify the ability of 3D super-resolution technique to generate high resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) and to determine time resolved relative positions and orientations of the vehicle. 3D super-resolution algorithm was developed earlier and tested in computational modeling, and laboratory experiments, and in a few dynamic experiments using a moving truck. Prior to the helicopter flight test campaign, a 100mX100m hazard field was constructed having most of the relevant extraterrestrial hazard: slopes, rocks, and craters with different sizes. Data were collected during the flight and then processed by the super-resolution code. The detailed DEM of the hazard field was constructed using independent measurement to be used for comparison. ALHAT navigation system data were used to verify abilities of super-resolution method to provide accurate relative navigation information. Namely, the 6 degree of freedom state vector of the instrument as a function of time was restored from super-resolution data. The results of comparisons show that the super-resolution method can construct high quality DEMs and allows for identifying hazards like rocks and craters within the accordance of ALHAT requirements.

Helicopter Flight Test of 3-D Imaging Flash LIDAR Technology for Safe, Autonomous, and Precise Planetary Landing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roback, Vincent; Bulyshev, Alexander; Amzajerdian, Farzin; Reisse, Robert

2013-01-01

Two flash lidars, integrated from a number of cutting-edge components from industry and NASA, are lab characterized and flight tested for determination of maximum operational range under the Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology (ALHAT) project (in its fourth development and field test cycle) which is seeking to develop a guidance, navigation, and control (GN&C) and sensing system based on lidar technology capable of enabling safe, precise crewed or robotic landings in challenging terrain on planetary bodies under any ambient lighting conditions. The flash lidars incorporate pioneering 3-D imaging cameras based on Indium-Gallium-Arsenide Avalanche Photo Diode (InGaAs APD) and novel micro-electronic technology for a 128 x 128 pixel array operating at 30 Hz, high pulse-energy 1.06 micrometer Nd:YAG lasers, and high performance transmitter and receiver fixed and zoom optics. The two flash lidars are characterized on the NASA-Langley Research Center (LaRC) Sensor Test Range, integrated with other portions of the ALHAT GN&C system from partner organizations into an instrument pod at NASA-JPL, integrated onto an Erickson Aircrane Helicopter at NASA-Dryden, and flight tested at the Edwards AFB Rogers dry lakebed over a field of human-made geometric hazards during the summer of 2010. Results show that the maximum operational range goal of 1 km is met and exceeded up to a value of 1.2 km. In addition, calibrated 3-D images of several hazards are acquired in real-time for later reconstruction into Digital Elevation Maps (DEM's).

Architecture for autonomy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Broten, Gregory S.; Monckton, Simon P.; Collier, Jack; Giesbrecht, Jared

2006-05-01

In 2002 Defence R&D Canada changed research direction from pure tele-operated land vehicles to general autonomy for land, air, and sea craft. The unique constraints of the military environment coupled with the complexity of autonomous systems drove DRDC to carefully plan a research and development infrastructure that would provide state of the art tools without restricting research scope. DRDC's long term objectives for its autonomy program address disparate unmanned ground vehicle (UGV), unattended ground sensor (UGS), air (UAV), and subsea and surface (UUV and USV) vehicles operating together with minimal human oversight. Individually, these systems will range in complexity from simple reconnaissance mini-UAVs streaming video to sophisticated autonomous combat UGVs exploiting embedded and remote sensing. Together, these systems can provide low risk, long endurance, battlefield services assuming they can communicate and cooperate with manned and unmanned systems. A key enabling technology for this new research is a software architecture capable of meeting both DRDC's current and future requirements. DRDC built upon recent advances in the computing science field while developing its software architecture know as the Architecture for Autonomy (AFA). Although a well established practice in computing science, frameworks have only recently entered common use by unmanned vehicles. For industry and government, the complexity, cost, and time to re-implement stable systems often exceeds the perceived benefits of adopting a modern software infrastructure. Thus, most persevere with legacy software, adapting and modifying software when and wherever possible or necessary -- adopting strategic software frameworks only when no justifiable legacy exists. Conversely, academic programs with short one or two year projects frequently exploit strategic software frameworks but with little enduring impact. The open-source movement radically changes this picture. Academic frameworks, open to public scrutiny and modification, now rival commercial frameworks in both quality and economic impact. Further, industry now realizes that open source frameworks can reduce cost and risk of systems engineering. This paper describes the Architecture for Autonomy implemented by DRDC and how this architecture meets DRDC's current needs. It also presents an argument for why this architecture should also satisfy DRDC's future requirements as well.

GaN-based THz advanced quantum cascade lasers for manned and unmanned systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anwar, A. F. M.; Manzur, Tariq; Lefebvre, Kevin R.; Carapezza, Edward M.

2009-09-01

In recent years the use of Unmanned Autonomous Vehicles (UAV) has seen a wider range of applications. However, their applications are restricted due to (a) advanced integrated sensing and processing electronics and (b) limited energy storage or on-board energy generation to name a few. The availability of a wide variety of sensing elements, operating at room temperatures, provides a great degree of flexibility with an extended application domain. Though sensors responding to a variable spectrum of input excitations ranging from (a) chemical, (b) biological, (c) atmospheric, (d) magnetic and (e) visual/IR imaging have been implemented in UAVs, the use of THz as a technology has not been implemented due to the absence of systems operating at room temperature. The integration of multi-phenomenological onboard sensors on small and miniature unmanned air vehicles will dramatically impact the detection and processing of challenging targets, such as humans carrying weapons or wearing suicide bomb vests. Unmanned air vehicles have the potential of flying over crowds of people and quickly discriminating non-threat humans from treat humans. The state of the art in small and miniature UAV's has progressed to vehicles of less than 1 pound in weight but with payloads of only a fraction of a pound. Uncooled IR sensors, such as amorphous silicon and vanadium oxide microbolometers with MRT's of less than 70mK and requiring power of less than 250mW, are available for integration into small UAV's. These sensors are responsive only up to approximately 14 microns and do not favorably compare with THz imaging systems for remotely detecting and classifying concealed weapons and bombs. In the following we propose the use of THz GaN-based QCL operating at room temperature as a possible alternative.

Synthesis of the unmanned aerial vehicle remote control augmentation system

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tomczyk, Andrzej, E-mail: A.Tomczyk@prz.edu.pl

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 notmore » 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.« less

Development of a highly maneuverable unmanned underwater vehicle on the basis of quad-copter dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amin, Osman Md; Karim, Md. Arshadul; Saad, Abdullah His

2017-12-01

At present, research on unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) has become a significant & familiar topic for researchers from various engineering fields. UUV is of mainly two types - AUV (Autonomous Underwater vehicle) & ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle). There exist a significant number of published research papers on UUV, where very few researchers emphasize on the ease of maneuvering and control of UUV. Maneuvering is important for underwater vehicle in avoiding obstacles, installing underwater piping system, searching undersea resources, underwater mine disposal operations, oceanographic surveys etc. A team from Dept. of Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering of MIST has taken a project to design a highly maneuverable unmanned underwater vehicle on the basis of quad-copter dynamics. The main objective of the research is to develop a control system for UUV which would be able to maneuver the vehicle in six DOF (Degrees of Freedom) with great ease. For this purpose we are not only focusing on controllability but also designing an efficient hull with minimal drag force & optimized propeller using CFD technique. Motors were selected on the basis of the simulated thrust generated by propellers in ANSYS Fluent software module. Settings for control parameters to carry out different types of maneuvering such as hovering, spiral, one point rotation about its centroid, gliding, rolling, drifting and zigzag motions were explained in short at the end.

Determinants of system transparency and its influence on trust in and reliance on unmanned robotic systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ososky, Scott; Sanders, Tracy; Jentsch, Florian; Hancock, Peter; Chen, Jessie Y. C.

2014-06-01

Increasingly autonomous robotic systems are expected to play a vital role in aiding humans in complex and dangerous environments. It is unlikely, however, that such systems will be able to consistently operate with perfect reliability. Even less than 100% reliable systems can provide a significant benefit to humans, but this benefit will depend on a human operator's ability to understand a robot's behaviors and states. The notion of system transparency is examined as a vital aspect of robotic design, for maintaining humans' trust in and reliance on increasingly automated platforms. System transparency is described as the degree to which a system's action, or the intention of an action, is apparent to human operators and/or observers. While the physical designs of robotic systems have been demonstrated to greatly influence humans' impressions of robots, determinants of transparency between humans and robots are not solely robot-centric. Our approach considers transparency as emergent property of the human-robot system. In this paper, we present insights from our interdisciplinary efforts to improve the transparency of teams made up of humans and unmanned robots. These near-futuristic teams are those in which robot agents will autonomously collaborate with humans to achieve task goals. This paper demonstrates how factors such as human-robot communication and human mental models regarding robots impact a human's ability to recognize the actions or states of an automated system. Furthermore, we will discuss the implications of system transparency on other critical HRI factors such as situation awareness, operator workload, and perceptions of trust.

Unmanned Ground Vehicle for Autonomous Non-Destructive Testing of FRP Bridge Decks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klinkhachorn, P.; Mercer, A. Scott; Halabe, Udaya B.; GangaRao, Hota V. S.

2007-03-01

Current non-destructive techniques for defect analysis of FRP bridge decks have a narrow scope. These techniques are very good at detecting certain types of defects but are not robust enough to detect all defects by themselves. For example, infrared thermography (IRT) can detect air filled defects and Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) is good at detecting water filled ones. These technologies can be combined to create a more robust defect detection scheme. To accomplish this, an Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) has been designed that incorporates both IR and GPR analysis to create a comprehensive defect map of a bridge deck. The UGV autonomously surveys the deck surface and acquires data. The UGV has two 1.5 GHz ground coupled GPR antennas that are mounted on the front of the UGV to collect GPR data. It also incorporates an active heating source and a radiometric IR camera to capture IR images of the deck, even in less than ideal weather scenarios such as cold cloudy days. The UGV is designed so that it can collect data in an assembly line fashion. It moves in 1 foot increments. When moving, it collects GPR data from the two antennas. When it stops it heats a section of the deck. The next time it stops to heat a section, the IR camera is analyzing the preheated deck section while preparing for the next section. Because the data is being continually collected using this method, the UGV can survey the entire deck in an efficient and timely manner.

HYPGEO - A collaboration between geophysics and remote sensing for mineral exploration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meyer, Uwe; Frei, Michaela; Petersen, Hauke; Papenfuß, Anne; Ibs-von Seht, Malte; Stolz, Ronny; Queitsch, Matthias; Buchholz, Peter; Siemon, Bernhard

2017-04-01

The German Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) aims to promote and design application oriented, generic techniques for the detection and 3D-characterisation of mineral deposits. Most newly developed mineral mining structures are still exploiting near surface sources. Since exploration and exploitation of mineral resources are increasingly under public review concerning environmental issues and social acceptance, non-invasive methods using satellites, fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters or unmanned aerial vehicles are preferred techniques within this investigation. Therefore, a data combination of helicopter-borne gamma ray spectrometry, hyperspectral imagery and full tensor gradient magnetometry is being evaluated. Test areas are open pit mining structures in Aznalcollar and Tharsis within the Pyrite Belt of southern Spain. First test flights using gamma-ray spectrometry and gradient magnetometry using SQUID-based sensors have been performed. Hyperspectral imagery has been applied on ground. Rock and core samples from the mines have been taken or investigated for further analysis. The basic idea is to combine surface triggered signals from gamma-ray spectrometry and hyperspectral imagery to enhance the detection of shallow mineralisation structures. In order to investigate whether these structures are connected with near-surface ore veins, gradient magnetometry was applied to model subsurface formations. To verify that good correlations between the applied methods are given, open pit mining structures were chosen, where the mineral content and the local to regional geology is well known.

Discussion and Practical Aspects on Control Allocation for a Multi-Rotor Helicopter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ducard, G. J. J.; Hua, M.-D.

2011-09-01

This paper presents practical methods to improve the flight performance of an unmanned multi-rotor helicopter by using an efficient control allocation strategy. The flying vehicle considered is an hexacopter. It is indeed particularly suited for long missions and for carrying a significant payload such as all the sensors needed in the context of cartography, photogrammetry, inspection, surveillance and transportation. Moreover, a stable flight is often required for precise data recording during the mission. Therefore, a high performance flight control system is required to operate the UAV. However, the flight performance of a multi-rotor vehicle is tightly dependent on the control allocation strategy that is used to map the virtual control vector v = [T, L, M, N ]T composed of the thrust and the torques in roll, pitch and yaw, respectively, to the propellers' speed. This paper shows that a control allocation strategy based on the classical approach of pseudo-inverse matrix only exploits a limited range of the vehicle capabilities to generate thrust and moments. Thus, in this paper, a novel approach is presented, which is based on a weighted pseudo-inverse matrix method capable of exploiting a much larger domain in v. The proposed control allocation algorithm is designed with explicit laws for fast operation and low computational load, suitable for a small microcontroller with limited floating-point operation capability.

Efficient Forest Fire Detection Index for Application in Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs)

PubMed Central

Cruz, Henry; Eckert, Martina; Meneses, Juan; Martínez, José-Fernán

2016-01-01

This article proposes a novel method for detecting forest fires, through the use of a new color index, called the Forest Fire Detection Index (FFDI), developed by the authors. The index is based on methods for vegetation classification and has been adapted to detect the tonalities of flames and smoke; the latter could be included adaptively into the Regions of Interest (RoIs) with the help of a variable factor. Multiple tests have been performed upon database imagery and present promising results: a detection precision of 96.82% has been achieved for image sizes of 960 × 540 pixels at a processing time of 0.0447 seconds. This achievement would lead to a performance of 22 f/s, for smaller images, while up to 54 f/s could be reached by maintaining a similar detection precision. Additional tests have been performed on fires in their early stages, achieving a precision rate of p = 96.62%. The method could be used in real-time in Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs), with the aim of monitoring a wider area than through fixed surveillance systems. Thus, it would result in more cost-effective outcomes than conventional systems implemented in helicopters or satellites. UASs could also reach inaccessible locations without jeopardizing people’s safety. On-going work includes implementation into a commercially available drone. PMID:27322264

Flight Test Result for the Ground-Based Radio Navigation System Sensor with an Unmanned Air Vehicle

PubMed Central

Jang, Jaegyu; Ahn, Woo-Guen; Seo, Seungwoo; Lee, Jang Yong; Park, Jun-Pyo

2015-01-01

The Ground-based Radio Navigation System (GRNS) is an alternative/backup navigation system based on time synchronized pseudolites. It has been studied for some years due to the potential vulnerability issue of satellite navigation systems (e.g., GPS or Galileo). In the framework of our study, a periodic pulsed sequence was used instead of the randomized pulse sequence recommended as the RTCM (radio technical commission for maritime services) SC (special committee)-104 pseudolite signal, as a randomized pulse sequence with a long dwell time is not suitable for applications requiring high dynamics. This paper introduces a mathematical model of the post-correlation output in a navigation sensor, showing that the aliasing caused by the additional frequency term of a periodic pulsed signal leads to a false lock (i.e., Doppler frequency bias) during the signal acquisition process or in the carrier tracking loop of the navigation sensor. We suggest algorithms to resolve the frequency false lock issue in this paper, relying on the use of a multi-correlator. A flight test with an unmanned helicopter was conducted to verify the implemented navigation sensor. The results of this analysis show that there were no false locks during the flight test and that outliers stem from bad dilution of precision (DOP) or fluctuations in the received signal quality. PMID:26569251

Semantic Likelihood Models for Bayesian Inference in Human-Robot Interaction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sweet, Nicholas

Autonomous systems, particularly unmanned aerial systems (UAS), remain limited in au- tonomous capabilities largely due to a poor understanding of their environment. Current sensors simply do not match human perceptive capabilities, impeding progress towards full autonomy. Recent work has shown the value of humans as sources of information within a human-robot team; in target applications, communicating human-generated 'soft data' to autonomous systems enables higher levels of autonomy through large, efficient information gains. This requires development of a 'human sensor model' that allows soft data fusion through Bayesian inference to update the probabilistic belief representations maintained by autonomous systems. Current human sensor models that capture linguistic inputs as semantic information are limited in their ability to generalize likelihood functions for semantic statements: they may be learned from dense data; they do not exploit the contextual information embedded within groundings; and they often limit human input to restrictive and simplistic interfaces. This work provides mechanisms to synthesize human sensor models from constraints based on easily attainable a priori knowledge, develops compression techniques to capture information-dense semantics, and investigates the problem of capturing and fusing semantic information contained within unstructured natural language. A robotic experimental testbed is also developed to validate the above contributions.

PointCom: semi-autonomous UGV control with intuitive interface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rohde, Mitchell M.; Perlin, Victor E.; Iagnemma, Karl D.; Lupa, Robert M.; Rohde, Steven M.; Overholt, James; Fiorani, Graham

2008-04-01

Unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) will play an important role in the nation's next-generation ground force. Advances in sensing, control, and computing have enabled a new generation of technologies that bridge the gap between manual UGV teleoperation and full autonomy. In this paper, we present current research on a unique command and control system for UGVs named PointCom (Point-and-Go Command). PointCom is a semi-autonomous command system for one or multiple UGVs. The system, when complete, will be easy to operate and will enable significant reduction in operator workload by utilizing an intuitive image-based control framework for UGV navigation and allowing a single operator to command multiple UGVs. The project leverages new image processing algorithms for monocular visual servoing and odometry to yield a unique, high-performance fused navigation system. Human Computer Interface (HCI) techniques from the entertainment software industry are being used to develop video-game style interfaces that require little training and build upon the navigation capabilities. By combining an advanced navigation system with an intuitive interface, a semi-autonomous control and navigation system is being created that is robust, user friendly, and less burdensome than many current generation systems. mand).

Preliminary study of a millimeter wave FMCW InSAR for UAS indoor navigation.

PubMed

Scannapieco, Antonio F; Renga, Alfredo; Moccia, Antonio

2015-01-22

Small autonomous unmanned aerial systems (UAS) could be used for indoor inspection in emergency missions, such as damage assessment or the search for survivors in dangerous environments, e.g., power plants, underground railways, mines and industrial warehouses. Two basic functions are required to carry out these tasks, that is autonomous GPS-denied navigation with obstacle detection and high-resolution 3Dmapping with moving target detection. State-of-the-art sensors for UAS are very sensitive to environmental conditions and often fail in the case of poor visibility caused by dust, fog, smoke, flames or other factors that are met as nominal mission scenarios when operating indoors. This paper is a preliminary study concerning an innovative radar sensor based on the interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) principle, which has the potential to satisfy stringent requirements set by indoor autonomous operation. An architectural solution based on a frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW) scheme is proposed after a detailed analysis of existing compact and lightweight SAR. A preliminary system design is obtained, and the main imaging peculiarities of the novel sensor are discussed, demonstrating that high-resolution, high-quality observation of an assigned control volume can be achieved.

Preliminary Study of a Millimeter Wave FMCW InSAR for UAS Indoor Navigation

PubMed Central

Scannapieco, Antonio F.; Renga, Alfredo; Moccia, Antonio

2015-01-01

Small autonomous unmanned aerial systems (UAS) could be used for indoor inspection in emergency missions, such as damage assessment or the search for survivors in dangerous environments, e.g., power plants, underground railways, mines and industrial warehouses. Two basic functions are required to carry out these tasks, that is autonomous GPS-denied navigation with obstacle detection and high-resolution 3D mapping with moving target detection. State-of-the-art sensors for UAS are very sensitive to environmental conditions and often fail in the case of poor visibility caused by dust, fog, smoke, flames or other factors that are met as nominal mission scenarios when operating indoors. This paper is a preliminary study concerning an innovative radar sensor based on the interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) principle, which has the potential to satisfy stringent requirements set by indoor autonomous operation. An architectural solution based on a frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW) scheme is proposed after a detailed analysis of existing compact and lightweight SAR. A preliminary system design is obtained, and the main imaging peculiarities of the novel sensor are discussed, demonstrating that high-resolution, high-quality observation of an assigned control volume can be achieved. PMID:25621606

SNC’s Dream Chaser Achieves Successful Free Flight at NASA Armstrong

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-11-17

Sierra Nevada Corporation's Dream Chaser® spacecraft underwent a successful free-flight test on November 11, 2017 at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. The test verified and validated the performance of the Dream Chaser in the critical final approach and landing phase of flight, meeting expected models for a future return from the International Space Station. The full-scale Dream Chaser test vehicle was lifted to 12,400 feet altitude by a 234-UT Chinook helicopter, released and flew a pre-planned flight path ending with a successful autonomous landing.

Multidisciplinary unmanned technology teammate (MUTT)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Uzunovic, Nenad; Schneider, Anne; Lacaze, Alberto; Murphy, Karl; Del Giorno, Mark

2013-01-01

The U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) held an autonomous robot competition called CANINE in June 2012. The goal of the competition was to develop innovative and natural control methods for robots. This paper describes the winning technology, including the vision system, the operator interaction, and the autonomous mobility. The rules stated only gestures or voice commands could be used for control. The robots would learn a new object at the start of each phase, find the object after it was thrown into a field, and return the object to the operator. Each of the six phases became more difficult, including clutter of the same color or shape as the object, moving and stationary obstacles, and finding the operator who moved from the starting location to a new location. The Robotic Research Team integrated techniques in computer vision, speech recognition, object manipulation, and autonomous navigation. A multi-filter computer vision solution reliably detected the objects while rejecting objects of similar color or shape, even while the robot was in motion. A speech-based interface with short commands provided close to natural communication of complicated commands from the operator to the robot. An innovative gripper design allowed for efficient object pickup. A robust autonomous mobility and navigation solution for ground robotic platforms provided fast and reliable obstacle avoidance and course navigation. The research approach focused on winning the competition while remaining cognizant and relevant to real world applications.

Collaborative autonomous sensing with Bayesians in the loop

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahmed, Nisar

2016-10-01

There is a strong push to develop intelligent unmanned autonomy that complements human reasoning for applications as diverse as wilderness search and rescue, military surveillance, and robotic space exploration. More than just replacing humans for `dull, dirty and dangerous' work, autonomous agents are expected to cope with a whole host of uncertainties while working closely together with humans in new situations. The robotics revolution firmly established the primacy of Bayesian algorithms for tackling challenging perception, learning and decision-making problems. Since the next frontier of autonomy demands the ability to gather information across stretches of time and space that are beyond the reach of a single autonomous agent, the next generation of Bayesian algorithms must capitalize on opportunities to draw upon the sensing and perception abilities of humans-in/on-the-loop. This work summarizes our recent research toward harnessing `human sensors' for information gathering tasks. The basic idea behind is to allow human end users (i.e. non-experts in robotics, statistics, machine learning, etc.) to directly `talk to' the information fusion engine and perceptual processes aboard any autonomous agent. Our approach is grounded in rigorous Bayesian modeling and fusion of flexible semantic information derived from user-friendly interfaces, such as natural language chat and locative hand-drawn sketches. This naturally enables `plug and play' human sensing with existing probabilistic algorithms for planning and perception, and has been successfully demonstrated with human-robot teams in target localization applications.

Autonomous collection of dynamically-cued multi-sensor imagery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Daniel, Brian; Wilson, Michael L.; Edelberg, Jason; Jensen, Mark; Johnson, Troy; Anderson, Scott

2011-05-01

The availability of imagery simultaneously collected from sensors of disparate modalities enhances an image analyst's situational awareness and expands the overall detection capability to a larger array of target classes. Dynamic cooperation between sensors is increasingly important for the collection of coincident data from multiple sensors either on the same or on different platforms suitable for UAV deployment. Of particular interest is autonomous collaboration between wide area survey detection, high-resolution inspection, and RF sensors that span large segments of the electromagnetic spectrum. The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in conjunction with the Space Dynamics Laboratory (SDL) is building sensors with such networked communications capability and is conducting field tests to demonstrate the feasibility of collaborative sensor data collection and exploitation. Example survey / detection sensors include: NuSAR (NRL Unmanned SAR), a UAV compatible synthetic aperture radar system; microHSI, an NRL developed lightweight hyper-spectral imager; RASAR (Real-time Autonomous SAR), a lightweight podded synthetic aperture radar; and N-WAPSS-16 (Nighttime Wide-Area Persistent Surveillance Sensor-16Mpix), a MWIR large array gimbaled system. From these sensors, detected target cues are automatically sent to the NRL/SDL developed EyePod, a high-resolution, narrow FOV EO/IR sensor, for target inspection. In addition to this cooperative data collection, EyePod's real-time, autonomous target tracking capabilities will be demonstrated. Preliminary results and target analysis will be presented.

System of technical vision for autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bondarchuk, A. S.

2018-05-01

This paper is devoted to the implementation of image recognition algorithm using the LabVIEW software. The created virtual instrument is designed to detect the objects on the frames from the camera mounted on the UAV. The trained classifier is invariant to changes in rotation, as well as to small changes in the camera's viewing angle. Finding objects in the image using particle analysis, allows you to classify regions of different sizes. This method allows the system of technical vision to more accurately determine the location of the objects of interest and their movement relative to the camera.

Platelets as autonomous drones for hemostatic and immune surveillance.

PubMed

Li, Jackson LiangYao; Zarbock, Alexander; Hidalgo, Andrés

2017-07-18

Platelets participate in many important physiological processes, including hemostasis and immunity. However, despite their broad participation in these evolutionarily critical roles, the anucleate platelet is uniquely mammalian. In contrast with the large nucleated equivalents in lower vertebrates, we find that the design template for the evolutionary specialization of platelets shares remarkable similarities with human-engineered unmanned aerial vehicles in terms of overall autonomy, maneuverability, and expendability. Here, we review evidence illustrating how platelets are uniquely suited for surveillance and the manner in which they consequently provide various types of support to other cell types. © 2017 Li et al.

Vision systems for manned and robotic ground vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sanders-Reed, John N.; Koon, Phillip L.

2010-04-01

A Distributed Aperture Vision System for ground vehicles is described. An overview of the hardware including sensor pod, processor, video compression, and displays is provided. This includes a discussion of the choice between an integrated sensor pod and individually mounted sensors, open architecture design, and latency issues as well as flat panel versus head mounted displays. This technology is applied to various ground vehicle scenarios, including closed-hatch operations (operator in the vehicle), remote operator tele-operation, and supervised autonomy for multi-vehicle unmanned convoys. In addition, remote vision for automatic perimeter surveillance using autonomous vehicles and automatic detection algorithms is demonstrated.

Analysis and design of a capsule landing system and surface vehicle control system for Mars exploration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gisser, D. G.; Frederick, D. K.; Lashmet, P. K.; Sandor, G. N.; Shen, C. N.; Yerazunis, S. Y.

1975-01-01

Problems related to an unmanned exploration of the planet Mars by means of an autonomous roving planetary vehicle are investigated. These problems include: design, construction and evaluation of the vehicle itself and its control and operating systems. More specifically, vehicle configuration, dynamics, control, propulsion, hazard detection systems, terrain sensing and modelling, obstacle detection concepts, path selection, decision-making systems, and chemical analyses of samples are studied. Emphasis is placed on development of a vehicle capable of gathering specimens and data for an Augmented Viking Mission or to provide the basis for a Sample Return Mission.

Autonomous landing and ingress of micro-air-vehicles in urban environments based on monocular vision

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brockers, Roland; Bouffard, Patrick; Ma, Jeremy; Matthies, Larry; Tomlin, Claire

2011-06-01

Unmanned micro air vehicles (MAVs) will play an important role in future reconnaissance and search and rescue applications. In order to conduct persistent surveillance and to conserve energy, MAVs need the ability to land, and they need the ability to enter (ingress) buildings and other structures to conduct reconnaissance. To be safe and practical under a wide range of environmental conditions, landing and ingress maneuvers must be autonomous, using real-time, onboard sensor feedback. To address these key behaviors, we present a novel method for vision-based autonomous MAV landing and ingress using a single camera for two urban scenarios: landing on an elevated surface, representative of a rooftop, and ingress through a rectangular opening, representative of a door or window. Real-world scenarios will not include special navigation markers, so we rely on tracking arbitrary scene features; however, we do currently exploit planarity of the scene. Our vision system uses a planar homography decomposition to detect navigation targets and to produce approach waypoints as inputs to the vehicle control algorithm. Scene perception, planning, and control run onboard in real-time; at present we obtain aircraft position knowledge from an external motion capture system, but we expect to replace this in the near future with a fully self-contained, onboard, vision-aided state estimation algorithm. We demonstrate autonomous vision-based landing and ingress target detection with two different quadrotor MAV platforms. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of onboard, vision-based autonomous landing and ingress algorithms that do not use special purpose scene markers to identify the destination.

Autonomous Landing and Ingress of Micro-Air-Vehicles in Urban Environments Based on Monocular Vision

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brockers, Roland; Bouffard, Patrick; Ma, Jeremy; Matthies, Larry; Tomlin, Claire

2011-01-01

Unmanned micro air vehicles (MAVs) will play an important role in future reconnaissance and search and rescue applications. In order to conduct persistent surveillance and to conserve energy, MAVs need the ability to land, and they need the ability to enter (ingress) buildings and other structures to conduct reconnaissance. To be safe and practical under a wide range of environmental conditions, landing and ingress maneuvers must be autonomous, using real-time, onboard sensor feedback. To address these key behaviors, we present a novel method for vision-based autonomous MAV landing and ingress using a single camera for two urban scenarios: landing on an elevated surface, representative of a rooftop, and ingress through a rectangular opening, representative of a door or window. Real-world scenarios will not include special navigation markers, so we rely on tracking arbitrary scene features; however, we do currently exploit planarity of the scene. Our vision system uses a planar homography decomposition to detect navigation targets and to produce approach waypoints as inputs to the vehicle control algorithm. Scene perception, planning, and control run onboard in real-time; at present we obtain aircraft position knowledge from an external motion capture system, but we expect to replace this in the near future with a fully self-contained, onboard, vision-aided state estimation algorithm. We demonstrate autonomous vision-based landing and ingress target detection with two different quadrotor MAV platforms. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of onboard, vision-based autonomous landing and ingress algorithms that do not use special purpose scene markers to identify the destination.

Remote Marker-Based Tracking for UAV Landing Using Visible-Light Camera Sensor.

PubMed

Nguyen, Phong Ha; Kim, Ki Wan; Lee, Young Won; Park, Kang Ryoung

2017-08-30

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which are commonly known as drones, have proved to be useful not only on the battlefields where manned flight is considered too risky or difficult, but also in everyday life purposes such as surveillance, monitoring, rescue, unmanned cargo, aerial video, and photography. More advanced drones make use of global positioning system (GPS) receivers during the navigation and control loop which allows for smart GPS features of drone navigation. However, there are problems if the drones operate in heterogeneous areas with no GPS signal, so it is important to perform research into the development of UAVs with autonomous navigation and landing guidance using computer vision. In this research, we determined how to safely land a drone in the absence of GPS signals using our remote maker-based tracking algorithm based on the visible light camera sensor. The proposed method uses a unique marker designed as a tracking target during landing procedures. Experimental results show that our method significantly outperforms state-of-the-art object trackers in terms of both accuracy and processing time, and we perform test on an embedded system in various environments.

Modeling Aircraft Position and Conservatively Calculating Airspace Violations for an Autonomous Collision Awareness System for Unmanned Aerial Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ueunten, Kevin K.

With the scheduled 30 September 2015 integration of Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) into the national airspace, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is concerned with UAS capabilities to sense and avoid conflicts. Since the operator is outside the cockpit, the proposed collision awareness plugin (CAPlugin), based on probability and error propagation, conservatively predicts potential conflicts with other aircraft and airspaces, thus increasing the operator's situational awareness. The conflict predictions are calculated using a forward state estimator (FSE) and a conflict calculator. Predicting an aircraft's position, modeled as a mixed Gaussian distribution, is the FSE's responsibility. Furthermore, the FSE supports aircraft engaged in the following three flight modes: free flight, flight path following and orbits. The conflict calculator uses the FSE result to calculate the conflict probability between an aircraft and airspace or another aircraft. Finally, the CAPlugin determines the highest conflict probability and warns the operator. In addition to discussing the FSE free flight, FSE orbit and the airspace conflict calculator, this thesis describes how each algorithm is implemented and tested. Lastly two simulations demonstrates the CAPlugin's capabilities.

Utilization of 3D imaging flash lidar technology for autonomous safe landing on planetary bodies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amzajerdian, Farzin; Vanek, Michael; Petway, Larry; Pierrottet, Diego; Busch, George; Bulyshev, Alexander

2010-01-01

NASA considers Flash Lidar a critical technology for enabling autonomous safe landing of future large robotic and crewed vehicles on the surface of the Moon and Mars. Flash Lidar can generate 3-Dimensional images of the terrain to identify hazardous features such as craters, rocks, and steep slopes during the final stages of descent and landing. The onboard flight comptuer can use the 3-D map of terain to guide the vehicle to a safe site. The capabilities of Flash Lidar technology were evaluated through a series of static tests using a calibrated target and through dynamic tests aboard a helicopter and a fixed wing airctarft. The aircraft flight tests were perfomed over Moonlike terrain in the California and Nevada deserts. This paper briefly describes the Flash Lidar static and aircraft flight test results. These test results are analyzed against the landing application requirements to identify the areas of technology improvement. The ongoing technology advancement activities are then explained and their goals are described.

Utilization of 3-D Imaging Flash Lidar Technology for Autonomous Safe Landing on Planetary Bodies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Amzajerdian, Farzin; Vanek, Michael; Petway, Larry; Pierrotter, Diego; Busch, George; Bulyshev, Alexander

2010-01-01

NASA considers Flash Lidar a critical technology for enabling autonomous safe landing of future large robotic and crewed vehicles on the surface of the Moon and Mars. Flash Lidar can generate 3-Dimensional images of the terrain to identify hazardous features such as craters, rocks, and steep slopes during the final stages of descent and landing. The onboard flight computer can use the 3-D map of terrain to guide the vehicle to a safe site. The capabilities of Flash Lidar technology were evaluated through a series of static tests using a calibrated target and through dynamic tests aboard a helicopter and a fixed wing aircraft. The aircraft flight tests were performed over Moon-like terrain in the California and Nevada deserts. This paper briefly describes the Flash Lidar static and aircraft flight test results. These test results are analyzed against the landing application requirements to identify the areas of technology improvement. The ongoing technology advancement activities are then explained and their goals are described.

Networking Multiple Autonomous Air and Ocean Vehicles for Oceanographic Research and Monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McGillivary, P. A.; Borges de Sousa, J.; Rajan, K.

2013-12-01

Autonomous underwater and surface vessels (AUVs and ASVs) are coming into wider use as components of oceanographic research, including ocean observing systems. Unmanned airborne vehicles (UAVs) are now available at modest cost, allowing multiple UAVs to be deployed with multiple AUVs and ASVs. For optimal use good communication and coordination among vehicles is essential. We report on the use of multiple AUVs networked in communication with multiple UAVs. The UAVs are augmented by inferential reasoning software developed at MBARI that allows UAVs to recognize oceanographic fronts and change their navigation and control. This in turn allows UAVs to automatically to map frontal features, as well as to direct AUVs and ASVs to proceed to such features and conduct sampling via onboard sensors to provide validation for airborne mapping. ASVs can also act as data nodes for communication between UAVs and AUVs, as well as collecting data from onboard sensors, while AUVs can sample the water column vertically. This allows more accurate estimation of phytoplankton biomass and productivity, and can be used in conjunction with UAV sampling to determine air-sea flux of gases (e.g. CO2, CH4, DMS) affecting carbon budgets and atmospheric composition. In particular we describe tests in July 2013 conducted off Sesimbra, Portugal in conjunction with the Portuguese Navy by the University of Porto and MBARI with the goal of tracking large fish in the upper water column with coordinated air/surface/underwater measurements. A thermal gradient was observed in the infrared by a low flying UAV, which was used to dispatch an AUV to obtain ground truth to demonstrate the event-response capabilities using such autonomous platforms. Additional field studies in the future will facilitate integration of multiple unmanned systems into research vessel operations. The strength of hardware and software tools described in this study is to permit fundamental oceanographic measurements of both ocean and atmosphere over temporal and spatial scales that have previously been problematic. The methods demonstrated are particularly suited to the study of oceanographic fronts and for tracking and mapping oil spills or plankton blooms. With the networked coordination of multiple autonomous systems, individual components may be changed out while ocean observations continue, allowing coarse to fine spatial studies of hydrographic features over temporal dimensions that would otherwise be difficult, including diurnal and tidal periods. Constraints on these methods currently involve coordination of data archiving systems into shipboard operating systems, familiarization of oceanographers with these methods, and existing nearshore airspace use constraints on UAVs. An important outcome of these efforts is to understand the methodology for using multiple heterogeneous autonomous vehicles for targeted science exploration.

Society of Flight Test Engineers, Annual Symposium, 21st, Garden Grove, CA, Aug. 6-10, 1990, Proceedings

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1990-01-01

The present conference on flight testing encompasses avionics, flight-testing programs, technologies for flight-test predictions and measurements, testing tools, analysis methods, targeting techniques, and flightline testing. Specific issues addressed include flight testing of a digital terrain-following system, a digital Doppler rate-of-descent indicator, a high-technology testbed, a low-altitude air-refueling flight-test program, techniques for in-flight frequency-response testing for helicopters, limit-cycle oscillation and flight-flutter testing, and the research flight test of a scaled unmanned air vehicle. Also addressed are AV-8B V/STOL performance analysis, incorporating pilot-response time in failure-case testing, the development of pitot static flightline testing, targeting techniques for ground-based hover testing, a low-profilemore » microsensor for aerodynamic pressure measurement, and the use of a variable-capacitance accelerometer for flight-test measurements.« less

GPS navigation algorithms for Autonomous Airborne Refueling of Unmanned Air Vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khanafseh, Samer Mahmoud

Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs) have recently generated great interest because of their potential to perform hazardous missions without risking loss of life. If autonomous airborne refueling is possible for UAVs, mission range and endurance will be greatly enhanced. However, concerns about UAV-tanker proximity, dynamic mobility and safety demand that the relative navigation system meets stringent requirements on accuracy, integrity, and continuity. In response, this research focuses on developing high-performance GPS-based navigation architectures for Autonomous Airborne Refueling (AAR) of UAVs. The AAR mission is unique because of the potentially severe sky blockage introduced by the tanker. To address this issue, a high-fidelity dynamic sky blockage model was developed and experimentally validated. In addition, robust carrier phase differential GPS navigation algorithms were derived, including a new method for high-integrity reacquisition of carrier cycle ambiguities for recently-blocked satellites. In order to evaluate navigation performance, world-wide global availability and sensitivity covariance analyses were conducted. The new navigation algorithms were shown to be sufficient for turn-free scenarios, but improvement in performance was necessary to meet the difficult requirements for a general refueling mission with banked turns. Therefore, several innovative methods were pursued to enhance navigation performance. First, a new theoretical approach was developed to quantify the position-domain integrity risk in cycle ambiguity resolution problems. A mechanism to implement this method with partially-fixed cycle ambiguity vectors was derived, and it was used to define tight upper bounds on AAR navigation integrity risk. A second method, where a new algorithm for optimal fusion of measurements from multiple antennas was developed, was used to improve satellite coverage in poor visibility environments such as in AAR. Finally, methods for using data-link extracted measurements as an additional inter-vehicle ranging measurement were also introduced. The algorithms and methods developed in this work are generally applicable to realize high-performance GPS-based navigation in partially obstructed environments. Navigation performance for AAR was quantified through covariance analysis, and it was shown that the stringent navigation requirements for this application are achievable. Finally, a real-time implementation of the algorithms was developed and successfully validated in autopiloted flight tests.

Atmospheric Sampling of Microorganisms with UAS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmale, D. G., III

2017-12-01

Many microorganisms relevant to crops, domestic animals, and humans are transported over long distances through the atmosphere. Some of these atmospheric microbes catalyze the freezing of water at higher temperatures and facilitate the onset of precipitation. A few have crossed continents. New technologies are needed to study the movement of microorganisms in the atmosphere. We have used unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) to study the transport of microorganisms tens to hundreds of meters above the ground. These UAS are equipped with unique devices for collecting microbes in the atmosphere during flight. Autonomous systems enable teams of UAS to perform complex atmospheric sampling tasks, and coordinate flight missions with one another. Data collected with UAS can be used to validate and improve disease forecasting models along highways in the sky, connecting transport scales across farms, states, and continents. Though terrestrial environments are often considered a major contributor to atmospheric microbial aerosols, little is known about aquatic sources of microbial aerosols. Droplets containing microorganisms can aerosolize from the water surface, liberating them into the atmosphere. We are using teams of unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) and UAS to study the aerosolization of microbes from aquatic environments. Controlled flume studies using highspeed video have allowed us to observe unique aerosolization phenomena that can launch microbes out of the water and into the air. Unmanned systems may be used to excite the next generation of biologists and engineers, and raise important ethical considerations about the future of human-robot interactions.

The potential of small unmanned aircraft systems and structure-from-motion for topographic surveys: A test of emerging integrated approaches at Cwm Idwal, North Wales

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tonkin, T. N.; Midgley, N. G.; Graham, D. J.; Labadz, J. C.

2014-12-01

Novel topographic survey methods that integrate both structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry and small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) are a rapidly evolving investigative technique. Due to the diverse range of survey configurations available and the infancy of these new methods, further research is required. Here, the accuracy, precision and potential applications of this approach are investigated. A total of 543 images of the Cwm Idwal moraine-mound complex were captured from a light (< 5 kg) semi-autonomous multi-rotor unmanned aircraft system using a consumer-grade 18 MP compact digital camera. The images were used to produce a DSM (digital surface model) of the moraines. The DSM is in good agreement with 7761 total station survey points providing a total vertical RMSE value of 0.517 m and vertical RMSE values as low as 0.200 m for less densely vegetated areas of the DSM. High-precision topographic data can be acquired rapidly using this technique with the resulting DSMs and orthorectified aerial imagery at sub-decimetre resolutions. Positional errors on the total station dataset, vegetation and steep terrain are identified as the causes of vertical disagreement. Whilst this aerial survey approach is advocated for use in a range of geomorphological settings, care must be taken to ensure that adequate ground control is applied to give a high degree of accuracy.

The development of a UGV-mounted automated refueling system for VTOL UAVs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wills, Mike; Burmeister, Aaron; Nelson, Travis; Denewiler, Thomas; Mullens, Kathy

2006-05-01

This paper describes the latest efforts to develop an Automated UAV Mission System (AUMS) for small vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) unmanned air vehicles (UAVs). In certain applications such as force protection, perimeter security, and urban surveillance a VTOL UAV can provide far greater utility than fixed-wing UAVs or ground-based sensors. The VTOL UAV can operate much closer to an object of interest and can provide a hover-and-stare capability to keep its sensors trained on an object, while the fixed wing UAV would be forced into a higher altitude loitering pattern where its sensors would be subject to intermittent blockage by obstacles and terrain. The most significant disadvantage of a VTOL UAV when compared to a fixed-wing UAV is its reduced flight endurance. AUMS addresses this disadvantage by providing forward staging, refueling, and recovery capabilities for the VTOL UAV through a host unmanned ground vehicle (UGV), which serves as a launch/recovery platform and service station. The UGV has sufficient payload capacity to carry UAV fuel for multiple launch, recovery, and refuel iterations. The UGV also provides a highly mobile means of forward deploying a small UAV into hazardous areas unsafe for personnel, such as chemically or biologically contaminated areas. Teaming small UAVs with large UGVs can decrease risk to personnel and expand mission capabilities and effectiveness. There are numerous technical challenges being addressed by these development efforts. Among the challenges is the development and integration of a precision landing system compact and light enough to allow it to be mounted on a small VTOL UAV while providing repeatable landing accuracy to safely land on the AUMS. Another challenge is the design of a UGV-transportable, expandable, self-centering landing pad that contains hardware and safety devices for automatically refueling the UAV. A third challenge is making the design flexible enough to accommodate different types of VTOL UAVs, such as the AAI iSTAR ducted-fan vehicle and small helicopter UAVs. Finally, a common command-and-control architecture which supports the UAV, UGV, and AUMS must be developed and interfaced with these systems to allow fully autonomous collaborative behaviors. Funded by the Joint Robotics Program, AUMS is part of a joint effort with the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Army Missile Research Development and Engineering Command. The objective is to develop and demonstrate UGVUAV teaming concepts and work with the warfighter to ensure that future upgrades are focused on operational requirements. This paper describes the latest achievements in AUMS development and some of the military program and first responder situations that could benefit from this system.

Embedding Human Expert Cognition Into Autonomous UAS Trajectory Planning.

PubMed

Narayan, Pritesh; Meyer, Patrick; Campbell, Duncan

2013-04-01

This paper presents a new approach for the inclusion of human expert cognition into autonomous trajectory planning for unmanned aerial systems (UASs) operating in low-altitude environments. During typical UAS operations, multiple objectives may exist; therefore, the use of multicriteria decision aid techniques can potentially allow for convergence to trajectory solutions which better reflect overall mission requirements. In that context, additive multiattribute value theory has been applied to optimize trajectories with respect to multiple objectives. A graphical user interface was developed to allow for knowledge capture from a human decision maker (HDM) through simulated decision scenarios. The expert decision data gathered are converted into value functions and corresponding criteria weightings using utility additive theory. The inclusion of preferences elicited from HDM data within an automated decision system allows for the generation of trajectories which more closely represent the candidate HDM decision preferences. This approach has been demonstrated in this paper through simulation using a fixed-wing UAS operating in low-altitude environments.

Maintaining Situation Awareness with Autonomous Airborne Observation Platforms

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Freed, Michael; Fitzgerald, Will

2005-01-01

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) offer tremendous potential as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) platforms for early detection of security threats and for acquisition and maintenance of situation awareness in crisis conditions. However, using their capabilities effectively requires addressing a range of practical and theoretical problems. The paper will describe progress by the "Autonomous Rotorcraft Project," a collaborative effort between NASA and the U.S. Army to develop a practical, flexible capability for UAV-based ISR. Important facets of the project include optimization methods for allocating scarce aircraft resources to observe numerous, distinct sites of interest; intelligent flight automation software than integrates high-level plan generation capabilities with executive control, failure response and flight control functions; a system architecture supporting reconfiguration of onboard sensors to address different kinds of threats; and an advanced prototype vehicle designed to allow large-scale production at low cost. The paper will also address human interaction issues including an empirical method for determining how to allocate roles and responsibilities between flight automation and human operations.

Aerial surveillance vehicles augment security at shipping ports

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huck, Robert C.; Al Akkoumi, Muhammad K.; Cheng, Samuel; Sluss, James J., Jr.; Landers, Thomas L.

2008-10-01

With the ever present threat to commerce, both politically and economically, technological innovations provide a means to secure the transportation infrastructure that will allow efficient and uninterrupted freight-flow operations for trade. Currently, freight coming into United States ports is "spot checked" upon arrival and stored in a container yard while awaiting the next mode of transportation. For the most part, only fences and security patrols protect these container storage yards. To augment these measures, the authors propose the use of aerial surveillance vehicles equipped with video cameras and wireless video downlinks to provide a birds-eye view of port facilities to security control centers and security patrols on the ground. The initial investigation described in this paper demonstrates the use of unmanned aerial surveillance vehicles as a viable method for providing video surveillance of container storage yards. This research provides the foundation for a follow-on project to use autonomous aerial surveillance vehicles coordinated with autonomous ground surveillance vehicles for enhanced port security applications.

Close-range sensors for small unmanned bottom vehicles: update

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bernstein, Charles L.

2000-07-01

The Surf Zone Reconnaissance Project is developing sensors for small, autonomous, Underwater Bottom-crawling Vehicles. The objective is to enable small, crawling robots to autonomously detect and classify mines and obstacles on the ocean bottom in depths between 0 and 10 feet. We have identified a promising set of techniques that will exploit the electromagnetic, shape, texture, image, and vibratory- modal features of this images. During FY99 and FY00 we have worked toward refining these techniques. Signature data sets have been collected for a standard target set to facilitate the development of sensor fusion and target detection and classification algorithms. Specific behaviors, termed microbehaviors, are developed to utilize the robot's mobility to position and operate the sensors. A first generation, close-range sensor suite, composed of 5 sensors, will be completed and tested on a crawling platform in FY00, and will be further refined and demonstrated in FY01 as part of the Mine Countermeasures 6.3 core program sponsored by the Office of Naval Research.

Using infrared HOG-based pedestrian detection for outdoor autonomous searching UAV with embedded system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shao, Yanhua; Mei, Yanying; Chu, Hongyu; Chang, Zhiyuan; He, Yuxuan; Zhan, Huayi

2018-04-01

Pedestrian detection (PD) is an important application domain in computer vision and pattern recognition. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have become a major field of research in recent years. In this paper, an algorithm for a robust pedestrian detection method based on the combination of the infrared HOG (IR-HOG) feature and SVM is proposed for highly complex outdoor scenarios on the basis of airborne IR image sequences from UAV. The basic flow of our application operation is as follows. Firstly, the thermal infrared imager (TAU2-336), which was installed on our Outdoor Autonomous Searching (OAS) UAV, is used for taking pictures of the designated outdoor area. Secondly, image sequences collecting and processing were accomplished by using high-performance embedded system with Samsung ODROID-XU4 and Ubuntu as the core and operating system respectively, and IR-HOG features were extracted. Finally, the SVM is used to train the pedestrian classifier. Experiment show that, our method shows promising results under complex conditions including strong noise corruption, partial occlusion etc.

A Multi-Robot Sense-Act Approach to Lead to a Proper Acting in Environmental Incidents

PubMed Central

Conesa-Muñoz, Jesús; Valente, João; del Cerro, Jaime; Barrientos, Antonio; Ribeiro, Angela

2016-01-01

Many environmental incidents affect large areas, often in rough terrain constrained by natural obstacles, which makes intervention difficult. New technologies, such as unmanned aerial vehicles, may help address this issue due to their suitability to reach and easily cover large areas. Thus, unmanned aerial vehicles may be used to inspect the terrain and make a first assessment of the affected areas; however, nowadays they do not have the capability to act. On the other hand, ground vehicles rely on enough power to perform the intervention but exhibit more mobility constraints. This paper proposes a multi-robot sense-act system, composed of aerial and ground vehicles. This combination allows performing autonomous tasks in large outdoor areas by integrating both types of platforms in a fully automated manner. Aerial units are used to easily obtain relevant data from the environment and ground units use this information to carry out interventions more efficiently. This paper describes the platforms and sensors required by this multi-robot sense-act system as well as proposes a software system to automatically handle the workflow for any generic environmental task. The proposed system has proved to be suitable to reduce the amount of herbicide applied in agricultural treatments. Although herbicides are very polluting, they are massively deployed on complete agricultural fields to remove weeds. Nevertheless, the amount of herbicide required for treatment is radically reduced when it is accurately applied on patches by the proposed multi-robot system. Thus, the aerial units were employed to scout the crop and build an accurate weed distribution map which was subsequently used to plan the task of the ground units. The whole workflow was executed in a fully autonomous way, without human intervention except when required by Spanish law due to safety reasons. PMID:27517934

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Chen

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

KSC-2012-6375

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-12-04

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Near the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, hazard avoidance instrumentation it being prepared for installation on a Huey helicopter. Led by the Johnson Space Center and supported by Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Langley Research Center, the Autonomous Landing Hazard Avoidance Technology, or ALHAT, laser system provides a planetary lander the ability to precisely land safely on a surface while detecting any dangerous obstacles such as rocks, holes and slopes. Just north of Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility runway, a rock- and crater-filled planetary scape has been built so engineers can test the ability to negotiate away from risks. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann

KSC-2012-6422

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-12-05

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Near the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a space agency team installed and tested hazard avoidance instrumentation on a Huey helicopter. Led by the Johnson Space Center and supported by Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Langley Research Center, the Autonomous Landing Hazard Avoidance Technology, or ALHAT, laser system provides a planetary lander the ability to precisely land safely on a surface while detecting any dangerous obstacles such as rocks, holes and slopes. Just north of Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility runway, a rock- and crater-filled planetary scape has been built so engineers can test the ability to negotiate away from risks. Photo credit: NASA/Dmitri Gerondidakis

KSC-2012-6427

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-12-05

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Near the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a space agency team installed and tested hazard avoidance instrumentation on a Huey helicopter. Led by the Johnson Space Center and supported by Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Langley Research Center, the Autonomous Landing Hazard Avoidance Technology, or ALHAT, laser system provides a planetary lander the ability to precisely land safely on a surface while detecting any dangerous obstacles such as rocks, holes and slopes. Just north of Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility runway, a rock- and crater-filled planetary scape has been built so engineers can test the ability to negotiate away from risks. Photo credit: NASA/Dmitri Gerondidakis

KSC-2012-6424

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-12-05

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Near the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a space agency team installed and tested hazard avoidance instrumentation on a Huey helicopter. Led by the Johnson Space Center and supported by Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Langley Research Center, the Autonomous Landing Hazard Avoidance Technology, or ALHAT, laser system provides a planetary lander the ability to precisely land safely on a surface while detecting any dangerous obstacles such as rocks, holes and slopes. Just north of Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility runway, a rock- and crater-filled planetary scape has been built so engineers can test the ability to negotiate away from risks. Photo credit: NASA/Dmitri Gerondidakis

KSC-2012-6417

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-12-05

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Near the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a space agency team installed and tested hazard avoidance instrumentation on a Huey helicopter. Led by the Johnson Space Center and supported by Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Langley Research Center, the Autonomous Landing Hazard Avoidance Technology, or ALHAT, laser system provides a planetary lander the ability to precisely land safely on a surface while detecting any dangerous obstacles such as rocks, holes and slopes. Just north of Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility runway, a rock- and crater-filled planetary scape has been built so engineers can test the ability to negotiate away from risks. Photo credit: NASA/Dmitri Gerondidakis

KSC-2012-6452

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-12-13

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – A Huey helicopter tests hazard avoidance instrumentation at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Just north of Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility runway, a rock- and crater-filled planetary scape has been built so engineers can test the ability to negotiate away from risks using the instrument. Led by the Johnson Space Center and supported by Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Langley Research Center, the Autonomous Landing Hazard Avoidance Technology, or ALHAT, laser system provides a planetary lander the ability to precisely land safely on a surface while detecting any dangerous obstacles such as rocks, holes and slopes. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann

KSC-2012-6419

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-12-05

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Near the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a space agency team installed and tested hazard avoidance instrumentation on a Huey helicopter. Led by the Johnson Space Center and supported by Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Langley Research Center, the Autonomous Landing Hazard Avoidance Technology, or ALHAT, laser system provides a planetary lander the ability to precisely land safely on a surface while detecting any dangerous obstacles such as rocks, holes and slopes. Just north of Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility runway, a rock- and crater-filled planetary scape has been built so engineers can test the ability to negotiate away from risks. Photo credit: NASA/Dmitri Gerondidakis

KSC-2012-6425

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-12-05

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Near the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a space agency team installed and tested hazard avoidance instrumentation on a Huey helicopter. Led by the Johnson Space Center and supported by Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Langley Research Center, the Autonomous Landing Hazard Avoidance Technology, or ALHAT, laser system provides a planetary lander the ability to precisely land safely on a surface while detecting any dangerous obstacles such as rocks, holes and slopes. Just north of Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility runway, a rock- and crater-filled planetary scape has been built so engineers can test the ability to negotiate away from risks. Photo credit: NASA/Dmitri Gerondidakis

KSC-2012-6420

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-12-05

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Near the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a space agency team installed and tested hazard avoidance instrumentation on a Huey helicopter. Led by the Johnson Space Center and supported by Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Langley Research Center, the Autonomous Landing Hazard Avoidance Technology, or ALHAT, laser system provides a planetary lander the ability to precisely land safely on a surface while detecting any dangerous obstacles such as rocks, holes and slopes. Just north of Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility runway, a rock- and crater-filled planetary scape has been built so engineers can test the ability to negotiate away from risks. Photo credit: NASA/Dmitri Gerondidakis

KSC-2012-6374

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-12-04

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Near the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a space agency team installed and tested hazard avoidance instrumentation on a Huey helicopter. Led by the Johnson Space Center and supported by Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Langley Research Center, the Autonomous Landing Hazard Avoidance Technology, or ALHAT, laser system provides a planetary lander the ability to precisely land safely on a surface while detecting any dangerous obstacles such as rocks, holes and slopes. Just north of Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility runway, a rock- and crater-filled planetary scape has been built so engineers can test the ability to negotiate away from risks. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann

KSC-2012-6421

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-12-05

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Near the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a space agency team installed and tested hazard avoidance instrumentation on a Huey helicopter. Led by the Johnson Space Center and supported by Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Langley Research Center, the Autonomous Landing Hazard Avoidance Technology, or ALHAT, laser system provides a planetary lander the ability to precisely land safely on a surface while detecting any dangerous obstacles such as rocks, holes and slopes. Just north of Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility runway, a rock- and crater-filled planetary scape has been built so engineers can test the ability to negotiate away from risks. Photo credit: NASA/Dmitri Gerondidakis

KSC-2012-6376

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-12-04

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Near the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a technician installs hazard avoidance instrumentation on a Huey helicopter. Led by the Johnson Space Center and supported by Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Langley Research Center, the Autonomous Landing Hazard Avoidance Technology, or ALHAT, laser system provides a planetary lander the ability to precisely land safely on a surface while detecting any dangerous obstacles such as rocks, holes and slopes. Just north of Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility runway, a rock- and crater-filled planetary scape has been built so engineers can test the ability to negotiate away from risks. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann

KSC-2012-6412

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-12-05

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Near the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a space agency team installed and tested hazard avoidance instrumentation on a Huey helicopter. Led by the Johnson Space Center and supported by Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Langley Research Center, the Autonomous Landing Hazard Avoidance Technology, or ALHAT, laser system provides a planetary lander the ability to precisely land safely on a surface while detecting any dangerous obstacles such as rocks, holes and slopes. Just north of Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility runway, a rock- and crater-filled planetary scape has been built so engineers can test the ability to negotiate away from risks. Photo credit: NASA/Dmitri Gerondidakis

KSC-2012-6414

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-12-05

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Near the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a space agency team installed and tested hazard avoidance instrumentation on a Huey helicopter. Led by the Johnson Space Center and supported by Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Langley Research Center, the Autonomous Landing Hazard Avoidance Technology, or ALHAT, laser system provides a planetary lander the ability to precisely land safely on a surface while detecting any dangerous obstacles such as rocks, holes and slopes. Just north of Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility runway, a rock- and crater-filled planetary scape has been built so engineers can test the ability to negotiate away from risks. Photo credit: NASA/Dmitri Gerondidakis

KSC-2012-6423

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-12-05

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Near the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a space agency team installed and tested hazard avoidance instrumentation on a Huey helicopter. Led by the Johnson Space Center and supported by Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Langley Research Center, the Autonomous Landing Hazard Avoidance Technology, or ALHAT, laser system provides a planetary lander the ability to precisely land safely on a surface while detecting any dangerous obstacles such as rocks, holes and slopes. Just north of Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility runway, a rock- and crater-filled planetary scape has been built so engineers can test the ability to negotiate away from risks. Photo credit: NASA/Dmitri Gerondidakis

KSC-2012-6413

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-12-05

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Near the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a space agency team installed and tested hazard avoidance instrumentation on a Huey helicopter. Led by the Johnson Space Center and supported by Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Langley Research Center, the Autonomous Landing Hazard Avoidance Technology, or ALHAT, laser system provides a planetary lander the ability to precisely land safely on a surface while detecting any dangerous obstacles such as rocks, holes and slopes. Just north of Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility runway, a rock- and crater-filled planetary scape has been built so engineers can test the ability to negotiate away from risks. Photo credit: NASA/Dmitri Gerondidakis

KSC-2012-6373

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-12-04

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Near the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a space agency team installed and tested hazard avoidance instrumentation on a Huey helicopter. Led by the Johnson Space Center and supported by Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Langley Research Center, the Autonomous Landing Hazard Avoidance Technology, or ALHAT, laser system provides a planetary lander the ability to precisely land safely on a surface while detecting any dangerous obstacles such as rocks, holes and slopes. Just north of Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility runway, a rock- and crater-filled planetary scape has been built so engineers can test the ability to negotiate away from risks. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann

KSC-2012-6377

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-12-04

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Near the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a technician tests hazard avoidance instrumentation recently installed on a Huey helicopter. Led by the Johnson Space Center and supported by Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Langley Research Center, the Autonomous Landing Hazard Avoidance Technology, or ALHAT, laser system provides a planetary lander the ability to precisely land safely on a surface while detecting any dangerous obstacles such as rocks, holes and slopes. Just north of Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility runway, a rock- and crater-filled planetary scape has been built so engineers can test the ability to negotiate away from risks. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann

KSC-2012-6416

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-12-05

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Near the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a space agency team installed and tested hazard avoidance instrumentation on a Huey helicopter. Led by the Johnson Space Center and supported by Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Langley Research Center, the Autonomous Landing Hazard Avoidance Technology, or ALHAT, laser system provides a planetary lander the ability to precisely land safely on a surface while detecting any dangerous obstacles such as rocks, holes and slopes. Just north of Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility runway, a rock- and crater-filled planetary scape has been built so engineers can test the ability to negotiate away from risks. Photo credit: NASA/Dmitri Gerondidakis

KSC-2012-6372

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-12-04

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Near the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a space agency team installed and tested hazard avoidance instrumentation on a Huey helicopter. Led by the Johnson Space Center and supported by Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Langley Research Center, the Autonomous Landing Hazard Avoidance Technology, or ALHAT, laser system provides a planetary lander the ability to precisely land safely on a surface while detecting any dangerous obstacles such as rocks, holes and slopes. Just north of Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility runway, a rock- and crater-filled planetary scape has been built so engineers can test the ability to negotiate away from risks. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann

KSC-2012-6415

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-12-05

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Near the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a space agency team installed and tested hazard avoidance instrumentation on a Huey helicopter. Led by the Johnson Space Center and supported by Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Langley Research Center, the Autonomous Landing Hazard Avoidance Technology, or ALHAT, laser system provides a planetary lander the ability to precisely land safely on a surface while detecting any dangerous obstacles such as rocks, holes and slopes. Just north of Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility runway, a rock- and crater-filled planetary scape has been built so engineers can test the ability to negotiate away from risks. Photo credit: NASA/Dmitri Gerondidakis

KSC-2012-6418

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-12-05

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Near the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a space agency team installed and tested hazard avoidance instrumentation on a Huey helicopter. Led by the Johnson Space Center and supported by Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Langley Research Center, the Autonomous Landing Hazard Avoidance Technology, or ALHAT, laser system provides a planetary lander the ability to precisely land safely on a surface while detecting any dangerous obstacles such as rocks, holes and slopes. Just north of Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility runway, a rock- and crater-filled planetary scape has been built so engineers can test the ability to negotiate away from risks. Photo credit: NASA/Dmitri Gerondidakis

The Direct Georeferencing Application and Performance Analysis of Uav Helicopter in Gcp-Free Area

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lo, C. F.; Tsai, M. L.; Chiang, K. W.; Chu, C. H.; Tsai, G. J.; Cheng, C. K.; El-Sheimy, N.; Ayman, H.

2015-08-01

There are many disasters happened because the weather changes extremely in these years. To facilitate applications such as environment detection or monitoring becomes very important. Therefore, the development of rapid low cost systems for collecting near real-time spatial information is very critical. Rapid spatial information collection has become an emerging trend for remote sensing and mapping applications. This study develops a Direct Georeferencing (DG) based Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) helicopter photogrammetric platform where an Inertial Navigation System (INS)/Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) integrated Positioning and Orientation System (POS) system is implemented to provide the DG capability of the platform. The performance verification indicates that the proposed platform can capture aerial images successfully. A flight test is performed to verify the positioning accuracy in DG mode without using Ground Control Points (GCP). The preliminary results illustrate that horizontal DG positioning accuracies in the x and y axes are around 5 meter with 100 meter flight height. The positioning accuracy in the z axis is less than 10 meter. Such accuracy is good for near real-time disaster relief. The DG ready function of proposed platform guarantees mapping and positioning capability even in GCP free environments, which is very important for rapid urgent response for disaster relief. Generally speaking, the data processing time for the DG module, including POS solution generalization, interpolation, Exterior Orientation Parameters (EOP) generation, and feature point measurements, is less than 1 hour.

Distributed autonomous systems: resource management, planning, and control algorithms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, James F., III; Nguyen, ThanhVu H.

2005-05-01

Distributed autonomous systems, i.e., systems that have separated distributed components, each of which, exhibit some degree of autonomy are increasingly providing solutions to naval and other DoD problems. Recently developed control, planning and resource allocation algorithms for two types of distributed autonomous systems will be discussed. The first distributed autonomous system (DAS) to be discussed consists of a collection of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that are under fuzzy logic control. The UAVs fly and conduct meteorological sampling in a coordinated fashion determined by their fuzzy logic controllers to determine the atmospheric index of refraction. Once in flight no human intervention is required. A fuzzy planning algorithm determines the optimal trajectory, sampling rate and pattern for the UAVs and an interferometer platform while taking into account risk, reliability, priority for sampling in certain regions, fuel limitations, mission cost, and related uncertainties. The real-time fuzzy control algorithm running on each UAV will give the UAV limited autonomy allowing it to change course immediately without consulting with any commander, request other UAVs to help it, alter its sampling pattern and rate when observing interesting phenomena, or to terminate the mission and return to base. The algorithms developed will be compared to a resource manager (RM) developed for another DAS problem related to electronic attack (EA). This RM is based on fuzzy logic and optimized by evolutionary algorithms. It allows a group of dissimilar platforms to use EA resources distributed throughout the group. For both DAS types significant theoretical and simulation results will be presented.

Long-Term, Autonomous Measurement of Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Using an Ormosil Nanocomposite-Based Optical Sensor

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kisholoy Goswami

2005-10-11

The goal of this project is to construct a prototype carbon dioxide sensor that can be commercialized to offer a low-cost, autonomous instrument for long-term, unattended measurements. Currently, a cost-effective CO2 sensor system is not available that can perform cross-platform measurements (ground-based or airborne platforms such as balloon and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)) for understanding the carbon sequestration phenomenon. The CO2 sensor would support the research objectives of DOE-sponsored programs such as AmeriFlux and the North American Carbon Program (NACP). Global energy consumption is projected to rise 60% over the next 20 years and use of oil is projected tomore » increase by approximately 40%. The combustion of coal, oil, and natural gas has increased carbon emissions globally from 1.6 billion tons in 1950 to 6.3 billion tons in 2000. This figure is expected to reach 10 billon tons by 2020. It is important to understand the fate of this excess CO2 in the global carbon cycle. The overall goal of the project is to develop an accurate and reliable optical sensor for monitoring carbon dioxide autonomously at least for one year at a point remote from the actual CO2 release site. In Phase I of this project, InnoSense LLC (ISL) demonstrated the feasibility of an ormosil-monolith based Autonomous Sensor for Atmospheric CO2 (ASAC) device. All of the Phase I objectives were successfully met.« less

Design, testing and demonstration of a small unmanned aircraft system (sUAS) and payload for measuring wind speed and particulate matter in the atmospheric boundary layer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Riddell, Kevin Donald Alexander

The atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) is the layer of air directly influenced by the Earth's surface and is the layer of the atmosphere most important to humans as this is the air we live in. Methods for measuring the properties of the ABL include three general approaches: satellite based, ground based and airborne. A major research challenge is that many contemporary methods provide a restricted spatial resolution or coverage of variations of ABL properties such as how wind speed varies across a landscape with complex topography. To enhance our capacity to measure the properties of the ABL, this thesis presents a new technique that involves a small unmanned aircraft system (sUAS) equipped with a customized payload for measuring wind speed and particulate matter. The research presented herein outlines two key phases in establishing the proof of concept of the payload and its integration on the sUAS: (1) design and testing and (2) field demonstration. The first project focuses on measuring wind speed, which has been measured with fixed wing sUASs in previous research. but not with a helicopter sUAS. The second project focuses on the measurement of particulate matter, which is a major air pollutant typically measured with ground-based sensors. Results from both proof of concept projects suggest that ABL research could benefit from the proposed techniques. .

Materiel requirements for airborne minefield detection system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bertsche, Karl A.; Huegle, Helmut

1997-07-01

Within the concept study, Material Requirements for an airborne minefield detection systems (AMiDS) the following topics were investigated: (i) concept concerning airborne minefield detection technique sand equipment, (ii) verification analysis of the AMiDS requirements using simulation models and (iii) application concept of AMiDS with regard o tactics and military operations. In a first approach the problems concerning unmanned airborne minefield detection techniques within a well-defined area were considered. The complexity of unmanned airborne minefield detection is a result of the following parameters: mine types, mine deployment methods, tactical requirements, topography, weather conditions, and the size of the area to be searched. In order to perform the analysis, a simulation model was developed to analyze the usability of the proposed remote controlled air carriers. The basic flight patterns for the proposed air carriers, as well as the preparation efforts of military operations and benefits of such a system during combat support missions were investigated. The results of the conceptual study showed that a proposed remote controlled helicopter drone could meet the stated German MOD scanning requirements of mine barriers. Fixed wing air carriers were at a definite disadvantage because of their inherently large turning loops. By implementing a mine detection system like AMiDS minefields can be reconnoitered before an attack. It is therefore possible either to plan, how the minefields can be circumvented or where precisely breaching lanes through the mine barriers are to be cleared for the advancing force.

Resource allocation and supervisory control architecture for intelligent behavior generation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shah, Hitesh K.; Bahl, Vikas; Moore, Kevin L.; Flann, Nicholas S.; Martin, Jason

2003-09-01

In earlier research the Center for Self-Organizing and Intelligent Systems (CSOIS) at Utah State University (USU) was funded by the US Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command's (TACOM) Intelligent Mobility Program to develop and demonstrate enhanced mobility concepts for unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs). As part of our research, we presented the use of a grammar-based approach to enabling intelligent behaviors in autonomous robotic vehicles. With the growth of the number of available resources on the robot, the variety of the generated behaviors and the need for parallel execution of multiple behaviors to achieve reaction also grew. As continuation of our past efforts, in this paper, we discuss the parallel execution of behaviors and the management of utilized resources. In our approach, available resources are wrapped with a layer (termed services) that synchronizes and serializes access to the underlying resources. The controlling agents (called behavior generating agents) generate behaviors to be executed via these services. The agents are prioritized and then, based on their priority and the availability of requested services, the Control Supervisor decides on a winner for the grant of access to services. Though the architecture is applicable to a variety of autonomous vehicles, we discuss its application on T4, a mid-sized autonomous vehicle developed for security applications.

Who's Got the Bridge? - Towards Safe, Robust Autonomous Operations at NASA Langley's Autonomy Incubator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Allen, B. Danette; Cross, Charles D.; Motter, Mark A.; Neilan, James H.; Qualls, Garry D.; Rothhaar, Paul M.; Tran, Loc; Trujillo, Anna C.; Crisp, Vicki K.

2015-01-01

NASA aeronautics research has made decades of contributions to aviation. Both aircraft and air traffic management (ATM) systems in use today contain NASA-developed and NASA sponsored technologies that improve safety and efficiency. Recent innovations in robotics and autonomy for automobiles and unmanned systems point to a future with increased personal mobility and access to transportation, including aviation. Automation and autonomous operations will transform the way we move people and goods. Achieving this mobility will require safe, robust, reliable operations for both the vehicle and the airspace and challenges to this inevitable future are being addressed now in government labs, universities, and industry. These challenges are the focus of NASA Langley Research Center's Autonomy Incubator whose R&D portfolio includes mission planning, trajectory and path planning, object detection and avoidance, object classification, sensor fusion, controls, machine learning, computer vision, human-machine teaming, geo-containment, open architecture design and development, as well as the test and evaluation environment that will be critical to prove system reliability and support certification. Safe autonomous operations will be enabled via onboard sensing and perception systems in both data-rich and data-deprived environments. Applied autonomy will enable safety, efficiency and unprecedented mobility as people and goods take to the skies tomorrow just as we do on the road today.

Constrained navigation for unmanned systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vasseur, Laurent; Gosset, Philippe; Carpentier, Luc; Marion, Vincent; Morillon, Joel G.; Ropars, Patrice

2005-05-01

The French Military Robotic Study Program (introduced in Aerosense 2003), sponsored by the French Defense Procurement Agency and managed by Thales as the prime contractor, focuses on about 15 robotic themes which can provide an immediate "operational add-on value". The paper details the "constrained navigation" study (named TEL2), which main goal is to identify and test a well-balanced task sharing between man and machine to accomplish a robotic task that cannot be performed autonomously at the moment because of technological limitations. The chosen function is "obstacle avoidance" on rough ground and quite high speed (40 km/h). State of the art algorithms have been implemented to perform autonomous obstacle avoidance and following of forest borders, using scanner laser sensor and standard localization functions. Such an "obstacle avoidance" function works well most of the time, BUT fails sometimes. The study analyzed how the remote operator can manage such failures so that the system remains fully operationally reliable; he can act according to two ways: a) finely adjust the vehicle current heading; b) take the control of the vehicle "on the fly" (without stopping) and bring it back to autonomous behavior when motion is secured again. The paper also presents the results got from the military acceptance tests performed on French 4x4 DARDS ATD.

Semi-Autonomous Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems for Sampling Tornadic Supercell Thunderstorms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Elston, Jack S.

This work describes the development of a network-centric unmanned aircraft system (UAS) for in situ sampling of supercell thunderstorms. UAS have been identified as a well-suited platform for meteorological observations given their portability, endurance, and ability to mitigate atmospheric disturbances. They represent a unique tool for performing targeted sampling in regions of a supercell thunderstorm previously unreachable through other methods. Doppler radar can provide unique measurements of the wind field in and around supercell thunderstorms. In order to exploit this capability, a planner was developed that can optimize ingress trajectories for severe storm penetration. The resulting trajectories were examined to determine the feasibility of such a mission, and to optimize ingress in terms of flight time and exposure to precipitation. A network-centric architecture was developed to handle the large amount of distributed data produced during a storm sampling mission. Creation of this architecture was performed through a bottom-up design approach which reflects and enhances the interplay between networked communication and autonomous aircraft operation. The advantages of the approach are demonstrated through several field and hardware-in-the-loop experiments containing different hardware, networking protocols, and objectives. Results are provided from field experiments involving the resulting network-centric architecture. An airmass boundary was sampled in the Collaborative Colorado Nebraska Unmanned Aircraft Experiment (CoCoNUE). Utilizing lessons learned from CoCoNUE, a new concept of operations (CONOPS) and UAS were developed to perform in situ sampling of supercell thunderstorms. Deployment during the Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment 2 (VORTEX2) resulted in the first ever sampling of the airmass associated with the rear flank downdraft of a tornadic supercell thunderstorm by a UAS. Hardware-in-the-loop simulation capability was added to the UAS to enable further assessment of the system and CONOPS. The simulation combines a full six degree-of-freedom aircraft dynamic model with wind and precipitation data from simulations of severe convective storms. Interfaces were written to involve as much of the system's field hardware as possible, including the creation of a simulated radar product server. A variety of simulations were conducted to evaluate different aspects of the CONOPS used for the 2010 VORTEX2 field campaign.

Genetic Fuzzy Trees for Intelligent Control of Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ernest, Nicholas D.

Fuzzy Logic Control is a powerful tool that has found great success in a variety of applications. This technique relies less on complex mathematics and more "expert knowledge" of a system to bring about high-performance, resilient, and efficient control through linguistic classification of inputs and outputs and if-then rules. Genetic Fuzzy Systems (GFSs) remove the need of this expert knowledge and instead rely on a Genetic Algorithm (GA) and have similarly found great success. However, the combination of these methods suffer severely from scalability; the number of rules required to control the system increases exponentially with the number of states the inputs and outputs can take. Therefor GFSs have thus far not been applicable to complex, artificial intelligence type problems. The novel Genetic Fuzzy Tree (GFT) method breaks down complex problems hierarchically, makes sub-decisions when possible, and thus greatly reduces the burden on the GA. This development significantly changes the field of possible applications for GFSs. Within this study, this is demonstrated through applying this technique to a difficult air combat problem. Looking forward to an autonomous Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle (UCAV) in the 2030 time-frame, it becomes apparent that the mission, flight, and ground controls will utilize the emerging paradigm of Intelligent Systems (IS); namely, the ability to learn, adapt, exhibit robustness in uncertain situations, make sense of the data collected in real-time and extrapolate when faced with scenarios significantly different from those used in training. LETHA (Learning Enhanced Tactical Handling Algorithm) was created to develop intelligent controllers for these advanced unmanned craft as the first GFT. A simulation space referred to as HADES (Hoplological Autonomous Defend and Engage Simulation) was created in which LETHA can train the UCAVs. Equipped with advanced sensors, a limited supply of Self-Defense Missiles (SDMs), and a recharging Laser Weapon System (LWS), these UCAVs can navigate a mission space, counter enemy threats, cope with losses in communications, and destroy mission-critical targets. Monte Carlo simulations of the resulting controllers were tested in mission scenarios that are distinct from the training scenarios to determine the training effectiveness in new environments and the presence of deep learning. Despite an incredibly large solution space, LETHA has demonstrated remarkable effectiveness in training intelligent controllers for the UCAV squadron and shown robustness to drastically changing states, uncertainty, and limited information while maintaining extreme levels of computational efficiency.

Briefing to University of Porto on NASA Airborne Science Program and Ames UAVs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fladeland, Matthew

2015-01-01

NASA Ames is exploring a partnership with the University of Portugal to jointly develop and test new autonomous vehicle technologies. As part of the discussions I will be briefing the University of Portugal faculty on the NASA Airborne Science Program (ASP) and associated activities at NASA Ames Research Center. The presentation will communicate the requirements that drive the program, the assets available to NASA researchers, and discuss research projects that have used unmanned aircraft systems including MIZOPEX, Surprise Valley, and Florida Keys Coral Reef assessment. Other topics will include the SIERRA and Dragon Eye UAV projects operated at Ames.

NASA Public Affairs and NUANCE Lab News Conference at Reno-Stead Airport.

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-10-19

News Conference following the test of Unmanned Aircraft Systems Traffic Management (UTM) technical capability Level 2 (TCL2) at Reno-Stead Airport, Nevada. The UTM Reno Press Conference on Oct. 19, 2016. (Left to Right) Parimal Kopardekar, NASA Ames Senior Engineer for Air Transportation Systems gave an overview of UTM; Maril Mora, President / CEO of the Reno -Tahoe Airport Authority welcomes NASA and Partners; Tom Wilczek, Aerospace and Defence industry representative and Nevada Governor's Office of Economic Development; Mark Baker, Director of Business Development, Nevada Institute of Autonomous Systems; Manos Maragakis, Dean of the College of Engineering, University of Nevada, Reno.

Autonomous aircraft initiative study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hewett, Marle D.

1991-01-01

The results of a consulting effort to aid NASA Ames-Dryden in defining a new initiative in aircraft automation are described. The initiative described is a multi-year, multi-center technology development and flight demonstration program. The initiative features the further development of technologies in aircraft automation already being pursued at multiple NASA centers and Department of Defense (DoD) research and Development (R and D) facilities. The proposed initiative involves the development of technologies in intelligent systems, guidance, control, software development, airborne computing, navigation, communications, sensors, unmanned vehicles, and air traffic control. It involves the integration and implementation of these technologies to the extent necessary to conduct selected and incremental flight demonstrations.

NASA Global Hawk: A New Tool for Earth Science Research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hall, Phill

2009-01-01

This slide presentation reviews the Global Hawk, a unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that NASA plans to use for Earth Sciences research. The Global Hawk is the world's first fully autonomous high-altitude, long-endurance aircraft, and is capable of conducting long duration missions. Plans are being made for the use of the aircraft on missions in the Arctic, Pacific and Western Atlantic Oceans. There are slides showing the Global Hawk Operations Center (GHOC), Flight Control and Air Traffic Control Communications Architecture, and Payload Integration and Accommodations on the Global Hawk. The first science campaign, planned for a study of the Pacific Ocean, is reviewed.

Advanced computer graphic techniques for laser range finder (LRF) simulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bedkowski, Janusz; Jankowski, Stanislaw

2008-11-01

This paper show an advanced computer graphic techniques for laser range finder (LRF) simulation. The LRF is the common sensor for unmanned ground vehicle, autonomous mobile robot and security applications. The cost of the measurement system is extremely high, therefore the simulation tool is designed. The simulation gives an opportunity to execute algorithm such as the obstacle avoidance[1], slam for robot localization[2], detection of vegetation and water obstacles in surroundings of the robot chassis[3], LRF measurement in crowd of people[1]. The Axis Aligned Bounding Box (AABB) and alternative technique based on CUDA (NVIDIA Compute Unified Device Architecture) is presented.

Super High Resolution Airborne Remote Sensing for Evaluating the Decomposition Function of Ecosystem of Temperate Forest in Japan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suzuki, R.; Fadaei, H.; Ishii, R.; Nagai, S.; Okabe, K.; Yamashita, S.; Taki, H.; Honda, Y.; Kajiwara, K.

2013-12-01

Forest ecosystem is sustained by nutrients cycle among trees, floor vegetation, litter, and soil etc. One of important driving mechanisms for such nutrients cycle is the decomposition of the fallen trees by fungi, and this process would play an important function in the biogeochemical cycle of the environment. This study challenged to identify the position and size of fallen trees in a temperate forest in Japan based on super high resolution (less than 1cm) visual images taken from a camera aboard a helicopter. Field campaign was carried out on November 29, 2011 at the experimental forest (6 ha, 300m x 200m, 36° 56' 10.5'N, 140° 35' 16.5'E) in Kitaibaraki, Ibaraki, Japan. According to the census survey of the forest, deciduous broad leave trees are dominant. There was almost no leaf in the forest crown on the day of the field campaign, and that brought a high visibility of the floor from the sky. The topography of the forest site is characterized by a small valley with a river flowing north to south at its bottom. An unmanned helicopter (Yamaha RMAX G1) flew over the forest in north-south lines with a speed of 3m/s at height of 30-70m from the ground surface. The interval between adjacent two lines was 20m. A consumer grade camera (Canon EOS Kiss X5 with 55mm lens; 5184 x 3456 pixels) was fixed with the vertically looking down direction on the helicopter. The camera took forest images with 5 seconds interval. The helicopter was also equipped by a laser range finder (LRF) (SkEyesBOX MP-1). Based on the point cloud created by the LRF measurement, 1 x 1m digital elevation model (DEM) of the ground surface was established by finding the lowest point value of the point cloud in each 1 x 1m grid of the forest. The forest was covered by 211 images taken by the camera. Each image was orthorectified by using the DEM and the data of the position and orientations of the helicopter, and then they were mosaicked into one image. Fallen trees with the diameter more than 10cm were targeted for the analysis, and we confirmed that some of fallen tree was easily to identify visually, but some of them was hard to identify because the branch and trunk of trees hided fallen trees. We are going develop the automatic detection algorithm by decision tree and object-based classifications, and then validate the algorithm with in situ information.

Transitioning Unmanned Technologies for Earth Science Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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 will be featured as well as opportunities for collaborations between small technology companies and universities to produce technical solutions in the challenging research environment will be discussed.

Autogenic-feedback training improves pilot performance during emergency flying conditions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kellar, Michael A.; Folen, Raymond A.; Cowings, Patricia S.; Toscano, William B.; Hisert, Glen L.

1994-01-01

Studies have shown that autonomous mode behavior is one cause of aircraft fatalities due to pilot error. In such cases, the pilot is in a high state of psychological and physiological arousal and tends to focus on one problem, while ignoring more critical information. This study examined the effect of training in physiological self-recognition and regulation, as a means of improving crew cockpit performance. Seventeen pilots were assigned to the treatment and control groups matched for accumulated flight hours. The treatment group comprised three pilots of HC-130 Hercules aircraft and four HH-65 Dolphin helicopter pilots; the control group comprised three pilots of HC-130's and six Dolphin helicopter pilots. During an initial flight, physiological data were recorded for each crew member and individual crew performance was rated by an instructor pilot. Eight crewmembers were then taught to regulate their own physiological response levels using Autogenic-Feedback Training (AFT). The remaining subjects received no training. During a second flight, treatment subjects showed significant improvement in performance, while controls did not improve. The results indicate that AFT management of high states of physiological arousal may improve pilot performance during emergency flying conditions.

Autogenic-feedback training improves pilot performance during emergency flying conditions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kellar, Michael A.; Folen, Raymond A.; Cowings, Patricia S.; Toscano, William B.; Hisert, Glen L.

1993-01-01

Studies have shown that autonomous mode behavior is one cause of aircraft fatalities due to pilot error. In such cases, the pilot is in a high state of psychological and physiological arousal and tends to focus on one problem, while ignoring more critical information. The effect of training in physiological self-recognition and regulation, as a means of improving crew cockpit performance was examined. Seventeen pilots were assigned to the treatment and control groups matched for accumulated flight hours. The treatment group comprised four pilots of HC-130 Hercules aircraft and four HH-65 Dolphin helicopter pilots; the control group comprised three pilots of HC-130's and six Dolphin helicopter pilots. During an initial flight physiological data were recorded for each crewmember and individual crew performance and rated by an instructor pilot. Eight crewmembers were then taught to regulate their own physiological response levels using Autogenic-Feedback Training (AFT). The remaining subjects received no training. During a second flight, treatment subjects showed significant improvement in performance, while controls did not improve. The results indicate that AFT management of high states of physiological arousal may improve pilot performance during emergency flying conditions.

Support of Helicopter 'Free Flight' Operations in the 1996 Olympics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Branstetter, James R.; Cooper, Eric G.

1996-01-01

The microcosm of activity surrounding the 1996 Olympic Games provided researchers an opportunity for demonstrating state-of-the art technology in the first large-scale deployment of a prototype digital communication/navigation/surveillance system in a confined environment. At the same time it provided an ideal opportunity for transportation officials to showcase the merits of an integrated transportation system in meeting the operational needs to transport time sensitive goods and provide public safety services under real-world conditions. Five aeronautical CNS functions using a digital datalink system were chosen for operational flight testing onboard 91 aircraft, most of them helicopters, participating in the Atlanta Short-Haul Transportation System. These included: GPS-based Automatic Dependent Surveillance, Cockpit Display of Traffic Information, Controller-Pilot Communications, Graphical Weather Information (uplink), and Automated Electronic Pilot Reporting (downlink). Atlanta provided the first opportunity to demonstrate, in an actual operating environment, key datalink functions which would enhance flight safety and situational awareness for the pilot and supplement conventional air traffic control. The knowledge gained from such a large-scale deployment will help system designers in development of a national infrastructure where aircraft would have the ability to navigate autonomously.

Autogenic Feedback Training Exercise and pilot performance: enhanced functioning under search-and-rescue flying conditions.

PubMed

Cowings, P S; Kellar, M A; Folen, R A; Toscano, W B; Burge, J D

2001-01-01

Studies have shown that autonomous mode behavior is one cause of aircraft fatalities due to pilot error. In such cases, the pilot is in a high state of psychological and physiological arousal and tends to focus on one problem, while ignoring more critical information. This study examined the effect of training in physiological self-recognition and regulation, as a means of improving crew cockpit performance. Seventeen pilots were assigned to the treatment and control groups matched for accumulated flight hours. The treatment group contained 4 pilots from HC-130 Hercules aircraft and 4 HH-65 Dolphin helicopter pilots; the control group contained 3 pilots of HC-130s and 6 helicopter pilots. During an initial flight, physiological data were recorded on each crewmember and an instructor pilot rated individual crew performance. Eight crewmembers were then taught to regulate their own physiological response levels using Autogenic-Feedback Training Exercise (AFTE). The remaining participants received no training. During a second flight, treatment participants showed significant improvement in performance (rated by the same instructor pilot as in pretests) while controls did not improve. The results indicate that AFTE management of high states of physiological arousal may improve pilot performance during emergency flying conditions.

Autogenic Feedback Training Exercise and pilot performance: enhanced functioning under search-and-rescue flying conditions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cowings, P. S.; Kellar, M. A.; Folen, R. A.; Toscano, W. B.; Burge, J. D.

2001-01-01

Studies have shown that autonomous mode behavior is one cause of aircraft fatalities due to pilot error. In such cases, the pilot is in a high state of psychological and physiological arousal and tends to focus on one problem, while ignoring more critical information. This study examined the effect of training in physiological self-recognition and regulation, as a means of improving crew cockpit performance. Seventeen pilots were assigned to the treatment and control groups matched for accumulated flight hours. The treatment group contained 4 pilots from HC-130 Hercules aircraft and 4 HH-65 Dolphin helicopter pilots; the control group contained 3 pilots of HC-130s and 6 helicopter pilots. During an initial flight, physiological data were recorded on each crewmember and an instructor pilot rated individual crew performance. Eight crewmembers were then taught to regulate their own physiological response levels using Autogenic-Feedback Training Exercise (AFTE). The remaining participants received no training. During a second flight, treatment participants showed significant improvement in performance (rated by the same instructor pilot as in pretests) while controls did not improve. The results indicate that AFTE management of high states of physiological arousal may improve pilot performance during emergency flying conditions.

Ground crewmen help guide the alignment of the X-40A as the experimental craft is gently lowered to

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2000-01-01

Ground crewmen help guide the alignment of the X-40 technology demonstrator as the experimental craft is gently lowered to the ground by a U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook cargo helicopter following a captive-carry test flight at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. The X-40 is an unpowered 82 percent scale version of the X-37, a Boeing-developed spaceplane designed to demonstrate various advanced technologies for development of future lower-cost access to space vehicles. The X-37 will be carried into space aboard a space shuttle and then released to perform various maneuvers and a controlled re-entry through the Earth's atmosphere to an airplane-style landing on a runway, controlled entirely by pre-programmed computer software. Following a series of captive-carry flights, the X-40 made several free flights from a launch altitude of about 15,000 feet above ground, gliding to a fully autonomous landing. The captive carry flights helped verify the X-40's navigation and control systems, rigging angles for its sling, and stability and control of the helicopter while carrying the X-40 on a tether.

Next generation sensing platforms for extended deployments in large-scale, multidisciplinary, adaptive sampling and observational networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cross, J. N.; Meinig, C.; Mordy, C. W.; Lawrence-Slavas, N.; Cokelet, E. D.; Jenkins, R.; Tabisola, H. M.; Stabeno, P. J.

2016-12-01

New autonomous sensors have dramatically increased the resolution and accuracy of oceanographic data collection, enabling rapid sampling over extremely fine scales. Innovative new autonomous platofrms like floats, gliders, drones, and crawling moorings leverage the full potential of these new sensors by extending spatiotemporal reach across varied environments. During 2015 and 2016, The Innovative Technology for Arctic Exploration Program at the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory tested several new types of fully autonomous platforms with increased speed, durability, and power and payload capacity designed to deliver cutting-edge ecosystem assessment sensors to remote or inaccessible environments. The Expendable Ice-Tracking (EXIT) gloat developed by the NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) is moored near bottom during the ice-free season and released on an autonomous timer beneath the ice during the following winter. The float collects a rapid profile during ascent, and continues to collect critical, poorly-accessible under-ice data until melt, when data is transmitted via satellite. The autonomous Oculus sub-surface glider developed by the University of Washington and PMEL has a large power and payload capacity and an enhanced buoyancy engine. This 'coastal truck' is designed for the rapid water column ascent required by optical imaging systems. The Saildrone is a solar and wind powered ocean unmanned surface vessel (USV) developed by Saildrone, Inc. in partnership with PMEL. This large-payload (200 lbs), fast (1-7 kts), durable (46 kts winds) platform was equipped with 15 sensors designed for ecosystem assessment during 2016, including passive and active acoustic systems specially redesigned for autonomous vehicle deployments. The senors deployed on these platforms achieved rigorous accuracy and precision standards. These innovative platforms provide new sampling capabilities and cost efficiencies in high-resolution sensor deployment, including reconnaissance for annual fisheries and marine mammal surveys; better linkages between sustained observing platforms; and adaptive deployments that can easily target anomalies as they arise.

A biomimetic, energy-harvesting, obstacle-avoiding, path-planning algorithm for UAVs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gudmundsson, Snorri

This dissertation presents two new approaches to energy harvesting for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). One method is based on the Potential Flow Method (PFM); the other method seeds a wind-field map based on updraft peak analysis and then applies a variant of the Bellman-Ford algorithm to find the minimum-cost path. Both methods are enhanced by taking into account the performance characteristics of the aircraft using advanced performance theory. The combined approach yields five possible trajectories from which the one with the minimum energy cost is selected. The dissertation concludes by using the developed theory and modeling tools to simulate the flight paths of two small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (sUAV) in the 500 kg and 250 kg class. The results show that, in mountainous regions, substantial energy can be recovered, depending on topography and wind characteristics. For the examples presented, as much as 50% of the energy was recovered for a complex, multi-heading, multi-altitude, 170 km mission in an average wind speed of 9 m/s. The algorithms constitute a Generic Intelligent Control Algorithm (GICA) for autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles that enables an extraction of atmospheric energy while completing a mission trajectory. At the same time, the algorithm. automatically adjusts the flight path in order to avoid obstacles, in a fashion not unlike what one would expect from living organisms, such as birds and insects. This multi-disciplinary approach renders the approach biomimetic, i.e. it constitutes a synthetic system that “mimics the formation and function of biological mechanisms and processes.”.

Requirements for an Integrated UAS CNS Architecture

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Templin, Fred; Jain, Raj; Sheffield, Greg; Taboso, Pedro; Ponchak, Denise

2017-01-01

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Glenn Research Center (GRC) is investigating revolutionary and advanced universal, reliable, always available, cyber secure and affordable Communication, Navigation, Surveillance (CNS) options for all altitudes of UAS operations. In Spring 2015, NASA issued a Call for Proposals under NASA Research Announcements (NRA) NNH15ZEA001N, Amendment 7 Subtopic 2.4. Boeing was selected to conduct a study with the objective to determine the most promising candidate technologies for Unmanned Air Systems (UAS) air-to-air and air-to-ground data exchange and analyze their suitability in a post-NextGen NAS environment. The overall objectives are to develop UAS CNS requirements and then develop architectures that satisfy the requirements for UAS in both controlled and uncontrolled air space. This contract is funded under NASAs Aeronautics Research Mission Directorates (ARMD) Aviation Operations and Safety Program (AOSP) Safe Autonomous Systems Operations (SASO) project and proposes technologies for the Unmanned Air Systems Traffic Management (UTM) service. Communications, Navigation and Surveillance (CNS) requirements must be developed in order to establish a CNS architecture supporting Unmanned Air Systems integration in the National Air Space (UAS in the NAS). These requirements must address cybersecurity, future communications, satellite-based navigation APNT, and scalable surveillance and situational awareness. CNS integration, consolidation and miniaturization requirements are also important to support the explosive growth in small UAS deployment. Air Traffic Management (ATM) must also be accommodated to support critical Command and Control (C2) for Air Traffic Controllers (ATC). This document therefore presents UAS CNS requirements that will guide the architecture.

Decentralized asset management for collaborative sensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Malhotra, Raj P.; Pribilski, Michael J.; Toole, Patrick A.; Agate, Craig

2017-05-01

There has been increased impetus to leverage Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (SUAS) for collaborative sensing applications in which many platforms work together to provide critical situation awareness in dynamic environments. Such applications require critical sensor observations to be made at the right place and time to facilitate the detection, tracking, and classification of ground-based objects. This further requires rapid response to real-world events and the balancing of multiple, competing mission objectives. In this context, human operators become overwhelmed with management of many platforms. Further, current automated planning paradigms tend to be centralized and don't scale up well to many collaborating platforms. We introduce a decentralized approach based upon information-theory and distributed fusion which enable us to scale up to large numbers of collaborating Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (SUAS) platforms. This is exercised against a military application involving the autonomous detection, tracking, and classification of critical mobile targets. We further show that, based upon monte-carlo simulation results, our decentralized approach out-performs more static management strategies employed by human operators and achieves similar results to a centralized approach while being scalable and robust to degradation of communication. Finally, we describe the limitations of our approach and future directions for our research.

Remote Marker-Based Tracking for UAV Landing Using Visible-Light Camera Sensor

PubMed Central

Nguyen, Phong Ha; Kim, Ki Wan; Lee, Young Won; Park, Kang Ryoung

2017-01-01

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which are commonly known as drones, have proved to be useful not only on the battlefields where manned flight is considered too risky or difficult, but also in everyday life purposes such as surveillance, monitoring, rescue, unmanned cargo, aerial video, and photography. More advanced drones make use of global positioning system (GPS) receivers during the navigation and control loop which allows for smart GPS features of drone navigation. However, there are problems if the drones operate in heterogeneous areas with no GPS signal, so it is important to perform research into the development of UAVs with autonomous navigation and landing guidance using computer vision. In this research, we determined how to safely land a drone in the absence of GPS signals using our remote maker-based tracking algorithm based on the visible light camera sensor. The proposed method uses a unique marker designed as a tracking target during landing procedures. Experimental results show that our method significantly outperforms state-of-the-art object trackers in terms of both accuracy and processing time, and we perform test on an embedded system in various environments. PMID:28867775