Design of a swarm of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for the exploration of Mars

Mars has been a main target for exploration over the last decades, due to its closeness and similarity to Earth. Exploration landers and rovers have laid the foundation for the understanding of the planet, however, they exhibit some limitations that Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) would overcome. Thus, this report consists of the design of a swarm of UAVs for the exploration of the red planet, which coordinates with a swarm of rovers and a constellation of orbiters that are briefly described. Firstly, the mission is preliminarily designed to define its location, architecture, objectives, and requirements. Secondly, the single UAV overview is presented, illustrating a preliminary design of all the subsystems involved in order to perform successfully. Thirdly, the swarm of UAVs is defined, introducing pre-flight check procedures. Then, two flight formation algorithms for the swarm of UAVs are suggested, although only one of them is implemented. Fourthly, there is a brief introduction to the multiplatform architecture, focused on communication and connectivity. Finally, conclusions are drawn and and the foundation for future work related to the different chapters of this thesis is included

2017 Intern Experience [at] Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center

These detailed individual abstracts are being included in the summer 2017 abstract book, demonstrating the knowledge learned during the summer 2017 AFRC STEM program

Swarming Reconnaissance Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in a Parallel Discrete Event Simulation

Current military affairs indicate that future military warfare requires safer, more accurate, and more fault-tolerant weapons systems. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) are one answer to this military requirement. Technology in the UAV arena is moving toward smaller and more capable systems and is becoming available at a fraction of the cost. Exploiting the advances in these miniaturized flying vehicles is the aim of this research. How are the UAVs employed for the future military? The concept of operations for a micro-UAV system is adopted from nature from the appearance of flocking birds, movement of a school of fish, and swarming bees among others. All of these natural phenomena have a common thread: a global action resulting from many small individual actions. This emergent behavior is the aggregate result of many simple interactions occurring within the flock, school, or swarm. In a similar manner, a more robust weapon system uses emergent behavior resulting in no weakest link because the system itself is made up of simple interactions by hundreds or thousands of homogeneous UAVs. The global system in this research is referred to as a swarm. Losing one or a few individual unmanned vehicles would not dramatically impact the swarms ability to complete the mission or cause harm to any human operator. Swarming reconnaissance is the emergent behavior of swarms to perform a reconnaissance operation. An in-depth look at the design of a reconnaissance swarming mission is studied. A taxonomy of passive reconnaissance applications is developed to address feasibility. Evaluation of algorithms for swarm movement, communication, sensor input/analysis, targeting, and network topology result in priorities of each model\u27s desired features. After a thorough selection process of available implementations, a subset of those models are integrated and built upon resulting in a simulation that explores the innovations of swarming UAVs

A magnetometer based payload for a PTOL UAV with application in geophysical surveys

Includes bibliographical references.Applying the principles of physics to studying the Earth has given rise to the field of geophysics, which has been recognised as a separate discipline since the 19th century. The practical implementation of this field has led to a separate branch, aptly named exploration geophysics. Exploration geophysics aims to measure various naturally occurring phenomena associated with the Earth in order to make predictions about what might lie beneath the Earth’s surface. One of the fundamental phenomena associated with the Earth is the magnetic field or geomagnetic field. By localising magnetic anomalies within the geomagnetic field one can make predictions or inferences about the localised geophysical makeup and potential ore bodies, hydrocarbon deposits or archaeological artefacts that might exist below the surface. The fundamental sensor used to perform these surveys is the magnetometer. The concept of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has been around since 1915, with the first manufactured UAV appearing in 1916. Subsequent to the realisation of the UAV in the 1950s by Ryan Aeronautical for military reconnaissance, the idea of using UAV platforms to perform dull, dirty and dangerous functions has become common-place in the military environment. The first practical use of a UAV came in the 1991 Gulf War. The subsequent appearance of UAVs in the civilian realm can largely be attributed to the advent of low cost, high power density, lithium based batteries in the 1990s and the growth of the radio controlled (RC) hobbyist market

Review of existing and operable observing systems and sensors

Deliverable 1.4 is aimed at identification of existing and operable observing systems and sensors which are relevant to COMMON SENSE objectives. Report aggregates information on existing observing initiatives, programmes, systems, platforms and sensors. The Report includes: • inventory of previous and current EU funded projects. Some of the them, even if started before 2007, were aimed at activities which are relevant or in line with those stemming from MSFD in 2008. The ‘granulation’ of the contents and objectives of the projects varies from sensors development through observation methodologies to monitoring strategies, • inventory of research infrastructure in Europe. It starts from an attempt to define of Marine Research Infrastructure, as there is not a single definition of Research Infrastructure (RI) or of Marine Research Infrastructure (MRI), and there are different ways to categorise them. The chapter gives the categorization of the MRI, together with detailed description and examples of MRI – research platforms, marine data systems, research sites and laboratories with respect of four MSFD descriptors relevant to COMMON SENSE project, • two chapters on Research Programs and Infrastructure Networks; the pan-European initiatives aimed at cooperation and efficient use of infrastructural resources for marine observation and monitoring and data exchange are analysed. The detailed description of observing sensors and system are presented as well as frameworks for cooperation, • information on platforms (research vessels) available to the Project for testing developed sensors and systems. Platforms are available and operating in all three regions of interest to the project (Mediterranean, North Sea, Baltic), • annexed detailed description of two world-wide observation networks and systems. These systems are excellent examples of added value offered by integrated systems of ocean observation (from data to knowledge) and how they work in practice. Report concludes that it is seen a shortage of new classes of sensors to fulfil the emerging monitoring needs. Sensors proposed to be developed by COMMON SENSE project shall answer to the needs stemmed from introduction of MSFD and GES descriptors

The Journal of ERW and Mine Action Issue 17.3 (2013)

Survivor Assistance | Middle East | Syria | Notes from Field | Research and Developmen

DRONE DELIVERY OF CBNRECy – DEW WEAPONS Emerging Threats of Mini-Weapons of Mass Destruction and Disruption (WMDD)

Drone Delivery of CBNRECy – DEW Weapons: Emerging Threats of Mini-Weapons of Mass Destruction and Disruption (WMDD) is our sixth textbook in a series covering the world of UASs and UUVs. Our textbook takes on a whole new purview for UAS / CUAS/ UUV (drones) – how they can be used to deploy Weapons of Mass Destruction and Deception against CBRNE and civilian targets of opportunity. We are concerned with the future use of these inexpensive devices and their availability to maleficent actors. Our work suggests that UASs in air and underwater UUVs will be the future of military and civilian terrorist operations. UAS / UUVs can deliver a huge punch for a low investment and minimize human casualties.https://newprairiepress.org/ebooks/1046/thumbnail.jp

NASA Technology Plan 1998

This NASA Strategic Plan describes an ambitious, exciting vision for the Agency across all its Strategic Enterprises that addresses a series of fundamental questions of science and research. This vision is so challenging that it literally depends on the success of an aggressive, cutting-edge advanced technology development program. The objective of this plan is to describe the NASA-wide technology program in a manner that provides not only the content of ongoing and planned activities, but also the rationale and justification for these activities in the context of NASA's future needs. The scope of this plan is Agencywide, and it includes technology investments to support all major space and aeronautics program areas, but particular emphasis is placed on longer term strategic technology efforts that will have broad impact across the spectrum of NASA activities and perhaps beyond. Our goal is to broaden the understanding of NASA technology programs and to encourage greater participation from outside the Agency. By relating technology goals to anticipated mission needs, we hope to stimulate additional innovative approaches to technology challenges and promote more cooperative programs with partners outside NASA who share common goals. We also believe that this will increase the transfer of NASA-sponsored technology into nonaerospace applications, resulting in an even greater return on the investment in NASA

Sensor capability and atmospheric correction in ocean colour remote sensing

© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Accurate correction of the corrupting effects of the atmosphere and the water's surface are essential in order to obtain the optical, biological and biogeochemical properties of the water from satellite-based multi-and hyper-spectral sensors. The major challenges now for atmospheric correction are the conditions of turbid coastal and inland waters and areas in which there are strongly-absorbing aerosols. Here, we outline how these issues can be addressed, with a focus on the potential of new sensor technologies and the opportunities for the development of novel algorithms and aerosol models. We review hardware developments, which will provide qualitative and quantitative increases in spectral, spatial, radiometric and temporal data of the Earth, as well as measurements from other sources, such as the Aerosol Robotic Network for Ocean Color (AERONET-OC) stations, bio-optical sensors on Argo (Bio-Argo) floats and polarimeters. We provide an overview of the state of the art in atmospheric correction algorithms, highlight recent advances and discuss the possible potential for hyperspectral data to address the current challenges