Intelligent aerial store & foreword packet repeater

A communication framework capable of rapid deployment and adaptive wireless support was designed and implemented using an unmanned aerial vehicle equipped with a 900 MHz, frequency- hopping transceiver configured as a store and forward packet repeater. Users with or without line of sight propagation between one another can automatically connect through the packet repeater and employ the aerial platform for extended data transfer. The airborne vehicle accommodates dynamic re-positioning in response to varying radio link conditions, thus supporting communication between highly mobile and/or line of sight-obstructed users even as the network topology evolves. Using open source and custom written software applications, as well as specially modified radio firmware, a command and data-logging environment was designed to monitor, control and initialize radio network conditions and vehicle platforms in real time. Careful real world evaluation of the developed system has demonstrated a robust platform capable of improvement to a user\u27s communication performance

Obstacle alert and collision avoidance system development for UAVs with Pixhawk flight controller

In recent years, the unmanned aerial vehicles sector has been characterized by its sharp growth, spreading its line of applications and becoming one of the cutting edge technologies in the world. However, this exponential advancement would have been even more extreme but for the restrictive existing legislation that limits its operations. That constraints imposed to drone operations are not legislated in vain. Specially in populated areas, flying drones is a dangerous service that entails risks for the safety of the population. Useless have been the attempts of many major online selling companies to make use of unmanned aerial vehicles serving as dealers of parcels. Further technology needs still to be implemented, for guarantying standards levels of safety in urban zones. This thesis aims to contribute to this required development of drone technology by proposing a preliminary collision avoidance system for unmanned aerial vehi- cles. The project involves assembling a flight-capable quadcopter from scratch and implementing the collision avoidance as an additional subsystem. To that end, a set of ultrasonic range finders are located around the quadcopter. Their acquired raw data is processed in an auxiliary arduino microcontroller board that send tra- jectory corrections to the flight controller of the quadcopter based on the distance information. As a result, a concept proof of an autonomous collision avoidance system is integrated into an unmanned aerial vehicle system. Results are obtained and consecutively analyzed based on ground and flight tests. For that purpose, the flight capabilities of the built quadcopter are proved, and aftewards, the collision avoidance is tested. Overall, the collision avoidance system e ectiveness was achieved. The collision avoidance work principle consisted on warding off from obstacles when detected. Major faced problems are related to stability recover after the collision is avoided. That problem was solved by proving different flight modes, but that issue needs future work to make the collision avoidance more reliable.Ingeniería Aeroespacia

Spatial Centering of a Quadcopter in an Underground Coal Mine

The recent proliferation of smaller and more affordable sensing and computing has contributed to an increased availability of unmanned aerial vehicles, UAV\u27s. Specifically, quadrotor platforms have become popular due to their low cost, versatility, and relative ease of operation. There are a variety of applications for this type of aerial vehicle, ranging from hobbyist photography to search and rescue operations. This thesis documents the feasibility of using a quadrotor UAV within the confined space of an underground coal mine during an emergency. Additionally, this paper notes in the Appendix an experiment to remotely operate a quadcopter that is located underground. This work specifies the equipment used to operate down an eight inch borehole in terms of radios, fiber optic cables, and video hardware. The operator and quadcopter were located 50 feet apart in the experiment.;One of the most significant challenges of operating a quadcopter in an underground coal mine is collision avoidance. The automation of basic spatial centering in the underground coal mine would lessen the burden on the operator and help prevent collisions. Many spatially aware quadcopter systems already exist, but widely rely on GPS signals as a way to determine position. GPS signals are very weak radio signals that cannot penetrate into the earth. The below-ground nature of an underground coal mine precludes the use of GPS for positioning the craft. Due to this limitation, it became necessary to explore unique sensing solutions that would allow for the spatial centering of the quadcopter while operating in an underground environment.;The ability for the craft to maintain a distance from its surroundings through the use of a light-based sensor was analyzed. Sensors were placed on the bottom and side of the quadcopter, and the performance of the control system was observed. Altitude was maintained with a steady state error of 4%, and the response to a step change in ground height resulted in a 10% lower overshoot than simulation. Simultaneously, distance was maintained from the side with a steady state error of 7.8%. The work presented in this document serves as validation for the basic spatial awareness and crash avoidance capability of a quadcopter operating without GPS in an underground coal mine while controlled remotely down an eight inch borehole

CuriPilot

The drone industry has rapidly grown over the last three years and many large companies have determined that the phenomenon is worth investing in. Recently, Intel has shown interest in this growing industry. Intel developed a next generation processor to be used in drones in addition to investing in the Chinese drone hardware company, Yuneec. Contracted by Intel, the CuriPilot team laid the foundation for linking the hardware and software layers of Intel\u27s drone technology by designing the stabilization control system for the next generation of processors and drones. The CuriPilot team built a foundation for future drone development and gave Intel valuable feedback on both the hardware and software being used with the Curie processor. Looking forward, future development can easily be started with the new EarHart boards and existing drone frames. The elusive system bugs have been fixed and the EarHart board provides a stable environment to continue autopilot development

Fault Tolerant Control of a X8-VB Quadcopter

In this dissertation new modeling and fault tolerant control methodologies of a quadcopter with X8 configuration are proposed; studies done to actuators faults and possible reconfigurations are also presented. The main research effort has been done to design and implement the kinematic and dynamic model of a quadcopter with X8 configuration in Simulink®. Moreover, simulation and control of the quadcopter in a virtual reality world using Simulink3D® and real world experimental results from a quadcopter assembled for this purpose. The main contributions are the modeling of a X8 architecture and a fault tolerant control approach. In order to show the performance of the controllers in closed-loop, simulation results with the model of a X8 quadcopter and real world experiments are presented. The simulations and experiments revealed good performance of the control systems due to the aircraft model quality. The conclusion of the theoretical studies done in the field of actuators’ fault tolerance were validated with simulation and real experiments

Seed Plant Drone for Reforestation

The desertification issue in the Cape Verde Islands over the past decades has proven to be a very serious problem which concerns the entire archipelago. Erosion, inaccessible land and the lack of field workers is making agricultural production increasingly inefficient. This project seeks to construct a viable and efficient solution to improve the agricultural system and soil erosion issues in the Cape Verde islands. To accomplish this goal, we will build an autonomous flying quadcopter that will mechanically dispense seeds to restore the arid and infertile regions for agriculture. This project has three deliverables. The first is a custom-built quadcopter that will include an Autopilot board for control, a GPS for navigation, a radio controller to provide failsafe, and autonomous takeoff and landing. The second is control software that will communicate with a ground station and plot out waypoints, altitudes, and seed dispersal. The third is a robotic seed dispenser controlled by the Arduino

Study of operational requirements in hostile and congested areas with unmanned air vehicles (UAV/RPAS)

The target of this study is analyse the operational requirement of UAV/RPAS activities in special conditionsThis study analyses and determines the operational requirements for unmanned aerial vehicles and remotely piloted aircrafts when operating in congested and hostile areas. In order to do so, a study of present regulatory framework from different countries is done and proposals published by regulating authorities from Europe and America as well, concluding this initial approach to unmanned aerial vehicle’s regulations with a benchmark of best practices. Afterwards, a risk analysis and a safe study are done by identifying potential risks, taking into account all possible situations and scenarios that can be produced during an operation in a congested area. Once the risks are adequately identified, an evaluation of them is performed, obtaining as a result a safety level which is acceptable or unacceptable in order to ensure the integrity of people on ground, and consequently developing the operation or not. Finally, for those operations associated to a risk that result in an unacceptable safety level, mitigation measures are proposed to reduce the likelihood of hazard happening and the severity of the consequences. It may be noted that these mitigation measures consist in adding technology to unmanned aircraft systems and establishing operational procedures

Micro air vehicles energy transportation for a wireless power transfer system

The aim of this work is to demonstrate the feasibility use of an Micro air vehicles (MAV) in order to power wirelessly an electric system, for example, a sensor network, using low-cost and open-source elements. To achieve this objective, an inductive system has been modelled and validated to power wirelessly a sensor node using a Crazyflie 2.0 as MAV. The design of the inductive system must be small and light enough to fulfil the requirements of the Crazyflie. An inductive model based on two resonant coils is presented. Several coils are defined to be tested using the most suitable resonant configuration. Measurements are performed to validate the model and to select the most suitable coil. While attempting to minimize the weight at transmitter’s side, on the receiver side it is intended to efficiently acquire and manage the power obtained from the transmitter. In order to prove its feasibility, a temperature sensor node is used as demonstrator. The experiment results show successfully energy transportation by MAV, and wireless power transfer for the resonant configuration, being able to completely charge the node battery and to power the temperature sensor.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version