1,308 research outputs found
Design and development of an unmanned aerial and ground vehicles for precision pesticide spraying
Günümüzde, bitki hastalıkları tarımsal üretimi etkileyen önemli sorunlardan birisi olarak karşımıza çıkmaktadır. Bitkileri hastalıklardan ve zararlı otların etkilerinden korumak hem tarımda üretimi artırmak hem de tarımın kalitesini yükseltmek için büyük önem taşımaktadır. Tarımsal ürünler, ülkemizde ve dünyada çeşitli ilaçlama yöntemleri kullanılarak korunabilmektedir. Bu yöntemlerin başında gelen ilaçlama yolu ile bitki koruma yöntemi üretimin kalitesini geliştirmek ve rekolteyi artırmak amacıyla yaygın olarak kullanılmaktadır. Ancak bitkilerin korunmasında uygulanan geleneksel ilaçlama yöntemlerinin bitkilere ve toprağa büyük ölçüde zarar verdiği gözlenmektedir. Son yıllarda gelişmiş ülkelerdeki tarımsal uygulamalarda robotların kullanımı hızla artmakta, tarımsal alanlarda özellikle uzaktan algılama ve hassas tarım çalışmalarında bu robotların kullanıldığı görülmektedir. Dahası, tarımsal üretimde yararlanılan fayda-maliyet oranı da dikkate alındığında, günümüzde hassas tarım uygulamalarında robotların kullanılmasının kaçınılmaz hale geldiği anlaşılmaktadır. Günümüz gereksinimleri ve gelişen teknoloji göz önüne alınarak planlanmış olan bu çalışmada, ülkemizde yaygın olarak kullanılan tarımsal mücadele yöntemlerinin maliyetlerini, tarımsal üretimin miktarını ve kalitesini önemli ölçüde etkileyecek geleneksel ilaçlama yöntemlerine alternatif olabilecek bir tarımsal mücadele sistemi geliştirilmiştir. Çalışmada, yakın mesafeden doğrudan hedeflenen bitki üzerine ilaçlama yapılması, ilaçlama sırasında toprağa ve bitkilere verilen zararın en aza indirgenmesi hedeflenmiştir. Bu doğrultuda, özgün tasarım multispektral kamera, ilaçlama ünitesi, Yer Kontrol İstasyonu (YKİ) ve eşgüdümlü çalışabilen İnsansız Hava Aracı (İHA) ile İnsansız Yer Aracından (İYA) oluşan tarımsal mücadele mekanizması tasarlanmış ve geliştirilmiştir. Bu mekanizma, tarımsal ilaçlama uygulamaları için geleneksel yöntemlere kıyasla daha ileri düzey bir alternatif yöntem olarak ortaya çıkmaktadır.TABLE OF CONTENTS
ÖZET ................................................................................................................ vii
ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................... ix
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................ xi
1 . INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 1
2. LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................. 6
2.1 Robotics ..................................................................................................... 9
2.2 Unmanned Ground Vehicles ..................................................................... 11
2.3 Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ....................................................................... 11
2.4 Remote Sensing Technology .................................................................... 17
2.4.1 Remote Sensing Platforms ................................................................. 19
2.4.2 Plant Disease Detection ..................................................................... 22
2.4.3 Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ........................................... 27
3 . MATERIAL AND METHOD ....................................................................... 29
3.1 Ground Control Station ............................................................................ 32
3.2 Unmanned Ground Vehicle ...................................................................... 37
3.2.1 Specifications of the UGV ................................................................. 38
3.2.2 The Chassis and Sensor Holder .......................................................... 40
3.2.3 FEM Analysis .................................................................................... 43
3.3 Multispectral Camera for Plant Disease Detection .................................... 44
3.3.1 Spectral Imaging ................................................................................ 46
3.3.2 Multispectral Camera – Spektra TSL128RN ...................................... 47
3.3.3 The hardware of the Device ............................................................... 49
3.3.4 Calibrating Steps of the Device .......................................................... 52
3.3.5 Software for the Device ..................................................................... 56
3.3.6 Measurements using NDVI Devices .................................................. 58
3.4 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ........................................................................ 62
3.4.1 The Chassis and Arm ......................................................................... 66
3.4.2 FEM Analysis ................................................................................... 69
3.4.3 Modal Analysis ................................................................................. 70
3.4.4 Performance of the Propellers ............................................................ 73
3.4.5 Flight Duration and Maximum Conditions ......................................... 82
3.4.6 Strain Measurement ........................................................................... 84
3.4.7 Other Parts ........................................................................................ 92
3.4.8 Specifications of the UAV ................................................................. 95
3.4.9 Flight Tests ....................................................................................... 96
3.5 Spraying Unit –Sprayer and Tank ............................................................. 99
4 . RESULTS AND DISCUSSION .................................................................. 103
4.1 The UGV ............................................................................................... 103
4.2 The Multispectral Camera ...................................................................... 105
4.3 The UAV ............................................................................................... 115
4.4 The Sprayer............................................................................................ 135
xv
4.5 UGV and Multispectral Camera .............................................................. 138
4.6 Aerial Spraying UAV ............................................................................. 145
5 . CONCLUSIONS......................................................................................... 154
REFERENCES ................................................................................................ 156
RESUME......................................................................................................... 16
A survey on fractional order control techniques for unmanned aerial and ground vehicles
In recent years, numerous applications of science and engineering for modeling and control of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) systems based on fractional calculus have been realized. The extra fractional order derivative terms allow to optimizing the performance of the systems. The review presented in this paper focuses on the control problems of the UAVs and UGVs that have been addressed by the fractional order techniques over the last decade
Baseline Assumptions and Future Research Areas for Urban Air Mobility Vehicles
NASA is developing Urban Air Mobility (UAM) concepts to (1) create first-generation reference vehicles that can be used for technology, system, and market studies, and (2) hypothesize second-generation UAM aircraft to determine high-payoff technology targets and future research areas that reach far beyond initial UAM vehicle capabilities. This report discusses the vehicle-level technology assumptions for NASAs UAM reference vehicles, and highlights future research areas for second-generation UAM aircraft that includes deflected slipstream concepts, low-noise rotors for edgewise flight, stacked rotors/propellers, ducted propellers, solid oxide fuel cells with liquefied natural gas, and improved turbo shaft and reciprocating engine technology. The report also highlights a transportation network-scale model that is being developed to understand the impact of these and other technologies on future UAM solutions
Technology Assessment of eVTOL Personal Air Transportation System
This thesis intended to provide a holistic vision on the potential consequences of the introduction
of emerging electrical Vertical Takeoff and Landing (e VTOL) Personal Air Transportation System
(PATS) to contribute to the forming of public and policy opinion, and to assess the impacts and the
feasibility of that. Instead of looking from a detailed vehicle design viewpoint, we tried to understand
the need, the impacts, and the perceptions and the concerns of stakeholders. Thus, it was set a framework
and methodology starting with a technology assessment point of view in the light of transportation
system analysis. Limitations of the current ground and airline transportation systems, increasing
congestion, poor block speed, combined with expanding population and demand for affordable on-
demand mobility are driving the development of future transportation technology and policy. The third
wave of aeronautics might be the answer and could bring about great new capabilities for society that
would bring aviation into a new age of being relevant in daily lives since eVTOL PATS is envisioned
as the next logical step in the natural progression in the history of disruptive transportation system
innovations. However, there are a lot of questions. Although there was difficulty since the system was
an emerging air transportation mode, an interdisciplinary study has been conducted to assess the impacts
of developing such a capability. The research questions were determined to address the research
objectives. What is the current state of mobility and eVTOL air transportation mode? What are the
potential benefits of eVTOL air transportation mode for user and society? What are the perceptions of
service providers, regulator, and user? What are the main challenges including technology, regulation,
operation, social and environment aspects to enable the system? What are the enabling technologies?
Nevertheless, with the results obtained lately from the research activities, revolutionary technologies
and regulations are bringing us closer to eVTOL PATS reality every day. It can be argued that a new
socio-technical transition will come about like the transition from horse drawn carriers to cars. Even if
it is still a long way to go, it seems rather likely that the time has been arriving in the next decade. Their
existence and operation would therefore need to be taken into consideration for today’s planning
considerations and construction projects to be able to have this emerging air transportation mode
available in the future. As the technology underlying eVTOL PATS evolves, wider eVTOL adoption
across various markets is likely to be supported further if a set of key challenges such as safety and
security, ease of use and autonomy, noise, infrastructure, and air traffic management are overcome.
Achieving drastic improvements in ease of use, safety and community acceptable noise are the most
critical steps towards the future feasibility of this market. Multi-use demos and demonstrating successful
operation with early vehicles, namely eVTOL PATS prototype field operations, will create public
acceptance and understanding of potentials in emerging air transportation mode for public good, use and
learn in multiple applications. The overall perception of the user, service provider and regulator are
positive, and the support is high. Shortly, a successful implementation and sustainable transition will
depend on overcoming technological hurdles, regulatory frameworks, operational safety, cost
competitiveness, and sensibilities of the affected communities. There is a need to enable people and
goods to have the convenience of on-demand, point-to-point safe travel, further, anywhere in less travel
time, through a network of pocket airports/vertiports, and there is a significant potential benefit so that
policy makers, regulators and metropoles’ transportation planning departments should consider an
inclusion of eVTOL air transportation mode into the scenarios and policies of the future.Esta tese pretende fornecer uma visão holística sobre as potenciais consequências da introdução do
Sistema de Transporte Aéreo Pessoal (PATS) de Decolagem e Pouso Vertical elétrico emergente (e
VTOL) para contribuir para a formação de opinião pública e política, e para avaliar os impactos e a
viabilidade disso. Em vez de olhar de um ponto de vista detalhado o projeto do veículo, tentamos
entender a necessidade, os impactos, as percepções e as preocupações das partes interessadas. Assim,
foi definido um quadro e uma metodologia partindo de um ponto de vista de avaliação de tecnologia à
luz da análise do sistema de transporte. As limitações dos atuais sistemas de transporte terrestre e aéreo,
o aumento do congestionamento, a baixa velocidade do tráfego, combinados com a expansão da
população e a mobilidade com procura acessível estão impulsionando o desenvolvimento de futuras
tecnologias e políticas de transporte. A terceira onda da aeronáutica pode ser a resposta e pode trazer
grandes novas capacidades para a sociedade que trariam a aviação para uma nova era de ser relevante
na vida cotidiana, uma vez que o VTOL PATS é visto como o próximo passo lógico na progressão
natural na história das inovações disruptivas do sistema de transporte. No entanto, há muitas perguntas.
Embora tenha havido dificuldade por se tratar de um modo de transporte aéreo emergente, um estudo
interdisciplinar foi realizado para avaliar os impactos do desenvolvimento de tal capacidade. As questões
de investigação foram determinadas para atender aos objetivos do projeto. Qual é o estado atual da
mobilidade e do modo de transporte aéreo eVTOL? Quais são os benefícios potenciais do modo de
transporte aéreo eVTOL para o utilizador e a sociedade? Quais são as percepções dos provedores de
serviços, regulador e utilizador? Quais são os principais desafios, incluindo tecnologia, regulamentação,
operação, aspectos sociais e ambientais para habilitar o sistema? Quais são as tecnologias facilitadoras?
No entanto, com os resultados obtidos ultimamente nas atividades de pesquisa, tecnologias e
regulamentações revolucionárias estão nos aproximando cada dia mais da realidade do VTOL PATS.
Pode-se argumentar que uma nova transição sócio-técnica ocorrerá como a transição de carruagens
puxadas por cavalos para automóveis. Mesmo que ainda seja um longo caminho a percorrer, parece
bastante provável que a hora esteja chegando na próxima década. A sua existência e operação, portanto,
precisam ser levadas em consideração para as questões de planeamento e projetos de construção de hoje
para poder ter esse modo de transporte aéreo emergente disponível no futuro. À medida que a tecnologia
subjacente ao eVTOL PATS evolui, é provável que a adoção mais ampla do eVTOL em vários mercados
seja ainda mais apoiada se um conjunto de desafios importantes, como segurança e proteção, facilidade
de uso e autonomia, ruído, infraestrutura e gestão de tráfego aéreo forem superados. Alcançar melhorias
drásticas na facilidade de uso, segurança e ruído aceitável pela comunidade são os passos mais críticos
para a viabilidade futura deste mercado. Demonstrações multi-uso e demonstração de operação bem-
sucedida com veículos iniciais, ou seja, operações de campo do protótipo eVTOL PATS, criarão
aceitação pública e compreensão dos potenciais no modo de transporte aéreo emergente para o bem
público, uso e aprendizado em várias aplicações. A percepção geral do utilizador, prestador de serviço
e regulador é positiva, e o suporte é alto. Uma implementação bem-sucedida e uma transição sustentável
dependerá da superação de obstáculos tecnológicos, estruturas regulatórias, segurança operacional,
competitividade de custos e sensibilidade das comunidades afetadas. Há uma necessidade de permitir
que pessoas e mercadorias tenham a conveniência de viagens seguras de que necessitam, ponto a ponto,
e além disso, em qualquer lugar em menos tempo de viagem. Isso pode ser feito por meio de uma rede
de aeroportos/vertiports, e há um benefício potencial significativo para que os formuladores de políticas,
reguladores e departamentos de planeamento de transporte das grandes metrópoles considerem a
inclusão do modo de transporte aéreo eVTOL nos cenários e políticas do futuro
Enhancing VTOL Multirotor Performance With a Passive Rotor Tilting Mechanism
This article discusses the benefits of introducing a simple passive mechanism to enable rotor tilting in Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) multirotor vehicles. Such a system is evaluated in relevant Urban Air Mobility (UAM) passenger transport scenarios such as hovering in wind conditions and overcoming rotor failures. While conventional parallel axis multirotors are underactuated systems, the proposed mechanism makes the vehicle fully actuated in SE(3), which implies independent cabin position and orientation control. An accurate vehicle simulator with realistic parameters is presented to compare in simulation the proposed architecture with a conventional underactuated VTOL vehicle that shares the same physical properties. In order to make fair comparisons, controllers are obtained solving an optimization problem in which the cost function of both systems is chosen to be equivalent. In particular, the control laws are Linear-Quadratic Regulators (LQR), which are derived by linearizing the systems around hover. It is shown through extensive simulation that the introduction of a passive rotor tilting mechanism based on universal joints improves performance metrics such as vehicle stability, power consumption, passenger comfort and position tracking precision in nominal flight conditions and it does not compromise vehicle safety in rotor failure situations
The use of modern tools for modelling and simulation of UAV with Haptic
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) is a research field in robotics which is in high demand in recent years, although there still exist many unanswered questions. In contrast, to the human operated aerial vehicles, it is still far less used to the fact that people are dubious about flying in or flying an unmanned vehicle. It is all about giving the control right to the computer (which is the Artificial Intelligence) for making decisions based on the situation like human do but this has not been easy to make people understand that it’s safe and to continue the enhancement on it. These days there are many types of UAVs available in the market for consumer use, for applications like photography to play games, to map routes, to monitor buildings, for security purposes and much more. Plus, these UAVs are also being widely used by the military for surveillance and for security reasons. One of the most commonly used consumer product is a quadcopter or quadrotor.
The research carried out used modern tools (i.e., SolidWorks, Java Net Beans and MATLAB/Simulink) to model controls system for Quadcopter UAV with haptic control system to control the quadcopter in a virtual simulation environment and in real time environment. A mathematical model for the controlling the quadcopter in simulations and real time environments were introduced. Where, the design methodology for the quadcopter was defined. This methodology was then enhanced to develop a virtual simulation and real time environments for simulations and experiments. Furthermore, the haptic control was then implemented with designed control system to control the quadcopter in virtual simulation and real time experiments.
By using the mathematical model of quadcopter, PID & PD control techniques were used to model the control setup for the quadcopter altitude and motion controls as work progressed. Firstly, the dynamic model is developed using a simple set of equations which evolves further by using complex control & mathematical model with precise function of actuators and aerodynamic coefficients Figure5-7. The presented results are satisfying and shows that flight experiments and simulations of the quadcopter control using haptics is a novel area of research which helps perform operations more successfully and give more control to the operator when operating in difficult environments. By using haptic accidents can be minimised and the functional performance of the operator and the UAV will be significantly enhanced. This concept and area of research of haptic control can be further developed accordingly to the needs of specific applications
Bridge Inspection: Human Performance, Unmanned Aerial Systems and Automation
Unmanned aerial systems (UASs) have become of considerable private and commercial interest for a variety of jobs and entertainment in the past 10 years. This paper is a literature review of the state of practice for the United States bridge inspection programs and outlines how automated and unmanned bridge inspections can be made suitable for present and future needs. At its best, current technology limits UAS use to an assistive tool for the inspector to perform a bridge inspection faster, safer, and without traffic closure. The major challenges for UASs are satisfying restrictive Federal Aviation Administration regulations, control issues in a GPS-denied environment, pilot expenses and availability, time and cost allocated to tuning, maintenance, post-processing time, and acceptance of the collected data by bridge owners. Using UASs with self-navigation abilities and improving image-processing algorithms to provide results near real-time could revolutionize the bridge inspection industry by providing accurate, multi-use, autonomous three-dimensional models and damage identification
The use of modern tools for modelling and simulation of UAV with Haptic
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) is a research field in robotics which is in high demand in recent years, although there still exist many unanswered questions. In contrast, to the human operated aerial vehicles, it is still far less used to the fact that people are dubious about flying in or flying an unmanned vehicle. It is all about giving the control right to the computer (which is the Artificial Intelligence) for making decisions based on the situation like human do but this has not been easy to make people understand that it’s safe and to continue the enhancement on it. These days there are many types of UAVs available in the market for consumer use, for applications like photography to play games, to map routes, to monitor buildings, for security purposes and much more. Plus, these UAVs are also being widely used by the military for surveillance and for security reasons. One of the most commonly used consumer product is a quadcopter or quadrotor.
The research carried out used modern tools (i.e., SolidWorks, Java Net Beans and MATLAB/Simulink) to model controls system for Quadcopter UAV with haptic control system to control the quadcopter in a virtual simulation environment and in real time environment. A mathematical model for the controlling the quadcopter in simulations and real time environments were introduced. Where, the design methodology for the quadcopter was defined. This methodology was then enhanced to develop a virtual simulation and real time environments for simulations and experiments. Furthermore, the haptic control was then implemented with designed control system to control the quadcopter in virtual simulation and real time experiments.
By using the mathematical model of quadcopter, PID & PD control techniques were used to model the control setup for the quadcopter altitude and motion controls as work progressed. Firstly, the dynamic model is developed using a simple set of equations which evolves further by using complex control & mathematical model with precise function of actuators and aerodynamic coefficients Figure5-7. The presented results are satisfying and shows that flight experiments and simulations of the quadcopter control using haptics is a novel area of research which helps perform operations more successfully and give more control to the operator when operating in difficult environments. By using haptic accidents can be minimised and the functional performance of the operator and the UAV will be significantly enhanced. This concept and area of research of haptic control can be further developed accordingly to the needs of specific applications
Aerial Manipulation: A Literature Review
Aerial manipulation aims at combining the versatil- ity and the agility of some aerial platforms with the manipulation capabilities of robotic arms. This letter tries to collect the results reached by the research community so far within the field of aerial manipulation, especially from the technological and control point of view. A brief literature review of general aerial robotics and space manipulation is carried out as well
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