Development Of Inertial Navigation System With Applications To Airborne Collision Avoidance

Tez (Yüksek Lisans) -- İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi, Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü, 2016Thesis (M.Sc.) -- İstanbul Technical University, Institute of Science and Technology, 2016Ülkemizde ve dünyada insansız hava araçlarının kullanımı gün geçtikçe artmaktadır. Sadece insansız hava aracı kullanımı değil, kullanıldığı alanlar da artış göstermektedir. Bu da insansız hava aracı marketini daha cezbedici kılmaktadır. Bu artış sonucu dünyada bir çok insansız hava aracı şirketi kurulmuş ve bazıları bu araçları seri üretim şeklinde üreterek ihtacat yapabilmektedirler. Dünyadaki bu ekonomik büyümenin bir yansıması olarak dünyadaki insansız hava aracının sayısı da gün geçtikçe artmaktadır. Bu talebin büyüklüğüne bakılarak, 20 yıl sonra meydana gelecek insansız hava aracı çarpışmaları ve trafikleri otoriteleri bu konu ile ilgili çalışmaya sevketmiştir. Bununla beraber uygulama alanlarının artması ve daha da detaylanması nedeniyle belirli özellikleri ve otonom uçuşu gerçekleştirebilen insansız hava araçları artık yetersiz kalmaktadır. Günümüzde genel olarak DJI, Pixhawk, ardupilot gibi markaların araçları veya otopilotları kullanılmaktadır. Bazıları açık kaynak kodlu olsalar bile kod içerisinde değişiklik yapmak veya farklı bir donanım entegre etmek oldukça zor. Bunun haricinde piyasada baskın olup market değeri de en yüksek olan DJI firmasının ürünleri tamamiyle kapalı kutu şekilde satılmaktadır. Otonom uçui, rota takibi, havada asılı kalma ve video çekme, canlı yayın yapma gibi temel isterleri yapabilmelerine ragmen, genişleyen sektörde endüstrinin istekleri, artık insansız hava aracının sadece canlı yayın yapması için değil, harici eklenecek donanımlar ile beraber çalışabilirliği veya başka sistemlerle entegre çalışabilirliği gibi problemleri ortaya çıkarmıştır. Bu nedenle piyasada ciddi bir şekilde müşteri isteğine göre configure edilebilen otopilot sistemleri ihtiyacı doğmuştur. Diğer yandan insansız hava aracı trafiğine bile yol açacak kadar büyüyen bu sektör ve sivil havacılığın da benzer bir şekilde büyüdüğü iki sektör ile karşı karşıyayız. Sivil havacılığın artan trafiği ve çarpışma önleme sistemlerinin yetersiz kalması gibi durumlara çözümler aranmaktadır. Yapılan çalışmalar sonucu [1] insansız hava aracı sahası ile sivil havacılık sahasının birleştirilmesi ve bu birleştirmelerin nasıl yapılması gerektiği konusu ortaya çıkmıştır. Bunun üzerine bir çok üniversite, bu konu üzerine çalışmalar yapmış ve yayınlar ortaya çıkmıştır. Genel olarak problem ise elbette eski teknolojinin hüküm sürdüğü sivil havacılıkta kullanılan ürünlerin, insansız hava araçlarına entegrasyonu imkansızdır. Doğal olarak tüm hava araçlarının kontrolü için tek bir iletişim ağı hepsini kapsayacak şekilde kurulması amaçlanmıştır. Tüm bu hava araçlarının gözlemlenmesi aynı anda yapılabilmeli ki tehlike durumlarında gerekli müdahaleler ve tedbirler önceden veya o an alınabilsin. Bu tezde iki farklı problemin çözümü önerilmiştir. Önerilerin ilki bahsedilen müşteri odaklı insansız hava aracının tasarlanmasıdır. İnsansız hava aracı tasarımındaki en önemli modüllerden biri de INS-AHRS sistemidir. İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi Kontrol ve Aviyonik Laboratuvarında yapılan bu çalışma öncesinde, otopilot kontrolcü tasarımı çalışmaları yapılmış ve system oturtulmuştur. Yapılan uçuşlarda piyasadaki pahalı sistemler kullanılmaktaydı. Fakat sistemden sisteme farklılıklar göstermesi gereken bu ürünler, platform değişikliklerinde sıkıntılara yol açabiliyordu. Buna örnek vermek gerekirse sabit kanatlı insansız hava aracında sıkıntısız uçabilirken, multi-copter platformunda sapma açısında uçuş anında düzensizlikler ortaya çıkıyordu. Bunun nedeni ise alınan üründe sapma açısı sadee GPS verilerinden elde ediliyor olmasıydı. Hareketli platformun her zaman bir sapma açısı olacağından sabit kanatlı sistemlerde çalışması gayet normaldi. Fakat multi-copter platformunda havada asılı kaldığı zamanlarda sapma açısında bir hız vektörü olmadığından GPS hesaplayamıyor ve bu yüzden salınımlara neden oluyordu. Bu gibi problemlerin çözümü ve tamamiyle yerli, dışarıda çalışabilen, istenilen tüm platformlara tasarım değişiklikleriyle entegre edilebilecek bir INS-AHRS tasarımı yapılmaya çalışılmıştır. Bu tasarım yapılırken literatürde yapılan çalışmalar referans alınmış, ve filtreleme tekniklerinden navigasyon koordinat sistemlerine kadar çalışmalar yapılmıştır. Sensor çıkışlarının gürültülerini bastırmak için alçak geçiren filtrelerden geçirildikten sonra gerekli dönüşümler yapılarak filter seviyesine kadar getirilmiştir. Filtre kısmında iki farklı filter testi yapılmıştır. Biri tamamlayıcı filter ve diğeri kalman filtresidir. Bu filtrelerin her bir INS-AHRS üzerinde testleri yapılmış ve nihai olarak AHRS’de tamamlayıcı filter, INS’de ise kalman filtresinin kullanımı kararlaştırılmıştır. Yapılan çalışmalar İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi Stadyumunda ve İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi Havacılık Araştırma Merkezinde test edilmiştir. Yapılan testler 6 aydan fazla sürmesine ragmen nihai sonuca ulaşılabilmiştir. Bu süre zarfında tecrübe edilen en önemli nokta ise gerçek hayatta karşılaşılan problemler ile simulasyon ortamının farklı olmasıdır. Gerçek hayatta en küçük problemde bile aracınız yere çakılabilir ve her çakılmada 200-1000 TL zarar alabilirsiniz. Test yaptığımız süre içerisinde bizden kaynaklı olmayan, fakat üretim hatası olan pervanelerin kopması nedeni ile de kırımlar yaşanmıştır. Bu nedenle sistemin argesinin yapılması pahalıya mal olmuştur. Yapılan test sonuçlarının videoları çekilmiş ve sosyal mecralarda paylaşılmıştır. Bir diğer problem ise insansız hava araçlarının sivil hava sahasına entegrasonudur. Bu entegrasyonun yapılması için gereken teknolojik gelişmeler ve algoritmik çalışmalar gerekmektedir. Önerilen sistemde araç bazlı ve uçuş bazlı haberleşme verileri belirlenip, hangi sistemler üzerinden bu haberleşmenin gereçekleşmesi gerektiği gösterilmiştir. Daha sonra tüm bu sistemler hem hava araçlarında, yer istasyonlarında ve hava trafik kontrolcülerinde olacağından tüm haberleşme ortak bir platform için toplanmış oldu. Bu nedenle uçuş kontrollerinin yapılması daha da kolaylaşacaktır. Bununla beraber çarpışma önleme sistemi için günümüzde kullanılan 2B system değil, zamanın da içine dahil olduğu 4B istem önerilmiştir. Bu algoritmaının adı RRT-Star olup, olasılıksal yaklaşarak çarpışmadan kaçmayı hedefler. Bu kaçışı hedeflerken de en optimal yolu bulmaya çalışır ve o yoldan rotasına devam eder. Olasılıksal yaklaşımların savunduğu argüman sonsuz sayıda örnek sayısında bulunacak yol limitte en optimal yola doğru gider. Bu nedenle olasılıksal çözüm bulma, deterministic yöntemlere göre çok daha hızlı olmaktadır. Fakat algoritmada optimale ne kadar yaklaşmak istenirse o kadar örnekleme sayısını arttırmak gerekmektedir. Bu artış daha çok araştırma yapması ve sistemin uzun zaman boyunca rota üretmesi demektir. Buradaki dengeyi iyi tutturarak hem uygun yolu bulmaya ve en uygun kısa sürede bulmayı amaçlanması istenmektedir. Sistemin testi için donanımla benzetim çalışması gerçekleştirilmiştir. Bu tezde donanım benzetimi öncesi otopilot şeması verilmiş, buna bağlı test düzeneklerinin sistemi gösterilmiştir. Simulasyon olarak XPLANE programı kullanılmış ve programdan gelen sensor verilerine göre donanım sistemi uçurmaya çalışmıştır. Daha sonra çarpışma önleme algoritmasının entegrasyonu ile system testleri gerçekeştirilmiş ve sonuçları paylaşılmıştır. Nihai olarak bu tez, insansız hava aracı sektöründeki günümüzde ve gelecekte meydana gelecek problemleri öngörüp bunlara çözüm bulmak amaçlanmıştır. INS-AHRS tasarımları gerçekleştirilip, gerçek ortamda dışarıda testleri gerçekleştirilmiştir. Çarpışma önleme algoritması üzerine çalışmalar yapılarak da bu sistemin entegrasyonu yapılmış ve donanımsal benzetim ile testleri gerçekleştirilmiştir.Last years, the market growth of UAV is increasing day by day. This market growth is not just for some typical applications, but also application areas are increasing, too. This demand also increases the market value of the UAV. For competition in the market, UAV companies try to develop UAVs more efficient, cost effective and adding different capabilities. However, this growth generates some dangerous situations, moreover, because of the growth in application area, common UAVs are become not enough for applications or missions. In this thesis, I present and demostrate INS-AHRS Design and also Flight Management System with Collision Avoidance for UAV. These algorithms and demonstrations are made by the funding of ITU Control and Avionics Laboratory. In Laboratory, we already have autopilot system for multi-copter platforms and fixed-wing platforms. Before development of this INS-AHRS, we used other products from industry. But these products do not let you manage all system. But with the growth on the UAV applications, in the world also even in our laboratory, many projects required to solve specific problems with UAV. Industry products are designed for just one specific platform which may not be work on another platform. That is the main reason of necessity to develop new INS-AHRS, which can be used for multi-copter platforms. To develop INS-AHRS, filtering techniques and other conversation equations are studied. In this study, it is decided to use one IMU and one GPS. But after encounter with different problems, external magnetometer is added to the system. Then, as datasheet recommended, scaling and also alignment and offset shifting is studied. Before developing the all system, for inner loop, controller all need is attitude and attitude rate feed back. So first, with complimentary filter, gyroscope and accelerometer filtering is developed and tried to test at outside. In simulation, decision of coefficient of complimentary filter is easy to find. But these coefficients do not work at the outside. This shows the most important challenge that simulation platform can never be the same with outside real flight. For INS design, inertial frame to NWU frame conversation is developed. Accelerometers gravity vector and Coriolis vector is removed. Gyroscope outputs are also converted to the NWU frame. At least, all sensor outputs become the type of navigation frame. Whenever all datas gathered are become the type of the same frame, kalman filter is designed for INS. AS a result of INS-AHRS design, after 6 months of testing with other industrial INS, final coefficient of both INS and AHRS is decided. After few more development, test videos are recorded. For the growth of the UAV problem, this thesis presents Flight Management System (FMS) with multi-level autonomy modes that meet the requirements of future flight operations for unmanned aerial systems (UAS). It is envisioned that the future of airspace will become highly heterogeneous and integrate non-standardized aerial systems. In that case, only ground systems will be able to predict future trajectories based on performance models (stored in huge parametric databases). Meanwhile, airborne systems are required to share information. The proposed FMS structure integrates new functionalities such as (1) formal intent and information exchange and collaboration in tactical planning utilizing air-to-air and air-to-ground data links and (2) decentralized, short-term collision detection and avoidance. The air-to-ground data link enables intent sharing and allows field operators (i.e., flight operators or air traffic controllers) to interpret, modify, or re-plan UAS flight intent. The onboard FMS persistently monitors the airspace, tracks potential collisions with the other aircraft and the terrain, and requests re-planning when it detects a possible issue. When an immediate response is needed, the onboard FMS generates a 3D evasive maneuver and executes it autonomously. Flight traffic information is obtained from ADS-B/In transponders and air-to-air data links. ADSB-In/Out implementations make the unmanned systems more visible to the systems in 3D. In addition, the air-to-air data links enable intent sharing between airborne systems and are traceable in four dimensions (i.e., space and time). The experimental FMS was deployed in quadrotor UASs and a ground station and GUI was designed to perform demonstrations and field experiments for the issues introduced in the paper.Yüksek LisansM.Sc

Validation of Quad Tail-sitter VTOL UAV Model in Fixed Wing Mode

Vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) is a type of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that is growing rapidly because its ability to take off and land anywhere in tight spaces. One type of VTOL UAV, the tail-sitter, has the best efficiency. However, besides the efficiency offered, some challenges must still be overcome, including the complexity of combining the ability to hover like a helicopter and fly horizontally like a fixed-wing aircraft. This research has two contributions: in the form of how the analytical model is generated and the tools used (specifically for the small VTOL quad tail-sitter UAV) and how to utilize off-the-shelf components for UAV empirical modeling. This research focuses on increasing the speed and accuracy of the UAV VTOL control design in fixed-wing mode. The first step is to carry out analysis and simulation. The model is analytically obtained using OpenVSP in longitudinal and lateral modes. The next step is to realize this analytical model for both the aircraft and the controls. The third step is to measure the flight characteristics of the aircraft. Based on the data recorded during flights, an empirical model is made using system identification technique. The final step is to vali-date the analytical model with the empirical model. The results show that the characteristics of the analytical mode fulfill the specified requirements and are close to the empirical model. Thus, it can be concluded that the analytical model can be implemented directly, and consequently, the VTOL UAV design and development process has been shortened

Behavior Flexibility for Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Systems

Autonomous unmanned aerial systems (UAS) could supplement and eventually subsume a substantial portion of the mission set currently executed by remote pilots, making UAS more robust, responsive, and numerous than permitted by teleoperation alone. Unfortunately, the development of robust autonomous systems is difficult, costly, and time-consuming. Furthermore, the resulting systems often make little reuse of proven software components and offer limited adaptability for new tasks. This work presents a development platform for UAS which promotes behavioral flexibility. The platform incorporates the Unified Behavior Framework (a modular, extensible autonomy framework), the Robotic Operating System (a RSF), and PX4 (an open- source flight controller). Simulation of UBF agents identify a combination of reactive robotic control strategies effective for small-scale navigation tasks by a UAS in the presence of obstacles. Finally, flight tests provide a partial validation of the simulated results. The development platform presented in this work offers robust and responsive behavioral flexibility for UAS agents in simulation and reality. This work lays the foundation for further development of a unified autonomous UAS platform supporting advanced planning algorithms and inter-agent communication by providing a behavior-flexible framework in which to implement, execute, extend, and reuse behaviors

Oracle-Guided Design and Analysis of Learning-Based Cyber-Physical Systems

We are in world where autonomous systems, such as self-driving cars, surgical robots, robotic manipulators are becoming a reality. Such systems are considered \textit{safety-critical} since they interact with humans on a regular basis. Hence, before such systems can be integrated into our day to day life, we need to guarantee their safety. Recent success in machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) has led to an increase in their use in real world robotic systems. For example, complex perception modules in self-driving cars and deep reinforcement learning controllers in robotic manipulators. Although powerful, they introduce an additional level of complexity when it comes to the formal analysis of autonomous systems. In this thesis, such systems are designated as Learning-Based Cyber-Physical Systems~(LB-CPS). In this thesis, we take inspiration from the Oracle-Guided Inductive Synthesis~(OGIS) paradigm to develop frameworks which can aid in achieving formal guarantees in different stages of an autonomous system design and analysis pipeline. Furthermore, we show that to guarantee the safety of LB-CPS, the design (synthesis) and analysis (verification) must consider feedback from the other. We consider five important parts of the design and analysis process and show a strong coupling among them, namely (i) Robust Control Synthesis from High Level Safety Specifications; (ii) Diagnosis and Repair of Safety Requirements for Control Synthesis; (iii) Counter-example Guided Data Augmentation for training high-accuracy ML models; (iv) Simulation-Guided Falsification and Verification against Adversarial Environments; and (v) Bridging Model and Real-World Gap. Finally, we introduce a software toolkit \verifai{} for the design and analysis of AI based systems, which was developed to provide a common formal platform to implement design and analysis frameworks for LB-CPS

Investigations in multi-resolution modelling of the quadrotor micro air vehicle

Multi-resolution modelling differs from standard modelling in that it employs multiple abstractions of a system rather than just one. In describing the system at several degrees of resolution, it is possible to cover a broad range of system behaviours with variable precision. Typically, model resolution is chosen by the modeller, however the choice of resolution for a given objective is not always intuitive. A multi-resolution model provides the ability to select optimal resolution for a given objective. This has benefits in a number of engineering disciplines, particularly in autonomous systems engineering, where the behaviours and interactions of autonomous agents are of interest. To investigate both the potential benefits of multi-resolution modelling in an autonomous systems context and the effect of resolution on systems engineering objectives, a multi-resolution model family of the quadrotor micro air vehicle is developed. The model family is then employed in two case studies. First, non-linear dynamic inversion controllers are derived from a selection of the models in the model family, allowing the impact of resolution on a model-centric control strategy to be investigated. The second case study employs the model family in the optimisation of trajectories in a wireless power transmission. This allows both study of resolution impact in a multi-agent scenario and provides insight into the concept of laser-based wireless power transmission. In addition to the two primary case studies, models of the quadrotor are provided through derivation from first principles, system identification experiments and the results of a literature survey. A separate model of the quadrotor is employed in a state estimation experiment with low-fidelity sensors, permitting further discussion of both resolution impact and the benefits of multi-resolution modelling. The results of both the case studies and the remainder of the investigations highlight the primary benefit of multi-resolution modelling: striking the optimal balance between validity and efficiency in simulation. Resolution is demonstrated to have a non-negligible impact on the outcomes of both case studies. Finally, some insights in the design of a wireless power transmission are provided from the results of the second case study

Architecture for planning and execution of missions with fleets of unmanned vehicles

Esta tesis presenta contribuciones en el campo de la planificación automática y la programación de tareas, la rama de la inteligencia artificial que se ocupa de la realización de estrategias o secuencias de acciones típicamente para su ejecución por parte de vehículos no tripulados, robots autónomos y/o agentes inteligentes. Cuando se intenta alcanzar un objetivo determinado, la cooperación puede ser un aspecto clave. La complejidad de algunas tareas requiere la cooperación entre varios agentes. Mas aún, incluso si una tarea es lo suficientemente simple para ser llevada a cabo por un único agente, puede usarse la cooperación para reducir el coste total de la misma. Para realizar tareas complejas que requieren interacción física con el mundo real, los vehículos no tripulados pueden ser usados como agentes. En los últimos años se han creado y utilizado una gran diversidad de plataformas no tripuladas, principalmente vehículos que pueden ser dirigidos sin un humano a bordo, tanto en misiones civiles como militares. En esta tesis se aborda la aplicación de planificación simbólica de redes jerárquicas de tareas (HTN planning, por sus siglas en inglés) en la resolución de problemas de enrutamiento de vehículos (VRP, por sus siglas en inglés) [18], en dominios que implican múltiples vehículos no tripulados de capacidades heterogéneas que deben cooperar para alcanzar una serie de objetivos específicos. La planificación con redes jerárquicas de tareas describe dominios utilizando una descripción que descompone conjuntos de tareas en subconjuntos más pequeños de subtareas gradualmente, hasta obtener tareas del más bajo nivel que no pueden ser descompuestas y se consideran directamente ejecutables. Esta jerarquía es similar al modo en que los humanos razonan sobre los problemas, descomponiéndolos en subproblemas según el contexto, y por lo tanto suelen ser fáciles de comprender y diseñar. Los problemas de enrutamiento de vehículos son una generalización del problema del viajante (TSP, por sus siglas en inglés). La resolución del problema del viajante consiste en encontrar la ruta más corta posible que permite visitar una lista de ciudades, partiendo y acabando en la misma ciudad. Su generalización, el problema de enrutamiento de vehículos, consiste en encontrar el conjunto de rutas de longitud mínima que permite cubrir todas las ciudades con un determinado número de vehículos. Ambos problemas cuentan con una fuerte componente combinatoria para su resolución, especialmente en el caso del VRP, por lo que su presencia en dominios que van a ser tratados con un planificador HTN clásico supone un gran reto. Para la aplicación de un planificador HTN en la resolución de problemas de enrutamiento de vehículos desarrollamos dos métodos. En el primero de ellos presentamos un sistema de optimización de soluciones basado en puntuaciones, que nos permite una nueva forma de conexión entre un software especializado en la resolución del VRP con el planificador HTN. Llamamos a este modo de conexión el método desacoplado, puesto que resolvemos la componente combinatoria del problema de enrutamiento de vehículos mediante un solucionador específico que se comunica con el planificador HTN y le suministra la información necesaria para continuar con la descomposición de tareas. El segundo método consiste en mejorar el planificador HTN utilizado para que sea capaz de resolver el problema de enrutamiento de vehículos de la mejor forma posible sin tener que depender de módulos de software externos. Llamamos a este modo el método acoplado. Con este motivo hemos desarrollado un nuevo planificador HTN que utiliza un algoritmo de búsqueda distinto del que se utiliza normalmente en planificadores de este tipo. Esta tesis presenta nuevas contribuciones en el campo de la planificación con redes jerárquicas de tareas para la resolución de problemas de enrutamiento de vehículos. Se aplica una nueva forma de conexión entre dos planificadores independientes basada en un sistema de cálculo de puntuaciones que les permite colaborar en la optimización de soluciones, y se presenta un nuevo planificador HTN con un algoritmo de búsqueda distinto al comúnmente utilizado. Se muestra la aplicación de estos dos métodos en misiones civiles dentro del entorno de los Proyectos ARCAS y AEROARMS financiados por la Comisión Europea y se presentan extensos resultados de simulación para comprobar la validez de los dos métodos propuestos.This thesis presents contributions in the field of automated planning and scheduling, the branch of artificial intelligence that concerns the realization of strategies or action sequences typically for execution by unmanned vehicles, autonomous robots and/or intelligent agents. When trying to achieve certain goal, cooperation may be a key aspect. The complexity of some tasks requires the cooperation among several agents. Moreover, even if the task is simple enough to be carried out by a single agent, cooperation can be used to decrease the overall cost of the operation. To perform complex tasks that require physical interaction with the real world, unmanned vehicles can be used as agents. In the last years a great variety of unmanned platforms, mainly vehicles that can be driven without a human on board, have been developed and used both in civil and military missions. This thesis deals with the application of Hierarchical Task Network (HTN) planning in the resolution of vehicle routing problems (VRP) [18] in domains involving multiple heterogeneous unmanned vehicles that must cooperate to achieve specific goals. HTN planning describes problem domains using a description that decomposes set of tasks into subsets of smaller tasks and so on, obtaining low-level tasks that cannot be further decomposed and are supposed to be executable. The hierarchy resembles the way the humans reason about problems by decomposing them into sub-problems depending on the context and therefore tend to be easy to understand and design. Vehicle routing problems are a generalization of the travelling salesman problem (TSP). The TSP consists on finding the shortest path that connects all the cities from a list, starting and ending on the same city. The VRP consists on finding the set of minimal routes that cover all cities by using a specific number of vehicles. Both problems have a combinatorial nature, specially the VRP, that makes it very difficult to use a HTN planner in domains where these problems are present. Two approaches to use a HTN planner in domains involving the VRP have been tested. The first approach consists on a score-based optimization system that allows us to apply a new way of connecting a software specialized in the resolution of the VRP with the HTN planner. We call this the decoupled approach, as we tackle the combinatorial nature of the VRP by using a specialized solver that communicates with the HTN planner and provides all the required information to do the task decomposition. The second approach consists on improving and enhancing the HTN planner to be capable of solving the VRP without needing the use of an external software. We call this the coupled approach. For this reason, a new HTN planner that uses a different search algorithm from these commonly used in that type of planners has been developed and is presented in this work. This thesis presents new contributions in the field of hierarchical task network planning for the resolution of vehicle routing problem domains. A new way of connecting two independent planning systems based on a score calculation system that lets them cooperate in the optimization of the solutions is applied, and a new HTN planner that uses a different search algorithm from that usually used in other HTN planners is presented. These two methods are applied in civil missions in the framework of the ARCAS and AEROARMS Projects funded by the European Commission. Extensive simulation results are presented to test the validity of the two approaches

A distributed architecture for unmanned aerial systems based on publish/subscribe messaging and simultaneous localisation and mapping (SLAM) testbed

A dissertation submitted in fulfilment for the degree of Master of Science. School of Computational and Applied Mathematics, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, November 2017The increased capabilities and lower cost of Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs) unveil big opportunities for a rapidly growing number of civilian and commercial applications. Some missions require direct control using a receiver in a point-to-point connection, involving one or very few MAVs. An alternative class of mission is remotely controlled, with the control of the drone automated to a certain extent using mission planning software and autopilot systems. For most emerging missions, there is a need for more autonomous, cooperative control of MAVs, as well as more complex data processing from sensors like cameras and laser scanners. In the last decade, this has given rise to an extensive research from both academia and industry. This research direction applies robotics and computer vision concepts to Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs). However, UASs are often designed for specific hardware and software, thus providing limited integration, interoperability and re-usability across different missions. In addition, there are numerous open issues related to UAS command, control and communication(C3), and multi-MAVs. We argue and elaborate throughout this dissertation that some of the recent standardbased publish/subscribe communication protocols can solve many of these challenges and meet the non-functional requirements of MAV robotics applications. This dissertation assesses the MQTT, DDS and TCPROS protocols in a distributed architecture of a UAS control system and Ground Control Station software. While TCPROS has been the leading robotics communication transport for ROS applications, MQTT and DDS are lightweight enough to be used for data exchange between distributed systems of aerial robots. Furthermore, MQTT and DDS are based on industry standards to foster communication interoperability of “things”. Both protocols have been extensively presented to address many of today’s needs related to networks based on the internet of things (IoT). For example, MQTT has been used to exchange data with space probes, whereas DDS was employed for aerospace defence and applications of smart cities. We designed and implemented a distributed UAS architecture based on each publish/subscribe protocol TCPROS, MQTT and DDS. The proposed communication systems were tested with a vision-based Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping (SLAM) system involving three Parrot AR Drone2 MAVs. Within the context of this study, MQTT and DDS messaging frameworks serve the purpose of abstracting UAS complexity and heterogeneity. Additionally, these protocols are expected to provide low-latency communication and scale up to meet the requirements of real-time remote sensing applications. The most important contribution of this work is the implementation of a complete distributed communication architecture for multi-MAVs. Furthermore, we assess the viability of this architecture and benchmark the performance of the protocols in relation to an autonomous quadcopter navigation testbed composed of a SLAM algorithm, an extended Kalman filter and a PID controller.XL201

Reference Model for Interoperability of Autonomous Systems

This thesis proposes a reference model to describe the components of an Un-manned Air, Ground, Surface, or Underwater System (UxS), and the use of a single Interoperability Building Block to command, control, and get feedback from such vehicles. The importance and advantages of such a reference model, with a standard nomenclature and taxonomy, is shown. We overview the concepts of interoperability and some efforts to achieve common refer-ence models in other areas. We then present an overview of existing un-manned systems, their history, characteristics, classification, and missions. The concept of Interoperability Building Blocks (IBB) is introduced to describe standards, protocols, data models, and frameworks, and a large set of these are analyzed. A new and powerful reference model for UxS, named RAMP, is proposed, that describes the various components that a UxS may have. It is a hierarchical model with four levels, that describes the vehicle components, the datalink, and the ground segment. The reference model is validated by showing how it can be applied in various projects the author worked on. An example is given on how a single standard was capable of controlling a set of heterogeneous UAVs, USVs, and UGVs

Safety, Trust, and Ethics Considerations for Human-AI Teaming in Aerospace Control

Designing a safe, trusted, and ethical AI may be practically impossible; however, designing AI with safe, trusted, and ethical use in mind is possible and necessary in safety and mission-critical domains like aerospace. Safe, trusted, and ethical use of AI are often used interchangeably; however, a system can be safely used but not trusted or ethical, have a trusted use that is not safe or ethical, and have an ethical use that is not safe or trusted. This manuscript serves as a primer to illuminate the nuanced differences between these concepts, with a specific focus on applications of Human-AI teaming in aerospace system control, where humans may be in, on, or out-of-the-loop of decision-making