Design Considerations for Autonomous Cargo Transportation Multirotor UAVs

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have proven to be an advanced tool for a variety of applications in the civilian and military sectors. Different categories of UAVs are used in various missions and are also the subject of numerous researches. Due to their characteristics and potential in specific conditions, multirotor UAVs imposes itself as a solution for many tasks, including transport. This chapter presents a conceptual solution of autonomous cargo transportation where the primary research objective is the design of a heavy lift multirotor UAV system. The process of designing a multirotor UAV that can carry heavy lift cargo is quite challenging due to many parameters and constraints. Five selected series of electric propulsion systems are analyzed, with different multirotor configurations, and results are graphically displayed for payloads from 10 kg up to 100 kg

Application of UAVs for assessment of bridge infrastructure

Nedostatci klasičnih metoda pregleda građevina prometne infrastrukture doveli su do razvoja učinkovitijih, pouzdanijih, bržih i jeftinijih postupaka za ocjenu stanja te procjenu nosivosti i uporabnog vijeka građevina. U tom kontekstu, najistaknutiju ulogu imaju različiti autonomni sustavi razvijeni u posljednjih desetak godina, čiji se napredak neprestano ubrzava. U radu je dan pregled stanja područja upotrebe bespilotnih letjelica za pregled konstrukcija s naglaskom na preglede mostova. Rad uključuje sljedeće: prikaz aktualne zakonske regulative koja propisuje tipove i učestalost izvođenja pregleda; osvrt na trenutačno zastupljene klasične metode pregleda te njihove prednosti i nedostatke; analizu prednosti i nedostataka upotrebe bespilotnih letjelica za preglede mostova te pregled opreme koja se najčešće koristi prilikom njihova razvoja.The shortcomings of classical methods for inspection of transport infrastructure objects have led to the development of more efficient, more reliable, faster and cheaper procedures for condition assessment and load-bearing capacity and service life estimation of objects. In this context, different autonomous systems developed in the last decade have the most notable role and their development is continuously speeding up. This paper provides a state of the art review of the unmanned aerial vehicles application for structural inspection with a focus on bridges. The paper comprises the following: a review of the current regulations prescribing the types and frequency of inspections; a review of the current classical inspection methods with their advantages and disadvantages; analysis of advantages and disadvantages in application of unmanned aerial vehicles for bridge inspections and a review of the equipment commonly used in their development

Safe local aerial manipulation for the installation of devices on power lines: Aerial-core first year results and designs

Article number 6220The power grid is an essential infrastructure in any country, comprising thousands of kilometers of power lines that require periodic inspection and maintenance, carried out nowadays by human operators in risky conditions. To increase safety and reduce time and cost with respect to conventional solutions involving manned helicopters and heavy vehicles, the AERIAL-CORE project proposes the development of aerial robots capable of performing aerial manipulation operations to assist human operators in power lines inspection and maintenance, allowing the installation of devices, such as bird flight diverters or electrical spacers, and the fast delivery and retrieval of tools. This manuscript describes the goals and functionalities to be developed for safe local aerial manipulation, presenting the preliminary designs and experimental results obtained in the first year of the project.European Union (UE). H2020 871479Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades de España FPI 201

A survey of single and multi-UAV aerial manipulation

Aerial manipulation has direct application prospects in environment, construction, forestry, agriculture, search, and rescue. It can be used to pick and place objects and hence can be used for transportation of goods. Aerial manipulation can be used to perform operations in environments inaccessible or unsafe for human workers. This paper is a survey of recent research in aerial manipulation. The aerial manipulation research has diverse aspects, which include the designing of aerial manipulation platforms, manipulators, grippers, the control of aerial platform and manipulators, the interaction of aerial manipulator with the environment, through forces and torque. In particular, the review paper presents the survey of the airborne platforms that can be used for aerial manipulation including the new aerial platforms with aerial manipulation capability. We also classified the aerial grippers and aerial manipulators based on their designs and characteristics. The recent contributions regarding the control of the aerial manipulator platform is also discussed. The environment interaction of aerial manipulators is also surveyed which includes, different strategies used for end-effectors interaction with the environment, application of force, application of torque and visual servoing. A recent and growing interest of researchers about the multi-UAV collaborative aerial manipulation was also noticed and hence different strategies for collaborative aerial manipulation are also surveyed, discussed and critically analyzed. Some key challenges regarding outdoor aerial manipulation and energy constraints in aerial manipulation are also discussed