An Innovative Cloud-based Supervision System for the Integration of RPAS in Urban Environments

This paper proposes the outline of a Cloud-based supervision system for Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS), which are operating in urban environments. The novelty of this proposed concept is dual: (i) a Cloud-based supervision system focusing on safety and robustness, (ii) the definition of technical requirements allowing the RPAS to fly over urban areas, as a possible evolution of drone use in future smart cities. A new concept for the regulatory issues is also proposed, compared with existing worldwide regulations. The Cloud framework is intended to be an automated system for path planning and control of RPAS flying under its coverage, and not limited to conventional remote control as if supervised by a human pilot. Future works will be based on the experimental validation of the proposed concept in an urban area of Turin (Italy)

Design and development of a multicopter for medical applications

An innovative field of application of small UAVs is the medical rescue and the telemedicine after a disaster relief, like landslides, earthquakes and floods, but also to support the armed forces deployed in humanitarian missions. A multicopter with eight coaxial rotors is developed meeting the requirements of efficiency, portability, reliability and multi-tasking. In particular, the UAV will carry an AED (Automated External Defibrillator), medicines and basic necessities, also in unfriendly scenarios where the autonomous navigation and take-off and landing are necessary. First, customers’ needs and then requirements of the multicopter are studied; thus, the UAV is developed, also after a market research of the electronic components. When the vehicle is assembled, some flight tests are realized to define performances, the security of the vehicle and therefore to certificate it. Finally, a remote simulator is designed because non-professional pilots, like medical and paramedical operators, use the multicopter and they need to train before the flight

Analysis and development of harmless sUAS (small Unmanned Aerial Systems)

The aim of this PhD thesis is the development of a full methodology able to analyze the level of offensiveness of sUAS (small Unmanned Aerial Systems) both with experimental tests and with numerical simulations. As a matter of fact, the exponential growth of the small unmanned configurations marketplace has led to a growing number of accidents between sUAS and the human body. The design of an unmanned configuration must not leave aside the public safety, considering that the main current applications of sUAS, such as media and entertainment, surveillance and terrain monitoring, are performed over crowded areas where the probability of impact with a human body, after a failure on-board or a human error, is higher than in desert areas. Moreover, common people are unaware of risks correlated to the use of sUAS. As a matter of fact, because sUAS are easily bought in common places, such as supermarkets, pilots are generally common and inexperience people, such as children, that use sUAS as toys, for entertainment, without considering the real risks for their safety, but also, and above all, for other people. For instance, the impact of sUAS can cause minor lacerations and abrasions, but also bones’ fracture, serious damages to the internal organs, until the death, as already happened. The unconsciousness of these risks is also demonstrated by the lack of data and general information about the events, because people do not denounce the accident to the competent national regulatory authority, staggering the statistical analyses. National, European and international regulatory authorities are dealing with the safety issue for several years, although, today again, the approaches are different because each authority applies own methodologies and criteria, publishing different regulations periodically upgraded. Although all current regulations are generally based on the same common principles, the final requirements differ, whereby a unique and unequivocal international regulation about the use of sUAS over crowded areas has not been published yet. This delay is causing an unavoidable confusion among stakeholders, such as manufacturers, operators and final and customers because a full methodology able to study the level of offensiveness of sUAS has not been developed yet. A solution to overcome these challenges could be the partial application of automotive approaches, with appropriate considerations and modifications. First of all, the impact of the sUAS with the human body can be studied applying the same injury criteria and relative threshold values required by the automotive regulations from a medical point of view. The impact is defined safe if all these requirements are satisfied for each human body part and not only considering the impact with the human head, that can be defined as the most common, but not the most dangerous impact. Moreover, the analysis of the impact has led to the definition of an analytical model where different criteria and methods developed in other research fields, such as the forensic physics, have been combined, with appropriate considerations, identifying some configuration requirements, but also dynamic features of the unmanned configuration at the impact, such as its kinetic energy. Results of the analytical model have been validated through an experimental test campaign, defined in accordance with the automotive methodology used to perform crash tests. Both the infrastructures and the dummies are the same of the automotive field, although, the crash tests are now specifically related to a sUAS. Because tests have been performed on an existing unmanned configuration, designed without fulfilling the safety requirements, a strategic configuration elements has been added to the sUAS in order to make it an harmless unmanned vehicle. The comparison between the two configurations, with and without this element, has been performed through a wind tunnel test campaign. Because the experimental phase, both crash tests and wind tunnel tests, has an high economical impact and has required a lot of time, the numerical simulation of the impact can be a valid solution to study the accident. These simulations can be also used during the preliminary design phase to analyze the level of offensiveness and the achievement of the safety requirements of the configuration, before the sUAS is manufactured. The comparison between experimental and numerical results has led to the definition of future works with the aim to optimize this methodology, the first one that analyzes an accident scenario and the involved sUAS exhaustively, in order to give to manufacturers, operators and regulatory authorities a valid tool to guarantee the public safety

Design and development of a multicopter for medical applications

An innovative field of application of small UAVs is the medical rescue and the telemedicine after a disaster relief, like landslides, earthquakes and floods, but also to support the armed forces deployed in humanitarian missions. A multicopter with eight coaxial rotors is developed meeting the requirements of efficiency, portability, reliability and multi-tasking. In particular, the UAV will carry an AED (Automated External Defibrillator), medicines and basic necessities, also in unfriendly scenarios where the autonomous navigation and take-off and landing are necessary. First, customers’ needs and then requirements of the multicopter are studied; thus, the UAV is developed, also after a market research of the electronic components. When the vehicle is assembled, some flight tests are realized to define performances, the security of the vehicle and therefore to certificate it. Finally, a remote simulator is designed because non-professional pilots, like medical and paramedical operators, use the multicopter and they need to train before the flight

The design of an inoffensive sUAS for medical applications

In the last few years, Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS) are increasingly employed both in civil applications and in military missions. SUAS are strategic in case of natural hazardous events, such as earthquakes, landslides, floods and avalanches due to their capability to perform Duty, Duly, Dirty and Dangerous missions. The management of an emergency and the coordination capability are key points to be developed by the Army and the National Emergency Service. For these reasons, joined exercises should be played before emergencies to training and to improve these aspects. Even if the emergency is set in a critical scenario, the safety of the population and operators on the ground should be taken into account. As a matter of fact, different national and international regulations have been published to achieve the aim of safe and inoffensive sUAS, although some discrepancies are still presented according to the country and the safety agency at issue. Safety requirements define the final configuration in terms of structures, materials, weight and dimensions, such as the radius of curvatur

Challenges and Safety Aspects of a Disaster Relief Exercise

Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS) spread rapidly in the last years, both for civil and military applications. The performance of Dangerous, Dull and Dirty missions implies a wide use of the sUAS, in particular to manage hazardous events, such as natural or man-made major incidents or mass casualty situations. The management and control of an emergency are crucial aspects for the rescue teams and training activities- through joined exercises- are basic for the development of coordination capabilities. The aim of this paper is to report an example of a joined exercise between Italian civil and military authorities performed in Moncalieri city (Torino, Italy) on May 2015. The main procedures and challenges of the civil and military protection services are analyzed. The exercise was performed in a critical scenario where the safety of the operators and population on the ground had to be taken into account. Therefore, international and national regulations are analyzed in the paper, in particular in terms of safety requirements and kinetic energy threshold at the impact. The paper deals with all aspects concerning the human health, from the safety during the small UAS operations to the medical applications. Rather than a specific scientific aspect related to sUAS, a specific application is reported. Due to the critic scenario, an example of risk analysis is achieved

A disaster relief exercise

The Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) is an effective tool for military applications, both for properly military operations, such as research missions and road surveillance, and for civilian support after natural disasters, like landslides, floods, and earthquakes, when reaching victims is often hard or it would take too much time for their survival. Information are needed without hazarding the life of the military troops. When roads, bridges and other communication ways are usually not available, the unmanned platform is the only easy and fast way to contact people. It can be launched directly from the operation site and it could take crucial information or carry medication, necessaries and everything that could help rescue teams. In May 2015, the ERIDANO Exercise was performed in Moncalieri city, near Turin (Italy) and it was a joint exercise between the Italian Army, National Emergency Service and Politecnico of Turin. The aim was the control and management of emergency situations due to natural disasters. In particular, a flood was simulated. A multicopter was used to monitor the river looking for survivors and to supervise the building of a modular and prefabricated bridge. It was linked with the operating room sending real and immediate images. Actually, the payload was only a camera but, eventually, also a thermal camera could be carried, according to the scenario and the kind of search and rescue mission. The operating teams could see the damages due to the disaster without being on site and they could organize better the future operations. There also were some rubbles of houses and the unmanned platform could reconnoiter the area looking for victims without risks for human life. Each flight was 25 minutes long and after the batteries’ substitution, it could take-off again, ensuring three hours of operations. The RPAS is an excellent support tool for troops in different and hazardous operational environments where intervenes safely, quickly and efficiently. Actually, the unmanned configuration does not risk soldiers and it is “man-portable” or rather, it is easily transportable and ready-to-use

Challenges and Safety Aspects of a Disaster Relief Exercise

Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS) spread rapidly in the last years, both for civil and military applications. The performance of Dangerous, Dull and Dirty missions implies a wide use of the sUAS, in particular to manage hazardous events, such as natural or man-made major incidents or mass casualty situations. The management and control of an emergency are crucial aspects for the rescue teams and training activities- through joined exercises- are basic for the development of coordination capabilities. The aim of this paper is to report an example of a joined exercise between Italian civil and military authorities performed in Moncalieri city (Torino, Italy) on May 2015. The main procedures and challenges of the civil and military protection services are analyzed. The exercise was performed in a critical scenario where the safety of the operators and population on the ground had to be taken into account. Therefore, international and national regulations are analyzed in the paper, in particular in terms of safety requirements and kinetic energy threshold at the impact. The paper deals with all aspects concerning the human health, from the safety during the small UAS operations to the medical applications. Rather than a specific scientific aspect related to sUAS, a specific application is reported. Due to the critic scenario, an example of risk analysis is achieved

Safety requirements for small UAS

In the last years, small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS) have been employed for several kind of civil and military applications such as Search and Rescue (S&R) missions, surveillance and monitoring, smart farming, photogrammetry and topography, media and entertainment. Nowadays, sUAS can be used in critical situations, such as over crowded areas, or in empty scenarios, where ground operators or unaware people could be hit by the sUAS in case of incidents. As a matter of fact, the public safety must not be compromised anyway. Although sUAS should be designed with a high level of reliability, some safety requirements should be added to guarantee no injuries on the human body, in case of impact with the sUAS. Unfortunately, national, European and international regulator authorities have not yet a unique approach to overcome the issue to define unequivocal safety requirements for sUAS. In this paper, an overview of the current problem is provided, followed by the definition of a possible approach to set additional configuration requirements to guarantee people safety

A feasibility study of an harmless tiltrotor for smart farming applications

In the last decades, Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) have been developed for many civil applications, such as surveillance and terrain monitoring, Search and Rescue (S&R), topography, photogrammetry and law enforcement missions, and widely media and entertainment applications. Moreover, the use of the unmanned configuration is becoming very promising for smart farming or precision agriculture. The paper deals with a feasibility study of an harmless tiltrotor for specific smart faming applications. In order to define the final layout of the vehicle, the main RPAS configurations are analyzed in terms of performances and kinds of applications. Indeed, a trade-off between endurance and payload capacity is more than anything else required during the design of an RPAS for the smart farming application, where sensors are often heavy and several hectares must be scanned. For these reasons, the hybrid configuration, with features both of the fixed wing configuration and of the rotary wing one, has been identified. Moreover, the final configuration should be defined harmless, that is in case of impact with the human body, there are no injuries for the involved people. As a matter of fact, people safety must not be compromised in each situation, also when RPAS are applied over wide fields