Cooperative Unmanned Aerial System Reconnaissance in a Complex Urban Environment and Uneven Terrain

Abstract

Using unmanned robotic systems in military operations such as reconnaissance or surveillance, as well as in many civil applications, is common practice. In this article, the problem of monitoring the specified area of interest by a fleet of unmanned aerial systems is examined. The monitoring is planned via the Cooperative Aerial Model, which deploys a number of waypoints in the area; these waypoints are visited successively by unmanned systems. The original model proposed in the past assumed that the area to be explored is perfectly flat. A new formulation of this model is introduced in this article so that the model can be used in a complex environment with uneven terrain and/or with many obstacles, which may occlude some parts of the area of interest. The optimization algorithm based on the simulated annealing principles is proposed for positioning of waypoints to cover as large an area as possible. A set of scenarios has been designed to verify and evaluate the proposed approach. The key experiments are aimed at finding the minimum number of waypoints needed to explore at least the minimum requested portion of the area. Furthermore, the results are compared to the algorithm based on the lawnmower pattern.

Reactive UAV Fleet’s Mission Planning in Highly Dynamic and Unpredictable Environments

“…A function Y k,l (θ) determines the borderline wind speed (for a given direction θ), which guarantees the successful completion of the delivery plan by the U k during submission l S in the distribution network G: Y k,l (θ) = maxΓ k,l (θ), where: Γ k,l (θ)-set of wind speed values vw for a given direction θ, for which the battery of U k is not discharged. The sub-mission's plan l S is assumed [27] to be resistant to the forecast weather conditions F if the boundary wind Y k,l (θ) of all U k ∈ l U in any direction θ does not exceed the forecasted value Z(θ):…”

“…optimization criteria (e.g., fuel consumption [24], delivery time [25], delivery costs [26]) • fields of application (e.g., reconnaissance and mapping [27], package delivery [28], delivery communication capabilities [29,30])…”

Navigation and Deployment of Solar-Powered Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Civilian Applications: A Comprehensive Review

“…An ongoing topic of extensive debate is the navigation of UAVs in rough terrain. One proposed method in [124] enhances a simulated annealing technique that optimizes the placement of waypoints to expand the coverage area. This allows UAVs to conduct efficient surveillance on uneven terrain.…”

Fault Detection and Identification Method for Quadcopter Based on Airframe Vibration Signals

“…The quadcopter, with its vertical take-off and landing capability, simple mechanical structure, and easy maintenance, has been widely used in a variety of military and civilian mission scenarios, such as search and rescue [ 1 , 2 ], package delivery [ 3 ], border patrol [ 4 ], military surveillance [ 5 ], and agricultural applications [ 6 , 7 ]. Abnormal and unexpected situations, such as actuator failure, sensor failure, and structural failure could occur during the flight of the quadcopter.…”