Flight Demonstrations of Self-directed Collaborative Navigation of Small Unmanned Aircraft

Frew, Eric W.; Xiao, Xiao; Spry, S.; McGee, Tim; Kim, ZuWhan; Tisdale, Jack; Sengupta, Raja; Hedrick, J. Karl

doi:10.2514/6.2004-6608

Cited by 33 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Some initial experiments have considered multivehicle operations with small UA [6][7][8][9][10]. Others have considered different control algorithms for formation flying [11][12][13], simple cooperative rules [14][15][16], or centralized control of multiple vehicles [17] mainly in simulated environments.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Networked Communication, Command, and Control of an Unmanned Aircraft System

Frew

Dixon

Elston

et al. 2008

Journal of Aerospace Computing, Information, and Communication

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Fully autonomous, cooperative, multivehicle operation requires the development and integration of various levels of intra-and intervehicle communication, sensing, control, and autonomy. This paper describes the Networked unmanned aircraft system Communication, Command, and Control (NetUASC3) architecture that combines meshed network intelligence, mission-level tasking information, and automatic flight control into an integrated unmanned aircraft system. The NetUASC3 architecture described includes: the University of Colorado at Boulder Ares unmanned aircraft, the onboard flight management architecture, and monitoring and command and control software that exploits the existing ad hoc Unmanned Aircraft System Ground network mesh network. Results from flight demonstration of the NetUASC3 architecture are provided to highlight the interplay between the various subsystems. Specific results demonstrate sensor-reactive and communicationreactive control, meshed network performance, atmospheric data collection, validation of radio-propagation models, and delivery of streaming video over a multihop airborne-ground network.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Networked Communication, Command, and Control of an Unmanned Aircraft System

Frew

Dixon

Elston

et al. 2008

Journal of Aerospace Computing, Information, and Communication

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“…A further interesting challenge is the tracking of a moving target, which is an ongoing effort. 3,4,7 Providing accurate path following (or trajectory tracking, which includes timing) is a key challenge in obtaining full autonomy for UAVs. 8 For accurate path-following, the guidance and control system feedback loops may have overlapping bandwidth.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Path Following for Target Observation in Wind

Rysdyk

2006

Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics

176

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This work provides flight-path geometry, guidance laws, and synchronous camera angles to observe a ground target from an unmanned aerial vehicle. The observation of the target is affected by wind, aircraft performance, and camera limits. Analytic expressions are derived for paths that result in constant line-of-sight orientation of the target relative to the aircraft body frame. Using minimal heuristics, a guidance law based on "good helmsman" behavior is developed and implemented, and stability of its integration with aircraft dynamics is assessed. An observer estimates wind data, which are used to orient path geometry about the target. Results are demonstrated in high-fidelity simulation.= body-fixed axes system x N , y E , z D = navigation axes system x, y, z = position coordinateŝ x = observer state vector y s = cross-track error α = angle of attack β = angle of sideslip ζ = bearing angle of target from the aircraft κ = camera pan angle κ(s) = curvature of desired path at position s λ = camera tilt angle ρ = radius of curvature φ = bank angle χ = course χ s = desired course on orbit χ w = wind direction ("from" convention) ψ = heading ψ p = bearing angle of aircraft from the target ("clock angle" relative to target) ψ w = wind vector orientation (ψ w = χ w + π ) Subscripts and Supersripts ac = aircraft center of gravity b = body-fixed reference frame . Member AIAA. c = command e = Earth reference frame icpt = Intercept m = measured s = Serret-Frenet reference frame tgt = target w = wind ∧ = estimate

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“…First, most UAVs are piloted by humans during take-off, landing and other complex flight tasks. [6][7][8] This means that for every UAV, there is at least one UAV pilot-operator. In addition, most UAV have remote ground stations to monitor its flight critical systems (e.g., communications link, flight control, guidance/navigation systems) and mission data.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Indoor Multi-Vehicle Flight Testbed for Fault Detection, Isolation, and Recovery

Valenti

Bethke

Fiore

et al. 2006

AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference and Exhibit

137

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This paper presents flight tests of a unique indoor, multi-vehicle testbed that was developed to study long duration UAV missions in a controlled environment. This testbed uses real hardware to examine research questions related to single and multi-vehicle health management, such as vehicle failures, refueling, and maintenance. The primary goal of the project is to embed health management into the full UAV planning system, thereby leading to improved overall mission performance, even when using simple aircraft that are prone to failures. The testbed has both aerial and ground vehicles that operate autonomously in a large test region and can be used to execute many different mission scenarios. The success of this testbed is largely related to our choice of vehicles, sensors, and the system's command and control architecture, which has resulted in a testbed that is very simple to operate. This paper discusses this testbed infrastructure and presents flight test results from some of our most recent single-and multi-vehicle experiments.

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Flight Demonstrations of Self-directed Collaborative Navigation of Small Unmanned Aircraft

Cited by 33 publications

References 9 publications

Networked Communication, Command, and Control of an Unmanned Aircraft System

Networked Communication, Command, and Control of an Unmanned Aircraft System

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Path Following for Target Observation in Wind

Indoor Multi-Vehicle Flight Testbed for Fault Detection, Isolation, and Recovery

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