scholarly journals High-Level Modular Autopilot Solution for Fast Prototyping of Unmanned Aerial Systems

IEEE Access ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 223827-223836
Author(s):  
Carlos Rodriguez De Cos ◽  
Manuel J. Fernandez ◽  
Pedro J. Sanchez-Cuevas ◽  
Jose Angel Acosta ◽  
Anibal Ollero
Keyword(s):  
Unmanned Aerial Systems ◽  
Fast Prototyping ◽  
High Level ◽  
Aerial Systems

scholarly journals Accuracy of 3D Landscape Reconstruction without Ground Control Points Using Different UAS Platforms

Drones ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret Kalacska ◽  
Oliver Lucanus ◽  
J. Pablo Arroyo-Mora ◽  
Étienne Laliberté ◽  
Kathryn Elmer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Low Cost ◽  
Ground Control ◽  
Unmanned Aerial Systems ◽  
Control Points ◽  
Model Errors ◽  
Positional Accuracy ◽  
Ground Control Points ◽  
Digital Elevation ◽  
High Level ◽  
Aerial Systems

The rapid increase of low-cost consumer-grade to enterprise-level unmanned aerial systems (UASs) has resulted in the exponential use of these systems in many applications. Structure from motion with multiview stereo (SfM-MVS) photogrammetry is now the baseline for the development of orthoimages and 3D surfaces (e.g., digital elevation models). The horizontal and vertical positional accuracies (x, y and z) of these products in general, rely heavily on the use of ground control points (GCPs). However, for many applications, the use of GCPs is not possible. Here we tested 14 UASs to assess the positional and within-model accuracy of SfM-MVS reconstructions of low-relief landscapes without GCPs ranging from consumer to enterprise-grade vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) platforms. We found that high positional accuracy is not necessarily related to the platform cost or grade, rather the most important aspect is the use of post-processing kinetic (PPK) or real-time kinetic (RTK) solutions for geotagging the photographs. SfM-MVS products generated from UAS with onboard geotagging, regardless of grade, results in greater positional accuracies and lower within-model errors. We conclude that where repeatability and adherence to a high level of accuracy are needed, only RTK and PPK systems should be used without GCPs.

scholarly journals “Open” Category Unmanned Aerial Systems Harmonized Standards and Requirements Complex

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 74-80
Author(s):  
Andon Andonov
Keyword(s):  
Aviation Safety ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Civil Aviation ◽  
Critical Conditions ◽  
Unmanned Aerial Systems ◽  
Unmanned Systems ◽  
The Common ◽  
High Level ◽  
The Military ◽  
Aerial Systems

Abstract The steadily increasing use of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) is an important factor for the military and civil aviation safety on a global scale. One of the critical conditions for the efficient functioning of the European aviation safety system is the establishment and implementation in practice of a comprehensive regulatory framework for the use of unmanned systems in the Common European Airspace. The aviation authorities and industry strive to introduce a set of rules and requirements that adequately and flexibly guarantee a high level of safety without limiting the development of the UAS market. This article proposes a set of standards that should be met by “Open” category UAS with the intention to execute operations in the European airspace.

scholarly journals A Framework for Multiple Ground Target Finding and Inspection Using a Multirotor UAS

Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ajmal Hinas ◽  
Roshan Ragel ◽  
Jonathan Roberts ◽  
Felipe Gonzalez
Keyword(s):  
Target Detection ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Target Position ◽  
Position Estimation ◽  
Quality Data ◽  
Unmanned Aerial Systems ◽  
Modular Software ◽  
Ground Target ◽  
High Level ◽  
Aerial Systems

Small unmanned aerial systems (UASs) now have advanced waypoint-based navigation capabilities, which enable them to collect surveillance, wildlife ecology and air quality data in new ways. The ability to remotely sense and find a set of targets and descend and hover close to each target for an action is desirable in many applications, including inspection, search and rescue and spot spraying in agriculture. This paper proposes a robust framework for vision-based ground target finding and action using the high-level decision-making approach of Observe, Orient, Decide and Act (OODA). The proposed framework was implemented as a modular software system using the robotic operating system (ROS). The framework can be effectively deployed in different applications where single or multiple target detection and action is needed. The accuracy and precision of camera-based target position estimation from a low-cost UAS is not adequate for the task due to errors and uncertainties in low-cost sensors, sensor drift and target detection errors. External disturbances such as wind also pose further challenges. The implemented framework was tested using two different test cases. Overall, the results show that the proposed framework is robust to localization and target detection errors and able to perform the task.

Unmanned Air Systems in the Armed Forces, Estimating the Risk of Their Use

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leszek Cwojdziński ◽  
Hanna Dzido ◽  
Tomasz Łodygowski
Keyword(s):  
Armed Forces ◽  
Hazard Identification ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Unmanned Aerial Systems ◽  
Technical Data ◽  
Financial Benefits ◽  
The Face ◽  
High Level ◽  
Aerial Systems ◽  
Development Prospects

The change in the nature of armed conflicts forced a change in the way they were conducted and the need to develop new types of weapons. The article presents the basic assumptions regarding the use and development prospects of unmanned flying systems. Tactical and technical data of the leading structures are presented. At the same time, the directions of development and use of combat air systems in future armed conflicts were presented. It was pointed out that unmanned aerial systems, the use of which brings significant financial benefits, are the type of weapon that has recently been gaining in importance in the most spectacular way, transforming the face of armed conflicts. The use of unmanned aerial vehicles as part of training tasks and combat missions forces the continuous development of personnel in the field of skills related to hazard identification and assessment. This process requires professionals with a high level of substantive preparation and extensive aviation experience, who will increase the awareness of RPA operators in terms of the essence and the need to analyze and estimate risk. On the basis of analyzes and comparisons, the authors proposed that the development work and the construction of elements and the system (CUAS) to combat UAV become an opportunity for the development of national research institutes and the defense industry, and also Polish export product.

scholarly journals Automated Agave Detection and Counting Using a Convolutional Neural Network and Unmanned Aerial Systems

Drones ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 4
Author(s):  
Donovan Flores ◽  
Iván González-Hernández ◽  
Rogelio Lozano ◽  
Jesus Manuel Vazquez-Nicolas ◽  
Jorge Luis Hernandez Toral
Keyword(s):  
Neural Network ◽  
Convolutional Neural Network ◽  
Detection Method ◽  
Unmanned Aerial Systems ◽  
Simpler Algorithm ◽  
Computer Image Processing ◽  
Detection And Counting ◽  
Aerial Vehicle ◽  
High Level ◽  
Aerial Systems

We present an automatic agave detection method for counting plants based on aerial data from a UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle). Our objective is to autonomously count the number of agave plants in an area to aid management of the yield. An orthomosaic is obtained from agave plantations, which is then used to create a database. This database is in turn used to train a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN). The proposed method is based on computer image processing, and the CNN increases the detection performance of the approach. The main contribution of the present paper is to propose a method for agave plant detection with a high level of precision. In order to test the proposed method in a real agave plantation, we develop a UAV platform, which is equipped with several sensors to reach accurate counting. Therefore, our prototype can safely track a desired path to detect and count agave plants. For comparison purposes, we perform the same application using a simpler algorithm. The result shows that our proposed algorithm has better performance reaching an F1 score of 0.96 as opposed to 0.57 for the Haar algorithm. The obtained experimental results suggest that the proposed algorithm is robust and has considerable potential to help farmers manage agave agroecosystems.

scholarly journals VIRTUALIZING SUPER-COMPUTATION ON-BOARD UAS

2015 ◽  
Vol XL-7/W3 ◽  
pp. 1291-1298 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Salami ◽  
J. A. Soler ◽  
R. Cuadrado ◽  
C. Barrado ◽  
E. Pastor
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Unmanned Aerial Systems ◽  
Sensing Applications ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Level Information ◽  
Information Products ◽  
High Level ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Aerial Systems

Unmanned aerial systems (UAS, also known as UAV, RPAS or drones) have a great potential to support a wide variety of aerial remote sensing applications. Most UAS work by acquiring data using on-board sensors for later post-processing. Some require the data gathered to be downlinked to the ground in real-time. However, depending on the volume of data and the cost of the communications, this later option is not sustainable in the long term. This paper develops the concept of virtualizing super-computation on-board UAS, as a method to ease the operation by facilitating the downlink of high-level information products instead of raw data. Exploiting recent developments in miniaturized multi-core devices is the way to speed-up on-board computation. This hardware shall satisfy size, power and weight constraints. Several technologies are appearing with promising results for high performance computing on unmanned platforms, such as the 36 cores of the TILE-Gx36 by Tilera (now EZchip) or the 64 cores of the Epiphany-IV by Adapteva. The strategy for virtualizing super-computation on-board includes the benchmarking for hardware selection, the software architecture and the communications aware design. A parallelization strategy is given for the 36-core TILE-Gx36 for a UAS in a fire mission or in similar target-detection applications. The results are obtained for payload image processing algorithms and determine in real-time the data snapshot to gather and transfer to ground according to the needs of the mission, the processing time, and consumed watts.

Improvement in the model of cooperative aerial reconnaissance used in the tactical decision support system

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 483-492 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petr Stodola
Keyword(s):  
Decision Support ◽  
Decision Support System ◽  
Support System ◽  
Unmanned Aerial Systems ◽  
Area Of Interest ◽  
Aerial Reconnaissance ◽  
Tactical Decision ◽  
High Level ◽  
Aerial Systems ◽  
The Impact

This paper deals with the model of cooperative aerial reconnaissance. The goal of this high-level model is to explore the area of interest by a fleet of unmanned aerial systems optimally, which is (mostly) as fast as possible. The model has been implemented into the tactical decision support system to support commanders of the army of the Czech Republic in their decision making. The current paper does not present the model itself, but it enhances the original model by inserting a new parameter which is called angle delay coefficient. In the first part of the paper, the impact of the new parameter on the task of aerial reconnaissance is discussed. A series of experiments were proposed and conducted to verify the influence of the coefficient. The second part of the paper further improves the model by smoothing the routes of individual aerial systems; a new set of parameters are introduced.

scholarly journals On the Evaluation and Comparison of Runtime Verification Tools for Hardware and Cyber-Physical Systems

10.29007/pld3 ◽  
2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristin Yvonne Rozier
Keyword(s):  
Health Management ◽  
Temporal Frequency ◽  
Cyber Physical Systems ◽  
Runtime Verification ◽  
Unmanned Aerial Systems ◽  
Critical Systems ◽  
Automated Control ◽  
Physical Systems ◽  
High Level ◽  
Aerial Systems

The need for runtime verification (RV), and tools that enable RV in practice, is widely recognized. Systems that need to operate autonomously necessitate on-board RV technolo- gies, from Mars rovers that need to sustain operation despite delayed communication from operators on Earth, to Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) that must fly without a human on-board, to robots operating in dynamic or hazardous environments that must take care to preserve both themselves and their surroundings. Enabling all forms of autonomy, from tele-operation to automated control to decision-making to learning, requires some ability for the autonomous system to reason about itself. The broader class of safety-critical systems require means of runtime self-checking to ensure their critical functions have not degraded during use.Runtime verification addresses a vital need for self-referential reasoning and system health management, but there is not currently a generalized approach that answers the lower-level questions. What are the inputs to RV? What are the outputs? What level(s) of the system do we need RV tools to verify, from bits and sensor signals to high-level architectures, and at what temporal frequency? How do we know our runtime verdicts are correct? How do the answers to these questions change for software, hardware, or cyber-physical systems (CPS)? How do we benchmark RV tools to assess their (comparative) suitability for particular platforms? The goal of this position paper is to fuel the discussion of ways to improve how we evaluate and compare tools for runtime verification, particularly for cyber-physical systems.

LIGHTER-THAN-AIR (LTA) UNMANNED AERIAL SYSTEM (UAS) CARRIER CONCEPT FOR SURVAILLANCE AND DISASTER MANAGEMENT

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 1255
Author(s):  
Ahmad Salahuddin Mohd Harithuddin ◽  
Mohd Fazri Sedan ◽  
Syaril Azrad Md Ali ◽  
Shattri Mansor ◽  
Hamid Reza Jifroudi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Disaster Management ◽  
Unmanned Aerial Systems ◽  
Unmanned Aerial System ◽  
Border Control ◽  
Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Operational Safety ◽  
In Situ Methods ◽  
Aerial Systems

Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) has many advantages in the fields of SURVAILLANCE and disaster management compared to space-borne observation, manned missions and in situ methods. The reasons include cost effectiveness, operational safety, and mission efficiency. This has in turn underlined the importance of UAS technology and highlighted a growing need in a more robust and efficient unmanned aerial vehicles to serve specific needs in SURVAILLANCE and disaster management. This paper first gives an overview on the framework for SURVAILLANCE particularly in applications of border control and disaster management and lists several phases of SURVAILLANCE and service descriptions. Based on this overview and SURVAILLANCE phases descriptions, we show the areas and services in which UAS can have significant advantage over traditional methods.

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