International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 20-23, 2003 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / Tactical unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV’s) can deliver real-time battlefield video directly to the soldier providing unprecedented situational awareness. The video communications system must be compact, lightweight, secure, and easy to deploy without a complicated ground station. Pacific Microwave Research, Inc. is developing a system capable of providing reliable and secure video communications to handheld terminals throughout the theater. PMR’s Coded Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex (COFDM) video transmission system is designed for tactical video transmission in battlefield or Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT) environments. Using digital modulation coding, the system provides a very robust link in the mobile environment.

På senare år har tjuvjakten på noshörningar resulterat i ett kritiskt lågt bestånd. Detta examensarbete är en del av ett initiativ för att stoppa denna utveckling. Målet är att använda en UAV, utrustad med GPS och attitydsensorer, samt en värmekamera placerad på en gimbal, till att övervaka vilda djur. Genom att använda en värmekamera kan djuren lätt detekteras eftersom de antas vara varmare än sin omgivning. En modell av marken vid testområdet har använts för att möjliggöra positionering av detekterade djur, samt analys av vilka områden på marken som ses av kameran. Termen övervakning inkluderar detektion av djur, målföljning och planering av rutt för UAV:n. UAV:n ska kunna söka av ett område efter djur. För att göra detta krävs planering av trajektoria för UAV:n samt hur gimbalen ska förflyttas. Flera metoder för detta har utvärderats. UAV:n ska även kunna målfölja djur som har detekterats. Till detta har ett partikelfilter använts. För att associera mätningar till spår har Nearest Neighbor-metoden använts. Djuren detekteras genom att bildbehandla på videoströmmen som ges från värmekameran. För bildbehandlingen har flertalet metoder testats. Dessutom presenteras en omfattande beskrivning av hur en UAV fungerar och är uppbyggd. I denna beskrivs även nödvändiga delar för ett UAV-system. På grund av begränsningar i budgeten har ingen UAV inköpts. Istället har tester utförts från en gondol i Kolmården. Gondolen åker runt i testområdet med en konstant hastighet. Djur kunde lätt detekteras och målföljas givet en kall bakgrund. Då solen värmer upp marken är det svårare att särskilja djuren från marken och fler feldetektioner görs av bildbehandlingen / In recent years, the poaching of rhinoceros has decreased its numbers to critical levels. This thesis project is a part of an initiative to stop this development. The aim of this master thesis project is to use a UAV equipped with positioning and attitude sensors as well as a thermal camera, placed onto a gimbal, to perform wildlife surveillance. By using a thermal camera, the animals are easily detected as they are assumed to be warmer than the background. The term wildlife surveillance includes detection of animals, tracking, and planning of the UAV. The UAV should be able to search an area for animals, for this planning of the UAV trajectory and gimbal attitude is needed. Several approaches for this have been tested, both online and offline planning. The UAV should also be able to track the animals that are detected, for this a particle filter has been used. Here a problem of associating measurements to tracks arises. This has been solved by using the Nearest Neighbor algorithm together with gating. The animals are detected by performing image processing on the images received from the thermal camera. Multiple approaches have been evaluated. Furthermore, a thoroughly worked description of how a UAV is working as well as how it is built up is presented. Here also necessary parts to make up a full unmanned aerial system are described. This chapter can be seen as a good guide for beginners, to the UAV field, interested in knowing how a UAV works and the most common parts of such a system. A ground model of Kolmården, where the testing has been conducted, has been used in this thesis. The use of this enables positioning of the detected animals and checking if an area is occluded for the camera. Unfortunately, due to budget limitations, no UAV was purchased. Instead, testing has been conducted from a gondola in Kolmården traveling across the test area with a constant speed. To use the gondola as the platform, for the sensors and the thermal camera, is essentially the same as using a UAV as both alternatives are located in the air above the animals, both are traveling around the map and both are stable for good weather conditions. The animals could easily be detected and tracked given a cold background. When the sun heats up the ground, it is harder to distinguish the animals in the thermal video, and more false detections in the image processing appear.

This thesis presents a design and implementation of a long-range communication subsystem for a UAV and a ground control station. The subsystem is a low-cost alternative employing a line of sight, local communication network for optimal communications between a low-altitude UAV and a portable ground control station. In this thesis, real world experiments are conducted to model the time-variant wireless channel between a low-altitude micro-UAV and a portable ground control station operating in an urban environment. The large-scale and small-scale fading coefficients are calculated and analyzed for this dynamic channel. The channel properties, along with the fading distribution parameters, are computed and analyzed for two most popular antenna configurations for UAV systems (Yagi to omnidirectional and omnidirectional to omnidirectional). For the Yagi-to-omnidirectional link, the effects of three major impacting factors i.e. propagation distance, antenna gains in specific spherical angles and polarization mismatch factor on the overall fading distribution is investigated. Through regression analysis, a multiple-regression model is derived that estimates the instantaneous fading parameter, given these channel conditions. For this model, a modified particle-swarm optimization algorithm is designed and implemented to estimate the underlying model coefficients, given the instantaneous fading information. The implementation of this algorithm, along with the regression model, demonstrates that a sufficient approximation of the fading parameter can be provided for any given wireless channel when the impacting factors and instantaneous fading information is available. / February 2016

The use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) has exploded over the last decade with the constant need to reduce costs while maintaining capability. Despite the relentless development of electronics and battery technology there is a sustained need to reduce the size and weight of the on-board systems to free-up payload capacity. One method of reducing the energy storage requirement of UAVs is to utilise naturally occurring sources of energy found in the atmosphere. This thesis explores the use of static and semi-dynamic soaring to extract energy from naturally occurring shallow layer cumulus convection to improve range, endurance and average speed. A simulation model of an X-Models XCalibur electric motor-glider is used in combination with a refined 4D parametric atmospheric model to simulate soaring flight. The parametric atmospheric model builds on previous successful models with refinements to more accurately describe the weather in northern Europe. The implementation of the variation of the MacCready setting is discussed. Methods for generating efficient trajectories are evaluated and recommendations are made regarding implementation. For micro to small UAVs to be able to track the desired trajectories a highly accurate Attitude Heading Reference System (AHRS) is needed. Detailed analysis of the practical implementation of advanced attitude determination is used to enable optimal execution of the trajectories generated. The new attitude determination methods are compared to existing Kalman and complimentary type filters. Analysis shows the methods developed are capable of providing accurate attitude determination with extremely low computational requirements, even during extreme manoeuvring. The new AHRS techniques reduce the need for powerful on-board microprocessors. This new AHRS technique is used as a foundation to develop a robust navigation filter capable of providing improved drift performance, over traditional filters, in the temporary absence of global navigation satellite information. All these algorithms have been verified by flight tests using a mixture of manned and unmanned aerial vehicles and avionics developed specifically for this thesis.

Parameterised analytical models that describe the trimmed inflight behaviour of classical aircraft have been studied and are widely accepted by the flight dynamics community. Therefore, the primary role of aircraft parameter estimation is to quantify the parameter values which make up the models and define the physical relationship of the air vehicle with respect to its local environment. Nevertheless, a priori empirical predictions dependent on aircraft design parameters also exist, and these provide a useful means of generating preliminary values predicting the aircraft behaviour at the design stage. However, at present the only feasible means that exist to actually prove and validate these parameter values remains to extract them through physical experimentation either in a wind-tunnel or from a flight test. With the advancement of UAVs, and in particular smaller UAVs (less than 1m span) the ability to fly the full scale vehicle and generate flight test data presents an exciting opportunity. Furthermore, UAV testing lends itself well to the ability to perform rapid prototyping with the use of COTS equipment. Real-time system identification was first used to monitor highly unstable aircraft behaviour in non-linear flight regimes, while expanding the operational flight envelope. Recent development has focused on creating self-healing control systems, such as adaptive re-configurable control laws to provide robustness against airframe damage, control surface failures or inflight icing. In the case of UAVs real-time identification, would facilitate rapid prototyping especially in low-cost projects with their constrained development time. In a small UAV scenario, flight trials could potentialy be focused towards dynamic model validation, with the prior verification step done using the simulation environment. Furthermore, the ability to check the estimated derivatives while the aircraft is flying would enable detection of poor data readings due to deficient excitation manoeuvres or atmospheric turbulence. Subsequently, appropriate action could then be taken while all the equipment and personnel are in place. This thesis describes the development of algorithms in order to perform online system identification for UAVs which require minimal analyst intervention. Issues pertinent to UAV applications were: the type of excitation manoeuvers needed and the necessary instrumentation required to record air-data. Throughout the research, algorithm development was undertaken using an in-house Simulink© model of the Aerosonde UAV which provided a rapid and flexible means of generating simulated data for analysis. In addition, the algorithms were further tested with real flight test data that was acquired from the Cranfield University Jestream-31 aircraft G-NFLA during its routine operation as a flying classroom. Two estimation methods were principally considered, the maximum likelihood and least squares estimators, with the aforementioned found to be best suited to the proposed requirements. In time-domain analysis reconstruction of the velocity state derivatives ˙W and ˙V needed for the SPPO and DR modes respectively, provided more statistically reliable parameter estimates without the need of a α- or β- vane. By formulating the least squares method in the frequency domain, data issues regarding the removal of bias and trim offsets could be more easily addressed while obtaining timely and reliable parameter estimates. Finally, the importance of using an appropriate input to excite the UAV dynamics allowing the vehicle to show its characteristics must be stressed.

Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited / Unmanned vehicles (UVs) are expected to be an integral part of the U.S. Navy's expeditionary and carrier strike groups and are quickly being integrated into maritime operations. Command and control issues must be resolved, however, in order to utilize unmanned systems as intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance assets. The purpose of this research was to assess the current doctrine of mission tasking with respect to tactical unmanned vehicles (UVs) and determine a method for effectively tasking these systems. The problem was analyzed by applying the factors of METT-T: mission, enemy, terrain and weather, troops and support available, and time available to UV-enabled maritime missions. The analysis identified specific implications for unmanned vehicles and emphasized important considerations for tasking and allocating UVs. METT-T analyses generally result in courses of action, however, tasking is a command and control issue, and therefore, four organizational structures emerge for tasking UVs A significant finding of this study is that the current doctrinal framework of the composite warfare commander's concept can support tasking unmanned vehicles, but requires revision to effectively address UV allocation issues. / Ensign, United States Navy

This work is part of an on-going research project at Virginia Commonwealth University in the field of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). The purpose of this thesis project is to port the previous generation of UAV autopilot from the Atmel FPSLIC platform to the Xilinx MicroBlaze platform in order to provide a test-bed that will accommodate future research projects. The tasks include porting the software from the AVR processor located on the FPSLIC to the MicroBlaze processor and implementing the hardware peripherals in Xilinx FPGA.The UAV equipped with the new autopilot can autonomously navigate through pre-defined waypoints and transmit the collected data back to the ground base station for analysis.

This thesis describes an all-in-one flight control system (FCS) that was designed for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The project focuses on the embedded hardware aspect of a stand-alone system with low-cost and reliability in mind.

The aim of this thesis is to devise a method for objective classification of floodplain based on spatially accurate data from UAV that allows identification of the fundamental features of floodplain and channel arising from or affecting by the floods activities. Background research is focused on floodplain forming processes; types of flood on our territory and its geomorphological effects, as well as a brief description unmanned aerial vehicle and their applicability in natural science and the flood. Proposed method was carried out on the test section - a part of meander of Javoří stream in Šumava Mountain - then was tested on complex meander belt of the same stream. Proposed method is based on applicability of standard objective classification. Elementary products from photogrammetric analysis - 2D orthophoto and 3D digital surface model - are used as basic input data. Another aim of theses is to discuss applicability of this method for assessment of fluvial form, its limits and potential development. The results indicated that success of classification will increase significantly the involvement of 3D data to classification, which from standard data from the UAV, despite the lack of absence multispectral bands doing a very valuable source of information for mapping and analysis, for example, the...

This dissertation has three contributions in the area of path planning for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Search And Track (SAT) missions. These contributions are: (a) the study of a novel metric, G, used to quantify the value of the target information gained during a search and track mission, (b) an optimal planning horizon that minimizes time-error of a planning horizon when interrupted by Poisson random events, and (c) a modified Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm for search missions that uses the prior target distribution in the generation of paths rather than just in the evaluation of them. UAV route planning is an important topic with many applications. Of these, military applications are the best known. This dissertation focuses on route planning for SAT missions that jointly optimize the conflicting objectives of detecting new targets and monitoring previously detected targets. The information theoretic approach proposed here is different from and is superior to existing approaches. One of the main differences is that G quantifies the value of the target information rather than the information itself. Several examples are provided to highlight G’s desirable properties. Another important component of path planning is the selection of a planning horizon, which specifies the amount of time to include in a plan. Unfortunately, little research is available to aid in the selection of a planning horizon. The proposed planning horizon is derived in the context of plan updates triggered by Poisson random events. To our knowledge, it is the only theoretically derived horizon available making it an important contribution. While the proposed horizon is optimal in minimizing planning time errors, simulation results show that it is also near optimal in minimizing the average time needed to capture an evasive target. The final contribution is the modified PSO. Our modification is based on the idea that PSO should be provided with the target distribution for path generation. This allows the algorithm to create candidate path plans in target rich regions. The modified PSO is studied using a search mission and is used in the study of G.