Motion or trajectory planning is a key aspect of the advances in the performance and autonomy of spacecraft operations. However, the computational resources of spacecraft are still limited. In this sense, using polynomials to shape trajectories, and computing accelerations and other parameters via inverse dynamics, is an efficient approach to obtain suboptimal solutions. In this thesis the area of attitude manoeuvres is covered, as well as translational motions in the frame of docking to a tumbling satellite for Active Debris Removal missions (in which the detumbling case is also studied). In the case of attitude slew manoeuvres, quaternions are shaped with polynomials and normalised. Issues such as numerical stability of high-order polynomials and the special case of spin-to-spin manoeuvres have been addressed. Regarding trajectory optimisation, efficient algorithms for time minimisation are proposed, along with obstacle avoidance methods. The performance of the polynomial trajectories compared to optimal control is analysed. The polynomial motion planning method is applied to manoeuvres of exible spacecraft, assessing how the smoothness of motions can limit induced vibrations. In the scenario of docking to a tumbling target (based on Envisat), trajectories are generated with polynomials and fuel is optimised. An axisymmetric approximation of the target is used to analytically evaluate its dynamics. A cylindrical surface enclosing the target is defined for obstacle avoidance purposes. The docking strategy is divided in three segments (first approach, hovering, docking axis approach), to enhance safety and robustness. While in the attitude case the trajectory is tracked with a simple controller or performed in open-loop, in the docking scenario the feedback loop is closed by re-computing the trajectory planning algorithm with a certain frequency. Finally, the problem of detumbling the satellite is addressed. A concept is proposed based on an external module equipped with magnetorquers and carried by the chaser, which performs an autonomous docking to the target, and proceeds to stabilise its rotation. A preliminary design and sizing of the system is realised, and simulations are performed to assess its feasibility.

Aircraft wiring failures have increased over the last few years resulting in arc faults and high-energy flashover on the wiring bundle, which can propagate down through aircraft Electrical Wiring and Interconnect Systems (EWIS). It is considered cost prohibitive to completely rewire a plane in terms of man hours and operational time lost to do this, and most faults are only detectable whilst the aircraft is in flight. Temperature, humidity and vibration all accelerate ageing and failure effects on EWIS. This research investigates methods of in-situ non-invasive testing of aircraft wiring during fight. Failure Mode Effects and Analysis (FMEA) was performed on legacy aircraft EWIS using data obtained from RAF Brize Norton. Micro-Electro-mechanical- Systems (MEMS) were evaluated for use in a wire monitoring system that measures the environmental parameters responsible for ageing and failure of EWIS. Such MEMS can be developed into a Health and Usage Monitoring MicroSystem (HUMMS) by incorporating advanced signal processing and prognostic software. Current and humidity sensors were chosen for further investigation in this thesis. These sensors can be positioned inside and outside cable connectors of EWIS so that arc faults can be reliably detected and located. This thesis presents the design, manufacture and test of micro-manufactured Rogowski sensors. The manufactured sensors were benchmarked against commercial high frequency current transformers (HFCT), as these devices can also detect high frequency current signature due to wire insulation failure. Results indicate that these sensors possess superior voltage output compared to the HFCT. The design, manufacture and test of a polymer capacitive humidity sensor is also presented. Two different types of polymer were reviewed as part of the evaluation. A feature of the sensor design is recovery from exposure to chemicals found on wiring bundles. Current and humidity sensors were demonstrated to be suitable for integrating onto a common substrate with accelerometers, temperature sensors and pressure sensors for health monitoring and prognostics of aircraft EWIS.

With the current high rate of development and deployment of Remotely Piloted Aerial Systems (RPAS) for both commercial and military sectors globally, it is key to understand the implications this technology has on current and future RPAS operators and the consequential effect on licensing, training and performance measurement. This thesis investigates aspects of training and potential objective performance measurement of RPAS operators, this is carried out by reviewing current literature relating to RPAS and associated human factors thus a gap analysis was undertaken and a set of experiments/evaluations were devised to provide important new insights. Attention is drawn to the type of skill set required for future RPAS operations. A factor has been to understand whether a regular computer games player displays differing simulator interaction, in this case information gathering and analysis patterns, to that of someone with limited to no computer games experience. To achieve the aims of the research experimentation had to be carried which required the development of an appropriate simulator followed by the inclusion of a case study and the creation of bespoke performance data analysis software, SimPACT. Although performance differentials have been observed through action it was hoped to be able to identify performance differential characteristics through the means of evaluating the use of disparate physical data sets; the research, in fact, identified no significant difference between data set use and it must be concluded that any pre-action performance differential cannot be measured, at least not with the equipment available. However computer gamers, rather than having differing information acquisition strategies, have differing and more effective information retention and processing pathways likely to have been developed through continuous gaming which can be applied to any game-type environment and, potentially, any type of interactive task. These results have been proven to be statistically viable and observable. This research has contributed to the understanding of human performance measurement within the RPAS sector, including the addition of new data processing software, as well as provide new evidence relating to difference within human data gathering and processing between groups of differing experiences.

Space missions have evolved considerably in the last fifty years in both complexity and ambition. In order to enable this continued improvement in the scientific and commercial return of space missions new control systems are needed that can manage complex combinations of state of the art hardware with a minimum of human interaction. Distributed multi-agent systems are one approach to controlling complex multisatellite space missions. A distributed system is not enough on its own however,the spacecraft must be able to carry out complex tasks such as planning,negotiation and close proximity formation flying autonomously. It is the coupling of distributed control with autonomy that is the focus of this thesis. Three contributions to the state of the art are described herein. They all involve the innovative use of multi-agent systems in space missions. The first is the development of a multi-agent architecture, HASA, specifically for space missions. The second is to use embedded agents to autonomously control an interferometric type space telescope. The third is based on software agents that coordinate multiple Earth observation missions coupled with a global optimisation technique for data extraction. The HASA architecture was developed in reaction to the over generality of most multi-agent architectures in the computer science and robotics literature and the ad-hoc, case-by-case approach, to multi-agent architectures when developed and deployed for space missions. The HASA architecture has a recursive nature which allows for the multi-agent system to be completely described throughout its development process as the design evolves and more sub-systems are implemented. It also inherits a focus on the robust generation of a product and safe operation from architectures in use in the manufacturing industry. A multi-agent system was designed using the HASA architecture for an interferometric space telescope type mission. This type of mission puts high requirements on formation flying and cooperation between agents. The formation flying agents were then implemented using a Java framework and tested on a multi-platform distributed simulation suite developed especially for this thesis. Three different control methods were incorporated into the agents and the multi-agent system was shown to be able to acquire and change formation and avoid collisions autonomously. A second multi-agent system was designed for the GMES mission in collaboration with GMV, the industrial partner in this project. This basic MAS design was transferred to the HASA architecture. A novel image selection algorithm was developed to work alongside the GMES multi-agent system. This algorithm uses global optimisation techniques to suggest image parameters to users based on the output of the multi-agent system.

The field of UAV systems is an active research area with potential for development and enhancement in various perspectives. This thesis investigates different issues related to the design, operation and control of UAV systems with a focus on the application side of each proposed solution where the implementation side and applicability of the proposed solutions are always considered with high priority. The thesis discusses unmodeled actuator dynamics and their effect on UAV systems when using feedback linearisation to linearize nonlinear models of UAVs. The analysis shows potential risk when implementing feedback linearisation and neglecting actuator dynamics even for first order actuator system. A solution algorithm of two stage feedback linearisation is proposed to handle actuator dynamics and linearize the main dynamics of the system. In the field of design and operation of UAVs, this thesis proposes a systematic design procedure for electric propulsion systems that are widely used in UAVs. The design procedure guides the designer step by step to achieve minimum propulsion system weight or maximum flight time or a trade off between the two factors from the supplied solution sets. On the navigation side, the thesis proposes a new indoor navigation system that is easy to implement and less costly compared with other indoor navigation systems. The proposed system can be classified under computer-vision based navigation systems, however, it needs less information and less computational capacity. The thesis also contributes to the structure design of UAV systems by producing a novel tri-rotor UAV platform. The proposed UAV is novel in structure and design and has a centralized control system that stabilizes and tracks both rotational and transitional motion of the vehicle simultaneously.

Over the past three decades unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) have seen significant development with a current focus on automation. The main area of development that is pushing automation is that of path planning allowing a UAV to generate its own path information that it can then follow to carry out its mission. Little work however has been carried out on transfer path planning. This work attempts to address this shortcoming by developing optimal algorithms for a path planning task to move on to a circular flightpath to carry out a target tracking mission. The work is developed in three main sections. Firstly the transfer algorithm itself is derived including gradient analysis for the cost function being applied, adaptation of this cost function into two separate minimising actions and analysis of a cost function issue that introduces a separation distance constraint. The algorithm is tested proving correct constraint activation and cost selection. The second part of this work looks at validating the results of the transfer algorithm against the Dubin's car result and a receding horizon approach when applied to the transfer operation. Utilising the cost results from the transfer algorithm an efficiency analysis against the equivalent costs from the other methods is carried out. Lastly this work looks at the comparison between the developed transfer algorithm and a more flexible transfer approach by developing a new cost function form. A switching cost function is introduced where environmental parameters from the target tracking mission (i.e target position and velocity) are used to switch between a number of applicable cost functions (time minimal, distance minimal and minimum speed transfer). An analysis is carried out to investigate the performance of both the original algorithm and the newly developed switching function based on key target tracking parameters.

This thesis approaches the study of the (aerial) military and non-military drone through an examination of the communities that variously compel and propel it into action: that culturally constitute it. Employing the term ‘proponent communities’, this thesis approaches the drone through an empiric-led exploration of such actors, those including: manufacturers, industry, regulators, governments, militaries, trade associations and end users. These proponent communities are accessed through fieldwork at three central sites, namely military and non-military tradeshows, military conferences, and through the completion of numerous industry educational courses. Whilst by no means a homogenous group, such communities remain important in crafting, composing, (re)producing and circulating both technical and cultural knowledges of the drone. In approaching the drone’s cultural constitution, the thesis pursues two distinct analytic foci. First, in response to the tendency of extant scholarship to focus upon what the functioning drone does and its implications, thus treating it like a ‘black box’, the thesis ‘opens’ the drone through an exploration of particular proponent cultures through which it is instituted. Examining both the role of military drone operators and the employment of drones with multi-sensory payloads in emergency service settings, over two chapters the thesis explores the cultures through which the drone comes to function in framing that below it. Second, the thesis explores a series of mechanisms through which the drone is articulated, visualized and otherwise legitimated as a tool, asset, and commodity within military and non-military drone tradeshows. In approaching the drone at the tradeshow, the thesis expands extant analyses of the drone by considering its cultural constitution at such hitherto unexamined sites of consumption. In approaching the cultural constitution of the drone through these two strands of investigation the thesis offers three contributions. First, in working within a research context punctuated with access limitations, the thesis opens up different windows of access at which drone proponent communities gather, form, and (re)compose drone knowledges. Second, in approaching the drone at sites in which it is instituted and traded, the thesis engages with both proponent knowledges of employment, and articulations of expectation and potential therein. It demonstrates that such an engagement facilitates the challenging of several dominant and entrenched narratives surrounding the drone, variously revealing them as inadequate, fractured, or fantastical. Third, whilst the main contribution of this thesis is to geographies, and the wider interdisciplinary field, of drone scholarship, the thesis argues for, and demonstrates the value of, engaging with alternative geographical literatures in developing its argumentation. In situating the drone within such wider discussions and landscapes the thesis thus productively develops distinct frameworks through which to conceptually and empirically engage with the drone.

In the summer of 1940 around five thousand aircraft clashed during several months for control of the skies over Britain. The fighter aircraft used by the German Luftwaffe and British Royal Air Force were, for the most part, very similar. They were monoplane airframes made with a metal structure and covered with fabric or metal skin, their engines produced around 1,000 h.p., and the aircraft themselves achieved speeds of around 350 to 370 m.p.h. They had retractable undercarriages and were bristling with armaments. These aircraft stood in stark contrast to those used just over twenty years earlier in the First World War. Those machines were biplanes, almost exclusively made from wood, covered in a doped fabric, their engines produced around 400 h.p., with speeds at around 120 m.p.h., they had fixed undercarriages, one or two machine guns and were largely un-armoured. In a little over twenty years the basic form of fighter aircraft had changed, and the materials used in their construction had changed. The engines, guns, interior structure and even the operational roles to which they were assigned had been altered to greater or lesser extents. The period 1918-1939 was, therefore, very important in the development of British fighter aircraft, as it was in aviation technology more generally. The inter-war period suggested itself for several reasons. Firstly, the historiography upon which part of this thesis is hinged deals largely with its latter years and the years leading to World War Two. Due to this concentration on the mid-late 1930s, there is no real sense of what was going on in the 1920s, or attempts to understand the changes that the technology, and the institutions behind them, went through over the years. Secondly, following the First World War, the British aircraft industry was possessed of some considerable degree of competence and experience. To study the development of aviation technology before the war would be to catalogue the efforts of a number of pioneers each doing their own thing and following their own beliefs. To look at such development during the First World War would be to look at what happens when money is no serious object to research and development, production space, labour, management and so on. In looking at the inter-war years, we can examine a new industry that has just come out of a very considerable baptism of fire (in the case of Britain this baptism came just five years after her first successful flight was conducted). We can examine an industry that had to deal with enormous cutbacks, governmental micromanagement and lacking, for a long time, a fertile market in which to operate. Furthermore, the twenty years of the inter-war period allows us to look at a protracted period of technological change enabling us to account for the many varied and changing factors influencing the development of British fighter aircraft. Finally, the approach of the Second World War, the danger of Adolf Hitler and National Socialism and the proliferation of the Luftwaffe was not lost on policymakers and so this period also allows us to examine the effects of wider international events on technology. As it will be shown in the section dealing with historiography there has been plenty of work examining the British aircraft industry, individual aircraft and even the technologies which appeared over the twenty years that this thesis covers. However, there has been a great scarcity of work attempting to explain how such technologies appeared, how they linked together and how aircraft technology changed over the period. These are important questions, not only in terms of providing comprehensive explanations for their creation, development and existence but also in providing crucial context when attempting to pass judgement (as many historians have done) on the industry and the technology it created, and the politics and bureaucracy involved in shaping the technology. Using the example of British fighter aircraft during the 1920s and 1930s, this thesis will look at how the pace of technological change was set. How and why did British fighter aircraft develop the way they did and at the pace that they did? In particular, it will address the central issue of how the shift from the wooden biplanetype fighter of 1918 to the metal monoplane-type of 1939 came about. And can this change be conceptualised as a ‘paradigm shift’ from one ‘technological paradigm’ to another? This is particularly interesting because many consider that aviation now needs to carry out another paradigm shift, due to concerns about environmental impacts, especially as regards climate change.

After many years of successful operation in military domains, Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs) are generating significant interest amongst civilian operators in sectors such as law enforcement, search and rescue, aerial photography and mapping. To maximise the benefits brought by UASs to sectors such as these, a high level of autonomy is desirable to reduce the need for highly skilled operators. Highly autonomous UASs require a high level of situation awareness in order to make appropriate decisions. This is of particular importance to civilian UASs where transparency and equivalence of operation to current manned aircraft is a requirement, particularly in the terminal area immediately surrounding an airfield. This thesis presents an artificial situation awareness system for an autonomous UAS capable of comprehending both the current continuous and discrete states of traffic vehicles. This estimate forms the basis of the projection element of situation awareness, predicting the future states of traffic. Projection is subject to a large degree of uncertainty in both continuous state variables and in the execution of intent information by the pilot. Both of these sources of uncertainty are captured to fully quantify the future positions of traffic. Based upon the projection of future traffic positions a self separation system is designed which allows an UAS to quantify its separation to traffic vehicles up to some future time and manoeuvre appropriately to minimise the potential for conflict. A high fidelity simulation environment has been developed to test the performance of the artificial situation awareness and self separation system. The system has demonstrated good performance under all situations, with an equivalent level of safety to that of a human pilot.

Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs) are becoming more widely used in both military and civilian applications. Some of the largest UAVs have power systems equivalent to that of a military strike jet making power management an important aspect of their design. As they have developed, the amount of power needed for loads has increased. This has placed increase strain on the on-board generators and a need for higher reliability. In normal operation these generators are sized to be able to power all on-board systems with out overheating. Under abnormal operating conditions these generators may start to overheat, causing the loss of the generator's power output. The research presented here aims to answer two main questions: 1) Is it possible to predict when an overheat fault will occur based on the expected power usage defined by mission profiles? 2) Can an overheat fault be prevented while still allowing power to be distributed to necessary loads to allow mission completion? This is achieved by a load management algorithm, which adjusts the load profile for a mission, by either displacing the load to spare generators, or resting the generator to cool it down. The result is that for non-catastrophic faults the faulty generator does not need to be fully shut down and missions can continue rather than having to be aborted. This thesis presents the development of the load management system including the algorithm, prediction method and the models used for prediction. Ultimately, the algorithms developed are tested on a generator test rig. The main contribution of this work is the design of a prognostic load management algorithm. Secondary contributions are the use of a lumped parameter thermal model within a condition monitoring application, and the creation of a system identification model to describe the thermal dynamics of a generator.