What if future air travel was highly sustainable and appealing? What if you could hop from building rooftop to rooftop or better, from a city to an island without the worries of ground congestion and gridlocks? And how would it look like if NIO decided to take this opportunity and broaden their product offerings? These were some of the initial question that guided the project towards a mode of mobility which is new and challenging to realise. Admittedly It was also exciting to imagine what would future of autonomy look like in something other that a car and to see if A.I. driven technologies and fresh architecture ideas could enhance this experience. And remove the safety and social acceptance stigmas from this type of mobility. Furthermore to see how the design would be influenced by specific target user group & their needs. From Post-it ideation to Alias mock-up and Virtual reality software to validate  ideas, the process saw use of several tools. Initial  stage included several basic  CAS layout  proposals which  allowed for  fresh  ideas which were translated into detailed sketches on paper and in Photoshop.  Two loops of mid-level detailed CAS were generated  and then  through  combination of both, and  additional  analogue  material  the  final  loop  of  Alias was completed and then  handed to  In-house  CAS team  for  refinement  and  physical  prototyping  support. Throughout  the  process there were several check  points with the mentor, interior  director  &  university tutors which gave valuable input & direction to the project. The  final  outcome  is  a  Vertical  take  off  landing  vehicle which shows a holistic idea of how future NIO products could  look  like.  A  small  fleet  and  a  shared  model make this realistic and accessible mode  of  mobility. Passengers  are  welcomed  to  a NIO  house  which  also acts as a sky-deck  for  the  vehicle. Open  interior  layout of  the  vehicle  poses unique  and  exciting  possibilities for  either  enjoying  personal  time  or  a  dialogue  during the journey. Key functions such as ambient air, music or photo-chromatic  glass can  be activated by interacting with  the  two  A.I.  units  placed on  top  of  each  seating zone.  Use of recycled & vegan materials and lightweight construction  of the seats allow for  a bigger surface area but optimized weight. The overall welcoming gesture of the  interior  space aims for  attracting  a wide group of passengers.

Energy e ciency is a critical constraint in wireless sensor networks. Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) consist of a large number of battery-powered sensor nodes, connected to each other and equipped with low-power transmission radios. Usually, the sensor nodes closer to the sink are more likely to become overloaded and subject to draining their battery faster than the nodes farther away, creating a funneling e ect. The use of a mobile device as a sink node to perform data gathering is a well known solution to balance the energy consumption in the entire network. To address this problem, in this work we consider the use of an UAV as a mobile sink. An unmanned aircraft vehicle (UAV) is an aircraft without a human pilot on-board, popularly known as a Drone. In this thesis, besides the use of the UAV as a mobile sink node, we propose an UAV-aided algorithm for data gathering in wireless sensor networks, called Humming- bird. Our distributed algorithm is energy-e cient. Rather than using an arbitrary path, the UAV implements an approximation algorithm to solve the well-known NP- Hard problem, the Traveling Salesman Problem (or TSP), to setup the trajectory of node points to visit for data gathering. In our approach, both the path planning and the data gathering are performed by the UAV, and this is seamlessly integrated with sensor data reporting. The results, using ns-3 network simulator show that our algorithm improves the network lifetime compared to regular (non-UAV) data gathering, especially for data intensive applications. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2018. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Planning and controlling traffic for multiple drones in a system without intercommunication betweenthe drones is a daunting proposition. This paper presents a thesis work developing a multi-dronecontrol system capable of planning and executing missions in a 3-D aerial space. Generic 2-D pathplanning algorithms are extended into the 3-D space to handle multiple parts of the path planning,creating highways through a gridded area which is used as obstacles for other drones.Three path planning algorithm are compared with other each other wavefront, Astar and po-tential fields, scheduling is also documented to find the optimal drone amount that the system canhandle given an area of interest, this is done to see how often and for how long drones stand idle.Simulations and equations have been implemented to verify and compare results.

Lin, Kai Wun. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 120-127). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / Acknowledgement --- p.iii / Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Overview of the UAV Project --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Challenges on Vision System for UAV --- p.2 / Chapter 1.3 --- Contributions of this Work --- p.4 / Chapter 1.4 --- Organization of Thesis --- p.6 / Chapter 2 --- Image Sensor Selection and Evaluation --- p.8 / Chapter 2.1 --- Image Sensor Overview --- p.8 / Chapter 2.1.1 --- Comparing Sensor Features and Performance --- p.9 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- Rolling Shutter vsGlobal Shutter --- p.10 / Chapter 2.2 --- Sensor Evaluation through USB Peripheral --- p.11 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Interfacing Image Sensor and USB Controller --- p.12 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Image Sensor Configuration --- p.14 / Chapter 2.3 --- Image Data Transmitting and Processing --- p.17 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- Data Transfer Mode and Buffering on USB Controller --- p.18 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- Demosaicking of Bayer Image Data --- p.20 / Chapter 2.4 --- Splitting Images and Exposure Problem --- p.22 / Chapter 2.4.1 --- Buffer Overflow on USB Controller --- p.22 / Chapter 2.4.2 --- Image Luminance and Exposure Adjustment --- p.24 / Chapter 3 --- Embedded System for Vision Processing --- p.26 / Chapter 3.1 --- Overview of the Embedded System --- p.26 / Chapter 3.1.1 --- TI OMAP3530 Processor --- p.27 / Chapter 3.1.2 --- Gumstix Overo Fire Computer-on-Module --- p.27 / Chapter 3.2 --- Interfacing Camera Module to the Embedded System --- p.28 / Chapter 3.2.1 --- Image Signal Processing Subsystem --- p.29 / Chapter 3.2.2 --- Camera Module Adapting Board --- p.30 / Chapter 3.2.3 --- Image Sensor Driver and Program Development --- p.31 / Chapter 3.3 --- View-stabilizing Biaxial Camera Platform --- p.34 / Chapter 3.3.1 --- The New Camera System iv --- p.35 / Chapter 3.3.2 --- View-stabilizing Pan-tilt Platform --- p.41 / Chapter 3.4 --- Overall System Architecture and UAV Integration --- p.46 / Chapter 4 --- Target Tracking and Geo-locating --- p.50 / Chapter 4.1 --- Camera Calibration --- p.51 / Chapter 4.1.1 --- The Perspective Camera Model --- p.51 / Chapter 4.1.2 --- Camera Lens Distortions --- p.53 / Chapter 4.1.3 --- Calibration Toolbox and Results --- p.54 / Chapter 4.2 --- Selection of Object Features and Trackers --- p.56 / Chapter 4.2.1 --- Harris Corner Detection --- p.58 / Chapter 4.2.2 --- Color Histogram --- p.59 / Chapter 4.2.3 --- KLT and Mean-shift Tracker --- p.59 / Chapter 4.3 --- Target Auto-centering --- p.64 / Chapter 4.3.1 --- Formulation of the PID Controller --- p.65 / Chapter 4.3.2 --- Control Gain Settings and Tuning --- p.69 / Chapter 4.4 --- Geo-locating of Tracked Target --- p.69 / Chapter 4.4.1 --- Coordinate Frame Transformation --- p.70 / Chapter 4.4.2 --- Depth Estimation and Target Locating --- p.74 / Chapter 4.5 --- Results and Discussion --- p.77 / Chapter 5 --- Real-time Aerial Mosaic Building --- p.89 / Chapter 5.1 --- Motion Model Selection --- p.90 / Chapter 5.1.1 --- Planar Perspective Motion Model --- p.90 / Chapter 5.2 --- Feature-based Image Alignment --- p.91 / Chapter 5.2.1 --- Image Preprocessing --- p.91 / Chapter 5.2.2 --- Feature Extraction and Matching --- p.92 / Chapter 5.2.3 --- Image Alignment using RANSAC Algorithm --- p.94 / Chapter 5.3 --- Image Composition --- p.95 / Chapter 5.3.1 --- Image Blending with Distance Map --- p.96 / Chapter 5.3.2 --- Overall Stitching Process --- p.98 / Chapter 5.4 --- Mosaic Simulation using Google Earth --- p.99 / Chapter 5.5 --- Results and Discussion --- p.100 / Chapter 6 --- Conclusion and Further Work --- p.108 / Chapter A --- System Schematics --- p.111 / Chapter B --- Image Sensor Sensitivity --- p.118 / Bibliography --- p.120

This thesis explores the U.S.-Pakistani relationship in the War on Terror in an effort to better understand the U.S.-Pakistani power dynamic. In particular, this thesis analyzes the United States’ relationship with Pakistan via a Hobbesian understanding of social contract theory: a state’s right to sovereignty. It then utilizes this framework to analyze the U.S. use of drones on Pakistani soil. This paper suggests a protectionist model has been adopted by the United States, thereby making these drone strikes violations of the social contract. As a result, this paper argues that because of this, the United States will have to uphold the state’s responsibility to protect in order to maintain their social contracts with other states.

Orientador: Rodrigo Máximo Sánchez Román / Coorientador: Mac McKeee / Banca: Edson Luís Piroli / Banca: Enzo Dal Pai / Banca: Luis Henrique Bassoi / Banca: Patrícia Angelica Alves Marques / Resumo: As diversas interações do meio biofísico de uma área cultivada dificultam a compreensão e estudos do comportamento da vegetação por meio de medições de campo. Essas dificuldades fizeram do sensoriamento remoto, por meio de imagens de satélites, uma ferramenta robusta para investigações desses ecossistemas em diferentes regiões. As imagens de satélites vêm sendo uma ferramenta bastante utilizada para cálculos de demandas hídricas das culturas irrigadas com grande eficiência. Porém, existe a limitação da periodicidade uma vez que os satélites utilizados, como Landsat 8, levam 16 dias para retornar à uma mesma região. Como alternativa para imagens aéreas de alta resolução e diárias nos dias atuais estão sendo utilizados os Veículos Aéreos Não Tripulados (VANT), como os Drones. O trabalho teve como objetivo determinar a demanda hídrica da videira Pinot Noir por meio de índice de vegetação, utilizando imagens diárias obtidas com o uso de VANT. Os resultados obtidos foram comparados com dados medidos de campo. A demanda hídrica foi calculada por meio da estimativa dos coeficientes de cultivo utilizando o NDVI (Índice de Vegetação da Diferença Normalizada) e a evapotranspiração de referência. O resultado deste trabalho mostrou que a resolução influência nos valores dos índices vegetativos e, consequentemente, nos parâmetros que podem ser estimados por eles. Logo, as imagens capturadas por VANT expressam valores mais próximo do real em uma escala temporal diária, obtendo-se resultado... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract:The diverse interactions of the biophysical environment of an acreage make it difficult to study vegetation behavior through field measurements. These difficulties made remote sensing, through satellite images, a robust tool for investigating these ecosystems in different regions. Satellite images have been a widely used tool for calculating the water demands of irrigated crops with great efficiency. However, there is a limitation of periodicity since the satellites used, such as Landsat 8, take 16 days to return to the same region. As an alternative to high resolution and daily aerial imagery today unmanned aerial vehicles (VANT), such as Drones, are being used. The objective of this work was to determine the water demand of vine Pinot Noir by vegetation index using daily images obtained with the use of VANT. The results obtained were compared with data measured of field. The water demand was calculated by estimating the crop coefficients using the NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) and the reference evapotranspiration. The result of this work showed that the resolution influences the values of the vegetative indexes and, consequently, the parameters that can be estimated by them. Therefore, the VANT catches express values closer to the real on a daily time scale, obtaining more satisfactory results for use in irrigation management. / Doutor

Orientador: Zacarias Xavier Barros / Banca: Paulo Roberto Arbex Silva / Banca: Carlos Eduardo de Mendonça Otoboni / Resumo: A aerofotogrametria com Veículo Aéreo Não Tripulado (VANT), tem se tornado uma grande fonte de informações em diversas áreas da atividade econômica mundial, entre elas a agricultura de precisão. O Brasil, destacando-se como o maior produtor mundial de cana-de-açúcar, apresenta nesse segmento um grande mercado consumidor de geoinformação, sobretudo no que diz respeito a mapas de plantio da lavoura para orientação de piloto automático. Esta dissertação parte da hipótese de que um determinado produtor rural necessita mapear as linhas de plantio de sua lavoura e, para isso, pretende valer-se de técnicas de aerofotogrametria com VANT. Portanto, a metodologia mais eficiente deve ser aplicada visando à redução dos custos operacionais para viabilizar o investimento. Foram mapeados três talhões em diferentes estágios de desenvolvimento da lavoura, 40, 80 e 110 cm de altura, e cada um desses talhões foi sobrevoado com três alturas de voo, 70, 110 e 150 metros. Ao final deste experimento concluiu-se que quanto maior a altura de voo, menor é o custo computacional para obtenção da ortofoto e menor é a resolução do produto, o que ocasiona dificuldades na identificação das linhas de plantio. Conclui-se que nos estágios iniciais de desenvolvimento a cultura deve-se utilizar um GSD de no máximo 5cm/pixel para observar-se o contraste entra as plantas e o solo. Já para estágios mais avançados, com a lavoura entre 80 e 110 centímetros os GSD de 6,5 cm/pixel entregaram produtos aptos a identifica... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Unmaned Aerial Vehicle Photogrammetry has become a major source of information in many areas of worldwide economic activity, including precision agriculture. Brazil, standing out as the world's largest producer of sugarcane, presents in this segment a large consumer market for geoinformation, especially with regard to crop planting maps for automatic pilot guidance. This dissertation is based on the hypothesis that a farmer needs to map the planting lines of his crop and for this he intends to use aerophotogrammetry techniques with UAV. Therefore, the most efficient methodology should be applied in order to reduce operating costs to make the investment viable. Three plots were mapped at different stages of development of the crop, 40, 80 and 110 cm, and each of these plots were flown at three flight heights, 70, 110 and 150 meters. At the end of this experiment it was concluded that the higher the flight height, the lower the computational cost to obtain the orthophoto and the lower the product resolution, which causes difficulties in the identification of the planting lines. It is concluded that in the early stages of development the crop should use a maximum GSD of 5cm / pixel to observe the contrast between plants and soil. Already for more advanced stages, with the crop between 80 and 110 cm the GSD of 6.5 cm / pixel delivered products able to identify the planting lines. / Mestre

The thesis deals with the design and implementation of an Adaptive Flight Control technique for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). The application of UAVs has been increasing exponentially in the last decade both in Military and Civilian fronts. These UAVs fly at very low speeds and Reynolds numbers, have nonlinear coupling, and tend to exhibit time varying characteristics. In addition, due to the variety of missions, they fly in uncertain environments exposing themselves to unpredictable external disturbances. The successful completion of the UAV missions is largely dependent on the accuracy of the control provided by the flight controllers. Thus there is a necessity for accurate and robust flight controllers. These controllers should be able to adapt to the changes in the dynamics due to internal and external changes. From the available literature, it is known that, one of the better suited adaptive controllers is the model based controller. The design and implementation of model based adaptive controller is discussed in the thesis. A critical issue in the design and application of model based control is the online identification of the UAV dynamics from the available sensors using the onboard processing capability. For this, proper instrumentation in terms of sensors and avionics for two platforms developed at UNSW@ADFA is discussed. Using the flight data from the remotely flown platforms, state space identification and fuzzy identification are developed to mimic the UAV dynamics. Real time validations using Hardware in Loop (HIL) simulations show that both the methods are feasible for control. A finer comparison showed that the accuracy of identification using fuzzy systems is better than the state space technique. The flight tests with real time online identification confirmed the feasibility of fuzzy identification for intelligent control. Hence two adaptive controllers based on the fuzzy identification are developed. The first adaptive controller is a hybrid indirect adaptive controller that utilises the model sensitivity in addition to output error for adaptation. The feedback of the model sensitivity function to adapt the parameters of the controller is shown to have beneficial effects, both in terms of convergence and accuracy. HIL simulations applied to the control of roll stabilised pitch autopilot for a typical UAV demonstrate the improvements compared to the direct adaptive controller. Next a novel fuzzy model based inversion controller is presented. The analytical approximate inversion proposed in this thesis does not increase the computational effort. The comparisons of this controller with other controller for a benchmark problem are presented using numerical simulations. The results bring out the superiority of this technique over other techniques. The extension of the analytical inversion based controller for multiple input multiple output problem is presented for the design of roll stabilised pitch autopilot for a UAV. The results of the HIL simulations are discussed for a typical UAV. Finally, flight test results for angle of attack control of one of the UAV platforms at UNSW@ADFA are presented. The flight test results show that the adaptive controller is capable of controlling the UAV suitably in a real environment, demonstrating its robustness characteristics.

A l'heure actuelle, de nombreux projets d'utilisation de drones s'intéressent à la capacité des véhicules à alterner des phases de vols lentes et des phases de vol rapides. Cela permet entre autre, de traiter une plus grande diversité de missions que celles pouvant être accomplies par des avions conventionnels (approche de bâtiments, évolution en milieu urbain, prises de vue). Cette thèse s'intéresse à la commande de ce type de vecteur, avec l'application au VERTIGO, drone de type VTOL a rotors contrarotatifs et volets déflecteurs de flux. Sur la base d'une campagne en soufflerie, un modèle dynamique et cinématique a été développé. Les modèles obtenus ont permis d'étudier et de piloter l'engin sur un large domaine de vol (du vol stationnaire au vol d'avancement rapide). L'observation du comportement dynamique a conduit au choix de deux structures de pilotages pour couvrir toute l'enveloppe de vol ; une structure de pilotage à gains statiques auto séquencés de type retour d'´états longitudinaux et latéraux pour le vol d'avancement ; et une structure hiérarchique axe par axe pour le vol stationnaire et pseudo stationnaire, proche de ce qui peut être utilisé pour le pilotage des hélicoptères. Des outils d'analyse de robustesse (tel que la μ-analyse) sont utilisés pour prouver la stabilité de la boucle fermée tout au long des trajectoires en vol d'avancement. Un simulateur non linéaire a été développé pour implémenter les lois, analyser le comportement de l'engin durant la phase de transition et a permis une étude sur la génération de trajectoire optimale. Les algorithmes de pilotages ont ´et´e implant´es sur le calculateur embarqué et une campagne d'essais en vol indoor est également présentée.

Thesis (M.S.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 139-140).