No description available.

The thesis aims to design and implement an Android application with ability to control the autopilot of the Skydog aircraft model using the wireless telemetry. The application shall receive data from an aircraft model gathered from various installed sensors. These data shall be then processed and corresponding instructions for autopilot shall be sent back. When collision with terrain or obstacle is detected, the application shall send instructions to autopilot to avoid such collision. RRT algorithm is used to find collision-free flight trajectory. Database of known obstacles and digital terrain model are provided to application in formats XML and GeoTIFF respectively.

La manipulation aérienne est l’un des défis de la robotique au cours de cette dernière décennie. L’un des freins au développement des manipulateurs aériens est l’autonomie limitée des drones, réduite par la charge et la consommation électrique du manipulateur embarqué. Une solution pour dépasser cette limite passe par la collaboration de plusieurs drones dans une tâche de manipulation. Cette thèse porte sur la conception et la commande d’un nouveau type de véhicule autonome aérien destiné à la manipulation. Le concept consiste à faire collaborer plusieurs drones, en particulier des quadricoptères, au travers d’une architecture passive polyarticulée. Le robot ainsi obtenu est une fusion entre l’architecture passive d’un robot parallèle et plusieurs drones. L’étude du modèle dynamique de cette classe de robots met en avant un découplage dans le modèle dynamique. Ce découplage permet la conception d’une commande en cascade qui assure la stabilisation et le suivi de trajectoire pour ces robots. Deux cas d’étude sont ensuite déclinés dans cette thèse : un robot parallèle volant à deux drones et un robot parallèle volant à trois drones. Pour ces deux robots, une simulation numérique est effectuée afin de valider le fonctionnement de la commande. Ces simulations ont également permis de valider la possibilité de changer la configuration de l’architecture passive en vol. Les travaux ont été portés avec succès jusqu’au stade expérimental pour le robot volant à deux drones. / Aerial manipulation is one of the challenges of robotics over the last decade. One of the constraints on the development of aerial manipulators is the limited autonomy of drones, reduced by the load and energy consumption of the on-board manipulator. One way to overcome this limit is to have several drones collaborate on a manipulation task. This thesis deals with the design and control of a new type of autonomous aerial vehicle for manipulation tasks. The concept consists in the collaboration of several drones, in particular quadrotors, through a polyarticulated passive architecture. The robot thus obtained is a fusion between the passive architecture of a parallel robot and several drones. The study of the dynamic model of this robot class highlights a decoupling in the dynamic model. This decoupling allows the design of a cascade control law. This controller provides stabilization and trajectory tracking for these robots. Two study cases are then presented in this thesis: a flying parallel robot with two drones and a flying parallel robot with three drones. For these two robots, a numerical simulation is performed to validate the controller performances. These simulations also allowed to validate the reconfiguration abilities of passive architecture in flight. The work was successfully carried to the experimental stage for the flying robot with two drones.

Det finns flertal användningsområden för digitala höjdmodeller där det krävs hög noggrannhet för att problematik och ekonomiska konsekvenser inte ska uppstå. Digitala höjdmodeller kan användas till volymberäkning, projektering och geografiska analyser. Digitala höjdmodeller kan kategoriseras som antingen digital ytmodell eller digital terräng-modell. Då hög noggrannhet eftersträvas i digitala terrängmodeller har SIS framställt en standard benämnd SIS-TS 21144:2016 som beskriver hur inmätning och kontroll av data till digitala terrängmodeller ska hanteras. För insamling av höjdinformation till en digital terrängmodell finns olika terrestra och flygburna mätmetoder. Vanliga terrestra mätmetoder är totalstation, GNSS och terrester laserskanning medan flygburna mätmetoder är flygburen laserskanning eller olika metoder med digital fotogrammetri. Syftet med studien är att undersöka noggrannheten hos höjdmodeller kategoriserade som digitala terräng-modeller. Insamling av höjdinformation skedde med totalstation, GNSS-metoden NRTK och UAV samt inhämtning av LAS-data från NH för tre olika karaktäristiska grönområden inom Karlstad med omnejd. SIS-TS 21144:2016 har klassificerat terrängmodeller beroende på användningsområde och terräng. Klassificeringen går mellan klass 1–10 och varje klass har en maximal tolerans i höjd. För studien har tre studieområden som går under klassificeringarna klass 2, klass 3 och klass 5 valts ut för undersökning. Samtliga studieområden är avgränsade till 40 x 40 meter. Innan insamling av data markerades och mättes bakåtobjekt och avvägning genomfördes. Samtlig insamlad data bearbetades i programvaran SBG Geo och UAV data bearbetades även i programvaran Agisoft PhotoScan Professional. För kontroll av samtliga terrängmodeller genomfördes inmätning av tre kontrollprofiler med totalstation enligt SIS-TS 21144:2016. Resultatet visade att UAV är inom tolerans för samtliga studieområden medan NH-data resulterade i enstaka kontrollpunkter utanför klassningens tolerans för samtliga studie-områden. De två terrestra mätmetoderna är båda inom tolerans för klass 2 och varsin kontrollpunkt utanför tolerans för klass 5. Vid studieområde klass 3 är fem kontrollpunkter för totalstation utanför tolerans respektive åtta för NRTK. Vid analys av vilken mätmetod som resulterar i noggrannast terrängmodell inom samtliga studieområden krävs beaktning av antal inmätningspunkter och trianglar som terrängmodellen är uppbyggd av. För klass 2 ger de flygburna mätmetoderna flest antal inmätningspunkter och trianglar medan UAV resulterar i betydligt högre värden för de två resterande studieområdena. Antal inmätnings-punkter för de terrestra mätmetoderna har operatör beslutat om under mätning, vilket har kunnat ökas för att generera terrängmodeller som består av fler trianglar. Resultatet från studien visar att UAV resulterar i terrängmodeller som klarar toleranser inom undersökta studieområden och SIS-TS 21144:2016 klassificeringar. / There are previous research about digital terrain models and how different methods of producing digital terrain models varies in accuracy and there are several different methods to produce a digital terrain models.  In this study the following methods, tools and data are used to produce digital terrain models over three different characteristic study areas: total station, GNSS, UAV and NH. Previous work has failed to address the accuracy given by these four methods over the same three characteristic study areas thus preventing the understanding of most suitable methods for different areas. In this study three different green areas have been studied and the different digital terrain models has been produced and controlled with SIS standard SIS-TS 21144:2016. Data in form of height information were collected by the aforementioned methods and processed to generate results over the accuracy of each methods. The results shows that UAV provide most accurately digital terrains models in least time spent in field but also total station and GNSS generate digital terrain models that are accurate.

An autonomous system consisting of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in cooperation with an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) is of interest in applications for military reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition (RSTA). The basic idea of such a system is to take advantage of the vehicles strengths and counteract their weaknesses. The cooperation aspect suggests that the UAV is capable of autonomously landing on the UGV. A fundamental part of the landing is to localise the UAV with respect to the UGV. Traditional navigation systems utilise global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receivers for localisation. GNSS receivers have many advantages, but they are sensitive to interference and spoofing. Therefore, this thesis investigates the feasibility of autonomous landing in a GNSS-denied scenario. The proposed landing system is divided into a control and an estimation system. The control system uses a proportional navigation (PN) control law to approach the UGV. When sufficiently close, a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller is used to match the movements of the UGV and perform a controlled descent and landing. The estimation system comprises an extended Kalman filter that utilises measurements from a camera, an imu and ultra-wide band (UWB) impulse radios. The landing system is composed of various results from previous research. First, the sensors used by the landing system are evaluated experimentally to get an understanding of their characteristics. The results are then used to determine the optimal sensor placements, in the design of the EKF, as well as, to shape the simulation environment and make it realistic. The simulation environment is used to evaluate the proposed landing system. The combined system is able to land the UAV safely on the moving UGV, confirming a fully-functional landing system. Additionally, the estimation system is evaluated experimentally, with results comparable to those obtained in simulation. The overall results are promising for the possibility of using the landing system with the presented hardware platform to perform a successful landing.

The Boeing Joined-Wing SenorCraft is a novel aircraft design that has many potential benefits, especially for surveillance missions. However, computational studies have shown the potential for nonlinear structural responses in the joined-wing configuration due to aerodynamic loading that could result in aft wing buckling. The design, construction, and flight testing of a 1/9th scale, aeroelastically tuned model of the Joined-Wing SensorCraft has been the subject of an ongoing international collaboration aimed at experimentally demonstrating the nonlinear aeroelastic response in flight. To accurately measure and capture the configuration\'s potential for structural nonlinearity, the test article must exhibit equivalent structural flexibility and be designed to meet airworthiness standards. Previous work has demonstrated airworthiness through the successful flight of a Geometrically Scaled Remotely Piloted Vehicle. The work presented in this thesis involves evaluation of an aeroelastically tuned design through ground-based experimentation. The result of these experimental investigations has led to the conclusion that a full redesign of the forward and aft wings must be completed to demonstrate sufficient geometric nonlinearity for the follow-on Aeorelastically Tuned Remotely Piloted Vehicle. This thesis also presents flight test plans for the aeroelastically tuned RPV. / Master of Science

Small unmanned aerial vehicles (sUAV) can produce valuable data for inspections, topography, mapping, and 3D modeling of structures. Used by multiple industries, sUAV can help inspect and study geographic and structural sites. Typically, the sUAV and camera specifications require optimal conditions with known geography and fly pre-determined flight paths. However, if the environment changes, new undetectable aerial hazards may intersect new flight paths. This makes it difficult to construct autonomous flight path missions that are safe in post-hazard areas where the flight paths are based on previously built models or previously known terrain details. The goal of this research is to make it possible for an unskilled pilot to obtain high quality images at key angles which will facilitate the inspections of dangerous environments affected by natural disasters through the construction of accurate 3D models. An iterative process with converging variables can circumvent the current deficit in flying UAVs autonomously and make it possible for an unskilled pilot to gather high quality data for the construction of photogrammetric models. This can be achieved by gaining preliminary photogrammetric data, then creating new flight paths which consider new developments contained in the generated dense clouds. Initial flight paths are used to develop a coarse representation of the target area by aligning key tie points of the initial set of images. With each iteration, a 3D mesh is used to compute a new optimized view and flight path used for the data collection of a better-known location. These data are collected, the model updated, and a new flight path is computed until the model resolution meets the required heights or ground sample distances (GSD). This research uses basic UAVs and camera sensors to lower costs and reduce the need for specialized sensors or data analysis. The four basic stages followed in the study include: determination of required height reductions for comparison and convergent limitation, construction of real-time reconnaissance models, optimized view and flight paths with vertical and horizontal buffers constructed from previous models, and develop an autonomous process that combines the previous stages iteratively. This study advances the use of autonomous sUAV inspections by developing an iterative process of flying a sUAV to potentially detect and avoid buildings, trees, wires, and other hazards in an iterative manner with minimal pilot experience or human intervention; while optimally collecting the required images to generate geometric models of predetermined quality.

The usage of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to navigate autonomously in a dynamic environment is becoming more common. It is important that a UAV can generate collision-free trajectories and also be able to modify them to adapt to environment changes over the entire duration of navigation. The objective of this thesis is to present an optimized motion planning framework for UAV in dynamic environments. The proposed framework consists of two modules, which are optimized motion planner and dynamic scene generator. The optimized motion planner utilizes an asymptotically optimal sampling-based motion planning algorithm, RRTX, and extends RRTX with an optimizer based on Covariant Hamiltonian Optimization for Motion Planning (CHOMP) algorithm to optimize trajectories. A dynamic environment has obstacles that unpredictably appear, disappear or move. The optimized motion planner reacts to environment changes and finds collision-free trajectories during the navigation. Dynamic scene generator contains an obstacle information messenger and UAV simulator. This module is to simulate UAV, obstacles, and planned trajectories in a Unity scene. UAV simulator utilizes Flightmare, which is a flexible modular quadrotor simulator that contains a rendering engine built on Unity and a physics engine for dynamics simulation. The built framework is evaluated in simulations and the results show that the framework enables a UAV to navigate autonomously without colliding with any obstacles in dynamic environments. / Användningen av obemannade luftfarkoster för att navigera autonomt i dynamiska miljöer blir allt vanligare. Det är viktigt att en obemannade luftfarkost kan generera kollisionsfria banor och ändra dem för förändringar i miljöer under hela navigering. Detta examensarbete undersöker optimerad banplanering ramverket för obemannade luftfarkoster i dynamiska miljöer. Ramverket består av två delar: en optimerad banplanerare, och en dynamiska scen modul. Den optimerad banplaneraren använder en asymptotiskt optimala samplingsbaserade banplaneringsalgoritm, RRTX, och förlänger RRTX med en optimala lösning baserad på Covariant Hamiltonian Optimization for Motion Planning (CHOMP) algoritm för att optimera banor. En dynamiska miljö har hinder som oförutsägbart dyker upp, försvinner eller rör sig. Den optimerad banplaneraren reagerar på förändringar i miljöer och hittar kollisionsfria banor under navigeringen. Den dynamiska scen modulen består av en informationsbudbärare för hinder och en simulator för obemannade luftfarkoster. Denna modul ska simulera obemannade luftfarkoster, hinder och banor i en Unity scen. Den simulatorn för obemannade luftfarkoster använder Flightmare, som är en flexibel modulär simulator för quadrotorer. Flightmare består av en återgivningsmotor byggd på Unity och en fysikmotor för dynamiska simuleringar. Ramverket har testats i simuleringar. Resultat från simuleringar bekräftar att det ramverket gör att en obemannade luftfarkost kan navigera autonomt utan att kollidera med några hinder i dynamiska miljöer.

In the pursuit of research in remote areas, robots may be employed to deploy sensor networks. These robots need a method of classifying a surface to determine if it is a suitable installation site. Developing surface classification models manually requires significant time and detracts from the goal of automating systems. We create a system that automatically collects the data using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), extracts features, trains a large number of classifiers, selects the best classifier, and programs the UAV with that classifier. We design this system with user configurable parameters for choosing a high accuracy, efficient classifier. In support of this system, we also develop an algorithm for evaluating the effectiveness of individual features as indicators of the variable of interest. Motivating our work is a prior project that manually developed a surface classifier using an accelerometer; we replicate those results with our new automated system and improve on those results, providing a four-surface classifier with a 75% classification rate and a hard/soft classifier with a 100% classification rate. We further verify our system through a field experiment that collects and classifies new data, proving its end-to-end functionality. The general form of our system provides a valuable tool for automation of classifier creation and is released as an open-source tool.

No description available.