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A Taguchi-Based Approach to Tune Bio-Inspired Guidance Systems for Tactical UAVs

This thesis aims to tune the control parameters of a bio-inspired guidance system designed
to confer a tactical behavior to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). This bio-inspired
guidance system is capable of reducing exposure to threats, while traversing previously uncharted,
and potentially hostile territories. UAVs employing this guidance system may exhibit
a more or less tactical behavior by tuning 9 user-defined parameters within specified
intervals. Although the UAV's behavior can be easily forecasted whenever all parameters
are set to exhibit the most cautious behavior or the most reckless behavior, it is difficult to
devise a taxonomy of flight behavior whenever these parameters are not set at the boundaries
of their admissible intervals. The scope of this thesis is to analyze and forecast the UAV's
behavior as a function of these user-defined parameters. To this goal, the Taguchi analysis
method is employed to deduce those parameters that affect the UAV's behavior more than
others. Successively, 81 software-in-the-loop simulations have been performed to analyze the
UAV's behavior as a function of the most influential user-defined parameters. Finally, 10
flight tests were performed to validate the numerical results. / Master of Science / This thesis aims to tune the control parameters of a bio-inspired guidance system designed to confer a tactical behavior to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). This bio-inspired guidance system is capable of reducing exposure to threats, while traversing previously uncharted, and potentially hostile territories. UAVs employing this guidance system may exhibit a more or less tactical behavior by tuning 9 user-defined parameters within specified intervals. Although the UAV's behavior can be easily forecasted whenever all parameters are set to exhibit the most cautious behavior or the most reckless behavior, it is difficult to devise a taxonomy of flight behavior whenever these parameters are not set at the boundaries of their admissible intervals. The scope of this thesis is to analyze and forecast the UAV's behavior as a function of these user-defined parameters. To this goal, the Taguchi analysis method is employed to deduce those parameters that affect the UAV's behavior more than others. Successively, 81 software-in-the-loop simulations have been performed to analyze the UAV's behavior as a function of the most influential user-defined parameters. Finally, 10 flight tests were performed to validate the numerical results.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/108089
Date01 February 2022
CreatorsAmrite, Shardul
ContributorsMechanical Engineering, L'Afflitto, Andrea, Southward, Steve C., Akbari Hamed, Kaveh, Tsui, Kwok
PublisherVirginia Tech
Source SetsVirginia Tech Theses and Dissertation
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis
FormatETD, application/pdf
RightsIn Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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