MRI: Development of a Solar UAV Instrument

该项目开发了一种高效率的太阳能航空仪器，将感官和处理要求纳入设计方法，重点开发一种（机器人）仪器，填补某些应用（即小型太阳能无人驾驶飞行器（uav））的利基。这项工作包括为现实世界的信息收集应用程序创建一个平台，特别关注鲁棒导航、分布式传感和协作场景。特别是，小型太阳能无人机的发展提供了一个机器人平台，能够通过传统无人机设计实现通信、传感覆盖和飞行耐力。现有的利用太阳能的无人机被限制在需要传统跑道起降的大型飞机设计上。相比之下，电动小型无人机的飞行时间最短。此外，与地面系统相比，空中机器人具有显著的优势，因为它们不受地形和障碍物的影响，并且从空中提供了信息丰富的有利位置。传统的空中机器人受到飞行时间的严重限制，因此它们的部署受到严重限制。飞行时间一直是机载感官信息的主要限制，并阻碍了实验研究和实际应用的进行。利用太阳能作为资源的高效率飞机的开发为飞行时间问题提供了解决方案。所提到的方法包括整合分层规划方法，其中包括所需无人机/传感器的最佳数量的高级推理，以及整个环境中有效传感器放置的低级推理。具体来说，太阳能无人机平台的使用将使精准农业和环境科学领域的工作成为可能，这需要对能够支持各种传感器和测量单元的高续航系统的强烈需求。（例如，关于作物健康的及时和重复的相关信息对于实施纠正行动是必要的。）此外，动态放置的传感器平台和设备的协同操作只能通过使用小型太阳能飞机来实现，就像即将实施的那样。该项目资助的仪器可用于需要连续和重复操作的应用领域，如能源、环境、农业等。因此，这项工作解决了-开发能够进行多日飞行的小型太阳能动力平台，-缩小太阳能无人机仪器的实验验证，-基于收集的传感数据的长期太阳能动力飞行计划，以及-创建基准，以便对小型太阳能无人机仪器进行全面评估。

This project, developing a high efficiency solar power enabled aerial instrument that incorporates sensory and processing requirements into the design methodology, focuses on the development of a (robotic) instrument that fills a niche in certain applications (i.e., small scale solar powered Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)). The work involves the creation of a platform for real-world information gathering applications with special focus on robust navigation, distributed sensing, and collaborative scenarios. In particular, the development of a small scale solar powered UAV provides a robotic platform capable of communication, sensory coverage, and flight endurance unattainable through traditional UAV design. Existing UAVs utilizing solar power are constrained to large aircraft designs requiring a traditional runway for takeoff and landing. In contrast, electric powered small scale UAVs suffer from minimal flight time. Additionally, aerial robots provide significant advantages over ground based systems as they are unaffected by terrain and obstacles, and provide an information-rich vantage point from the air. Conventional aerial robots are significantly limited by their flight time and therefore their deployment is severely restricted. Flight time has been the central limitation for airborne sensory information and has prevented experimental research and real-world applications from being performed. The development of a high efficiency aircraft that leverages solar energy as a resource provides a solution to the flight time problem.The methodologies mentioned involve the incorporation of hierarchical planning methods that include high-level reasoning for the optimal number of UAVs/sensors required, and low-level reasoning for efficient sensor placement throughout the environment. Specifically, the use of solar powered UAV platforms will enable work in the areas of precision agriculture and environmental science, requiring strong demand for high endurance systems capable of supporting a variety of sensor and measurement units. (For example, timely and repetitive relevant information regarding crop health is necessary for corrective actions to be implemented.) Additionally, collaborative operation of dynamically placed sensor platforms and devices can only be enabled through the use of small solar powered airplanes like the ones to be implemented. The instrument that this project funds enables work in application areas that require continuous and repetitive operation such as Energy, Environment, Agriculture, etc. Consequently, this work addresses the- Development of a small scale solar powered platform that is capable of multi-day flight, - Experimental validation of the scaled down solar UAV instrument, - Long-term solar powered flight planning based on sensory data collected, and- Creation of benchmarks that will allow comprehensive evaluation of the small solar powered UAV instrument.