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，将传感和处理要求纳入设计方法，重点是开发一种（机器人）仪器，填补了某些应用领域的空白（即，小型太阳能无人机（UAV）。这项工作涉及为现实世界的信息收集应用程序创建一个平台，特别关注强大的导航，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，能够通过传统的无人机设计无法实现的通信，传感器覆盖和飞行耐力。现有的利用太阳能的无人机局限于需要传统跑道进行起飞和降落的大型飞机设计。相比之下，电动小型无人机的飞行时间最短。此外，空中机器人比地面系统具有显著的优势，因为它们不受地形和障碍物的影响，并从空中提供信息丰富的Vantage。传统的空中机器人受到飞行时间的限制，因此其部署受到严重限制。飞行时间一直是机载传感信息的主要限制，并阻止了实验研究和实际应用。利用太阳能作为资源的高效率飞机的发展提供了一个解决方案，飞行时间problem.The方法提到的分层规划方法，其中包括高层次的推理所需的无人机/传感器的最佳数量，并在整个环境中有效的传感器布局的低层次的推理。具体而言，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力系统的强烈需求。(For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措施是必要的。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，如要实现的那些。该项目资助的仪器能够在需要连续和重复操作的应用领域开展工作，例如能源，环境，农业等。因此，这项工作涉及-能够进行多日飞行的小型太阳能平台的开发，-按比例缩小的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飞行规划，建立基准，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.