I-Corps: Flow-aided aerial vehicle navigation and control

I-Corps：流动辅助飞行器导航和控制

• 批准号: 2132243
• 负责人: Silvia Ferrari
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: Cornell University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-06-01 至 2022-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2132243&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; Flow; aided; aerial; vehicle

The broader impact of this I-Corps project is the development of technology to extend battery life in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Small unmanned aerial vehicles have been utilized in a wide range of fields, including aerophotography, delivery, surveying, and surveillance in confined spaces. However, the utilization and duration of flight of small UAVs is often limited by the allowed on-board battery capacity, especially in extreme windy conditions when UAVs need to make extra effort to reject disturbances and remain robust. The proposed technology solves the UAV navigation and control problems in turbulence by traversing turbulent flows using minimal time and energy. The new technology may enable more UAVs to operate in conditions beyond their current capabilities and could make UAVs more commercially viable. In addition, the new product fits well with the current trend towards convenient, contact-free, autonomous drone delivery services. The development of efficient UAV navigation and control strategies in wind may benefit the drone delivery industry in the future.This I-Corps project is based on the development of energy-harvesting control algorithms to extend battery life in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Inspired by principles from particle transport theory in fluid dynamics, the proposed technology provides intelligent control algorithms that enable the aerial vehicle to leverage beneficial flow structures, such as turbulent eddies, rising thermals, and tailwinds, and navigate in highly turbulent environments with significantly less expenditure of time and energy. An implicit model following (IMF) controller was developed to make the aerial vehicle follow the dynamic behavior of settling inertial particles undergoing the fast-tracking effect and extract energy from turbulent flows. Given on-board flow measurements, the controlled aerial vehicle tends to travel under advantageous tailwinds more often, while avoiding adverse headwinds autonomously. Compared to existing control techniques, the innovation of this technology is that prior knowledge of the exact flow parametric model is not required, and controlled aerial vehicles may harvest energy from wind gusts instead of using battery power to compensate for external wind disturbances.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

I-Corps项目更广泛的影响是开发延长无人驾驶飞行器（uav）电池寿命的技术。小型无人机已被广泛应用于航空摄影、递送、测量和密闭空间监视等领域。然而，小型无人机的飞行利用率和持续时间往往受到机载电池容量的限制，特别是在极端大风条件下，无人机需要做出额外的努力来抵抗干扰并保持鲁棒性。该技术以最小的时间和能量穿越湍流，解决了无人机在湍流中的导航和控制问题。新技术可能使更多无人机能够在超出其当前能力的条件下运行，并可能使无人机更具商业可行性。此外，新产品非常符合当前的趋势，即方便、无接触、自主的无人机送货服务。高效的无人机导航和控制策略的发展将有利于未来的无人机运输行业。I-Corps项目基于能量收集控制算法的开发，以延长无人驾驶飞行器（uav）的电池寿命。受流体动力学中粒子输运理论原理的启发，提出的技术提供了智能控制算法，使飞行器能够利用有利的流动结构，如湍流涡流、上升的热气流和顺风，并在高度湍流的环境中航行，大大减少了时间和能量的消耗。设计了一种隐式模型跟踪（IMF）控制器，使飞行器能够跟踪沉降惯性粒子在快速跟踪效应下的动力学行为，并从湍流中提取能量。考虑到机载流量测量，受控飞行器更倾向于在有利的顺风下行驶，同时自主避免不利的逆风。与现有的控制技术相比，该技术的创新之处在于不需要事先了解确切的流动参数模型，并且受控飞行器可以从阵风中获取能量，而不是使用电池供电来补偿外部风干扰。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。