PFI (MCA): Smart Monitoring and Fault Identification for Resilient and Reliable Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

该创新伙伴关系（中期职业发展）（PFI (MCA)）项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是提供一种经济高效的智能解决方案，以准确检测和恢复无人驾驶飞行器（uav）的工程故障和故障。它将通过开发故障识别和故障纠正模块来填补无人机行业的技术空白，这将为潜在的商业化提供经济价值。下一代无人机将受益于这项工作，为电力推进系统提供智能故障检测和校正技术。这种无人机即使出现故障也能成功执行任务。如果没有正确的故障识别和纠正能力，电池、动力部件和推进电机的功能突然下降，不仅会降低系统的性能，还会导致系统出现严重故障，甚至可能导致系统崩溃。该项目将大大提高无人机的可靠性，同时最大限度地减少额外的硬件成本。该项目的概念和技术将为无人机和其他电气化运输系统的故障弹性电力推进系统开辟新的途径。拟议的项目旨在研究准确的故障检测方法和协同故障缓解技术，这对于高动态负载和具有挑战性的操作条件的应用通常不容易实现。该研究成果将极大地推进故障识别/补偿领域的知识，并为下一代具有故障弹性和可靠性的无人机提供基础，这将对具有商业化潜力的社会产生重大影响。研究成果将使无人机能够更及时、更广泛地使用，特别是在应对自然灾害、流行病和战争方面。该项目将为多学科工程领域的学生提供实践研究经验。通过将项目成果纳入工程课程，研究活动将与教育相结合。实验平台的开发和创业团队的培训将培养下一代的研究人员、工程师和企业家。该项目的成果将通过期刊出版物、会议报告和各种外展计划进行传播，特别关注贫困学生群体。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。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation (Mid Career Advancement) (PFI (MCA)) project is to provide a cost-effective and intelligent solution to accurately detect and recover from engineering faults and failures in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). It will fill a technology gap in the UAV industry by developing modules for fault identification and failure correction that will offer economic value for potential commercialization. The next-generation UAVs will benefit from this work with intelligent fault detection and correction techniques for electric propulsion systems. Such UAVs will be able to successfully execute their missions even with faults. Without proper fault identification and correction capabilities, a sudden drop in the functions of battery, power components, and propulsion motor not only decreases the system’s performance but also leads to critical system failure, which may cause a crash. The project will substantially improve the reliability of UAVs while minimizing additional hardware costs. The project concepts and technologies will open new avenues for fault-resilient electric propulsion system for UAVs and other electrified transportation systems.The proposed project aims to investigate accurate fault detection methods and collaborative fault mitigation techniques, which are typically not easy to achieve for applications with highly dynamic loads and challenging operating conditions. The outcomes of the proposed research will significantly advance knowledge in the field of fault identification/compensation and provide a foundation for next-generation fault-resilient and reliable UAVs, which can have a significant societal impact with the potential for commercialization. The research outcomes will enable more timely and wider usage of UAVs, especially in response to natural disasters, pandemics, and war. The proposed project will offer hands-on research experiences to students in multidisciplinary engineering areas. The research activities will be integrated with education through the incorporation of the project outcomes into engineering courses. The development of an experimental platform and entrepreneurial team training will foster the next generation of researchers, engineers, and entrepreneurs. The outcomes of the project will be disseminated through journal publications, conference presentations, and various outreach programs, focusing especially on underprivileged student groups.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.