I-Corps: Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Remote Sensing

I-Corps项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发技术，以提高无人驾驶飞行器(UAV)在北极进行遥感的能力。这项拟议的技术可能会被用来更容易地收集植被数据，这可能会为北极变暖和全球气候变化提供有价值的见解。这项拟议的技术将包括一种飞行控制方法，用于自动驾驶无人机在异质、植被密集的地形上搜索选定的植物物种，以及一种控制方法，使其能够在北极经常发现的具有挑战性的风力条件下飞行。这项技术可能会增加无人驾驶飞行器遥感活动及其有效执行的机会，从而有利于北极研究。与提供集成机载遥感系统的公司合作可能会产生商业影响。例如，无人驾驶飞行器已被用于扑灭野火，拟议的技术可能会使飞行在具有挑战性的风力条件下进行，并可能增强在野火产生的湍流中飞行时收集数据的能力。此外，这项技术可能会使农业行业受益，因为无人机服务是全球第二大无人机服务市场。这个i-Corps项目的基础是通过克服限制无人机用于北极遥感的关键障碍来提高无人机(UAV)能力的技术开发。用于控制无人机飞行的螺旋桨所能产生的力量有限。如果飞行器的飞行控制系统需要超过这些限制的力量，可能会发生危及任务的不良飞行性能。因此，无人机在北极的部署目前仅限于有微风的罕见时期。同样，无人驾驶飞行器的遥感受到电池寿命有限和需要一致的照明期的限制。拟议的技术旨在通过在强风条件下提供稳定的无人机飞行来增加遥感时间，并实现自主和高效的无人机遥感。拟议的技术包括一个飞行控制系统，它可以减轻螺旋桨饱和的影响，使无人机能够在具有挑战性的风力条件下运行，一个基于强化学习的自主制导方法，它搜索位于不同植被地带的特定植物物种，以及在北极类似环境中运行的无人机飞行控制系统的实验验证。这项奖励反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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 I-Corps project is the development of technology to increase the capabilities of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for remote sensing in the Arctic. The proposed technology may be used to more easily collect vegetation data, which may provide valuable insights into Arctic warming and global climate change. The proposed technology will encompass a flight control method for autonomously flying unmanned aerial vehicles over a heterogeneous, vegetation-populated terrain in search of select plant species, and a control method that enables flight in the challenging wind conditions often found in the Arctic. The technology may benefit the study of the Arctic by increasing opportunities for unmanned aerial vehicle remote sensor campaigns and their efficient execution. Commercial impact may result from partnering with companies that offer integrated airborne systems for remote sensing. For example, unmanned aerial vehicles have been used for wildfire fighting where the proposed technology may enable flight in challenging wind conditions, and may enhance the capability to collect data while flying in wildfire generated turbulence. In addition, the technology may benefit the agricultural industry where unmanned aerial vehicle service is the second largest unmanned aerial vehicle service market globally. This I-Corps project is based on the development of technology to enhance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capabilities by overcoming key obstacles that limit their use for remote sensing of the Arctic. Propellers used to control UAV flight are limited in the forces they can produce. If the vehicle’s flight control system requires forces that exceed such limits, undesirable flight performance that jeopardizes the mission may occur. Therefore, deployment of UAVs in the Arctic is currently restricted to infrequent periods when mild winds exist. Likewise, remote sensing by unmanned aerial vehicles is limited by finite battery life and the need for consistent illumination periods. The proposed technology is designed to increase periods for remote sensing by providing stable unmanned aerial vehicle flight during stronger wind conditions and enable autonomous and efficient unmanned aerial vehicle remote sensing. The proposed technology includes a flight control system that mitigates the effects of propeller saturation enabling unmanned aerial vehicle operation in challenging wind conditions, a reinforcement learning-based autonomous guidance method that searches for specific plant species located in heterogeneous vegetation terrains, and experimental validation of the flight control system with an unmanned aerial vehicle operating in an Arctic analogous environment.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.