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，提高无人驾驶航空器在北极遥感的能力。 拟议的技术可以用来更容易地收集植被数据，这可能会提供有价值的见解北极变暖和全球气候变化。拟议的技术将包括一种飞行控制方法，用于在异质的、植被覆盖的地形上自主飞行无人驾驶飞行器，以寻找选定的植物物种，以及一种控制方法，使飞行能够在北极地区经常出现的具有挑战性的风力条件下进行。该技术可能会通过增加无人驾驶航空器遥感活动及其有效执行的机会而有益于北极的研究。 与提供综合机载遥感系统的公司合作可能会产生商业影响。例如，无人驾驶飞行器已经用于野火灭火，其中所提出的技术可以使得能够在具有挑战性的风条件下飞行，并且可以增强在野火产生的湍流中飞行时收集数据的能力。此外，该技术可能有利于农业，无人机服务是全球第二大无人机服务市场。 这个I-Corps项目的基础是开发技术，克服限制无人驾驶航空器用于北极遥感的关键障碍，从而提高无人驾驶航空器的能力。 用于控制无人机飞行的螺旋桨在它们能产生的力方面是有限的。如果飞行器的飞行控制系统需要超过这种极限的力，则可能发生危及使命的不期望的飞行性能。因此，在北极部署无人机目前仅限于微风存在的罕见时期。同样，无人驾驶航空器的遥感也受到电池寿命有限和需要持续照明时间的限制。拟议的技术旨在通过在强风条件下提供稳定的无人驾驶航空器飞行来增加遥感周期，并实现自主和高效的无人驾驶航空器遥感。所提出的技术包括一个飞行控制系统，该系统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，一种基于强化学习的自主导航方法，该方法可以搜索位于异质植被地形中的特定植物物种，和实验验证的飞行控制系统与无人驾驶航空器在北极类似的环境中运行。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得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的支持。

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.