I-Corps: Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Remote Sensing

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是技术的发展，以增加在北极进行遥感的无人驾驶飞行器（uav）的能力。拟议中的技术可用于更容易地收集植被数据，这可能为北极变暖和全球气候变化提供有价值的见解。提出的技术将包括一种飞行控制方法，用于在异质、植被密集的地形上自主飞行的无人机，以寻找选定的植物物种，以及一种控制方法，使其能够在北极地区经常发现的具有挑战性的风条件下飞行。该技术可以通过增加无人驾驶飞行器遥感运动及其有效执行的机会，使北极研究受益。与提供综合机载遥感系统的公司合作可能产生商业影响。例如，无人驾驶飞行器已被用于扑灭野火，其中提出的技术可以在具有挑战性的风条件下飞行，并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，无人机服务是全球第二大无人机服务市场，该技术可能会使农业产业受益。该I-Corps项目基于技术开发，通过克服限制其用于北极遥感的关键障碍来增强无人机（UAV）的能力。用于控制无人机飞行的螺旋桨在它们能产生的力量上是有限的。如果飞行器的飞行控制系统需要超过这个限制的力量，可能会出现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温和风存在的罕见时期。同样，无人驾驶飞行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。该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。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条件下运行，一个基于强化学习的自主制导方法，搜索位于异质植被地形中的特定植物物种，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。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 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.